1/15/2005

Players: Kathi, JC, Chris

Characters: DM & Salaisee, Elendil & Cyrus, Billimiah (Billi)

After breakfast we head back to the monestary. Just before we break the campsite Salaisee asks if any one knows what day it is. Billi promptly replies with the date and Salaisee announces that yesterday was her birthday and that she's just turned 20. Elendil sighs inwardly and tries not to think about the fact that she's young enough to be his daughter.

As we're about to set out Elendil casts Speak w/Animal's and spends some time talking with Sander. Despite his loyalty, and the bond between the two, Sander is not comfortable at the thought of being back in the underground keep and agrees to stand and guard outside, to listen for Elendil's whistle, and to be close when evening approaches.

The weather looks to be pleasant for the day, bright and sunny and cool, and despite the frost of the previous evening, Elendil enjoys the feeling of the sun on his face as they travel back to the monestary. When we get there we take the packs off Sander and conceal them fairly well as simply a pile of junk up against the ruins of a wall.and then set the horse loose.

As we head back down into the monestary Elendil turns momentarily to look back at Sander (who's standing sniffing the fresh morning air) and then leads the others back down the stairway. We decide to continue straight through the first room to the south.

The passageway seems to end at a dark room.  Elendil is sure that there's some kind of magic obscuring and diffusing the light in the room so he casts Dispel Magic hoping to diffuse the effect. Unfortunately it's not magic, it's spider webs. Fortunately the spell does go off. Unfortunately Elendil, in the final somatic gesture, sticks his hands right in to the webs and is stuck fast.

MELEE

A large spider comes skittling down the webs and bites Elendil for some nasty damage.   The cleric can feel the poison and he rips his hands out of the net as Salaisee casts Resistance on him. He backs up several steps and retrieves a flask of oil from his pack. He calls out to Cyrus to light the flask as he smashes it on the ground ahead of them. The web surprisingly does not burn but as the fire dies down Billi continues shredding the webbing in front of the door.

He has cleared out enough for the group to enter the room and Billi and Cyrus advance and attack the spiders coming down from the ceiling. Elendil heads in next but not before Salaisee casts Bulls Strength on him. The cleric heads into battle using his staff as a two handed weapon and actually does fairly well doing so.

We dispatch the spiders without suffering too much damage and Salaisee casts Bulls Strength on Billi to make up for the temporary loss he took from a spider bite. Billi says that we should rescue whoever it is that the spiders have web stuck to the wall above the door and Elendil and Cyrus hold the halfling aloft while he cuts away the web. Sadly it's a ghoul that bounces off the floor to attack.

MELEE

After dispatching the ghoul easily we take some time to examine the room. There are two pairs of square insets in the far wall which seem to indicate supports for what might be a possible platform. After some discussion we decide this must be the ceremonial chamber and there is a thrill of excitement as we realize we're close to retrieving the Flame Opal. Billi takes his time to thoroughly check the area and discovers a secret door ten feet above the center section of the wall. When it opens light comes streaming out and Billi climbs in off of Cyrus' shoulders and announces that it's a passageway that continues south. Billi secures a rope and the rest of us climb up to investigate. We retrieve the rope from behind us but leave the secret door open.

The cooridoor ends in a wider corridoor running east-west but before we can see much of anything else five ghouls move to attack.

MELEE

Cyrus kills one easily and Salaisee promply Turns and disintigrates the rest. The wide passageway continues south afer a jog to the east and also continues east and west (as noted before). We spot some iron spikes set in the far east wall and go to investigate. The cooridoor turns back to the north at that point and continues for another 40 feet. A short ways into the room is a narrow passage leading west. That passage turns north after 15 feet and then dead ends into a ten foot square room with nothing in it but a niche on the far wall containing a large fire opal sitting on a nice red pillow.

Billi spends some time to disarm the trap and retrieves the opal which he guesses to have a value of perhaps 500 gold pieces. We return to check out the other passageways. The first to the south ends in a long room at the end of which are a couple tubs full of some horrendously nasty smelly liquid. The other opens into a long passageway heading south. As we proceed we encouonter a large group of animated skeletons which Salaisee turns to dust.

We go in the direction they seemed to be guarding and just before reaching an odd arrow-shaped room Elendil turns another of the stinger skeletons to dust as it leaps out from around a corner to attack. As we move in to investigate the seeming dead end Salaisee is all of a sudden possessed and graples with Cyrus who manages to catch one of her wrists and soon has her held fast in his strong grip. At this she screams in frustration and in the dim light we can see some sort of phantom depart her and materialize in front of us as a wraithlike form.

MELEE

Elendil blasts it with his first ever invocation of Searing Light, at which the wraith disipates, and this leaves the cleric slightly in awe of his new found ability to channel Tymora's power to such a degree. However his marvel quickly passes and he returns his attention to the business at hand, that of searching the room in detail. Naturally it is Billi who finally announces the discovery of a secret door and as he examines the mechanism says that it looks like a whole section of wall swings away. Retrieving the key from an inner pocket Billi carefully inserts it into the appropriate niche. With a nod to the others he turns the key and indeed the entire northeast wall swings inward revealing a short passageway.

Entering the passageway we continue a short way and then round a corner into a pair of small offset rooms. There is a sudden "Hey!" as Billi runs into an invisible force field that just seconds before Elendil had walked right through. Elendil turns to look back and when he realizes what has happened a flash of concern crosses his face that he may have just walked blindly into a trap. However, when he returns to the spot he passes right through as if nothing is there. With a shrug the cleric returns past the threshhold into the small room but again Billi is stopped dead in his tracks and can not pass. We discover that Salaisee is also stopped but that Cyrus, like Elendil, can cross at will without resistance.

In the second of the offset rooms Elendil and Cyrus find The Flame set carefully on a velvet cloth on a pedistal in the center of the otherwise empty room. Elendil is very careful not to touch the opal or the pedistal until he has walked around it carefully looking for any signs of traps or danger. Seeing none he tells Cyrus to backup into the previous room in case anything should happen. The fighter nods and retreats but holds his sword ready, his body tensed for action.

Elendil retrieves his Potion of Cure Critical Wounds and sets it on the floor near his feet at the base of the pedistal just in case something nasty should happen and he collapse. Then, delicately and carefully, the cleric reaches out to wrap the flame opal gently in the velvet cloth. The gem, which is certainly the most exquisitely cut stone the cleric has ever seen, is large but not heavy and fortunately there is no trap or other ill occurance when he removes it from the pedistal. (Success!!! Now to get back home!)

After retrieving his potion and storing it back safely away, Cyrus and Elendil return to the others who've been watching from beyond the blocked entryway and there is a short discussion on how to proceed. Elendil gives the flame opal to Salaisee and the group agrees that we shall simply retrieve the rest of the treasure that we have already found but not continue the exploration of the remainder of the monestary. We carry what we can and as we emerge back into the midday sun we discover that Sander is obviously disturbed and is holding what turns out to be the evil woman we encountered the previous day at bay.

A quick assessment of the situation shows that she had obviously tried to do something that Sander didn't like and that the horse had defended himself and our gear admirably. In fact, although he has been injured slightly, Sander has obviously inflicted more damage than he received as evidenced by several nasty wounds on the womans body. She's not in a mood to be civil and in a surprise move after a brief conversation she becomes invisible. Cyrus immediately leaps forward swinging his sword through the area and luckily connects with what turns out to be the killing blow. There is a thud and the womans body becomes visible on the ground, blood beginning to pool under it.

Elendil casts Cure Light Wounds on Sander and then we get back on the trail and manage to make it back to below the tree line before stopping for dinner and camp. After dinner (a lovely vegetable stew) Elendil excuses himself and finds a quiet corner of their rough campsite for his daily communion. When complete he removes his armor and settles in to sleep. The first watch is quiet and the cleric yawns as he is wakened for his traditional deep night turn to guard.

About halfway through an otherwise uneventful evening a herd of large bison like creatures comes wandering towards the campside. Elendil walks quietly toward them and casts Speak With Animals as he picks out what he takes to be the herd leader. With simple words of "no harm" and "quiet acceptance" he urges the creatures to move on, which they do. Later, he turns the watch over to Billi and curls back up for a few more hours of sleep. Third watch is uneventful and after breakfast we start off for home.

End of Session.

Next Session 2/5/2005