The Children Rescued

James as: Rookwood - Male Dwarven Totemist (Magic of Inarcnum)

Matthew as: Zhray – Human Wizard

Jeff as (filling in for Ron as): Durgall - Male Dwarven Cleric

Jeff as: Mothoopal – Male Gnome Sorcerer

John as: Lorash - Male Human Druid

and: Mort - Wolf Animal Companion

One of the Halflings rescued from slavery, a rogue named Mary, draws the party a map of what she knows of the Malachite Fortress. Armed with this information they descend to the Malachite Fortress again.

Surprised by a guard of 8 Hobgoblins behind a makeshift barrier in the wide hall where they had lost Jax, they fight the group, Zhray starting off with an arcane burning hands, setting the barrier aflame, and some of the Hobgoblins as well. However this attracts all the fire of their javelins and Zhray goes down. Shortly after several of the Hobgoblins fall from the flames as well, ones head falling into the burning barrier with a sickly smoke coming from his cooking flesh. In their damaged state, the rest of the party makes quick work of them and heals Zhray, and continues on.

They decide to go after the barracks first. They pass through the forge they had discovered earlier, and out into a hall complex with an intersecting hall and many doors all around.

As they reach the door supposed to house the barracks a pair of Hobgoblins at the end of the crossing hall spots them and shouts a warning “Intruders” and banging on the doors behind them.

Zhray casts a mirror image several of himself appearing around him

Lorash reminds Rookwood that there is supposed to be a pit between them and that area, but Rookwood doesn’t pay attention, and runs over the pit attacking the Hobgoblins, somehow the pit doesn’t open.

Lorash opens the door door to the barracks and rushes in with Mort and Durgall to take care of the Hobgoblin guards there before they can ready themselves.

Zhray unable to get a clear shot anywhere and worried what might be behind the other doors in the hall opens the door opposite the barracks trying to get a look in. He sees a bedroom and two fleshy mounds, which form vaguely humanoid shape and lumber toward him. He closes the door before they get to him.

The Hobgoblins in the barracks and the hall are taken care of while the fleshy mounds pound on the door, too stupid to use the latch. While Zhray covers the door they pound on ready to burn them should they break through.

Two more hobgoblins enter from the way the Heroes came, attacking the two undefended arcanists. Rookwood waits for the door to open on which the two hall guards were pounding, but it doesn’t

Mothoopal takes a bad sword slice from one of the hobgoblins, but Zhray just laughs as the other hobgoblin slices an illusionary duplicate. Durgal comes out and interposes himself with the two hobgoblins and downs the first, as Mort harries the second.

After finishing off the two last hobgoblins Rookwood sets the leavers to disable the pits and runs back to the rest of the party.

They open the door to the room with the fleshy mounds, and a long slow battle ensues as the mounds don’t burn, and are so tough and rubbery that their weapons have little effect. Eventually the mounds are worn down and the party wins. Durgal and Lorash heal the party from what wounds the nasty claws of the mounds inflicted on them.

The head over to the doors beyond the pits that were guarded, and attempt to break in. It takes a good minute of pounding. They come on to the scene of a dwarf with warty green skin with a pet dog the size of a horse with quills finishing the sale of three manacled children to a grey-skinned dwarf with horns.

The warty dwarf demands what the party’s purpose is. Lorash responds with “We’re here to buy the children”. The dwarf says they are already sold. Lorash offers to double whatever their price was. At 150 gp The grey dwarf agrees to take this offer, but the warty one says he hasn’t been paid yet. They get into an argument, and the warty dwarf attacks the grey one.

Mothoopal magic missiles the dog, which attacks him. The party helps the warty dwarf win against the grey dwarf, but turns on him as soon as the other dwarf is down. As his wounds close quickly, they realize he’s part Troll, and very difficult to kill. Eventually they win, but it was a close thing, sure they couldn’t have taken both part dwarves together.

They find a key on the body of the warty dwarf to the children’s manacles, and take them back to the orphanage, when dropping them off, they find that the fourth child was taken by a floating ball of eyes just before they entered the slaver’s chambers, but was dropped off at the orphanage by a veiled woman. They checked the children for any magical signs and find that the one returned by the veiled woman has an invisible sigil on his cheek which looks like an eye with an arrow through it. They are rewarded for the return of the children by the church.

The spellcasters take 2 days to prepare magics to go back down and find the rest of the missing people. During this time they investigate the symbol found on the child’s cheek. Zhray once again meets a half-elf who knows something about it. He won’t tell him much except it’s a symbol of a group he too is investigating called the cagewrights, and that they may be behind the Last Laugh, and the kidnappings. He would have to talk to his employer before revealing more.

When they return to the locksmith’s house/shop they find it in ruin, a hole where it had been. Asking around they find that another group of adventurers, ‘The Stormblades’ had collapsed the tunnels to prevent any more incursions from the underdark.

The party decides to investigate who the Stormblades are, and find that the Stormblades are investigating them as well. Finding them at a local bar, they confront the Stormblades.

The leader of the Stormblades insults the party calling them ‘Smelly’ and deriding them for leaving the other kidnap victims so long. Rookwood retorts, indicating that the stormblades just showed up at the last minute to take credit for all their hard work.

Rookwood and the leader of the Stormblades take it outside, despite the protestations of other party members of both parties. The Stormblade’s leader can’t lay a finger on Rookwood who just dodges him, and doesn’t even attempt to hit him back. Rookwood insults his fighting ability, repeatedly. The Stormblade’s leader runs off humiliated, as the rest of the Stormblades spit up.

Jax's Sacrifice

Joe as: Jax - Male Human SpellThief (Complete Adventurer)

James as: Rookwood - Male Dwarven Totemist (Magic of Inarcnum)

Matthew as: Zhray – Human Wizard

Ron as: Durgall - Male Dwarven Cleric

Jeff as: Mothoopal – Male Gnome Sorcerer

John as: Lorash - Male Human Druid

and: Mort - Wolf Animal Companion

The heroes ascend once again to Cauldron, and rest and heal. Hendall leaves them on an important mission for the Church.

Once again they descend. They decide to wait no longer having destroyed all known threats in Jzadirune. Choosing between searching for a key to the elevator, or going through a hall that is known to be trapped they decide to go the quicker way.

Jax carefully explores every foot going forward expecting a trap. At the end of an apparently dead end hallway he finds the pit, but is unable to find a way to disable it from above. And cannot find the hidden door that the charmed skulk marked on their map. He ties a rope around his waist with the two dwarves holding it and letting out slack as he inches forward.

The pit opens below him, and drops him to just above a wooded room with spiked walls. The room swings on an arm toward him, he manages to pull himself up enough not to get hit by the walls swinging by. The pit lid closes above him leaving him hanging and stuck just where he can’t get to anything. Trying to get the pit open again Lorash and Rookwood lean on the pit lid doing push-ups at its edge.

The pit suddenly opens again just as the moving room at the bottom returns to the upright position surprising both Lorash and Rookwood. The sudden weight is too much for Durgall and the rope slips through his hands. The rope gets stuck on Lorash and drags him down, with it and Jax, while Rookwood being a short top heavy dwarf topples into the pit as well.

Once again the pit lid closes on the half the party that fell into it. The pit swings down so that it’s spiked wall becomes the floor. All still barely conscious but badly battered. The pit rises up again so it’s bottom is now facing down. With Jax’s last ounce of conciousness he calls on his draconic blood’s power and teleports to the gear chamber below the pit, but falls unconscious as he does so. Rookwood & Lorash brace themselves against the side they assume is going to fall down, which it does. It comes up once again as they brace on the opposite side again, and it falls down again. It comes up one last time, and stops, they shout up “Don’t open the pit!” as the remainder of the party discusses what to do.

Zhray decides to cast a spell that makes him climb like a spider, and walks on the wall around the pit looking for the still concealed hidden door.

Lorash and Rookwood start to work on the wooden floor of the pit breaking it open. Durgall pulls out his spare rope and has it ready, while Mothoopal ties one end of it to a wall sconce hopping that will prevent it from being lost should something happen again.

After getting down to where Jax was Lorax heals him, and Jax disables the gears of the pit and open the pit The climb back up to the pit and yell to be let out.

Zhray jumps on the lid and opens it while Durgall throws the end of the rope down. Zhray stuck to the lid walks vertically up the side. Zhray starts looking for the secret door again. Finding it he opens it. As the door pivots out, four Hobgoblins waiting and ready to attack toss javelins at him, and he slumps, his sticky hands still holding him onto the door.

Jax tries to climb out first but the pit door has closed once again, and the way his weight is distributed on the rope it isn’t enough to open it, Rookwood climbs up on the rope as well, the pit door opens again, but the weight is too much for Durgall. He slips to the pit edge. But somehow manages to hold on this time, and brace the heels of his feet against the door edge.

Mothoopal creates a fog around the party, obscuring them from the ranged attacks of the Hobgoblins. Still able to make out Durgall, and seeing him as an easy target they spear him, but he shrugs it off.

Rookwood climbs out with a swing at him from one of the Hobgoblins, while Lorash takes up the bottom of the rope to keep it taut.

Rookwood barrels into the nearest Hobgoblin pushing him back into the elevator room, and giving him room to take them on.

Lorash and Jax take the edge of the pit at the same time to ensure it stays open long enough for them to get out.

Finally free of holding the other Hero’s rope, Durgall enters the fray with Rookwood and the hobgoblins. Lorash heals Zhray, still hanging to the door, while the dwarves make short work of the Hobgoblins.

Durgal and Lorash finish healing up the injured heroes and then descend the 200 feet the elevator takes them to the Malachite Fortress.

Opening the door ready for anything they find a long wide hallway with several pillars, and a strange rock formation with long crystals jutting from it. Rookwood suspecting something goes up to it and licks it. It tastes just like rock should so they leave it be, searching the room. They head for a door at the south end of the hall, but when everyone has past the sculpture it comes to life and attacks Durgall. Rookwood goes at it with his claws and tears large chunks off of it until it no longer moves.

Just then the door in the south end or the hall opens and an Ogre peers out. The party fans out and hits it with ranged weapons as Rookwood tells them not to approach it. Jax damages it badly, and it takes off after him, hitting his head like a ball, his whole body bounces off the wall in a mess of gore, as it slides down. Rookwood carefully approaches the Ogre not giving it an opening, and cuts it to pieces while his totems protects him from taking much damage from it, while the Arcanists peper it with spells, and the rest of the party attacks with ranged weapons.

Durgall checks Jax, but finds him quite horribly dead.

The party quickly checks for any treasure, but finds none, and retreats back to Cauldron with Jax’s body. They find that for whatever reason the lifegiving magics don’t work on him, weather his soul has moved on or the gods don’t wish to grant him life again they do not know.

They rest up from their deadly day, and return again to the Malachite fortress without their Spellthief.

Rookwood takes the lead, carefully searching every inch of the way, and finds a secret door in the wide hall. Going down it they come to a dead end, Rookwood refuses to believe that it is just a dead-end hall, and searches for 5 minutes finally finding a secret door. It leads into a forge, where a chained dwarf works on making weapons, and two Halflings chained to the floor link chains together under the watchful eyes of Goblins & Hobgoblins.

The goblins rush forward and start fighting the party, as they bunch together in a line, Zhray lets loose a fire spell which badly hurts the lot of them, as well as injuring the dwarven smith. The party has little work to finish off the goblins at that point. They heal up the dwarf, free her, and the Halflings, take the goblins’ equipment, and return to the surface with the former slaves after finding that the dwarf’s husband has already been sold off to some denizen of the underdark.

Zhray Lives Again!

The Cast

Joe as: Jax - Male Human SpellThief (Complete Adventurer)

James as: Rookwood - Male Dwarven Totemist (Magic of Inarcnum)

Matthew as: Zhray – Human Wizard

Ron as: Durgall - Male Dwarven Cleric

Jessie as: Hendor – Male Half-Orc Paladin

Jeff as: Mothoopal – Male Gnome Sorcerer

John as: Lorash - Male Human Druid

and: Mort - Wolf Animal Companion

The Heroes make short work of the Dark Ones that ended Zhray’s life. Rookwood finds a secret door, but in their beaten state Rookwood and Lorash decide to head back to rest with Zhray’s lifeless body. Meanwhile an uninjured Durgall & Jax investigate what is beyond the secret door. A room with green marble and a mushroom forest painted on the walls and a small hoard of treasure including a an armor stand which they are wary of animating and attacking them. They brave it, and discover no traps laid, and recover the hoard, which is just barely within their limits to carry to the surface.

The heroes meet Mothoopal & Hendor at the Temple of Dol Arrah, who wish to join their troupe. The heroes having been beaten so badly gladly accept the offer. Lorash contacts his coven of druids and is able to procure a scroll of reincarnate with the majority of the treasure they recovered. He fails to grasp the complexities of the spell first time he tries to use it’s advanced magic on the body of his companion, as it fails. Fortunately the magic did not dissipate, and trying again he succeeds. Zhray appears as a human once again in a brand new 18 year old body, gaining a new lease on life, however, she is quite surprised and confused to be a he.

They return to the hidden treasure room and find two more hidden doors, to yet more treasure rooms. The first they investigate holds another stand of mail, which this time does animate and attack Jax. Hendor & Rookwood beat it down quickly. Investigating the chest, Jax finds that it holds invisible treasure, which appears when he takes it out. They tried to take the chest but were unable to lift it from the floor. Investigating the other hidden room they find 2 empty chests, one with a hidden compartment which Jax finds, and another with yet more treasure. Rookwood sure there must be more treasure hidden in the chests, breaks them all up, but finds nothing more.

The group trek through the dungeon, making their way to a room marked as having some big nasty monster by their skulk turncoat. When they get there they discover a mass of webs hanging from the ceiling with a humanoid cocooned in it dangling over a pool of crystal clear water. Two man sized spiders are spotted in the webs. Rookwood & Hendor both enter the pool, trying to find a way to cut down the cocoon. As soon as Hendor enters, he feels a painful fiery bite on both his legs. Mothoopal reacts by creating a mist that conceals him, unfortunately it also conceals everyone in the room, making it difficult to for the heroes to determine where their enemy is, or even what is happening. The spiders drop from the webs above and attack the hapless heroes in hopes of an easy meal. Hendor and Rookwood escape the pool, and a find that the pool is actually an illusion concealing a spider the size of a horse, which follows them out. The heroes manage to put an end to the threat after a short fight, an no further injuries to themselves.

Hendor is healed, and the heroes continue making their way to the other room marked as having a large monster in it. They find a number of interconnected hidden doors and tunnels, finding their way to a workroom with a half-finished gnomish golem, and broken parts scattered around the room. Hendor beats the golem to pieces to make sure it doesn’t attack them at an inopportune moment. While he does so, a body covered in rags rises up from the floor and attacks. The heroes make short work of it, unable to even touch the armored heroes.

Following the rough tunnels they make their way to an alchemy lab not even shown on the map. It’s smashed up with a number of liquids mingling on the floor. As Rookwood approaches the debris flies into the air and tries to attack him. He makes very short work of it. And examines the room finding a number of potions and alchemical supplies still intact. The heroes make a thorough search finding nothing else, but expecting to find a path further on they double check finding 3 more hidden doors. Checking them, one leads to a repository of potions, none are magic however as Jax’s detect magic shows. Zhray examines them further and determines they have found a small fortune in potions ready to be magiced. They gather them up.

Neither other door leads them to where they were headed, so they go back around to where a dark stalker was marked. They do not see him as they begin to filter into a woodshop, as Jax enters, he spots the dark one hiding behind a chest and lets loose a bolt from his crossbow that skewers the surprised creature through the heart. They find another secret door there leading to an antechamber with JZADIRUNE spelled out in a semicircle on the floor before large temple doors. Jax finds a normal lock on the door instead of the (un)usual triangular depression on the other doors, and sets to picking it with tools he found in one of the earlier hoards. After 20 minutes of desperately trying, he finally rolls the tumblers over as the picks strain with the effort. Opening the doors he spots a large temple with a giant glowing gear suspended from the ceiling, and a number of desks scattered haphazardly, as well as something looking to be a giant brain behind a desk on a balcony. He points this out to the party and Hendor charges in.

The brain floats up from behind the desk, a dripping mass of tentacles dangling a full 10 feet below it, and a murderous eagle like beak jutting from it’s front, no other organs or features showing. It zooms over Hendor, and lashes him across the face, then returned to its perch. Rookwood, Durgall, Lorash and Mort charge in making for the balcanies. Mort closes with the monster, but it just grabs the wolf lashing it a number of times, Lorash quickly shares a healing spell with Mort, before the monster tosses him to the ground. Jax, Hendor, and Zhray start peppering it with bolts and arrows, while Mothoopal hides his magic expended. The monster lashes at Lorash, grabbing him and pulling him up, and Lorash goes rigid with the noxious substance in the stings of the monster’s tentacles, while Durgall heals Mort yet again. Rookwood runs up the opposite balcony and tosses a grappling hook up at the monster, landing on it’s brain. The monster wraps a tentacle around the rope and pulls Rookwood off the balcony, but manages to hold on dangling a few inches above the floor. Hendor leaps up and grabs the rope, but the monster just tosses it down along with Lorash. Durgall quickly reacts healing Lorash, and Mort drags Lorash out, back to the antechamber. The bolts from Jax angering it, it heads toward him and the antechamber, as it gets to the wall above the door Rookwood gathers his hook and once again tosses it at the monster. It casually catches it and starts pulling him up toward it. It lashes at him, but his totems protect him. Jax fires a bolt up at it but Rookwood is in the way, fortunately his totems protect him from it as well, as it bounces off his thigh harmlessly. Rookwood held by the monster’s tentacles, uses both his totemic claws to strike at the monster, and destroys it, but falls to the ground from a height of 30 feet.