Leo is able to successfully climb the 30 foot wall and secure the grappling and pitons for everyone to ascend.

OOC: Let me know what you are doing with Geebo and Dalharen, as they are too weak to climb.

With Leo's attachments, it is easy for everyone to climb here.

The top of the climb opens into a dark but large cavern with stalactites above you and a few scattered stalagmites at your feet. They are all very large.

To the right, it continues around to the east to a 40 foot cliff wall very similar to the one you just climbed.

To the left, you see a distant reddish glow. Natural (and very large) steps lead upward, allowing fairly easy passage to the northwest up 40 feet. You cannot see what lies beyond.

Shae gets to the top and looks around for signs of Daklar or other life.

As to Geebo and Dalharen, she wonders if Borimer can climb with them on his back and bring them up. Or maybe tie a rope to them to haul them up like a stretcher.

"Let's follow the heat to the left." Tahldar says to the group.

OOC to Shae: You could do those things if desired, but it will take time (approximately 1 hour game time).

Shae is fine doing it either way, if everyone wants to leave them with Fingas.

She inquires with Dalharen about details for his brother. What kind of weaknesses? What should we be on the look out for? What are the scope of his powers? She also asks him about this Djinn he mentioned. Where is it and what does he know about it?

Dalharen says, "I believe the more power we have, the more evil we become. Haklara is more powerful than I. He has mastered perhaps fifty psionic powers compared to my thirty. They range from mild to powerful. He has fully mastered powers such as project force and telekinesis, including animation of objects and even shadows. He can use them for ballistic attacks and even to control another person's body. You saw what he did to the ceiling above my head. And that was without preparation. I have seen him create inertial barriers and even molecular manipulation that has torn someone asunder. He can completely heal himself, set up a death field, and give himself the strength of a storm giant--turn his flesh to armor and expand or contract his bodily dimensions. Need I say more?"

He laughs with a shake of his head. "And Izlaka...he does not even need to kill to mimic. He can look at someone and mimic their visage, hear someone and mimic their voice, and by touching them, absorbs their memories. He is said to have mastered all one hundred and fifty psionic skills, making him the greatest psionicist who ever lived. Pray you never meet him as an enemy.

"As to the Djinn, we all seek more power. There are four varieties of Djinn. The Djinn, Marid, Dao and Efreet. Marid are from the Elemental Plane of Water, Dao from the Plane of Earth, Djinn are from Elemental Plane of Air, and Efreet from the Plane of Fire. The Djinn grants three wishes but is limited to wishes related to its plane, and the Plane of Air includes time and space. So it can take things, move things, maybe more. But its chaotic power is hard to control, and it will turn on its user if it can, turning a wish into a curse. You had the Djinn in your possession in that stoppered bottle and didn't even know it." He laughs before rubbing his head again.

Kahan pulls a scroll out of his backpack and casts a spell on the other path. "Let's go, and get this over with. We need to find the Earthgold before we find Haklara," he agrees.

OOC: Casting Glyph of Warding in the center of the path.

"I know little of such power." Tahldar says in response to psionics.

"I would prefer if we just get the earthgold and avoid anymore encounters if at all possible." he adds breathlessly as he follows Kahan.

OOC: I'm not sure where you landed on Geebo and Dalharen, so let's do this...

Borimer is able to use his great strength to lift Geebo and Dalharen to the top of the ledge. You leave Fingas to look after them.

Kahan casts a glyph of warding blocking the way back down the ledge.

OOC: I wasn't sure if that was the intent/location of the glyph. Also, we will assume Dalharen is put 10 feet away or more to avoid inadvertently setting it off.

With this set, you head to the northwest up the large natural stairs that lead 40 feet up.  At the top, you see an expansive scene:


Going clockwise on the map:

You see where the intense heat is coming from. There is a huge lava river (about 50-60 feet wide) running from the northeast to the southwest.

Crudely docked are two ancient stone carved rafts. The stone rafts are long and can hold up to 7 people sitting down. They are very narrow, only 3 feet wide. You see two more docking stations (totaling four) but they are empty.

There are occasional islands of stone (marked 24C) in the lava river.

A large bridge (24B) crosses over the lava river, leaving plenty of space underneath for a stone boat to travel (though they are on the south side anyway, "downriver").

Over the bridge to the west, you see two ancient stone doors with two 10 foot tall obelisks in front of them. (24E)

Slightly northeast of that is another ledge looking 30 feet down onto the huge cavern. (24D)

There is also a large tunnel that cuts back to the east.

On the flat stone wall directly to the east of you is an ancient hieroglyphic carving in the stone. It has obviously been there for a long time. It shows the following crude diagram:

This message was last edited by the GM at 00:11, Mon 13 July 2020.

"No one seems at home." Tahldar says as moves slightly north to peer around the corner to see where the eastern corridor leads.

"I wonder where the earthgold is.  I hope it's not the lava itself!"

OOC: Talhdar will hug the wall just east of 24A and peer around the corner looking east.

Shae looks around at the expansive chamber. "Well, we know where the heat was coming from. Leo, why don't you scale that 30 foot ledge to see what's up there." Then Shae will check out the obelisks and ancient doors.

"I have a feeling," she says, "that we are going to have to get on these stone boats and take a little ride."

Peeking around the corner down the east corridor, you see the following:

Leo slowly moves across the bridge and if nothing happens he will try to climb up to the ledge.

Kahan will follow behind Leo and look over the obelisks (24E).

"We should cross one at a time." Tahldar says as he begins to cross too.

OOC:  We should only have one person on the bridge at any one time.  I propose the order we cross: Leo, Kahan, Talhdar, Borimer, Shae, Shapfren.

You do not have any problems crossing the bridge. It seems strong and stable and able to support your weight with ease.

Shae, Tahldar and Kahan go over to look at the obelisks.



Each obelisk has four levels of hieroglyphics, and below the hieroglyphics, written in the Common Tongue of all things (but likely at a much later date than the obelisks' creation) is a story. At the end of each line of story is an orifice about the width of a closed fist as though to drop something in.

OBELISK 1:
When they arrived on horseback, they saw in stone a gate.
And something thereon written in blood. Stone could not fade the word "Beware."
Then from behind Rossman came a sudden Korob assault;
We cried to Rossman: "Parry! Dote not on the writings."

OBELISK 2:
Rossman garneted his sword as he parried,
And saw too late his lap is covered in blood,
And the arrow though into Rossman it entered,
But shameful, exited not the arrow until Rossman's death upon it.

Leo is able to climb to the top of the ledge. He peeks forward and sees that it goes about 15 feet in before natural stairs begin going down into darkness.

This message was last edited by the GM at 02:44, Thu 16 July 2020.

Shae also takes a close look at the doors. "I'm asuming we do something here, like put something in the holes, and if we do it right, then the doors will swing open. Any ideas?"

"My take on the writing is that door is trapped. Opening it will release the trap, which I suspect is lava somehow." Tahldar muses.

"Let's not open this door just yet.  Let's try some of the open passages nearby and see if they bear any fruit."

OOC:  I'm game to investigate any open passage and leave the door for last.

Even if Tahldar wanted to wait to open the door, Kahan couldn't stand to walk away before he figured out how, exactly. With Shae still nearby, he moved towards the obelisk and put his hands around two pairs of words;

OBELISK 1:
When they arrived on horseback, they saw in stone (a gate).
And something thereon written in blood. Stone could not fade the word "Beware."
Then from behind Rossman came a sudden Korob assault;
We cried to Rossman: "Parry! Dote not on the writings."

OBELISK 2:
Rossman garneted his sword as he parried,
And saw too late his (lap is) covered in blood,
And the arrow though into Rossman it entered,
But shameful, exited not the arrow until Rossman's death upon it.

"I think they require the stones from earlier, specifically the Agate and the Lapis Lazuli," he remarks out loud.

"There are stairs going down from here", Leo relates to the rest of the group.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:18, Sat 18 July 2020.

"Good catch!" Tahldar says.  "If we can find some way to use the stones I'm up for it." he says, though he may regret his words later.

Shae still has the gems that she took before everyone went into the mushroom chamber. The 8 match Tahldar's guesses. She supposes she could put them into the 8 holes in the obelisks in the appropriate corresponding holes, but she will wait for confirmation before doing that, since it could mean losing a valuable asset.

After thinking about it and making their guesses, Tahldar says "Give it a shot Shae with the stones, but be prepared to flee if the trap trips."

FYI, Correction for Leo. The stairs go down from the ledge, not up.

You put the gems in as suggested, each of the eight in its respective slot (as in Tahldar's post in #622 in comment thread). As each gem falls into place, you hear it fall within the stone obelisk, click into place somewhere inside, and an outline glow of the hieroglyphic scene under each begins to glow with a magic.  When all eight are in place, the hieroglyphics on the large stone doors also glow. (Technically, there are four rows--one gem for each side of the row--and as a row of gems is in place, the unlocking click of the corresponding row on the stone doors also emanates and glows.) With each gem in place, all rows glow on both the obelisks and the stone doors.

The double stone doors, 10 feet tall and covered in heiroglypics, now appear to be unlocked before you, the rows of hieroglyphics glowing faintly.

Shae will see if she can open the stone doors now.

The doors open with a hard push. They have obviously not been opened in many years. Your gems are gone, but you cannot imagine how many people actually had the right gems and figured this out.

You follow a short path west through the rock and find yourself in a larger cavern. In this cavern are three pools of liquid carved into the rock. A stream of water comes from the north to empty into the pools. Each pool also has words in Allevian carved near their lips.

The western pool has a slight green tint to it. Above the pool are carved the words "Mind and Body."

The northeastern pool has a golden tint to it and has the word "Weariness" carved into it.

The southeastern pool has a silvery ting to it and has the word "Health" carved into it.

The stream tapers out from a small crack in the wall so it does not lead to an exit.

There is also a 30 foot ledge looking down on the room from above.

The exit appears to be the same way you came.

Shae goes in and soaks in the health pool to see what happens. "Pull me out if things go bad," she tells the others.

"Wait Shae.  As I recall we were told to only fill the chalice with earthgold, which I take is the health pool."

"I agree with you.  I would like nothing else but a long drink or bath in all these waters, but since this is a test, I think it would be unwise to do."

"What do you think Kahan?"

Shae hesitates. "WEll, if it is a test, maybe there's a clue up there and Leo can climb it to see." She points to the top of the 30 foot ledge above.

Leo joins the group and scales the 30 foot ledge. On top, he finds a skeleton and an ancient, rusty chest that appears to be closed and locked.



The skeleton's clothes have long since tattered and nothing much is left, but next to it is a sealed scroll case.

Kahan studies the waters closely, wondering if this is indeed the Earthgold they are looking for. "Tenvillah told us to only take one cup full, but remember, Tenvillah was dead when we met him. We spoke with Dalharen, not Tenvillah. What he told us might not have even been the truth," he explains as he looks to the rest of them.

OOC: Just so we all have a refresher of what exactly Tenvillah (or whoever it was) said:

After he climbs up, Leo will look over the chest and see if it's trapped and how good the lock is.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:56, Wed 22 July 2020.

The chest is locked. It will take a successful pick locks check. It does not appear to be physically trapped.

Leo attempts to pick the lock.

Leo begins working on the lock and finds it is taking longer than expected. He starts getting frustrated but then the lock turns and the chest is unlocked--physically. Unfortunately, the chest still does not open. Something else, perhaps magical, is keeping the chest locked.

"Looks like there might be some kind of magic keeping this closed." Leo throws a rope down to anyone who might want to take a look.

"I'll come up." Tahldar says as he takes the rope in hand.

OOC:  Tahldar can use a knock spell on the chest.  As long as he can make the climb.  If need be I would suggest Borimer make the climb first and pull Tahldar up.

Kahan can assist Tahldar with a boost if needed. He may be weakened, but surely a scrawny elf wizard can't weigh that much. ;)

Tahldar casts a knock spell, and the wizard lock keeping the chest locked dissipates. Opening the chest reveals a cloak, some bracers, some boots, a dagger, a waterskin, and a spellbook.

Tahldar notes the items in the chest, but doesn't try them on and puts them in his backpack along with the scroll tube.  There's work to be done and little time to tarry.

OOC: I will climb down, then open the scroll tube to see if it has any clues to what to do with the pools.

The scroll tube contains a seemingly blank scroll.

It also contains several sheets of velum paper upon which the man was scribbling. The writings are in Allevian and discuss generally the following:

The man (named Ophid) was traveling with his companions (Senmi, Marin, Feshchul, and Omnipuria) searching for the cure for the Black Death disease and other treasures. Ophid had the disease and it was progressing. They bathed in the three pools, which seemed to heal and make them better in every way except one--it would not heal the Black Death.

He volunteered to stay and keep trying the pools. Also, that way when the Black Death took over his mind, he would not kill them. His companions left, locking the way in, and he kept trying to get healed in the pools, to no avail.

Near the end, it states: "If you are reading this, I am dead and the Black Death got to me. My companions have not returned and I am cursed to die a miserable death."

Soon after that, his scribblings seem to be the writings of a madman and make no sense. After that, they do not even seem to form proper words.

"It seems as if it is safe to enter the pools, although as we suspected it will not heal our sickness," Kahan noted aloud. "I wonder if these people were the skeletons in the gods room," he wondered as he headed towards the pools.

Tahldar shugs about the heritage of the skeletons in "Gods" room.  All he knows for sure is he is glad he didn't join them.  There aren't many that have faced a god and lived to tell about it.

"Let's fill the chalice before we bathe.  Seems prudent to me."

"Then move on."

OOC:  I want to fill the chalice and then bathe in each pool.

Kahan will monitor the situation before getting in himself, after making sure Tahldar is okay.

Shae goes with her initial plan and soaks in the health pool to see what happens.

You fill the chalice. (Not sure which one you choose, but actually the water here only works when fully immersed in it, so it won't do any good.)

OOC: I'm going to wrap this up since there's no trick or anything here. No need to prolong this unnecessarily.

You test out and soak in the pools. Here is what happens when you fully immerse yourself in the pool for 30 seconds or more:

HEALTH POOL: You feel all your aches and pains, your wounds and bruises, heal. The wounds close, and you are fully healed. You see the silverish blue tint and surmise that it probably had the healing Earthsilver in it.

WEARINESS: In the golden weariness pool, you sink in and find that your little troubles and your tiredness fade away in moments. (Acts like you just rested for 10 hours, and gives you back your energy, takes away all exhaustion and modifiers from your blood loss, and restores your lost blood, vigor, and hydration, and even takes away hunger.)

MIND AND BODY: This one seems somehow the most magical of all. With some gold and silvery specks in the water, you find yourself not only healed of all disease and poison, but regaining all mental capacity, clearing your mind, taking off all magics from you, and even helping spellcasters regain all their spells for the day. (Get all daily memorized/prayed for spells, all diseases except Black Curse healed, all poisons healed, and anything affecting mind or body functioning goes away.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:28, Mon 27 July 2020.

"We should bring Geebo and Dalharen up here as well, it should heal Geebo of their resurrection weakness," Kahan surmised as he dried off.

Tahldar immerses himself in each pool and the experience fills him with a sense of peace and tranquility the like he's never felt before.  All the pain, weariness and lethargy drains from him.  He literally feels one hundred years younger.

Dripping wet he does his best to dry himself but he finds he doesn't care all that much.  He just feels good, wet or not.

"Geebo.  Yes he should come.  But I think Dalharen should not.  With his aura of anti magic I think he will not likely benefit from the waters, and honestly I'm not sure if I trust him.  We've experienced too many betrayals, I don't want another."

"So instead we carry him around like a sack of potatoes? What do we do if we need to leave in a hurry? Leave him behind?" Kahan asked as he pulled his armor off and headed into the pools as well.

Needing some healing Leo takes a dip as well.

You all take a dip and start to drip dry, feeling better. (All negative modifiers gone, all spells returned, all healing complete to max hp.)

Shae feels much better after soaking in the tubs. (Assuming she got her 3 shapechange forms back again too?) "It was about time we had something good happen to us," she says as she begins to air dry, thankful for the dry warm air surrounding everyone thanks to the lava river nearby.

"I also think we should offer these waters to our companions, even the devious one. It is the humane thing to do, even though we don't trust him."

You all finish dipping in the pools when you hear a commotion from outside. At first, you think you hear a squealing animal, but maybe it is actually a woman's scream. It is very disconcerting, and then it suddenly stops.

Shae grabs her ancestral spear, shakes the water from her hair, and runs out to see what the trouble is.

You rush out at the screams and notice two things that are different. First, there is now a third stone canoe parked just south of the bridge.

Second, across the bridge at 22A is where the screams are coming from. You at first thought they were from an old woman because they were so high. But now you realize they are the screams of Fingas Hatt--not screams of pain but of fear. His screams stop suddenly just a moment later.

You can't see what's happening over there because of the stone stairs leading 40 feet down block your view.

You currently stand outside 24E.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:06, Fri 31 July 2020.

"Come on!" Tahldar says as he starts to run over the bridge.

"Let me go first!" he adds as he notes the lava and is wary of a trap.

OOC:  I suggest Tahldar cross first, and if I get over the lava bridge okay, the rest come over. If I find myself falling I'll cast feather fall and Fly.

Kahan follows behind Tahldar and waits to cross as the elf wishes.

You cross the bridge and find no traps waiting. At the top of the stairs, you can see down.

Pinned against the far wall is Fingas, spread eagled. He was the one screaming like an old woman. However, he seems unharmed. As you go down the stairs, you notice also that Geebo and Dalharen are not there.

At the bottom, it looks like Fingas is released from whatever invisible bonds held him. He collapses to his knees.

"He appeared out of nowhere like a black shadow," Fingas says. "He used some sort of mind magic and pushed Dalharen down over the cliff there." He points to where you had just climbed up with the 30 foot drop. "Then he slammed me against the wall. I couldn't move." He points up to the 40' cliff to the east.  "And then he took Geebo and jumped to the top over there like it wasn't more than a simple hop to the top." Fingas rubs his arms. Right before he took Geebo, he said, 'Do you know the word?' I said, 'What word?' Then he said, 'The gnome must know' and hopped up there."

"Sounds like more combat is coming our way." Tahldar says as he looks up to the 40' cliff.

"Shae, can you cast fly on Borimer?  That way he can ferry us up quickly.  I will cast a Stoneskin on him for protection as I'm sure he'll need it."

Kahan will peer over the cliff to see if Dalharen is even possibly still alive, although he assumed the worst.

Shae says, "Fly is not in my itinerary. I think it is Kahan who casts that one. But I can turn into a bird to get up there."

Looking over the edge, it is very dark, but you see the still dark figure of Dalharen 30 feet below on the rocky ground. He is not moving.

Kahan casts fly on Borimer, and Tahldar casts stoneskin. Borimer flies up to the ledge 40 feet above. He finds himself on an empty ledge (22C). A narrow, 5 foot wide tunnel leads north before splitting off into west,  and north passageways (equally narrow) (23A).

There is no sign of Geebo or his captor.

However, Borimer hears a sound coming from the northeast direction through the tunnels north of him. The sound was faint but was probably about 70-80 feet away.

Shae will turn into a falcon and fly to the top with Borimer. She transfers back into her half-elf self, with her ancestral spear ready, and says, "I can't let you go alone. I'll be right behind you."

OOC: Fly is a Mage spell, Priests can't cast it. Not sure where you guys got that from but I just figured I'd clear that up ;)

"I think Dalharen is dead," Kahan remarks quietly as he returns to where Tahldar was waiting.

OOC: Let's forget the fly spell for now. I was following along without really checking. Backing up just a bit...

Borimer easily climbs up to the top of the ledge. There are natural handholds carved into the rock where others in the past apparently climbed. (It takes a simple DEX and STR roll to succeed, both of which are no problem for Borimer.)

"Toss down a rope!" Tahldar asks Borimer.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:43, Wed 05 Aug 2020.

Not to be outdone, Leo climbs up as well.

It takes a few minutes to do so, but eventually everyone who wants to makes it safely to the top.

Borimer will carefully lead the group north through the narrow passage.

Tahldar follows Borimer and wonders what kind of battle they will be faced with ahead.  He's never faced or seen a psionicist and doesn't know what to expect.

Borimer leads you north to the opening at 23A. From here, you see that the western passage leads to a large room about 20 feet wide and 35 feet long (23B). There are 11 stone items here that look like crosses between altars and stone coffins, old and decayed. Each is about 5 feet wide by 10 feet long, very large for either an altar or a coffin. To the far west side of the room is a 5 foot long statue of a black spider, apparently the object of some worship in ancient days.

If you continue north, you will enter a passage with very large spiderwebs. The webs themselves are about as thick as a rope. They do not appear to be all cobwebs covered in dust. Some appear quite recent.

You could burn through the webs or, alternatively, maneuver carefully around them without touching them. (Doing the latter requires a DEX check for every 10 feet traveled.)

That web-filled passage continues north or cuts to the east, depending on your choice. The room to the west has no other exits.

You now all can hear the sounds coming from the east direction through the tunnel. The sound is still faint but was probably about 70-80 feet away. It sounds like rustling and someone making sounds from behind a gag.


This message was last edited by the GM at 05:39, Fri 07 Aug 2020.

Tahldar does not like the looks of the webs one bit.  "I think we should burn through them." he says as he gauges his odds of sneaking his way through them to be quite low.

"Maybe we should have someone go through them first, to make sure there isn't something flammable on the other side? If we burn the webs, they would likely catch anything else in these caves on fire, and who knows what's up here," Kahan mused out loud, looking to Borimer and Leo for their thoughts. They were, after all, likely the two nimblest companions they had found so far.

Borimer says, "I will try it and go to the east to investigate the sound. Be prepare to rescue me if this proves foolish."

Borimer successfully navigates the webs, and nothing happens. He pops out on the east side, which breaks up into a passage east and a passage northeast.

The sound appears to be coming from the northeast. It sounds like a low moaning sound, followed by a soft squeal that sounds like, "Help!"

"Geebo needs us.  Time is wasting." Tahldar says as he takes out flint and steel to see if he can the webs burned off.

Tahldar begins burning the webs. They seem slightly flammable, and the flame and smoke picks up.

This appears to draw the attention from something above. You see dark movement from about 20 feet above the webs inside the narrow corridor.

You can't tell how far up the crack in the rocks above go, but they are about 3 feet wide and go up into darkness above--perhaps extending 50 feet or more up.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:46, Tue 11 Aug 2020.

Borimer moves forward to investigate the sound.

"Now might be a good time for a fireball," Kahan mentions as he takes a step back from the webs and draws his mace and shield. "That's likely one big spider, possibly with her children, judging by the size of these webs," he adds warily.

Tahldar shrugs and begins to cast.

OOC:  I will cast fireball.  I will try to catch as much of the upper area as I can.  And of course avoid blasting the party.

08:38, Today: Tahldar of Tyrannia rolled 37 using 10d6.  Fireball.

Leo draws his weapon and looks for anything that approaches.

Tahldar casts fireball up into the dark crevasse above your heads. The darkness is lit up in the blast as the fireball streaks upward in an explosion. In that brief instant of light, you see a thousand eyes peering down at you. Then the bodies begin to drop.

You jump back out of the way.

Five humanoid (now burnt to a crisp) bodies flop to the ground. They appear to be dead for a moment, but then begin to move in awkward jerks. Other remains also fall to the ground--skeletal masses, bones, and the like--and you see that most of these appear to be giant rats. About ten of the rats appear to be in the early stages of decomposition.

Also falling are hundreds of small spiders about the size of your hand. They were the thousand eyes you saw as the bodies fell.

The five humanoid corpses and ten giant rat corpses begin to move and rise in jerky articulations at the joints. They all seem sticky and covered in webs. You may have just awakened something and accidentally hatched these spiders.

That said, the spiders that flop to the ground appear to be permanently dead. It is the crispy fried bodies of the humans and rats that appear to be rising to their feet to attack.



Meanwhile, Borimer is exploring the northeast area... (PM)

Despite being a druid, Shae has a phobia of spiders from a childhood incident. She instantly is paralyzed with fear at seeing the spiders, but relaxes upon seeing that they seem to be dead from the fireball and focuses her attention on the zombie like creatures now approaching.

If she has room, she will run quickly to the east to catch up with Borimer. If she does not have room, she will step back into the room with the coffins and give more space for combat. "We shouldn't fight in a confined space," she says.

To Shae's point, the 23A area is about 8 feet to a side. Tahldar is considered in the front (at the base of the web on the map) since he just cast a spell. Shae, Kahan and Leo are also in that small alcove area. It is tight quarters for anything requiring any sort of swing or AoE.

The zombie creatures are spread throughout the web area, so Shae's path is blocked without pushing past a zombie humanoid and two rats and giving an attack of opportunity.


23B (as Shae suggests) is a possibly fallback, as well as the ledge at 22C--if you want a bigger space. The zombies will lumber forward and follow, with the rat zombies being bigger than the humanoid ones.

NOTE: These are not true "undead" creatures, as your characters can probably tell. Something else is animating them.

Shae says to Tahldar, "I hate to have you waste spells, but maybe one more fireball or lightning or something would take care of these guys while they're still vulnerable in the corridor area." She then backs up into the coffin room.

"Shae, you're a druid, can you control these spiders? It appears they have somehow animated these bodies from within," Kahan asks as he backs up to a more open area.

"Fall back!" Tahldar says taking charge.  "This place has animated them, and will keep animating them over and over."

"Kahan turn them if you can!" he adds as he scrambles for a plan.

OOC:  If Kahan can turn the zombies then great.  I believe at his level he should be able to destroy zombies rather than turn them.

I would like us to fall back to 22C.  If the zombies are not turned, or if only some are:  I want to have Borimer cover the corridor between 23A and 22C.  Have him stand by the hall from 22C to 23A, just around the east corner in 22C and attack the undead as they come through.  Then the rest of us drag the temporarily downed zombies as we are able and toss them over the cliff to the west.  I would assume taking turns in pairs.

Kahan doesn't necessarily think Tahldar is right, but he shrugs and attempts to turn the corpses all the same.

Shae says to Kahan, "Spiders are my Achilles Heel. I had a traumatic experience and have a deep seated fear of them."

Shae continues to fall back to the coffin room, ready to attack but panicked because her one phobia has just surfaced.

Kahan attempts to turn the zombies as Tahldar calls out for Borimer to guard the east exit.

The turning is totally unsuccessful. These do not appear to be actual undead, but something animated from within.

You fall back to 22C, except Borimer and Shae, who are at the east 23A and the coffin room (23B) respectively. The zombies appear to be trailing after those who went south. The rats are faster than the humanoids and will reach you momentarily.

OOC: As I understand it, Tahldar's idea is to try to sweep them off the edge down to where Fingas is at (22A) area. Borimer cannot cross from east 23A to the center 23A due to the animated creatures blocking the way, so he has to stay at the east 23A unless he rushes them from behind.

Tahldar quickly rolls through his array of spells and he finds himself wanting.  He doesn't have any type of wind spell and is reluctant to cast a spell anyway.  He knows the psionicist is right around the corner and he'll need all the magic he has.

Bearing his sharp bracers, he decides to join the fray and use a martial attack.  Which is rare for the mage.  In fact he can't remember the last time he took a physical swing at something.

OOC:  Hit an AC10 on a rat for 6pts.

20:23, Today: Tahldar of Tyrannia rolled 7 using 1d20+3.  Bracer attack.
20:27, Today: Tahldar of Tyrannia rolled 6 using 1d4+3.  Rat damage.

Kahan likewise steps up and takes a swing at whatever is closest to him with his mace.

OOC: Slight backtrack: Kahan's glyph of warding had been set off when Dalharen's body was thrown over the ledge.

Now, you see the zombie like creatures break up as follows:

1 humanoid and 2 rats go toward Borimer;
2 rats go toward Shae;
6 rats and 4 humanoids go toward the rest of the group.

The rats are faster and reach you first. Tahldar, Kahan, and Leo all strike out at the rats...

Miraculously, in a comedy of errors, each of you miss the rats, and all of the rats miss you in the melee. However, one rat (critical miss) gets swept off the edge to where Fingas waits below.

You hear a frightened screech as he screams out in fright, "Ahhhh! More giants rats! They're raining from the sky!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:57, Mon 17 Aug 2020.

Shae also resorts to melee with her ancestral spear, going after whichever is closest.

Tahldar is disappointed he missed, but tries again.

OOC  I hit an AC1 for 5 pts on a rat.

08:38, Today: Tahldar of Tyrannia rolled 16,5 using d20+3,d4+3.  Attack.

OOC: I have Tahldar at THAC0 of 17, then +3 magic attack bracer bonus, means 14 THAC0. So he hits up to AC-2 on this one. These giant rats are AC6.

Not sure if you are trying to push the rats/humanoids off the cliff still. If so, an additional attack roll at -5 would be needed too succeed. This is in addition to your other attack, but provides an attack of opportunity if you fail (also at -5 for your opponent).

Leo pulls his dagger and goes for the closest critter.

Kahan swings at another rat, hoping to make contact this time.

From below, Fingas is still complaining. "Give a guy some warning next time." He seems to draw his sword to attack the rat below.

This time around, everyone hits...Tahldar, Kahan, Leo, Shae and Borimer--and even Fingas. The result is almost universally the same.

The rats that are hit take only a small amount of damage before falling over on their sides and seeming to shake in a death twitching, but then the spiders within are loosed. Spiders about 6 inches long burst from the corpses. Each contains about 10 such spiders, which then begin swarming toward you.

You now find yourself surrounded by the following count of fist sized spiders:

Leo, Kahan, Tahldar: 24 spiders, 3 rats, 4 humanoids
Borimer: 8 spiders, 1 rat, 1 humanoid
Shae: 1 rat, 3 spiders
Fingas: 10 spiders.

You hear Fingas yell up in both fear and warning, "There are spiders inside the rats! Inside them!"

Shae is deathly afraid of spiders and jumps on a nearby coffin lid farthest from the entrance and intruding creatures to gain height advantage. As she goes, she begins casting, and flame strike leaves her hands, directed at the 5 foot radius of those closest to her without hitting herself.

"Blast!" Tahldar says at the arrival of more spiders.  Switching back to magic, he begins to cast.

OOC:  I will cast a flaming sphere.  It will last for 10 rounds and is a 3' sphere.  I will post the spell in the Comment thread.  I will try to catch as many spiders and other creatures I can as I sweep the ball of flame around the battle field (and not catch party members).

Kahan, unsure of what Tahldar was doing, attempted to smash any of the spiders near him with his mace, or his boot, whichever looked like it would work better.

Leo continues to swipe at the nearest spiders as he is able and if possible lead his spiders toward where the flame strike is going but if not find some high ground and hold them off.

Tahldar's plan works wonders. As the others step back to worry about any spiders getting through, Tahldar's sphere of flame wipes out the spiders in its path. He then continues moving it forward and it kills the remaining rats and spiders erupting from within. He turns it to the humanoids lurching from the back with the same result.

Borimer begins swiping at the spiders, taking out 3 of them.

Shae climbs on top of the rearmost stone coffin altar. It moves slightly beneath her feet, but she compensates and gets her balance, casting flame strike. Like Tahldar, it has a great effect, wiping out the spiders and the remaining rat.

You are not sure how Fingas is doing, but you hear him yelling, "Take that! And that!" from below.

Remaining monsters:

Borimer: 5 spiders, 1 rat, 1 humanoid
Fingas: 8 spiders

Kahan turns his attention to Fingas below. "Do you have a torch you can use? Fire does a very nice job of killing the spiders!" he suggests, lighting and tossing him a torch if he doesn't have one.

Shae will run over to help Borimer, fighting whichever creature is closest to her (hopefully getting a bonus for attacking from behind).

Glad to see the ball of flame make quick work of the spiders, the mage decides to move on.  Hearing Fingas's cries he's half tempted to help him, but from the sound of battle to the north he knows Borimer must need his help too.  And Geebo lay that way somewhere and needs his help asap.

OOC:  I will send the flaming sphere north to help Borimer and Shae.  I will follow close behind the flaming sphere and direct it as I go.

Shae jumps down and runs after Borimer, striking and knocking down the humanoid zombie like creature. Spiders roll forth from the body.

Borimer takes down two spiders.

With the flaming sphere coming, Shae jumps forward toward Borimer out of the way, and the sphere bowls over the remaining creatures, taking them down.

Fingas calls up, "I pushed them over the edge of the cliff. Almost bit me, they did. But I single handedly defeated eight giant spiders. I shall have Batmus write an epic ballad about this day."

"Are they actually dead? You should make sure, in case they climb back up and attack you while you're busy bragging," Kahan comments down to Fingas. "Or you could just scream like an old woman again, that would surely scare them off," he chuckled as he goes to check on the others.

As Kahan crosses over where the big webs used to be, he looks up in the crevasse and sees something large, with even longer, larger legs, crawling down from above, still cloaked in shadows.

Leo follows and tries to see if there is anything in the crevices.  He will climb up if necessary to see something.

Tahldar follows Kahan, sending his ball of flame in front of him.

"Um, Tahldar? Can that ball climb walls?" Kahan asks as he hurries through the tunnels to meet up with the others, turning and drawing his mace once again as if to say they weren't quite done yet.

Leo steps inside the darkness, climbs a few steps up the wall by wedging his legs on either side, and sees the same thing that Kahan and Tahldar are now seeing from several feet below him, which is now showing up more clearly in the light of Tahldar's fiery orb.

Making its way down the crevice on the north side is a very large spider. It has long, spindly legs and its body is the size of a horse. It is now squeezing that body and pulling its way down with the eight legs that are each ten feet long and not much thicker than a sword's blade.

Upon seeing Leo, it makes two sudden and speed defying movements. (Surprise.) First, its sticky, large webs fire out at Leo with exacting precision. Leo is hit and stuck in place by the web. Second, it lunges forward so fast that Leo jumps in fright to see the spider right in front of him leaning in to bite. (Critical hit.) (10 dmg. Saving throw failed.) It sinks its stinger deep into his shoulder, and he cries out in pain and struggles, but is unable to move. (Leo is now poisoned...)

Everyone else sees the sudden lunge of the spider and rush toward the central area to assist.

Leo is about 8 feet off the ground with the spider directly over him in the central web  above 23A.

This message was last edited by the GM at 11:38, Tue 25 Aug 2020.

Tahldar hates spiders and this one especially.  It's easily the largest he's ever seen!

OOC:  Tahldar will cast  a lightning bolt on the spider. Damage is 26 (kinda lousy).  Save is -3...
18:07, Today: Tahldar of Tyrannia rolled 26 using 10d6.  Lightning bolt spider.

Leo's head starts to spin and begins wondering do androids dream of electric sheep?
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 03:31, Wed 26 Aug 2020.

OOC: You can make a strength check at -2 each round to try to free an arm or leg.

(The webs are also flammable, but that might be painful, which is something the others might want to keep in mind when playing with fire around here. The webs also absorb electricity...we shall see if that comes into play.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:41, Wed 26 Aug 2020.

Kahan will cast a spell with the hopes of not burning Leo to death.

Leo attempts to free himself.

<08:13, Today: Leogold Silvershaper rolled 13 using 1d20-2.  strength roll.>

Shae will throw her spear at the large spider and then recall it.

Leo struggles but cannot free himself.

Borimer is pulling out his bow and arrows.

The spider snaps out with its maw to bite Leo, but Leo twists aside and dodges the bite.

Both Tahldar and Kahan hurt the spider, and Shae's spear hits directly. The combination of damage from lightning, fire and spear make the spider jump back on the web. It scrambles up into whatever alcove it came from, leaving you (at least temporarily) alone, with Leo in the web.

"We need to get him loose and heal him if need be." Taldar says to the group.

"Borimer can you get him out?" he asks as he gingerly makes his way closer to Leo.

OOC:  I would to see if Borimer can cut him out of the webs rather than burn them and hurt Leo further.

It takes a few minutes but Borimer cuts Leo loose, leaving him sticky with residue. In the meantime, the spider does not reappear from above.

"You hurt?" Tahldars asks Leo after his harrowing experience with the enormous spider.

Shae quickly pushes through to where Borimer had gone to see if they can track down Geebo and the doppleganger.

The party reconvenes and moves from 23A to where Borimer had gone, marked 23C.

This area has some rock pillars throughout the room. There is a path to the south and another to the west.

The entire northeastern and eastern wall are filled with large (6'x3'x3') wooden cages. The walls themselves are somewhat porous with 3 foot wide tunnels extending inward. In a few of the cages you see giant rats. You realize you are looking at a giant rat trap where your foe had captured rats and fed them to the spider (or set them loose on Fingas). Other than the rats, you see little of value.

"I think I am otherwise ok" Leo scrapes off the remaining webs.

"Good to hear." Taldar says in reply to Leo.  "You were almost mincemeat back there."

"Which way to go?" the mage asks as he sees western and southern passages.

"Perhaps have a listen?" he adds as he moves closer to the western passage and spends a few seconds to see if he can hear anything.

Kahan looks over the cages with the giant rats. "Shae, can you talk to these rats, perhaps ask them if they know anything about this place or their captor?" he asked.

Shae attempts to link to the rats. She finds it hard to get anything coherent out of them because they seem to be mad with something approximating rabies.

You don't hear anything other than the squealing of the rats. You also see no footprints in the dirt.

Unsure which way to go Tahldar says "Let's go south.  If we have to double back and go west then so be it."

Going south leads you to a dead end alcove area. It appears to be where Haklara lived and slept. You see the remains of a campfire with a roasted spit. Smoke would have risen up through the many holes and small tunnels in the wall that were also in the other room, where the rats came from. Indeed, on the spit appears to be the carcass of a dead giant rat, and in a corner is a pile of discarded giant rat bones. You also see a straw sleeping mat on the floor made from straw atop a leathery blanket. Nearby, you also see a hollowed out stone the size of an anvil. Inside, it is filled with a clear liquid.

Kahan inspects the liquid to try to figure out what it is. He assumes its water but it could be just about anything.

While Kahan inspects the liquid, Tahldar quickly searches through the stray sleeping mat and blanket.

The liquid is just water.

Under the leather blanket, you find a tattered old page apparently torn out of a journal or other compilation. Handwritten and circled are the following words:


We have the stopper with the Djinni inside. All indications point to it being Hassan-Jihanni, a Djinn from the elemental plane of air. He allowed himself to be imprisoned for power and can grant wishes, as the lore goes, but he has an evil soul and will try to twist any wish against the person asking for it. Absolute discretion in any wish is essential. We do not know the number of wishes allowed, but we know his power is very limited. As he is from the elemental plane of air, his wishes are limited to moving things in space, manipulating and changing the essential nature of existing items, weather and forces of nature, and perhaps even time control, and maybe some others we have yet to discover. He cannot imbue or take away magic, or effect the essential nature of anything magical.

There is a key word needed to release the Djinn and obtain the wishes. We are searching for that word and believe it to be hidden in this labyrinth of catacombs. Using the wish requires the user to state, "Hassan-Jihanni, I wish for..." and then stating the wish with such particularity that it cannot be twisted. We believe each wish must also be twenty to thirty words in length, making the task even more difficult.

We had to leave Ophid to the ravages of the Black Death. I believe he knows something about the key word to release the Djinn, but is holding back from us for his own purposes. He is inside a cavern with healing pools that can only be accessed by putting the right gems into the right slots in the pillars outside. Then the door is only open for about one hour. We have one more set of gems and pray we don't have to use it again.

Signed,
Feshchul, Day 18 in Catacombs


This message was last edited by the GM at 01:22, Mon 07 Sept 2020.

Shae says, "I think we should head back around to the north. It looks like he is giving us the slip and I don't want to be caught in an ambush."

"Agreed.  Lets head back north and then take that western tunnel."

You move quickly up north and follow it around to the west. You see how it all interconnects with the rest of the area, but as you are leaving, you see a slightly ajar stone door. It is normally flush with the rock and hardly visible but appears to have not been closed tightly.

Forward, next to stone rafts, you see the crumpled form of Geebo. He is moaning slightly.

As you approach, Geebo looks up at you weakly and says, "That strange man. His name is Haklara. He kept demanding that I tell him the release word. I told him I don't know any release word. He said it's for the Djinn and I know what he's talking about, and I better tell him or it'll be big trouble for everyone. I told him I don't know, and he got mad and then he hit me on the head and took off in one of the stone rafts."

Geebo indicates near the lava river, and you notice now that there are only two stone rafts instead of three.

You also notice that the stone doors to the healing pools have also closed again.

From below, you hear Fingas yell up, "What's going on up there?"

"Come over and find out!" Tahldar shouts back to Fingas.

"I say we check the open door first, and if it does not bear any fruit, then try one of the boats and go after Haklara...Which I'm hesitant to do with the lava and all."

For reasons know only to him, Tahldar begins to cast a low level magic spell to produce a small light.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:18, Tue 08 Sept 2020.

As in the crude carving on the wall, you will probably only be able to fit up to three people per stone boat at a time, meaning you will likely need to take both boats. If so, decide who will be on which boat.



There are three sets of oars as well for each boat. The oars almost appear obsidian or some sort of glassy substance that can withstand the lava.

Another eerie thing about this area is that the constant movement of lava and its bubbling, as well as the movement of hot air throughout the area creates a low wind like sound, almost like a constant moaning accompanied by popping sounds.

Checking the hidden door in the stone, you crouch down and follow it down a narrow tunnel that leads to the underside of the westernmost "coffin" in the spider room just south of the door. This was how Haklara made his escape with Geebo and eluded you.

OOC: I tried to give some hints at this, such as when Shae's foot made the stone wiggle and move. Discovering that secret passage would have helped you catch up before Haklara left down the river. Instead, the delays let him get away.

Tahldar casts a light spell and approaches Geebo.

Fingas comes bounding up the stone stairs from below and then stops to catch his breath at the top. "What did I miss?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:26, Tue 08 Sept 2020.

Tahldar steps away from "Geebo".  "Haklara show yourself.  I know it's you." he says simply to what appears to be to all the senses, their Gnomish companion.

"Where is Geebo?  Did you harm him?" he adds with a touch of anger evident in his voice.

Geebo holds up one hand. You see that three of his fingers have rings on them and the fingers are slightly bulging. "No, it is Geebo. I am Geebo. He put these rings on me. I cannot take them off. He say it confuse them and stop magic. Then he leave me here."

Kahan scratches his stubbly chin and looks around. "Have you tried taking them off? I'm assuming they won't come off," he mentions out loud. He had no reason to believe Geebo wasn't who he said he was, at least not yet, but he wouldn't argue with Tahldar if he thought he was right.

Tahldar is not the wisest of men, but is still no fool and isn't entirely convinced of Geebo's story.  Knowing the duplicitousness of the doppleganger, he thinks of another test.  The mage begins to speak in the odd language of the Gnomes...
This message was last edited by the player at 01:43, Wed 09 Sept 2020.

Geebo says, ""

OOC: For those of you who may have forgotten, I made sure to include the details you know about the three doppleganger brothers here: http://wiki.rpol.net/?id=11516/Villains
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:17, Wed 09 Sept 2020.

Shae says, "I don't know who's who but I say we hop onto this raft and get down this current to see if we can finally get what we came for. We definitely need to keep an eye on this guy too." She glances suspiciously at Geebo.

Shae will suggest that she, Tahldar and Geebo go on one raft, and Kahan, Borimer, and Leo go on the other. Fingas can stay back and "guard" the exit from any giant rats that escape their cages.

Tahldar looks at Geebo.  "He's Geebo as far as I can tell.  Though why he cannot remove the rings I'm not sure.  Likely they are cursed.  In any event there's no time to deal with that now."

The mage looks at the boats dubiously.  "I'm terrible with such things.  This is going to end badly if you rely on me."

Thinking ahead he adds, "I think casting Fly on Borimer would be wise before we set off. Just in case.  We should have one person per boat with a Fly spell, but I only have one left."

OOC:  Tahldar and Geebo are the likely the weakest when it comes to steering the boat.  My guess is Shae and Borimer will be the best.  I will cast Fly on Borimer for safety sake.  If anyone else can cast a fly, I think one on Kahan or Shae would be wise.

I propose this order for the boats:

Front  Middle   Last
Leo,   Tahldar, Borimer
Kahan, Geebo,   Shae

Kahan checks Geebo for injuries, although he has a strong feeling he won't be able to cast any healing spells on him. "Make sure you stand away from Geebo when casting your spell, in case the rings are were these brothers are getting their anti-magic fields," the priest suggests. "If Borimer can fly, why not have him fly with both boats and bring Fingas with us to take up his spot?" he shrugged. It made sense, Borimer didn't need a spot if he could fly over it.

Tahldar nods in agreement to Kahan's idea.  "Makes sense.  Have Borimer hover around us and have Fingas join me and Leo in our boat."

"Sound good Fingas?"

Fingas looks with concern (and a hint of fear that he does not well disguise) at the river of lava and the two stone rafts. "If I must miss the action for the benefit of the group, then I will make that sacrifice and stay here. I can begin composing a ballad of these journeys while we wait." He seems a little reluctant to accept the offer to go in the boat, but then he looks at the dark tunnel behind him and remembers the rats and the attack from the doppleganger, and seems to reconsider. "Sure," he says. "I'll ride along. I'm pretty strong and can do some rowing." He takes Borimer's position.

OOC: As Tahldar and Kahan suggest, if one or more people are flying, you could theoretically fit Fingas in a boat while the other hovers nearby. I assume Borimer will keep some distance from the antimagic ring of Geebo to avoid taking an unwanted dip in lava. Like the dopplegangers, it has a 10 foot radius, as Tahldar gathered from his light experiment.

Also, as to Geebo's health, he looks the same as before. He is weary and weak from the raise dead spell and needs a full day to recuperate before healing will cure that. He is at 1 hp, and if he falls below that, future attempts to heal him can only bring up to that 1 hp again until the full 24 hours has passed.


The rings on Geebo are extremely tight, which is why his fingers are swollen and red. You can safely assume they are either cursed or have some foul magic in them.

Geebo says, "Do we even know what this special word is? He seem to really want it. If we give it to him, maybe he go away."

You cast fly (again) on Borimer, who comments, "I'm kind of getting used to this flying business. I think I've flown about once a day for the past week."

OOC: Anything else before you push down the river?