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.