2005-09-18 Tarik's Journal

We're still regrouping when suddenly Rassi shouts out that she is being attacked. Two skulks have snuck up behind us! (1) Kyrin quickly reacts and blasts one with a magic missile. The remaining skulk falls back and opens fire with a crossbow. I daze the skulk. The rest of the group advance on the dazed skulk and slay it.

• You're always the shirtless guy, Alan. -- Katie

Checking their bodies, we find that each has a crossbow, bolts, and a rapier. Aidan collects the weapons. The skulks were wearing only loincloths. Even now, their skin adjusts to match the floor's coloration.

Verana looks inside the proped open door labelled A. It looks safe. We step in. (3) The room is full of cobwebbed and dusty chests and cots. Neither the chests nor cots look to have been touched in a long time. In the center of the room are footprints, a lit sun rod, and two cloaks. Presumably the skulks came from here.

In the east and south walls are circular tunnels. Aidan examines them. He thinks they were created by some tool he is unfamiliar with. There is more rubble near the entrance to the south, it may indicate that was the entrance point. We head south.

The passage immediately forks left and right. We follow the passage to the left. It opens into a small, closet-like room. (4) There is a skulk which attacks Maeglin. Maeglin slays it with no problems. The skulk is wearing a loincloth. It has a rapier and wears a silver key on its neck.

The room has no other visible exits. In the room is a peephole into another room. Verana says there is a secret door in that wall.

Peering through the peephole, there an abandoned armory. The weapon racks are dusty and empty. A chest sits in the middle of the room. Atop the chest is a rat in a silver cage. The rat has a white star-shaped mark on its head. Starbrow, presumably. Two doors out are labelled R and N in gnomish.

• I for one welcome our gnomish masters. -- Jeff

  Michael: "You guys can all suck my penis." Katie: "Uh, no."

Maeglin moves into the armory (5). As he does, a wide grin appears on the chest. The chest greets Maeglin. How very strange. I ask the chest its name. It's some unpronouncable noise. The hobgoblins called it "One" in the common tongue. Hobgoblins brought the chest here and placed the cage on top. They took Two elsewhere. He didn't like Two.

• I'm doing well, Talking Chest. -- Maeglin (Brian)

  I ate some adventurers once, and they had rations, and it was like a chewy center. -- One (Michael)

The hobgoblins pay One to guard things, like the cage at the moment. They feed One and give him gold. One can look like just about anything, but a chest seemed suitable. He hasn't seen Two for several weeks, Kazmojen had work for him. Apparently there is some sort of slaving operation.

In exchange for more rations, One answers more questions.

Kazmojen hired the hobgoblins. Previous to that the hobgoblins and One were in some caves several miles away. Kazmojen and the dark ones works out of a stronghold below. It was an old dwarven area. It's called the Malachite Fortress. The slaves are taken from the city and down to there. The dark stalkers are lead by a Yuathyb.

One is a mimic. It emits a "viscous substance." Maegline asks to examine the rat. One releases it.

The slavers sometimes pass him. Sometimes they take some other route. Apparently there is an elevator nearby.

• By that logic we could find some old ladies with gold upstairs and kill them. -- Aidan (Joe)

We head back and discuss the situation. We decide to head the other way down the small tunnel.

Down one passage is a tall, wide hall. (6) 8 Black pillars carved into the forms of gnomish artisans and warriors standing on each others shoulders, supporting the ceiling. At the far end is a pool set into a wall. A grinning gnomish face sprays water from the wall into the pool. The water is clear.

As Maeglin takes in the scene, there is a loud bang! Two skulks have emerged at the far side of the room and thrown a thunderstone at Maeglin. Maeglin immediately charges them. The skulks surround him. An arrow from Verana and a magic missile from Kyrin slays one. Blows from Maeglin and Aidan slay the other.

Checking the bodies, we find two ratty cloaks, two rapiers, and three thunderstones. We divide up the thunderstones.

We examine the room. There is rubble at the two tunnel entrances. The two doors are labelled E and U in gnomish. Kyrin checks out the pool. There are marks indicating that coins sat at the bottom of the pool for a long time, but they are gone now. In some rubble Verna finds a small engraved wooden box. It's set with shards of lapus lazuli and carved with prancing figures. Inside it is filled with gears and other components. There is a crank stored inside on the lid. On the side is a hole that would fit the crank.

• It's a sex device for pixies. That's what I think. -- Joe

(7) We find an octagonal room. Turquoise ceramic tiles line the floor, ceiling, and walls. An oval pool in the center is continously filled from a smiling face from the edge of a thick ledge above. The ledge itself is covered with webs. A humanoid form dangles in spiderwebs directly above the pool.

We decide to burn out the spider. We fall back to the large hall. Maeglin remains behind to burn the webs. As he leans out to set the body on fire, an enormous spider leaps out of the pool. There is no splash or ripples in the water. Two smaller spiders leap down from above. Maeglin shouts and we run to aid him, entering the room from both sides. Maeglin falls back. Rassi charges in cutting one of the smaller spiders in half. The warriors cut down the remaining spiders.

Poking around in the water, it's clearly illusionary. Something glimmers in the mess of web. The body appears to be a skulk. Searching the room, we find a secret door to the west. On the corpse are a pair of tormaline gems and a dull grey stone that feels warm. Kyrin and I both recognize the stone as a dead ioun stone. It will still orbit one's head. The dead stone is almost valueless, except as a gaudy effect. Kyrin takes it.

Through the secret door, we find ourselves on a loft above another room. (17) The room is full of storage. A ladder leads to the lower area. Digging through the stored items, we find casks of sour ale, towels, clay jugs, iron kettles, decaying bars of soap, some candles, some hemp rope, some torches, a map case, and flint and steel.

We head back to the large hall. A side room has a vaulted ceiling. (8) It is lit with magical sconces. Four elaborate pillars hold up the ceiling. Four rows of benches face a stage to the south. All of the walls are covered in curtains.

As we step in, one of the curtains in the back flutters open. A gnome in a bear costume steps out and begins speaking. "Night hath fallen in the magic woods.." it begins. The play continues, showing a dryad falling in love with a ranger, and the ranger facing his nemesis wereboar. It's some sort of illusion.

• It's too gay to be real. -- Joe

Maeglin checks out the stage, passing through the illusionary actors. He opens the trapdoor in the stage floor. A tentacled paw lashes out at Maeglin. It tries to pull Maeglin in, but he pulls away. Another lash draws Maeglin in. Aidan leaps in to help Maeglin. The creature looks like a naked halfing. It has mottled flesh, sharp teeth, and spindly limbs. Maeglin and Aidan battle the strange thing. Kyrin and I fire magic missiles in.

We are all battered. We retreat back to Ghelve's shop. The shop is still and empty. Evening is coming.

We check the rest of the shop. Ghelve has a small lockbox and three larger chests. All are locked. His lavishly appointed bedroom is sized for a gnome. His larder is well stocked.

We camp out in Ghelve's shop, eating from his larder.

17th of Ready'reat

With some rest and healing from Aidan and the potions, we head back into the dungeon.

We search the theatre again. Rassi notices something in the small tunnel and charges it. It's a cloaked and masked figure almost floating. Rassi slays it with two quick blows.

Rassi drags the body back. The mask is one of a fox. The body is of a skulk. Instead of being chameleon-like, it is translucent.

Maeglin pokes around under the stage. In a storage compartment in the wall, he finds a fine quality mandolin and a small wooden chest. Inside the chest is a fine cloak, a small locked spellbook, a six-inch light wood rod with doors carved into the base, a five inch long steel rod with a groove in one end and notches in the other. The steel rod is labelled with a gnomish J.

• Katie: "Alan never wears his hair that short." Joe:"Or that bald."

  Verana (Katie): "I'm guessing if she charges something and it's a little girl, she won't hit it." Rassi (Vivian): "I'll hit it with the flat of my blade."

We keep the mask and cloak. I propose that Verana dress in the cloak and mask and scout ahead. The rest of the group thinks it's too risky.

We head into the passage the skulk was waiting in. There is a small side room lit by a torch in a sconce. (9) Verana notices a secret door in the back wall that is slightly ajar.

The room beyond the secret door is littered with stage props scattered about the room. (10) Several chests lie open.

We double back to the large hall (6) and check another side passage.

The side passage leads to a wide octagonal room. The walls are bare, but show signs of having once had tapestries. Twenty black pedastools are evenly spaced around the edge of the room. Nothing is on the pedastools. The room has a number of cobwebs scattered about.

• If your characters becomes a girl again... Endor? -- Joe, getting distracted.

As we move in, Verana notices a secret door on the southeast wall. The small room beyond is empty. (12) Verana bumps into something invisible in the corner. It's pedastool sized and covered with some cloth. Pulling the cloth off, the cloth becomes visible. The cloth is a plain grey cloth. Under the cloth she feels six wide, thick, solid things. She eventually deduces that they are large picture frames. We decide to leave the paintings safely there for now. Verana reseals the secret door.

We decide to experiment with the steel rod that we believe to be a key. Verana examines the door and the rod. She is sure that this is the key. Aidan, Kyrin and I consider the situation and decide that the key almost certainly avoids the trap. Aidan uses the rod. The door rolls open. The door closes after a moment.

We explore the long tunnel we previously declined to explore. To the right is a room full of rubble and broken furniture. (13) There is a wooden lever mounted in an iron plate in the east wall. It probably controls the pit trap. Verana pushs the lever up. There is a metallic clank.

We back up and explore the room straight ahead. (14) The room is split into three levels by marble staircases. At the far end are two pillars sculpted to look like petrified trees. A old gnome wearing a silver sleeps on a throne between the pillars. Behind the throne is a fresco of gears. Directly ahead, on the wall on middle landing, is a carving of a cheurbic face.

Kyrin detects magic. The face is magical, as is the king himself. The king has illusionary magic. The face has an enchantment. Verana steps up to the first landing and the face speaks. "If you wish an audience with the king, place your finest coin in my mouth!" I give Verana a gold coin. She puts it in the carving's mouth. The mouth closes in an unnatural way. It reopens a moment later and the coin is gone.

We search the room. Verana notices a secret compartment on the throne. While searching, her hand passes through the "king." As she opens the compartment, the illusion mutters in its sleep, "Betrayed we are by own magic. One by one we fade away. Jzadirune is lost. Oh how tragic. We curse the vanishing day." The gnome illusion returns to sleep. Inside the compartment is 76 gold pieces and two steel rods. The rods are labelled N and E.

We head back to a room we were previously locked out of. (15) Carved into the south wall is a map of Jzadirune. The map faintly glows. A curtain is between us and the hallway to the north. The room is otherwise empty.

We double back to the first tunnel. (16) We come to a small room with a small cot and chest. The floor is littered with spent tindertwigs, rat corpses, and bones. A lantern illuminates the room. On the cot is a quietly snoring skulk. After some quiet discussion, Verana slays it.

Searching the chest, we find 3 sunrods, 2 flasks of oil, 2 tindertwigs, a thunderstone, a ceramic stage mask of an anguished gnome with rabbit ears, a serpantine silver ring with azure eyes, and a silver ewer covered with moss agats and depictions of dancing dryads.

There is a single unexplored tunnel to the south. We move down it.

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