Sharran Hideout Revisited

Expedition

The Bucket Brigade decide to tie up loose ends within the Sharran hideout in Marsember.   After a brief stop at The Old Oar Inn, they head back into the hideout beneath Marsember. They discover some of the Terazul had been removed since they last visited and are unable to retrieve Vinos Serrat's body nor the ring he had lifted from them.   After battling and destroying the reanimated flaming skulls, they attempt to harvest more umber hulk parts, but encounter other unusual creatures sealed behind magical cells. Lastly, they cast dimesional door to return back to the surface after destroying the remaining brandy and Terazul they had previously left behind.

The Bucket Brigade stops off at the The Old Oar Inn momentarily to grab a quick bite and check to see if Korvix Norixius had left any messages with the innkeeper. They learn that Korvix Norixius had indeed been back to the inn and planned to be back in two days.

After a hearty lunch, the party makes a beeline for the Sharran hideout in Marsember where they encounter several reanimated flaming skulls once again. They also discover that half of the processed white Terazul powder was missing from the stash they had previously discovered. Another loose end they attempt to tie up is left untied when they discover Vinos Serrat's body is not where it once lay and the ring he lifted from Ebony Gray gone along with him. Upon investigating the area he was last seen in the scrying, they are able to determine Vinos Serrat walked away from the scene and Caddell Griffith is able to trace his tracks to a type of arcane portal.

Stella "The Frozen" Sheethnae convinces the group to remove the seals from 2 magically sealed cells in hopes of finding more umber hulks to kill and harvest more umber hulk carapaces. Upon opening the 2 remaining cells, one at a time, they first encounter an empty cell with the stone ground appearing to have been ripped apart. At first they are completely perplexed by the empty cell, but after interacting with a gong, the vibrations draw the attention of the recently escaped Xorn to burst out from beneath them. After a few seconds of combat, the Xorn eventually makes a hasty retreat back into the ground.

Not to be deterred, they eventually decide to try the 3rd and final cell. Again, they open the cell door and see nothing at all. Nimbus feels a slight breeze from above and spots a dark object, very similar to a manta ray hovering past them from above. Suddenly the creature lets out a haunting wail that sends half the party sprinting away in complete fear. Ebony Gray bolts into the adjacent cell and quickly closes the door behind her. Nimbus and Stella "The Frozen" Sheethnae run as fast as their legs can carry them as far away from the creature as possible. FeatherFace ducks away into the cell that previously held the Xorn and the Cloaker manages to find him soon after except now the Cloaker had seemingly multiplied into 5 identical Cloakers.

The Bucket Brigade eventually rally to overcome the cloaker and attempt to skin the hide, but blotch the job causing the hide to require two seperate pieces that would have to be repaired after the hides had been tanned. After a quick rest, the party turns their attention the last unopened door of the hideout. A strange stone doorway that impedes their path atop a set of stairs leading back up. After careful examination, they discover a square section in the center of the stone door that when pressure is applied could be slid forward. Cautiously, the group slides the 6 inch square section with wooden poles, but after roughly 1 foot of travel into the stone, the square section refuses to budge any further.

Caddell Griffith studies the area within and determines that the mechanism to open the door is most definitely magical and requires an item, perhaps a ring, to be presented inside before the door would unlock. He suggests maybe the ring that Vinos Serrat had managed to take from them could possibly be the ring needed to unseal the door. Without the ring, the party decides to depart the hideout using the dimensional door ability from their War Wizard Cloaks. Before leaving, Caddell Griffith retrieves the flaming skull he had placed into his bag of holding and throws it into a bonfire they had created to destroy the remaining boxes filled with Terazul powder and the remaining barrels of brandy.