Fracking Wizards
Standing in the large cavern after finishing off the three stalactite creatures that dropped on Mogg, the Shrike’s aethrin resources assess their wounds. The only one injured in the quick battle was Mogg. While the ranger gathers some of the mushrooms that had triggered the creatures to strike, they talk about what to do. There was a path heading northeast but the trail left by the goblins and the riders headed southeast towards the direction they suspect they had come from. They continued following the trail and about seven hours later the glow of the gate came into view. Tired from the day's travels, they hunker down in two Tiny Huts just inside the gate flanking the hallway’s opening.
As the space was limited they had to form two protective bubbles for the night. The southern dome contained Lothar and his skeletons, Kaertas and Vai’len as neither of them were bothered by the cleric’s new friends. While the north had the others; Mogg, Halxion, Dr. Carric, Thevius and Sinestra. During their rest, they can hear the clanking of bones settling as it was obvious that the black skeletons had returned to the magically darkened area in the tunnel. They had assumed this would happen as they had dealt with the sarcophagus at the entrance a few times. Mogg passed out wine and cheese from the bag before returning to his dome and resting for the night.
Right after the second casting of each dome, they could hear a large party heading down the tunnel. They hadn’t arrived in the worked stone portion; however, Halxion could see the hobgoblin priest surrounded by goblins and skeletons. The priest was in full regalia of the Master and once in the rest of the party’s darkvision, Lothar seemed ready to attack but held for further instruction. They could see that as the priest held up his holy symbol the skeletons came out of the darkness in response to their actions and not due to them not running through the area. Each black skeleton bowed their head and presented themselves for inspection. After which the priest and his party continued to pass and the skeletons stepped back into the darkness.
Sinestra voiced her disdain for the servants of the Master but agreed that they should just let them pass by without violence. They had tucked the two domes just on the inside of the gate and on either side of the tunnel’s opening and once the priest had them in view his voice broke the tension. “Hey! No camping by the Gate!” Some of the adventurers held their breath hoping that the priest would just continue on. Lothar takes action, steps out and informs the servant of the Master that they would not be here long. The other cleric recognized the holy symbol of Vrokíva and sought confirmation from Lothar. A small discussion happens between the two clerics about how Vrokíva stands against civilization; luckily they did not ask why Lothar was there. They did ask who cast the magical domes if Lothar was alone and standing outside of either of the bubbles. “It’s not that I don’t believe you but how…” and he knocked on the bubble.
It was at this time a disheveled Thevius poked his head from the northern hut exclaiming “Why is it so loud!” The priest explained that they were not allowed to camp near the gate but could camp outside the gate. Thevius, continuing his charade, explained that it was going to take him a while as his dome was filled with loose paper. Lothar, continuing his act, looked surprised as the tiefling emerged from his dome. Finally the others come out and head to the gate. Some were prepared for a fight that never happened. When Lothar’s skeletons came out, the priest was once again confused with the walking mess of contradictions Lothar seemed to be. However, the priest and his companions leave back to the tunnel they had emerged from.
They remade camp outside the gate, the black skeletons emerged about an hour after the priest left but melded back into the darkness once noticing the party did not reform the bubbles where they were told not to do so. Sometime during their rest, a group of six ogres stomped by them muttering “fucking wizards” before continuing through the gate. It seemed that this road is rather active and wasn’t the best place to set camp.
As they all prepared for the twenty first of Senka, there was a discussion on what to do. Some wanted to continue in the dungeon either delving further to find the Architect or look for the entrance to Greznek. They decided to continue for the day and leave for New Czira as it was about the time for the shipment to have arrived. Traveling five hours they return to the level of fear. Three of them can not withstand it and as they walk into the ogre cavern they feel that their actions might have caused spirits to linger. They press on, past the fear.
There was only one path left to explore in the ogre tunnel and they decided that it’s the best course of action. The unworked stone traveled down, much farther than the next level that some of them might have thought but hundreds of feet to almost a quarter mile. Finally they emerge into a crevasse of some sort. Above them the ceiling looked to be at least two hundred feet and in front of them there was a cavern with a couple side tunnels. The floor was damp and in spots they could see the condensation pooled together but they pressed on, taking the path not filled with spider webs.
Moving to the side tunnel which opened up into a larger cavern, Vai’len and Halxion pushed Kaertas behind them as Mogg entered to scout. The bugbear heads south, noticing a strange black pyramid with writing. He moves back into the visual range of Halxion and signs about what he had found and asked to have a familiar sent to the pyramid and read the writing while Vai’len and he scout the northern half of the cavern. The familiar flies to the twenty foot tall black pyramid and reads:
Me’Nak has gone into the void
Enter their tomb and be destroyed.
Beware intruders who disturb Me’Nak’s rest;
You are not welcome, do not molest,
Nor enter to respects be paid
You are not welcome at this grave
The scouts return and they all move up to one of the tunnels they found. Out of three or so they noticed they decided to explore the tight worked stone one. Terrance was sent ahead and once the owl was found not to die instantly, the rogues moved in to investigate. None of the doors are locked or trapped and a secret door is found on the southern wall. Holding Kaertas off until they investigate the side rooms, Sinestra sends their familiar past the northern door. It looked to be unfinished and odd. The room was devoid of anything and looked to not serve a purpose. It did connect to the eastern door. Once they found nothing of interest in the side room, they have Kaertas open the secret door he just longed to open.
Unfortunately, some wererats were waiting and the poor wizard got wailed upon. He managed to stay standing but now bore three familiar wounds. The battle continued with the party moving in past the trap Lothar triggered. Thevius had to control the flames; however, because of this his party members were able to move in and eliminate some of the wererats. Lothar did fall to an onslaught of perfectly placed arrows but was healed by Halxion. Two of them escaped and fled into a fast moving stream of water that dipped out of sight.
Not pursuing the wererats they rest for a bit and move back through the tight tunnel to continue to examine the cavern. Heading south, they found another secret door. This one had abjuration magic and once dispelled by Halxion it revealed a tomb. A tomb in which two of them recognize the sinister figure carved into the iconography of wealth. This tomb belonged to the spectre that hit them multiple times with Fireballs before they fled to Arienanathela’s tomb for three weeks. Moving away from the tomb they discussed what to do. Ultimately they left it up to a vote and they majority voted to not deal with the tomb currently. Instead they head to another side tunnel.
Moving in with Sinestra’s familiar, Mogg can hear the splashing of something playing in water. Neither of them could see anything but they all could hear the deep humming. “hmmmm…hmmmm....I can smell you.” When the voice returns to humming it is accompanied by a few others. And yet the two in the side cavern could not see anything. The familiar flies toward the back where two large columns of stone met an island in the middle of swiftly moving water. The water was far deeper than originally thought and it had lots of shadows from outcroppings. Mogg, reluctant to delve further into the cavern, heads back. The others agree that they should leave for the day and return to the New Czira. As they leave they can hear:
“Nay, take a seat with us,
Honour and eat with us,”
They answer'd grinning:
“Our feast is but beginning."
Their trek back is uneventful, they do stop to chat with their otyugh friend, Max, and learn that they were probably wise to not have entered the spiderwebs because there could be a spider queen and that the deep hungry voices might have been trolls. Before leaving, Mogg throws Max a giant rat corpse and they travel safely out of the dungeon and unassaulted on their return to the new settlement on the coast of Gylidd.
