Slice of Glaive

We need to come up with a new plan of attack for these centipedes. It is decided that we will try and space ourselves more and squish them as they emerge. Jarlyn and Glaive will be the two ready to squish while Kross covers us from the back with arrows. I open the door and then jump back to my ordained place.

Segment 12
We all wait to see what will happen. After about a minute we all hear a screech and a group of three centipedes head to me. I will attack the leftmost two.
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 11 for 3 damage
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 9 for 5 damage and while it is still moving there was a significant crunch
Kross hits one with an arrow but it survives.
Jarlyn kills one as does Ghoral.
The remaining one tries to climb my leg but fails.

Segment 3
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 3 and miss
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 10 for maximum damage (12) and squishes.

End Combat

Now we are left with a supposedly empty room filled with a thick fog that resists all attempts to remove/thin/disperse it. Perrol’s curiosity overcomes him; he wants to explore the room. Jarlyn follows to explore the other side of the room, and I follow him to keep an eye on them both. Jarlyn yells out that he found a ladder and some rubble. Then Perrol finds a tunnel on the far side of the room. He soon yells that once he is in the tunnel he can see again. Jarlyn yells out that he has found another secret door. I tell him to wait until I can get there to check for traps before he opens it. When I see no traps, he proceeds to open the door. He sees nothing but fog until he sticks his head through the door. Those of us in the fog room then hear the voice of the librarian informing us that the scrolls have been destroyed for our protection and warning us about magic. I poke my head into the small room to check for traps and see nothing. Although I do see the image reciting the warning again. Kross decides to check for traps in his tunnel. Then, debating which tunnel we will take he also check the tunnel to the right in the previous room. Upon realizing that the tracks from the rubble creatures are several months old in both tunnels we decide to head back to the beginning and track our targets not wander aimlessly. Once, there Kross works quite hard to see tracks but really gets nothing of import. He then checks the stairway and find the tracks of one dwarven-type humanoid and a couple of humanoids either being forced or dragged. Those tracks end at the secret door behind which is a gelatinous creature that tried to eat Perrol when we first started. We arrange ourselves to invade the room. At first nothing happens, so Kross goes forward to look at the tracks again. The ooze approaches, Kross is oblivious.

Segment 12
I reach forward and grab/drag Kross out of the way. Perrol starts bobbing and weaving. A black gelatinous ooze emerges from the doorway and attacks Jarlyn but misses. Jarlyn hacks at it. Ghoral also hits it and is dies.

End Combat

We take a look around. Kross decides to investigate the pit. I see no secret doors up top, but from below he is able to see an imperfection in the wall beside the trap door that leads to the pit. Unfortunately, there is no where to stand over there with the trap door sprung. I listen and hear troops readying on the other side of the imperfection. We retreat to the main room to stragegize. Ghoral and Perrol take of down a tunnel that we’d passed earlier to see if they could flank the troops I heard. The come back with Kross pointing out on the map where their tunnel led. We now think that there is a way to get around to the other side of the troops and so set out to accomplish this. We head to a previously unexplored area that we think, from examining the map, will lead to the enemy. Perrol listens at the door and hear some shuffling and crying/whimpering. Upon hearing this, Jarlyn insists that we go through the N-door and rescue the innocents that he presumes are behind it. We find a male gnome in a cage; I’m fairly certain it is Gnorm’s gnomenapped apprentice. Inside the room I find no traps, but am unable to see any secret doors. After some more time, we are able to discern where the door and its latch are. As we talk to Garmip, we realize that the box we see in the center of the room is actually a creature that is guarding the secret door. We encircle the box and arms come out of the box.

Pre-Segment 12
Jarlyn attacks the box.

Segment 12
Half move to get into position
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 14 for 9 damage punching a large hole in it.
Perrol pipes up that from his knowledge he thinks this might be a mimic. They are a greatly feared creature because they can disguise themselves as anything, including chests of drawers. They are also known for surprise attacks when people do not know that they are not what they mimic. Jarlyn misses on his first hit, but strikes on the second. Ghoral also strikes and hits the creature. It turns on Jarlyn and lashes out at him. It appears to be a solid strike to the shoulder.

Segment 3
Attack=Orushidaila with DCV 7 for 6 damage
Attack=Orushidaila with DCV 10 for 6 damage
Ghoral wails on it for a good amount of damage
It turns and strikes out twice at Ghoral.

Segment 4
Kross waits for a decent time to move.

Segment 6
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 12 for 12 damage making a large hole again
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 4 and miss
Ghoral attacks it as well, and the creature cracks open and the arms fall to the ground.

End Combat

I successfully pick the lock. We give Garmip the option of staying with us as we clear out this city or hiding by himself in the upper quarantined area. He choses to lock himself into his room in the upper area. We escort him up there and then return to this room to prepare to go through the door.

And Ghoral yells, “SQUID!!” as he starts to climb the stairs with Perrol close behind him.

Segment 12
I hold for the moment to see what the creature will do. As a note, I am still down 2 body. The creature lets out a horrific shriek and we all feel a reverberating wave strike us. Glaive’s ego cannot protect her enough and I take 13 stun. Perrol climbs the stairs and the we hear an unsettling scream. Kross takes off for the opposite stairwell so that he can get up on the other balcony and shoot at the creature. Ghoral makes his way up the rest of the stairs and then I hear another scream. I decide to use a half move to get up the stairs so that I can attack the creature.
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 15 in the vitals for 6 damage. It screeches and falls; however, it is still twitching/breathing.

Segment 3
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 15 in the arms/tentacles for maximum damage, cutting off a two tentacles
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 6 in the vitals for 5 damage
Ghoral also delivers a powerful blow. I’m fairly certain that it is now in serious trouble.

Segment 4
Perrol strikes at the creature and kills it. He basically severed the nervous capabilities of a giant, beaked brain with tentacles.

End Combat

Ghoral wanders away from the group toward a pile of rubble. I follow him to protect him should anything go wrong, not that Ghoral usually needs much protection. He finds a shiny dagger, apparently what he’d been attracted to from our previous location. After both Jarlyn and Perrol clear the dagger, Ghoral pockets it. Upon further examination with magesight, we find two unidentifiable potions. On the subject of potions, both Perrol and I debate taking a healing potion since we are each down 2 body; however, we each decide to get Jarlyn to heal us and save healing potions for when they are needed. We head on down the stairs and Perrol opens the N door down there. Inside that room, we see a large loom and three small spinning wheels. Also, an irregularity exists in the far wall. After opening the secret door, Ghoral peeks in and sees a rather strange hallway. On the walls of the hallway are imprints of gears with holes at the center. I was about to go in, when Ghoral resolves the debate about what to do by entering the hallway. Nothing appears to happen. Kross comments that the end of this hallway, not the side passage we can see, most likely lines up with the wall of another room on the map. I check it and find a secret door and latch. As I’m discovering this, Ghoral wanders down the side passage. As soon as he steps on a certain spot, spears shoot out of the holes in the side hallway. I turn to see the spears retract and see Ghoral dazed, but still standing. I check the area and find that the entire small side hallway is a pressure plate that triggers the spear trap. Using my ring of featherfall, I glide across the small hallway and find nothing. It appears that there used to be something(s) important but it is long gone. I glide back over to the others and report my findings.

We then decide to go through this secret door at the end of the hall. We end up in this room with anvils and quenching barrels, obviously a smithy. Perrol’s magesight finds what is likely a door key at the bottom of one of the barrels. Using my tinker skills, I’m able to craft together a tool to get it out of the water. The key turns out to be an I key. We promptly troop back through to the I door that was opposite the N door we had gone through. Inside we find a room with a lectern and desks that are the appropriate size for gnome children. After find no traps and learning that the pile of rubble is just that, Perrol goes into the room to find that there is a tunnel and a secret door. Through the secret door in another room with a tunnel at the end. On either side of that door, in the next room are stone built-ins, nothing else is visible due to the mist filling the room. Perrol’s curiosity gets the better of him and he steps into the room. He yells back that he sees a shape start to appear in front of him. He calls back for a rope to be thrown to him so that we could pull him back if something attacks. Suddenly Perrol squeals like a little girl and…

Segment 12
…jumps back into the room. There is a skittering sound coming from that room ahead. Everyone waits for just a bit to see what happens. Then cubit-long centipedes start to enter the room. Ghoral manages to close the door with only 4 entering the room and then promptly hacks one to pieces. The three remaining start to attack Ghoral and crawl up his leg. Perrol attempts to pull off the centipedes and fails. Then Jarlyn walks forward and also fails.
Half move to get close to Ghoral and then I manage to grab and partially pull of one of the centipedes. Kross moves up and strikes the stretched out centipede and slices into it. However, it is not dead.

Segment 3
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 9 and slice the one I was holding in half
Attack=grab another centipede and miss
Ghoral also tries to slice one off of him, but fails to dislodge it.
The two remaining centipedes crawl up and under Ghoral’s mail shirt.

Segment 4
Perrol uses the flat of his blade and tries to hit the centipedes under the chain mail. Jarlyn tries something similar but cannot accurately judge where the centipede was and so hits Ghoral.

Segment 6
Ghoral takes off his chain mail shirt.
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 12 for 9 damage, killing one of the centipedes
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 7 (1hp) for 4 damage on the last centipede, wounding it
Kross attacks the last one with his sword, killing it.

End Combat

But we can hear at least three more centipedes on the other side.

We passed the night in one of the J rooms that we were able to lock ourselves into for the night. It is a new day and we decide to head down to the end of the hallway. The doors at the end are an E and an N, giving us the opportunity to try either door. And we haven’t been out that way yet. Ghoral inserts the E key in its respective door; it opens rather easily. Inside the room we see four beds, four chests, etc. He walks through the door and a sheet of flame engulfs him. When Ghoral reemerges from the wall of fire, he appears undamaged if smoking (smoking hot (wink, wink)). Jarlyn and I check for traps and see nozzles, like where fire would come out, ringing the door. Ghoral sees an irregularity at the back wall and Jarlyn decides to go in and check it out. When Jarlyn walks through the door, the sheet of fire reappears. There is a large padlocked chest in the secret room through the secret door that was determined by the irregularity. I want to try and pick that padlock, so I ask Jarlyn and Ghoral to come over and cover the nozzles with their shields so that I can walk through the door in moderate safety. Unfortunately the fire is especially virulent and I still take 2 body and 12 stun, reducing me to 9 body and 13 stun. Doing what I endured fire to do, I try to unlock the padlock and it starts to work but then the age of the padlock starts to tell and I cannot get it. Two more times I attempt to get this stupid thing open, taking more time between each attempt. Right before my third attempt Ghoral notices that there is another irregularity in the wall of this room. My 4th attempt succeeds easily. Ghoral is the one to open the chest, my burn injuries are making me a bit cautious. He finds several items in the chest. Perrol is just about to explode from curiosity, but is unwilling to brave the ring of FIRE. I walk back to the door to try and disable the flame trap but do not succeed. Giving up on that, Ghoral and I pass through the second secret door into a hallway. We comment that this hallway appears to lead all the way to the great hall that we started in at the beginning. Perrol and Kross go around and find a catch that lets them open up the door from their side. We all troop over to the chest and Perrol is finally able to examine the items both with his eyes and with magesight. After much discussion, Jarlyn keeps the crossbow bolts, Perrol and I each keep a smokestick (flares), and decide to leave behind the magical stone, wand and bag filled with magical stuff. As I examine it more, the bag appears to be a tanglefoot, which is an item of alchemical origin that is thrown at an enemy and has exploding goo to entangle the person. Kross decides to take that, now that we know what it is. At the end of the hallway, in the other direction, there was a place where the floor looked different from the rest. After testing it for traps, we decide/see that under the floor is a spike trap like we’d seen previously with a creature speared on it. However, we also know that on the far wall is an irregularity that usually heralds a secret door. Kross is able to jump across at it an open the door the rest of the way. In that room is four more letter doors like the previous doors and one very large, iron, double door set into a stone frame. Using the N key, we open the N door and see a room like a previous one with four beds, four chests, etc. When Jarlyn bravely walks through, nothing happens. He can find no secret doors or anything of worth in the chests. Perrol follows him into the room and discovers nothing else. Back out in the main room, we are debating having me try to pick the lock on the large iron doors, but we think we hear banging and/or metalsmithing sounds from the other sides of the doors. Then, we open the E door. Expecting flame, we send our hardier members through the door and they take a beating, both going through and coming back. There was nothing interesting in that room. Perrol, on listening to the large door some more, comes to the conclusion that the metalworking sounds are repetitive in a false kind of way. I unlock the door, forgetting completely to check for traps. Everyone except Ghoral, who stayed behind to open the door, retreats to the nearby N room in case there is some explosive trap that I didn’t disarm. He sees into the room and nothing appears to have happened. We enter into the great room. Perrol wants us to climb one of the spiral staircases to the upper level because he senses a large magical blob just about there. Ghoral and Perrol lead the way as we start to climb the stairs. Just as Ghoral is exposed to the second level, a green tentacled blob detaches from the ceiling and attacks Ghoral.

Segment 12

Since we are done in this room, the group decides to head on out to the other door with a J label since that is the only key we currently have. When we open that door, we see a hallway, at least we assume so through the dark!! Ghoral heads in and narrowly escapes a pit trap with spikes at the bottom. He yells back about the spikes. I follow him through, jump over the spikes, and see the tunnel on the side that he had also mentioned. We go through the side tunnel and open out into an oddly shaped room. The others are following not far behind. There is a door, I would assume that opens out into the hallway we had been in before the J door opened, and beside that door is a lever. I notice some irregularities in the wall on the opposite wall from the door. Upon closer examination, it appears to be the mechanism for a secret door. As everyone piles into this now very cramped room, Perrol really wants to pull the lever. Having learned something from his previous experiences, Perrol checks the lever with his knowledge of security systems before pulling the lever. He hears something and goes out to see what happened. When he returns, he reports that the trap floor has been locked in place so we don’t have to worry about it again. I test out the secret door and find a dusty closet with shelves in it. We decide to continue out to the tunnel again and this time take the other direction. We head back in the direction of the stage room. We burst out into a room adjacent to the stage room to find it filled with rubble. As we approached it, Perrol heard some shuffling sounds. We see nothing of interest in this room other than one wall that appears slightly ajar. I inspect it and it is another secret door mechanism but this one is broken and does not close. The next room is larger and filled with stage props and masks. We decide to check Ghoral again with Perrol’s magesight to see if his ‘disease’ has progressed. Again, there is nothing much to see in this room so we head on out. Suddenly Perrol and Kross make startled noises and turn behind them. Perrol yells to the rest of us that a translucent rubble creature is advancing on Kross.

Segment 12
Half-move to get back to Kross a.
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 9 in the legs for 8 damage
Kross attacks it and does some serious damage in the vitals. In full paladin mode, Jarlyn yells, “Begone, foul creature” and a brilliant white light erupts from his holy symbol…And nothing happens. The creature shrieks and tries to flee. In the middle of its escape, Ghoral hefts his Cat Lady’s Claw, slips, embeds his weapon in the mortar of the wall, and ends up prone on the ground. The creature continues on its way.

Segment 3
Ghoral rights himself and grabs the creature. I use my entire turn to move onto the other side of Ghoral and the creature.

Segment 4
Everyone is waiting around to figure out what the best way to move would be. The creature breaks free of Ghoral’s hold and moves away.

Segment 6
Attack=Strashuri with DCV 7 in the vitals for 7 damage. It falls and appears to be dead, ruining my chances for getting answers.

End Combat

The creature is dead and although it appears translucent/transparent it is solid. Looking at it with magesight, Perrol sees and tells us that the creature’s body is glowing. As he glances at Ghoral, he sees that the glow is brighter. We can wait no longer and give one of the curse-break potions to Ghoral. Shaking a bit as it takes affect, Ghoral ends up cured and no longer glowing with magic.

Out in the stage room, we go down the hall to west that we’d neglected earlier in favor of opening J doors. Up the stairs and around the corner is a J door that we open. We find ourselves in a large oblong room that is nearly empty except for some pedestals. Ghoral notices that the wall to the right is irregular, and like previously I find a secret door. This time it is Ghoral who opens the door and finds the dusty closet. Perrol saw that the entire room glowed with magic. I go into the room and look around for traps and secret doors. As I get to where the east wall straightens out I stumble slightly over something. Upon further examination, it feels to be a box covered by a cloth. I try removing the cloth so that I can see what ever is underneath. Unfortunately, once I pull of and cast aside the cloth, I still see nothing. When I was holding the cloth I had trouble grasping the concept that I was even really holding cloth. The box appears to be about 1 foot deep by 3 feet tall. When I continue my examination of the exteriors I find nothing else. I return to the group and tell them of my feelings when I was over by the objects. When Perrol entered the room he paused for a second, apparently having seen a rectangular object against the wall along with a crumpled object on the floor. He goes over there to turn the objects so that the other side shows and nothing really happens. I decide to try and take the object(s) outside of the room, thinking that they might be visible when they are outside. Partway there, I seem to be aware that I’m no longer holding it. I walk back to the wall and what is there is thinner than it was before. I find my way back to my approximate spot and feel around on the ground for the object. Jarlyn comes in to help me carry it out. I’m unable to keep my grip on it, but Jarlyn gets it out and it appears as it exits the door. We basically repeat this procedure to get another painting out. The first one was a landscape and the second is a fantastical scene. We continue in this vein for some time. Then we take the now visible paintings to lock them into the J room near the beginning of our journey. We go down the other side of the tunnels we’d so recently been in. We end up in a throne type room. Up on the throne is a sleeping, snoring gnome wearing a silver crown. On the steps is also a carved cherubic face that comes to life as we approach the throne and demands money to talk to the king. The king is completely incorporeal and mumbles about how they were betrayed by their own magic. There is an armrest that I check for traps; it’s clear. However, in the armrest are the N and the E keys to open those respective doors. We are very excited about this. When Ghoral opens an E door with the key, it bursts into flame and he takes significant damage before he has a chance to extinguish the fire.

Segment 12
Perrol walks over and stabs the lumpy pillar and gets a shriek out of it.
Half-move to get closer to this shrieking pillar and then Thasori.
Kross moves closer and fires at the lumpy pillar. It collapses but several piles of rubble consolidate into creatures.

Segment 3
Half move to get next to one of the new opponents.
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 7 and miss
Ghoral turns and wails on the creature behind him. There was a moment of worry about him getting stuck on the bones, but he is able to extract his weapon without incident.

Segment 4
The others attack. After they are all done, the creatures start to attack, most especially Kross.

Segment 6
Half move to get close to one of the creatures.
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 12 for 7 damage and slice open the shoulder
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 8 for 5 damage in the other shoulder
Ghoral slices another one straight up from the groin to stomach.

Segment 8
Perrol missed the creature in front of both he and I. Kross is still blinded so he cannot attack. Jarlyn gets his creature good and the remained two flee. Both mine/Perrol’s and Jarlyn’s creature leave trails of blood as they stagger off into the tunnels from which we had come.

End Combat

I move away from the hallway at my back. I couldn’t see down it because of the dark, and it is really not making me content. Perrol starts to walk around and inspect the walls and the room in general. He pokes a pile of rubble with his rapier and it does not appear to be anything other than rubble. He says to us that he found something. After checking it for both magic and evil, Perrol picks it up and it appears to be a wooden jewelry box with some crystal shards embedded in it. He opens it away from the rest of us in case it has a trap in it. He returns to the group when no trap immediately presents itself and tells us that it is a music box. Jarlyn is interested in trying out the crank on it and it makes music. We decide to head down to the next room. I’m third in line and get stuck in the doorway when the people in front of me stop. Word comes down from the line that there is a gnome in a bear’s suit on the stage that exists in the room ahead. I move farther into the room after Perrol skips ahead of me in line. It comes out that the entire stage is magic. There appears to be a show going on. Ghoral is fascinated and will sit and wait until the show is over to do anything else. We also notice that there is a stage trapdoor in the center of the stage. Ghoral climbs up after Perrol and I check for traps. Down the trapdoor, he sees cobwebs and some piles of junk. Perrol makes a decision that nothing menacing could be under there. He hears shuffling and makes a jump out and away from the trapdoor. We see one tentacle that had been reaching for Perrol and missed and another one that has grabbed hold of the ring on the trapdoor as if to pull it down.

Segment 12
I wait to see what will happen. Soon, my patience is rewarded as a tentacle shoots out and wraps around Ghoral’s chest. I move up to the stage around Ghoral and start to slice the tentacle to get my comrade free.
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 10 (including minuses for hit location) for 4 damage
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 7 (including minus) for 9 damage and chop off the tentacle.
Perrol uses his rapier to chop off the end of the tentacle holding onto the ring of the door. Jarlyn closes the trapdoor and we now hear thrashing under the stage. We hear the creature ’s thrashing stop. Perrol comments that he hears the creature limping, for lacking of a better word, away from us. We decide to head back underneath the stage because Ghoral is drawn to the possible shiny stuff he way underneath there. We all troupe back onto the stage that we’d abandoned when we first closed the trapdoor. Ghoral opens the trapdoor and I pass down a lantern. I keep position at the top of the trapdoor tokeep watch on my comrades below.

Segment 12
As Jarlyn jumps down I hear a grunt from Ghoral as the creature grabs him. Ghoral strikes out at the tentacle around his leg.

Segment 3
Ghoral triumphantly calls that he got it in the head and that it’s gone.

End Combat

Ghoral drags it over to the trapdoor area so that Kross can get a good look at it and cannot really identify what it is. He knows that he has never seen it aboveground. As Jarlyn and Ghoral search under the stage, they discover a mandolin and a wooden chest. They hoist the chest up above and we all check it out for various traps and magical issues. There is nothing dangerous that we can tell about this chest. Inside we find a cloak that glows faintly with magic, a magical wand, a magical and locked book, and a steel rod that could work to open the doors. The rod has the glyph for the letter J, like there was on at least two of the doors. Ghoral tries on the cloak and Perrol asks him to take it off fairly quickly because we all remember that this city was abandoned because of a plague spread by magical items. Upon removal of the cloak, Ghoral no longer appears to be magical, which is a relief to all of us. We want to pack up this cloak again and not touch it again.

Deciding to head back to the first room with the chest, repacked except for the rod, we see the blood trail from our fleeing enemies going off to the east in the tunnels. Perrol uses the rod to open up the J-door with the J-rod and finds a barracks like the neighboring door only this one is not turned over or wrecked. As we go through the chests at the feet of the cots, we find no treasure or really anything. Perrol stares at Ghoral for a bit and then comes out with the information that Ghoral is still glowing faintly with magic. We are now worried that he may be infected by the plague/curse.

We descend the passage. At the bottom, we turn to look up at the rungs leading to the door and debate the possibility of booby-trapping or otherwise locking the door. We decide to throw the “secret” lever and both Perrol and I lay a strand of hair to tell later if anyone passes this way. We head down the stairs, around a corner, down the stairs, around a corner, then Ghoral whispers that he hears giggling, leaves rustling, and birds chirping. He then whispers back that in the upcoming room, he sees copper faces in the wall. He is about to head into the room when Perrol from behind whispers that Ghoral, with his dark light vision should come back and look at the corner. I go over there to examine the tilted wall sconce that Perrol/Ghoral saw. In the dark, I can only tell that there appears to be a trigger whether I turn the sconce to the left or the right. I need more light to be able to really test out this mechanism, so we decide to light a hooded lantern to be able to see. Upon further examination in the light, I determine that counter-clockwise rotation causes the floor to tilt backwards as if to drop us into a pit and that clockwise likely opens the secret door. I’m correct. Perrol, with the lantern, goes through the door and starts to examine the 10′x20′ room. When he reaches the end, the floor opens up and he plunges into a pit.

Segment 12
I move forward slightly to toss a rope into the pit. The others then proceed to pull Perrol out of the pit. There is a black slime that follows him out of the pit.

Segment 3
I make a half-move retreat and hold the rest of my actions until I need to use it. Ghoral does a similar thing from what I can tell.

Segment4
Perrol get up from being prone and also retreats into the hall. Kross leaps in front of me so that he can try and turn it. Nothing happens. Perrol tells me that Kross didn’t turn it enough. I reach over and complete the rotation of the sconce into the correct position. Just before the door closes, the slime reared up. We hear it sucking against the door for a while.

End Combat

We continue on into the next room. There are copper masks on the wall. The giggling stops and the one on the far end starts to talk in what sounds like it might be Ghoralzad. Perrol translates it as, “Welcome to Jidazrune. Behold the wonder! But beware, ye who seek to plunder. Traps abound and guardians peer,
Beyond every corner, behind every gear.” All of the doors that we see appear to be in the shape of gears. The roll to the side instead of opening outward. They do not have a wheel to turn but a hole that might be for a key in the center. One of the two doors, which Ghoral has mentioned are labeled with the letters A and J, is wedged ajar with a rock. Peering through the door, there are ruins, gnome-sized cots and chests, a gold tipped rod, etc. We are debating what to do about these doors. We hold off for the moment. As we continue on and explore more, we learn that each door has a letter with it. We assume they spell Jidazrune. There also appears to be magic at the doors; however, Perrol remembers that gnomes are very good at making magical items look mundane and visa versa. We continue on. We have to jump a trap. It is decided that I’m going to try and pick the lock of the Z door that we’re going to try and open. Ghoral could force it open, but that might put him in danger. My great knowledge of security systems allows me to glean that if I fail to pick this lock, I risk a deadly magical attack. I go ahead and succeed. The door unlocks and I go to open it, only to realize that the trap is still active. It is triggered by mechanisms farther in the lock. I cannot let go of the door because then it will likely relock. I cannot continue to open the door because that will trigger the trap. Ghoral switches out for me so that I can try the other door. The E door is more difficult for me to unlock. When I do manage it, I realize that this door is also trapped. This trap has a sulfurous burnt smell. I have to either hold it door open or let it close and relock. Suddenly it occurs to me that certain traps cannot be disarmed by mundane means. They require either a dispel magic or a key inserted in to temporarily suspend the magic. I think that perhaps we need the gold-tipped rod we saw in the half-open room. We let the doors snick shut and return to that area. Once we head on back, Ghoral enters the half-open room and picks up the rod. When hell doesn’t break loose, we join him in the room and start to look around. Perrol cries out startled that two of the piles of rubble are now gone. They could have been the same creatures as the one on the trap spikes. Also, from where they were placed, it appears as though they had planned an ambush if we’d tried to get the rod the first time we were here. Unfortunately, this rod is too big to fit into the keyholes and be used to disarm traps. Perrol hears a very faint snoring from inside the tunnels that branch off at the end of the room. We decide to try using the tunnels as passage rather than brave the doors. We reach the large room on the end of the tunnel. We all move in. Perrol notices that there is a pillar that is darkened and lumpy up to the approximate height of a small humanoid creature. He is going to poke it with his rapier.

End of the night.

We head back to the inn and go to bed. I’m woken up by Ghoral screaming bloody murder.

Segment 12
As I look around I see the same spectral creature with a scythe leaning over a very woozy Ghoral.

Segment 3
I pop upright thanks to my new ring of feather falling and draw my weapon. I use a half move to get next to Ghoral to attack the Spectre with my stiletto.
Attack=Orushidaila with DCV 8 for 3 damage
It makes a sort of growling noise and looks back at me.

Segment 4
Perrol gets up and sort of stares at the Spectre. It ignores him. Jarlyn then holds up his holy symbol and says, “Begone Foul Spirit!” The expanding glow of white light coming from Jarlyn is met and slowed slightly by a sphere of red light coming from the Spectre. It does impact, but the spectral creature only flinches a bit. Kross gets himself ready.

Segment 6
Darkness falls. I hear a commotion but am unsure what happened. I take time to perceive him, only to realize that he hasn’t moved and I can attack.
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 8 for 4 damage
Ghoral, who has finally recovered enough, bludgeons it with the back of his Cat Lady’s Claw and it fades away to nothing. The scythe remains on the ground.

End Combat

We pack up in preparation for our trip down into the gnome city. Additionally, we pay up our bill and agree to terms for stabling our horses. As we head out and down the road we see someone on the roof of a building up ahead. Perrol signals to us that he sees the outline of a crossbow with the person. Kross signals that he’s going around and up the back. After a couple of minutes of putzing around, we continue down the road. In just a little bit, Kross tosses down the crossbow and comes around the corner with the would be assassin over his shoulder. After a thorough search, we find that he is a member of the Red Dagger. We head over to the local constabulary to drop him off. At the guard post we are met by a rather astounding fellow. After bonking our heads against his seemingly impossible demeanor, we realize that he carries no weapon and is a few cards short of a full deck. He goes to get his superior who understands that this was a failed assassination attempt and that he should take custody of the man.

We arrive at the temple of Hospin and speak with Helen Gaius. She is kind enough to give us some anti-curse potions that had been slated for the Regent Mother but that could not be used on her due to their magic nature. We give her our thanks and Jarlyn makes sure to tithe appropriately. We stop by ‘Bob’ and ‘Chad’s property and do not find them. So, then it is time to get to the entrance to the Undercity.

When we arrive at the entrance of the Undercity and see it surrounded by palace guard. The assortment of magi, priests and guards say that they are just about ready for us. We enter the building and see five weeks worth of rations, a stack of books (a primer on Under Common, one of Dark Dwarfish dialects) and a red flag to raise when we come back up. When we reemerge, we are to be quarantined for 20 days. They have also provided us with replacement quarrels, arrows, throwing daggers, lock-picking tools, directional lanterns, and paramedic kits.

We head in and they raise the barrier after us.

We are talking amongst ourselves and recovering from what just happened. Then we hear a knock at the door and a voice asks us if we are all right. When Jarlyn responds in the affirmative, they proceed to ask us if we need clean up. We respond in the negative and return to bed.

In the morning, after breakfast, we head on out to the temple district. As we are walking and talking I hear a whistling thud and Perrol drops to the ground with a quarrel to the vitals.

Segment 12
I scan my environment but do not see anything that would indicate where the enemy is, although I do see a glaze/ichor on the quarrel. As I am near enough to Perrol I hold with the intent of trying to block any further attacks. Kross jumps up the building. Jarlyn drags Perrol over to a wagon, but there appears to be no blood trail.

Segment 3
To Jarlyn I say that he should check out how Perrol is doing since I saw what was on the crossbow bolt. I make a half move to be next to Jarlyn and Perrol so that I could attempt to block another attack should one come. Ghoral starts to dodge.

Segment 4
Jarlyn examines Perrol but sees no damage to our groupmate. Kross continues to climb.

We keep not seeing anything.

End Combat

Perrol climbs, groaning, out from under the wagon, and deciding that this must have been a shoot-and-run we continue on to the temple of Aladan. When we arrive, we see a balding man sitting behind what appears to be a reference desk. He will send out for someone knowledgeable on the topic we asked about, the Red Talon. A woman appears and tells us more about the four leaders of the Red Talon that we learned about previously. Apparently it was started by Arvaga and Kelgar who had been adventuring companions. Yanna was brought in not too long after the founding for her knowledge of the slave markets. It was only later that Valmarellion joined when they started dealing mostly in requests. We thank them for their help and Jarlyn donates to the tip jar.

We walk to the temple of Varidon and get some suspicious looks when we first walk in the door. This priestess approaches us and visibly relaxes when she notices Jarlyn’s costume and prominently displayed boon. As Perrol trails off when attempting to explain our quest, I take over only to be shot down by the priestess. Jarlyn takes over for me and she agrees to go find us someone who will help. We go over to a side room to meet with another person. She recommend us to the wizards, but does give us some interesting information about Valmarellian. He is a high ranked sorcerer, that is one who deals with magic of the mind, illusion, deception, sleep, etc. Coriries also tells us of a man in the area who sells items for protection against sorcery. When we ask how we should go about finding this person, she offers to connect us with him within the next day or so. She will send us a message at our inn.

In full combat awareness, we head over to the mage tower. When we are nearly there, we stop in to the little potion shop that we’d taken refuge in previously. The shopkeeper remembers us from before. Jarlyn asks if there happens to be any Dust of Imprisonment in stock. There are two doses in stock, but he is now charging 25sp each (last time they were 15sp). When Jarlyn asks why the increase the shopkeeper cites my presence as the reason. In fact, he calls me an unhonorable person. I am rather upset by this and state that my honor is not in question. Jarlyn then refuses to purchase from him, although Ghoral and Perrol each purchase one of the doses. We leave and head to the mage academy down the street. Once we get to the academy and head down to Igor’s minions. They report the results of their searches into arresting teleportation and combating mind control. They came up with no real solutions to the teleportation issue since the only artifacts that really work on that are huge and the magic is involved and ritualistic. As for the mind control issue, they know that there are two pendants that protect the mind as well as a very valuable headband that the academy will likely not part with. We remember that we are supposed to keep any information they give us a secret; however, we still head up to Aaron’s office in hopes of obtaining at least one of these pendants. Aaron is not in and so we will have to see him on a later date. We head back to the inn to eat lunch and have a letter-invitation waiting. In the invitation it states that we are not allowed to bring weapons larger than stiletto or dagger size. This does not bother me since I carry a magicked stiletto, but all of the others are restricted to their daggers. I also decide to wear my dress. As we are walking to the palace, Jarlyn comments to the group that it appears that Julienne has provided an escort for us. We arrive safely at the gate and, upon presentation of our invitation, we get an escort of two privates. We notice that no other guest appears to be getting an escort. They lead us to a side, service entrance. Sometime along the way Julienne joins us and explains that we are being led this way to avoid all of the fuss at the main entrance. She also explains that it is to be a short dinner in which we are thanked for serves rendered to the crown. Then there will likely be a meeting between us and the Regent Mother in which we will be granted our boons. It happens as Julienne predicted. When it comes to granting our boons we get: Ghoral-necklace to prevent audiovisual attacks, Perrol-magic travel book, Jarlyn-tower shield against missiles, Glaive-ring of featherfall, and Kross-3 arrows against spectral and one reusable exploding arrow.

We are meeting with Julienne and talking about the banquet tomorrow night. If we have any boon that we know we want from the Regent Mother, we should tell Julienne now. I can think of nothing. We head out to the mage academy; Perrol notices animals taking an interest in us as we walk. After a brief wait, we are able to get in to see Aaron without an appointment. We ask him about Valmorellian and are basically warned away. Aaron says that Valmorellian relishes the control of sentient beings in addition to having a wand that stores firebolt energy. However, both for objects that disrupt/prevent teleportation and protect against mental invasion/control we need to see Igor down in the labs. We ask the admin outside the door and she states that Igor cannot be disturbed at the current moment, but we could see his apprentices. We head down to the labs in the subbasement with a page leading. The apprentices are irritated at first, but when we decide to pay them for their research skills during the next day. Then we head on out to the temple of the Skyfather to report on our findings as well as to ask for help in suppressing teleportation and/or blocking mind control. We are greeted by the initiate who we dealt with before and he leads us directly to Matthias. When we relate that we have information on the missing families he refers us to Helen Gaius the high priestess of Hospin, who is handling all of the matters of that nature. For our search for a magical item(s), we are referred to the temple/priests of Varidon. Again when we are traveling from temple to temple, at least one member of our party notices that some animals we pass are watching us. One by one, we approach a crow that is intently studying us and it keeps it’s eyes on the group. When it is startled, the only people left in the group were Kross and myself. In all likelihood one of the two of us is the reason for which the animals study us. We arrive at the temple of Hospin and greet Helen Gaius to share our news. She is not pleased.

By the time our interview is over, it is evening and we head back to the inn for a meal and sleep. My watch passes without event. I turn in to catch some sleep. Suddenly I am awake to see a spectral figure leaning over Kross with a hand in his gut. I roll out of bed, grabbing my stiletto as I pass. Half move to get next to Kross and the spectral wraith.
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 8 and miss
Attack=Oruskormaeli with DCV 4 and miss by even more

Segment 12
It floats over to Jarlyn and swings but appears not to hit. I half-move to go follow it to attempt to strike again.
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 12 in the chest for 9 and causes it to screech horribly
Attack=Orunatiya with DCV 12 in the vitals for 4 and it lets out yet another terrifying scream while glaring at me.
Perrol swings and misses. Jarlyn cries out to the Skyfather and holds up his holy symbol. Ghoral moves over to the wraith and misses his strike as well.

Segment 3
The wraith turns tail and runs right through the wall.

End Combat

Jarlyn goes over to help Kross but he starts to recover on his own.

Gnorm the Gnome appears to be in shock. Perrol slaps him. He starts to talk about how they have his apprentice captive and the’re watching him. Ghoral comes over and recognizes that our opponent was actually a Dark Dwarf, a deep-dweller. Then we hear a person chinking, in the manner of Ghoral, outside and some murmuring. Ghoral calls out that we have trouble.

Segment 12
I use my full move to get next to Ghoral who is facing off against a very armored dwarf. There is something about him that scares me, but I’m not certain what it is. I see a red talon tattooed on him. I ask Ghoral if he knows what it is, but he doesn’t even recognize it. Perrol pipes up that he is a slaver and it clicks for me that he belongs to the Red Talons who are slavers that prey on street kids. The dwarf strikes Ghoral and the resulting concussive flash dazes all of us.

Segment 3
I recover. The Dwarf strikes out at Ghoral who manages to dodge.

Segment 4
Perrol waits to do anything at the moment. Kross looks out a window upstairs and says that there are two crossbow archers across the street. Jarlyn moves up to the otherside of the counter from the Dwarf anad tosses down a measure of his Dust of Imprisonment. This manages to freeze/imprison the Dwarf.

Segment 6
We see his eyes move around as if to say, “I’ll be back.” And then he disappears. “Well, *explitive*.”
I see that at least one of the two archers across the street is still there. This combat is not over until those who tell me where their leader poofed to so that I can finally get in my strike. I make a half move and then use my Thasori dodge. It is fortunate that I did that dodge as two crossbow bolts are released across the expanse toward me but both miss. Ghoral steps forward and speaks to them in Ghoralzad.

Segment 8
They appear to be hesitant and/or ready to give up. Kross comes out of his upstairs window and scrambles up to the roof. He is ready to fire on them if they make a wrong move. Ghoral translates for them that they are surrendering. He and I each disarm and escort one of them and take them inside.

End Combat

When interrogating the suspects, Perrol learns that Kelgar who we just dealt with was the main leader and is related to the mountainsd. There is also a Valmar…something-or-other. This strikes a chord in Perrol who remembers a Valmarrellian who is an Elvish sorceror who left the main body of Elvish society. Jarlyn and Perrol go searching in the upstairs. Ghoral and I stay below to watch the two archers, Gnorm, and the dark hole. They finish their search and return to the main room, along with Gnorm who they’d come to fetch at one point to open a chest in his room. He is glad that this appears to be over and that we are planning to report all of this. Gnorm also gives us a leather map of what was an apparent ancient gnome city under the city of Tietha. That is what lies at the end of the dark hole into the ground.

We decide to take the two archers and Gnorm to the palace where we know the guard. Partway there, one of the deep-dwellers starts to freak out because of the open sky. We all take refuge in a tavern and have an ale to calm down. Once everyone has calmed down, we head back out until we hit a guard station in the hoity-toity area of town.