10/3/2009

Chris: DM
Kathi: Tanji & Krysylys
JC: Neysa & Ana

We consider the implications of the clues we've found. Krys wonders if Illandar teleported downstairs, then blocked the trap door. She is also concerned that it seemed too easy to find the hidden dimensional door. Surely the attackers could have found it as well. Someone suggests that maybe it was all staged, that there really wasn't an attack, but Ana finds that suggestion farfetched.

Neysa says it may all be part of some deception nonetheless, and she plans what two actions she'll cast her augury spells on. 1) Will opening the locked door inside the dimensional room bring weal or woe? 2) Will going down into the hole in the basement bring weal or woe?

As we are considering returning to town for lunch, a knock sounds at the tower door and Tanji opens it to find a human male, 5'9" tall and weighing roughly 200 pounds. The man indicates that he is looking for Krys. The man introduces himself as Philandondrus Erasmus, but we are to call him Phil. Krys doesn't recognize him. He is a good looking man and claims he has heard that Krys is a bard of renown, as well as a lovely woman.

Ana confronts him about how he got through the guards. The man says they?re not very 'guardy' and it helps that he knew one of the female guards.

Krys agrees to meet him for dinner. He's staying at the Lord's Manor. Any of the guards will be able to find him. Neysa discretely casts Detect Evil but there are no emanations from him. The man departs seeming very pleased with himself at now having a "date" with Krys.

We head back to town for lunch and to gather supplies for the afternoon. We decide to have lunch at the Smiling Satyr. We run into yet another guard, this one so young, he's still fighting acne. We show him the parchment and head through the gate.

Lunch is uneventful. We head back to the tower and make through without encountering any of the guards. We decide to head downstairs first to try and determine what the source of that horrible smell is, concerned that it might be Illandar chopped up into little pieces.

Ana makes it down easily but Neysa slips and takes minor damage. The smell has changed, it is now a nasty flatulence smell mixed with rotten garlic. As we wander through the room looking for the source, movement catches all the elves eyes as we see several creatures scurrying back down the hole.

Krys lights her lantern and holds it over the hole. The reflective light bounced back is much more intense than just the lantern. Tanji scrapes some of the wall on her dagger. It's a waxy type of consistency that does not fill back in.

Neysa casts Augury regarding descending into the hold but gets no response. It is either both weal and woe, or neither weal nor woe. Neysa feels we should investigate so the group ties off the rope and Ana descends.

The cave has a smooth, slick floor and there are four exits from this chamber. In one, Ana sees a large chamber with two small figures seemingly embedded in the walls. In the second, he can see an area with squared off (man-made walls). In the third he hears a child's voice singing in elvish. Above this, he still hears a grinding sort of sound from no determinable direction. However as he investigates, the location of the sounds seems to becoming more fixed. In the fourth, the smell is horrible. He hears whimpering and much skittering.

Ana sees movement and discovers many of the forms from above. They are the size of a small dog with a sort of snout that takes up the entire head. In this room, two humans and a halfling are embedded in the walls. They look really scared. The smell in that room is sickly sweet.

The others come down and we release the rope. Ana tells the others about the room with the terrified prisoners. As they get closer, they can tell that the faces aren't embedded in the walls and there's one of the snout creatures on each of the embedded people.

Ana and Krys go to one of the other passageways and three of the creatures seem to follow. Neysa takes a step back. Two of them pass. One pauses and the smell changes, then all continue into one of the other passages.

The one singing is a drow. The creature in front of it is quivering. The drow turns toward Ana and says "I see you. I see you. You're not going to take my little friend." The creature in front of it really quivers at this.

Ana backs out to further investigate one of the passages he looked into earlier. It's changed! Not willing to get lost, we head back up into the basement and cover up the chamber below. We also believe that the stuff we broke through for the trapdoor into the basement was the same secretion from the creatures.

We head back to town and to the Lord Mayor's house. We report on the figures, the creatures, the shifting rooms and request a contingent of guards to help rescue the folks below.

We gather a group of guards, much rope and head off to the keep. Krys sends a message to Phil explaining that she may not make their dinner date.

Ending Time: Mid-afternoon of Day 10 from the monastery.

End of session.

Next Session 10/24/2009