22 Eleasias, 1368: Delving Deeper

8:36 am
Most of the party are covered in blood, some their own, most that of slain monsters. They don't want to take time to wash, even though the blood smell might attract more enemies.

Degar shows the gemstones to Routunious, who is no expert in assessing value but he guesses that the amethyst, eye agate, and moonstone are probably worth in the neighborhood of 150 gp.

The dwarf holds up the eyeglasses, "What do you make of these?"

"My innate powers determine they are a device for helping someone see better," Routunious says with exaggerated effect. He laughs as he searches the next room where another three gems are found. The gems are a periodot, a rhodochrosite, and a
spinel, for a likely combined value of 1010 gp. In the third room they find a broadsword in good condition.

Duncan moves forward and examines the sword with his spellcraft proficiency. He determines that the broadsword is likely magical magic sword.

Degar says, "I could have told ye that...it's down here and it ain't rusted."

"Yes, well, that would give you a clue, but I've determined it definitively."

The dwarf hands him the glasses, "Determine anything thing from these?"

Duncan handles the glasses, without looking through the lenses, and says, "These are magic too."

Degar gruffly harumphs at Routunious, who shrugs.

Elessaria says, "Until we can get them identified, Degar carries the sword and Duncan you take the glasses."

Routunious asks, "How are we doing on Stago's ransom?"

Degar, "We're short."

Everyone laughs at this, though they try not to.

"What? What did I say? Stop laughing, ye fools! Bah, I'm going back to look after Fink, I prefer the company of an unconscious halfling to idiots like yerselfs."

The bloodied warriors decide to join him and head back to the grotto. They move the heavy bodies of the owlbears to block off the corridor leading to the ants. afterwards, they wash off the blood in the rushing waters of the river.

Routunious asks, "What are we doing next?"

Degar says, "We're exploring! Away from the ants."

They establish a new marching order: Elessaria, Routunious, Duncan, and Degar (who drags Fink).

Further up the passageway, Elessaria peers into the next room. At first she sees nothing and then is surprised that something is in there slithering on the ceiling. Whatever it is has legs, many legs. It moves over her head and into another room.

The elf gets her bow out and calls a warning back down the line. Degar drops Fink and moves in front of the wizard to protect them both. Elessaria carefuly keeps
her eye on the ceiling, looking for further movement.

Routunious asks, "Was it more ants?"

"No, too many legs, too long a body."

Duncan drags Fink nearer the rest of the party. Order is rearranged as they move along the passage so that Degar has returned to guard the rear.

Looking into the room, they see a pool of water and not much else. They hear skittering that is moving away from them. Whatever it was, they seem to have scared it off.

Continuing down the passage they come to a a T-intersection, they choose to go left.

11:00 am
Elessaria comes upon a great opening, where the ranger is surprised by three of the fire bugs that she and Routunious remember from the the armory at Eagles Eyrie.

"Firebeetles," she says.

One of the strange quasi-insects, for they are not beetles in the natural sense, spits a jet of flame, missing the party.

Elessaria says, "Can we move them aside, I would rather avoid a fight."

Degar responds with mild derision, "Maybe ye could gently use your sword as a spatula and move the buggers with that."

Elessaria moves forward with her sword held flat, and low. The firebugs move toward her, one tries to bite, but she manages to step clear. Degar laughs. The other beetle shoots a jet of flame at the elf which burns her badly. Degar stops laughing.

The dwarf readies for a fight, saying, "Well, some fights can't be avoided, elf!"

Elessaria attacks the firebug that burned her, but misses. Routunious attacks the same, but also misses. Degar closes distance to attack a firebug.

Firebugs attack Elessaria w/their mandibles. Although the clicking mandibles of two of them are avoided by the ranger, the third spits fire and Elessaria suffers additional burn damage.

Degar attacks a bug and misses. Elessaria manages a hit on the bug nearest her.

Degar misses again, as Elessaria dodges another jet of fire. The bug that Degar battles bites him hard, causing damage. Elessaria dodges a hit from the bug she is fighitng but misses her next attack.

Routunious moves forward and casts cure light wounds on the dwarf. The fight continues and Degar suffers further wounds. Duncan rifles through his pack, draws out a scroll and says, "Here's a cleric scroll. Cure critical wounds."

Duncan gives the scroll to Routunious who uses it on Degar.

They continue fighting the bugs, and Routunious throws a knife, missing his target.

Degar misses again. One of the sbug bites Elessaria, and she falls unconscious and bleeding to the floor.

Degar jumps toward a bug, hoping to crush it with his own bodyweight, but misses as it scurries away. Duncan casts magic missile at one of the bugs and manages to kill it.

Degar frustrated by this encounter, begins to go into a battle rage. With increased power and stamina he violently attacks the firebeetle nearest him and...misses! He roars in anger and the beetle clamps down on his leg with its mandibles.

The beetle and Degar do a dance that would have been comical were it not for the dire consequences of its outcome. Finally, Degar hits the beetle and smashes it to pulp.

The remaining firebeetle scrambles up on top of Elessaria's fallen body and begins to eat the unconscious elf. When the party moves toward it, the bug shoots a flame at them.

Degar takes aim at the last bug, not even considering the possibility of hurting Elessaria if he misses his target, so complete is his rage. His swing strikes the bug and destroys it, although Elessaria does take a very minor hit as well.

All the bugs are dead and the dwarf manages to bring his rage under control instead of continuing to do battle with any living thing near him...including members of his own party.

Routunious quickly stoops down to attempt to stop Elessaria's bleeding. Elessaria Routunious pours an entire bottle of a potion of extra healing down her throat, which brings her around and seems to have repaired much of the damage she suffered.

22 Eleasias, 1368: Owlbears and Ants!

The first corridor they explore is a dead end, but there seems to be something there. The elf is confused at first, sensing something familiar and at the same time entirely alien in this environment. Then, suddenly, it dawns on her--"These are owl pellets," she says.

Routunious is not convinced, "These are bigger than an owl, how could they be owl pellets?"

"Something similar to them, then. Look. They are all the undigested parts, thrown back up...bones, something that looks like large chitinous plates...like from the hook horror or maybe giant ants, and...buttons."

"Let me see that!"

The priest shines his hatlamp on the objects and realizes that they are indeed clumps of undigested bone and gristle, flakes of exo-skeleton and there are copper buttons in them as well.

8:30 am
Elessaria and Routunious agree that if whatever left these pellets is big enough to eat something that wears buttons, they need to be cautious. They move down the first corridor on the right. Despite their caution, they are surprised when two enormous owl heads poke their heads out. These are not giant owls, however, they are some foul hybrid creature with the head of an owl and the body of an enormous bear.

"Owlbears!" Elessaria cries as the beasts attack her.

The first owlbear swings and misses with a claw, its second claw also misses, but when it lunges in to snap with it sbeak it catches part of Elessaria's arm and draws blood.

The priest and elf do a controlled retreat back towards the grotto, shouting warnings to their companions. Degar hears the commotion and gets closer, readying his warhammer. He shouts over his shoulder, "Wizard, ye might want to ready them scrolls ye found, they're no use to us if we're killed!"

Duncan shouts back, "How about Monster Summoning VI?"

"Whatever ye think, wizard, just do something to help!"

"First things first," Duncan sasy, and drags Fink away to a safer place.

Elessaria & Routunious move back, back, back and the owlbears pursue. The elf makes a stand near the entry to the grotto, her sword held ready. The owlbears close.

The first attacks, again Elessaria manages to dodge the claws by is caught by the owlbear's beak. As she clenches her jaw to repress the pain, Duncan readies the scroll and casts the spell. In a flash of light and slight odor of sulphur, three monsters appear in the grotto.

Duncan has summoned a Troll, Hook Horror,and a Minotaur.

The owlbears are surprised and distracted by the appearance of the summoned monsters! Elessaria moves back as Degar steps forward, but he allows the summoned monsters to make the first attacks.

The troll and hook horror strike first, the hook horror cuts a deep slash through the first owlbear, revealing internal organs and spilling a great deal of blood. The troll hits savagely with both its claws and sinks its teeth deeply into the neck of the owlbear. It shudders and falls under the weight of the troll. The other owlbear realizes its mate is dying. The remaining owlbear launches into a frenzied attack, lashing out at the hook horror. It misses with both its claw attacks but the bite cracks the exo-skeleton and the wound drips a yellow ochre.

The minotaur closes now, and attacks with the greatsword it holds, doing just as much damage on the initial blow as it does on its backswing.

Elessaria, in awe of the sheer power of these three monsters and grateful they are in her service rather than attacking her, moves back further into the grotto.

The troll attacks the remaining owlbear, missing with the first swipe of its clawed hand but its other talon sinks deeply into the other monster's flesh and it howls a horrible, painfilled hooting growl. The troll tries to bite down on it but comes up with only a mouth full of feathers. The owlbear twists under the troll and lashes out again at the hook horror, doing minor damage before missing with its other claw. The owlbear's bite does twice the damage that its claw had.

The minotaur brings its sword down again in a massive blow, nearly removing the owlbear's head. It dies. The three sommoned monsters look around, waiting for further instructions, but Duncan is too stunned by the display to utter any words. The troll begins feasting on the remains of the owlbears. The minotaur simply stands still, blinking and breathing heavily. The hook horror begins a slow clacking of its hooks and seems to be staring with hatred at the young wizard.

Degar breaks the tension, "Well, ye did something useful, afterall, wizard. How long will your pets be staying with us?"

Duncan snaps out of it and smiles. He says, "Maybe an hour?"

Elessaria says, "Then, have them move ahead of us in the corridor, if you please, Duncan."

Duncan orders the monsters to lead, and he follows them down the long passage way. Elessaria and Degar move up the tunnel where the owlbear's lair had been. Routunious elects to stay behind and keep watch over sleeping Fink.

Degar sees the room with piles of pellets and discovers a pair of glasses and three gemstones that had been overlooked in the previous excitement.

In the corridor Duncan and the monsters are exploring, a large swarm of giant ants are observed coming up from a hole in the floor that blocks the passage. They move as a collective body towards the minotaur, which is in the lead. They swarm over the creature, as it bellows loudly in pain.

Duncan watches in horror as the minotaur stumbles and falls and is immediately covered in ants. Some of the ants were probably crushed when the minotaur fell on them, but many more continue to arrive to take their place. The minotaur thrashes and screams in unimaginable agony until it suddenly stops. Duncan sees its fingers loosen on the greatsword, so ineffective against these giant insects, and then the monster disappears. Ants that had been on top of it hover in the air for a moment and then fall to the ground, looking for the meal they were enjoying.

Duncan, in a moment of pure academic conjecture, imagines that when he cast the spell this minotaur was plucked from its cave and stolen away from its mate and possibly even children...only to be returned a short time later dead and partially eaten by insects....that would certainly be a shock to his family!

Duncan is shaken out of his thoughts when he notices that the ants have noticed him and the two remaining monsters. Duncan slips behind the two creatures and orders them to attack the ants. The troll wades in and begins throwing them back down the tunnel. The ants chew deeply into its flesh, which quickly regenerates after each bite.

Duncan slips back down the corridor, he doesn't need to see the battle to know that it is terrifying. The troll is howling in rage and pain, and then suddenly, it stops. Duncan is certain that the ants have killed it...perhaps wherever it reappears it will regenerate there.

Only the hook horror remains to occupy the ants and within moments, it too stops clacking. The ants have done in minutes what two huge owlbears had been unable to even attempt to do.

Duncan flees into the grotto shouting about the ants. The party listens to the description and look down the passage, but no ants seem to be following the young wizard.

22 Eleasias, 1368: Into the Depths

6:00 am
Drying themselves on the other side of the river, the conversation turns to Stago.

Fink says, "I realize that you who have travelled with him have a closer attachment than the rest of us...but that's a lot of treasure to try to find to get him back. Are you sure he's worth it?"

Elessaria smiles, "Worth it and more, though don't ask me again after we've gotten him back."

Degar and Routunious explore the grotto. Using the bright glow of his hat they explore the ceiling. Everyone searches for secret doors. Elessaria discovers one on the left side of the grotto.

Degar examines the door, then moves to the passageway, axe ready, just
in case. He nods for Fink to move forward and examine the secret door for traps. He doesn't feel there is a trap, but also doesn't think that makes any sense. He hasn't found any traps, but his intuition tells him that there must be something else guarding the door. Gritting his teeth, he begins his attempt to pick the lock.

After spending ten tense minutes, he gives up. "You need a key," he says.

Turning their attention from the door to the spider statue, Fink agains tries to detect traps but says you never know if there is a trap until you find it or it springs on you. Then, before anyone can stop him, Fink climbs up on top of the statue to attempt to discover any secret compartments that might be hidden there. Unfortunately, rather than discovering a secret compartment, he discovers that the statue is covered in contact poison and it has been absorbed by the halfling's bare feet. The party watches him shudder for a moment and then collapse on the statue, sound asleep. They have no idea what has happened to him.

Degar mutters, "What the--?"

The dwarf moves forward quickly and drags Fink off the statue. Routunious goes over to Fink's sleeping form, but has no idea what could have caused this.

Routunious asks, "Is it the Dream Fever?"

Elessaria shakes her head, "No, this was too sudden. The Dream Fever causes illness for several days before the sleeping takes you..." She thinks hard, examining the spider from a distance and suddenly a connection is made.

"Drow," she says, "dark elves worship spiders. Because spiders are poisonous, the drow are very skilled in a wide variety of poisons, and often use sleep inducing poison on their weapons to take their enemies more easily. This statue is probably covered in a contact poison, and he's sleeping now because his feet touched the statue."

Routunious, nervously looking around him, asks, "What do we know about the Drow?"

Degar says, "Not much. Underground elves? I've heard of them, but never seen them. Evil, is all I know. Black skinned devils with white hair."

Routunious walks around the spider statue. Upon closer examination, he realizes that the spinnerets of the statue appear to be some kind of clasp.

Routunious takes his knife-spear and pries the spinnerets open, revealing a secret compartment. Inside is a rolled up parchment and a key.

Suddenly, gas roils into the room from out of the statue. All of the party begin coughing and scratching at their skin. Routunious and Degar seem less affected than Elesaria and Duncan, but all are nauseous and feeling ill.

Degar and Elessaria KNOW they're lucky and realize that the trap must be quite old for the gas to be degraded so.

Routunious uses the knife-spear to lift the parchment and the key from the compartment. The key has a spider motif. He points to Elessaria. "You're an elf with
gloves. You read it."

Elessaria takes the scroll and opens it, but the written language is alien to her.

"I can't read drow," Elessaria says.

Routunious asks, "Where is the brooch of translation?"

"Stago had it, I suppose it is with his other belongings packed in Tick-a-Tick's chest compartment."

Elessaria says, "This may be important, I might be able to translate it without going back..."

She sits down and spends after about half an hour, she gives up, saying, "This is the best that I can do."

"I have (3),(4)(5),(6)(7) know if your memories are (13)(14)(15) your
(17)." The 13th and 15th words are the same. Below the message and to
the right: "(18),(19),(20)" and then below that: "(21)."

Degar says, "That wasn't much help."

Routunious suggests, "Let's use the key on the door."

"Better if the thief does that," Degar says, pointing at the still sleeping halfling. Duncan gets water from the river and splashes Fink's face. Fink is now
wet and sleeping.

Elessaria approaches the door. Degar is beside her. Duncan and Routunious hide behind the spider, with the body of Fink. Slowly, cautiously, she slides the key into the lock.

Elessaria turns the key. Tumblers click and move. She can't push the
door.

Routunious suggests, "Pull it?"

Nothing.

"Lift it?"

Nothing.

Degar says, "Try sideways!"

Elessaria tries pushing it to the left, and nothing happens. She tries pushing it to the right and it slides quickly in that direction--so quickly that if she had not been deft enough to pluck the key from the lock it would have broken as the door slid into the rock.

Inside the room is a treasure chest!

Degar jumps in front of Elessaria and goes to the chest.

"It has a lock," he says and prepares to bash it open.

Elessaria stops him by saying, "Wait, try the key!"

Degar tries the key, but it doesn't fit. Instead of proceeding with the bashing plan, the dwarf hangs back and examines the chest. It looks like a lunchbox. The handle is a rod of ivory held by rings.

Degar lifts the chest. It is very heavy.

"You're as crazy as Stago," Elessaria says.

He shakes it and hears a heavy rattling, almost a clunking, inside.

He puts it down and says to Elessaria, "Try something pointy."

Elessaria uses her short sword and pries open the top of the chest. They look inside and see a large number of silver and copper ingots. These are small, probably equal to 5 coins of the corresponding metal.

It takes 5 minutes to count the ingots. There are 250 gold ingots. This is equal to 125 gp, 300 copper ingots, equal to 1500 cp or 15 gp.

"Why the secret door for this?" Degar asks. They continue searching the room and the chest but find no more secret doors or panels.

Looking at the chest again, Degar says, "The ivory rod here looks like it slides between the rings and has silver caps on both ends. Maybe they come off." Then Elessaria exampines the ivory rod, and discovers that it is a tube containing two pieces of parchment. She gives them to Duncan.

Duncan examines them, and says, "Yes, they are spell scrolls, but without identify, I can't tell what they might be."

Degar carries all the silver ingots which weigh a little over 12 pounds and a single copper ingot, for reasons he will not divulge.

After discussing options, Elessaria and Routunious decide to act as a small away team and leave the others in the grotto with Fink while they explore the tunnels a little further out.

22 Eleasias, 1368: The Stairway

1:00 am
After studying and praying for two hours, Routunious and Duncan return.

"I've been thinking about the mushrooms," the priest says.

Elessaria asks, "What were you thining about them?"

Routuionious responds, "About ways to dry them down here. If Stago were here to assist, I might try using the nitre."

Degar interrupts, "No, that would ruin the mushroom. It needs to be done naturally, I tell ye!"

Routunious waves him off, "No, anything natural can be accomplished by means magical, if one understands how to attempt it. What I realized was that create water is a reversible spell. I've prayed for the ability to reverse it and...." The priest casts dispell water on the mushrooms and they instantly become perfectly dried pieces of fungi.

Degar whistles, "Verrrry clever....for a top dweller!"

Routunious smiles at the compliment, "Thank you."

Their levity is interrupted by the sound of skittering somewhere around them. They search for the source for nearly an hour, but find nothing. The caves are silent again.

2:00 am
The party prepares to make the descent to the bottom of the giant stone steps. Each ledge drops about ten feet to the next level.

Elessaria jumps down, avoiding any injury, and she examines the husk of the dead hook horror.

Degar asks, "How did it die?"

Elessaria shouts up, "It was in a a battle, one with edged weapons."

The dwarf postulates, "Probably fought with those guards and got wounded, crawled down here to die, I wager."

Elessaria checks the next ledge down and the rest of the party prepares to follow her. Degar clumsily falls from the ledge and hurts himself, but eventually all are down to the next step.

2:34 am
The party jumps to next level. Degar again, stumbles and falls, injuring himself still further. They jump again, and this time everyone makes it without injury. The party, now accustomed to the activity, continues jumping to the bottom of the series of ledges. Degar drinks a healing potion.

Degar, embarrassed, says, "You'd think that caving would be more like mountaineering...did I mention I'm skilled at mountain climbing?" and is at 11HP.

Eyeing the bottom, the company observes a dead bark creature. Also, there are two angelic colums on this side of a 30' wide underground river that is roaring past the bank where they stand. Across the river are two demonic pillars.

Duncan asks, "How are we going to get across that?"

Elessaria wonders, "Are we sure we even want to?"

Degar suggests, "Let's toss the halfling across this river, and he can hold a rope to tie off on the other side!"

They examine the dead bark creature. It appears to have been killed by a combination of edged weapons and blunt trauma, such as might come from a club-like weapon.

Degar looks at the columns and the edge of the river. There seems to be a remnant of a bridge that once spanned the river between the two sets of columns. Signs indicate it was intentionally destroyed with tools.

Elessaria touches one of the columns. It feels like wet stone.

The adventurers spend a good deal of time debating what to do now. They are fearful of attempting the brambles again, and decide that they should try to cross the river somehow...but probably not using the plan of tossing Fink across. All the plans, however, involve rope use, and all the rope is back in the mushroom cavern with Tick-a-Tick.

Fink climbs back up, only to discover that Tick-A-Tick won't give him the rope without a command from Routunious to do so. Fink calls down to the priest and tells him he will have to climb back up and help him get the rope.

This is a long and difficult process for the priest, but he manages. In spite of some minor damage along the way, eventually the party is back together and armed with ropes at the bank of the river.

Unfortunately, Dunacan has a nasty slip on the wet rocks and and gets injured. He eats a hunk of magic mushroom and is healed.

After hashing through and trying several different options, it become obvious that the only plan with a chance of success is, in fact, tossing the hobbit across the river with a rop tied to him. Fink is not thrilled, but is willing to do his part for the cause.

Elessaria ties a rope around Fink and tries to throw him across the river. She fails and he plops into the whirling waters and nearly drowns as they pull him back in to shore. He lies there on the rocks, unconscious and breathing shallowly. Routunious casts a cure light wounds spell on him and he recovers slightly. While he is still too weak to protest, the elven ranger picks him up and throws him again, this time succeeding in making her throw to the other side of the river.

On the other side...the battered halfling scouts. He shouts back, "There's some kind of grotto over here on the other side of the pillars!"

Routunious asks, "What can you see in it?"

"There's a stone spider statue and 3 passages that branch off from the main chamber."

Elessaria shouts over the roar of the water, "Can you tie off your rope to something so we can pull ourselves across?"

Fink shouts back, "I'll try!" He searches the area and decides that the evil looking pillar will make a sturdy anchor. He expertly ties off his end of the rope and sits down to rest, waving to tell the others that he has done it.

The party makes a sling with a blanket, and Duncan is the first to cross. All of the others follow without incident, and find themselves stading in the grotto with the stone spider.

21 Eleasias, 1368: The Mushroom Circle

After recovering from the events of the nixie pool, the party moves down the side passage in a new marching order without Stago:

Elessaria
Degar
Duncan
Routunious
Tick-A-Tick
Fink

The passage returns them to the large, domed cavern with the circle of mushrooms. There is an earthy subterranean smell, is is dank and warm, and dominating the center of the cavern is a mushroom ring.

The little Friendly Fungus is walking with Elessaria now, farting in consternation at the missing Stago.

Routunious examines the mushrooms, in quiet calm now that there are no more wood woses to disturb them. His proficiency with herbalism allows him to make some conjecture about the fungi in the ring. His knowldege is limited though.

Degar steps up next to him and says, "Ye know where them mushrooms grow, son?"

Routunious, perterbed, says without looking up, "Obviously they grow underground."

The dwarf continues to pester him, "Do ye know what else grows underground?"

"Do tell."

"Dwarves do. They get born, they grow, and they die underground. If I was wondering about something that lived underground, I might ask a dwarf about it, but that's just me."

Routunious sighs, "Do you know anything about these mushrooms?"

"No, but I like to be asked." The dwarf roars with laughter and Routunious turns back to his study of the fungi. Degar taps him on the back, saying, "I was just joking...Yea, I know a thing or two about 'em. That tall one, with the twin caps, that's got healing properties. A magic mushroom and a lucky omen when you find it in the wild. A fresh one, eaten right off the stalk, that will heal ye complete. It's like a potion of heal. If you pick it, it stays fresh for about a day. After that, it starts to rot a bit and that spoils it. You can dry them, though, and though they aren't as effective as when they're fresh, they're still pretty good medicine and they keep forever that way."

Routunious is intrigued, "Can I dry them here?"

"Nah, not in a dank and drippy cave like this. You need drying rocks and heat, an oven, that sort of thing."

Routunious takes out a bottle and begins collecting spores from the mushroom, for possible later cultivation. He fills an entire bottle and then cuts off a steak-sized chunk that is good for around 20 bites or so.

2:15 pm
The Friendly Fungus keeps walking back to the pool and looking into it while making obnoxious noises. He seems to have gotten very attached to Stago and misses him.

Degar and Routunious go around the circle of mushrooms looking to see if there are any shriekers, and they find none. Then they move over to examine the wall of brambles and thorns that blocks the passage leading off to the right.

Elessaria also walks the perimeter of the mushroom circle, examining it very closely. She notices that there are thirteen growths which look less like mushrooms than they do young, tiny nightshades. These things are mossy and soft, with shoots that have just burst through the ground. They have unnervingly human-like faces.

The elf calls Degar and Routunious over. She says, "You're the experts, what are those things?"

Routunious says, "They could be baby wood woses, I suppose."

Degar shouts, "Let's kill them!"

Elessaria stops him, shouting as he lifts his boot to stomp on one, "No!"

"Why does she have to spoil all the fun?"

"We don't know what they are," Elessaria says, "and until we do, we aren't going to kill them."

"Have you looked inside the ring yet?" Fink asks.

No one is willing to go inside the mushroom ring, until Fink volunteers to climb up on the shoulders of Tick-a-Tick and look inside the ring. They all agree this is a good idea, and he does so.

"There's a glint, a reflection, in the middle of the mushroom circle," he says, "let's go in!"

Elessaria attempts to dissuade further investigation of the mushroom circle. "We have many tasks and all are vital...we have to stay focused. There's the over-arching goal of finding Shandar's Staff of Negation. There's the political situation of Constable Tren versus Randall Morn. And Degar's quest, of course. Clearing Duncan's name and also getting Fink out of debt...and not least of all, releasing Stago from the nixie."

"That is a lot for a To Do list," agrees Fink, "but something shiny might be money and that could help with some of those goals."

"Alright, but if you're going in, we need a plan," Elessaria says.

The decide to tie a rope to Fink who, will creep in between the mushroom stalks to the center. He does so and spends twenty minutes searching. All he finds is a broken potion bottle, an intact and full potion bottle filled with a blue liquid, and four pieces of amber that are worth about 20 gold pieces.

When he emerges from the ring, Routunious barks out, "What did you find?"

Fink tosses the potion bottle to him. Routunious catches it and examines it.

"It's a blue liquid," Fink offers, helpfully.

"I can see that. It must be a potion of some kind," Routunious says.

Fink pokes at one of the tiny bark creatures. He says, "There were many footprints
of bark creatures. Or wood woses, whatever you want to call them."

"Keep searching the area," Elessaria commands. Routunious and Duncan go around the room and look down a narrow corridor.

Elessaria, Degar and Fink go to the bramble-blocked corridor. They hear a rustling, and bend in to take a closer look. Suddenly, the rustling increases and a bark creature pokes out it's wooden head. The party is just as surprised as the wood wose, who quickly pulls its head back through the brambles.

As the party recovers from the shock of seeing another bark creature, portions of the wall of thorns begin move. Tendrils of vines and sharp thorns shoot out. Degar
and Fink are caught in the vines which encircle them and begin to constrict like pythons. Each tendril of vine is covered in iron hard thorns that cut deeply into the flesh causing a great deal of damage.

Fink quickly collapses from blood loss and slips out of consiousness. It is like being entangled in a rope of daggers.

Duncan and Routunious see what's happening and try to determine some means of helping the halfling. Elessaria hacks away at the vines with her sword.

Degar relaizes that the more he thrashes, the more damage he takes, and he attempts to stand as still as possible, despite the pain.

2:20 pm

Elessaria again hacks away at the vines, but now they fight back! The elf takes a very serious wound from the whipping motion of the vine.

"Don't move!" yells Routunious.

Degar adds to the warning, "Take another thrashing like that and you're unconscious!"

Fink moves frantically in an effort to escape and dies a grisly death. Elessaria suffers additional damage, though minor, as she has taken the advice she was given and is trying to remain motionless. She continues to bleed.

Degar slips into a battle rage, but in a tremendous effort of will he manages to suppress the rage and stop it. He realizes that in a rage he would tear himself to ribbons under the current conditions.

2:31 pm
Finally, the branches and tendrils withdraw into the wall of thorns.

Elessaria has taken damage as the vines retreat and she falls to her knees. Routunious runs over to her and attempts to stop Elessaria's
many bleeding wounds. He fails!

He cries out, "Oh, my God!"

Elessaria continues to slide toward death.

Routunious gives the elf an entire bottle of Potion of Extra Healing , and although it doesn't restore her completely, she does regain conciousness.

Routunions examines the tattered body of Fink, lying in the blood that is pooling from hundreds of punctures. The priest removes a scroll tube from his pack and unscrews the cap. He removes a scroll and reads it over the body.

The priest finishes with the command, "Arise!"

Fink has been successfully raised from the dead. Routunious cradles the disoriented thief and gets him to eat a bite of the mushroom.

The flood of health released by the fungus is miraculous, and Fink smiles up at Routunious.

Routunious says, "You're indebted to me."

Fink replies, "Get in line."

3:00 pm
The party ponders what to do now, after recovering from the battle they fought with the vines. Clearly there are more wood woses in the area, just behind the wall of thorns. It seems as though they also have the ability to use an entangle spell to cause the wall of thorns to deal horrific damage to anyone trying to get through the wall.

Fink suggests, "Let's burn it!"

Elessaria shouts, "NO FIRES!" She has a very strong aversion to any sort of open flame in this area, though she can't explain why.

She forces calm into her voice, and says, "Let's go forward, through the other passageway, but with new battle order."

Degar
Elessaria
Fink
Duncan
Routunious
Tik-A-Tik

The party moves to the only unexplored opening off of the mushroom cave. They discover, however, that Tick-a-Tick is too big to fit through it without major excavation.

They look a short ways beyond the opening, and see a tunnel, with floors descending deeply in steps. On the first step below them is the dessicated exoskeleton of another male hook horror. Far below they hear the sound of roaring water.

Elessaria says, "This seems like the most defensable position available. We should sleep here. Once we've slept we can replenish your spells and prayers to prepare for the next set of challenges."

Routunious makes a primitive alarm. by stringing pots and pans on a rope near the lip of the cliff. Tick-a-Tick stands watch completely blocking entrance into the tunnel. Everyone sleeps for eight hours.

11:00 pm
After awaking from their sleep, the party divides up. Routunious goes to a private area to commune with Gond and make his prayers known. Duncan goes to a private area and studies his spell book, memorizing th spells that he believes will be most useful this day.

21 Eleasias, 1368: Gone Fishing

As they eat their rations amid the farting of the fungoids, the party members hatch their plan to rescue the priest.

Stago asks, "Does anyone know what kind of woman that green skinned creature that took Routunious is? And those bark skinned things, what are those?"

"I have never seen a nixie, but I've heard of them often enough...I believe that is what has taken Routuinious. As to the tree people, I have no knowledge."

Degar says, "A nixie. Aye, that makes sense, though I don't know what one is doing underground. They're forest creatures, ain't they?"

"They somewhat resemble their sylvan cousins, but nixies are creatures of fresh water, and are possible to find in lake or pool, and sometimes rivers, though it is rare. It is even more rare to find them underground, I would think, but not impossible. I have heard they possess a potent charm spell that can bend the will of men to their every desire, but I thought that it took a group of them to cast it. This one appears to be solitary."

Fink asks, "Are they evil? What does it want with him?"

Elessaria answers, "They are neither evil nor good, they serve only their own interests. The purpose of the charm is to capture male slaves to do their work for them, and in this case...to satisfy the cravings that come with lonliness, I suppose."

Duncan asks, "But...how do their slaves...breathe underwater?"

"Nixies can cast a water breathing spell on their victims, which they can bestow on any creature, or remove, once per day."

Degar is thoughtful, then says, "I know having a priest is a blessing. But, if he's a breather of water and not of air now, and if he's charmed as ye say to adore this green skinned lass who's keeping him as her slave...what good will rescuing him do? He'll only choke to death on the air while trying to claw his way back to her, won't he?"

"It is a risk...I don't know if the effect is permanent, or if she might be persuaded to release him and restore him...but he is one of us, and we leave no one behind."

"Very well," the dwarf grumbles, "but how do ye plan to get him?"

They all make suggestions, and in the end it is decided that they will tie a bag of
copper pieces to the other end of a rope that's attached to Tick-a-Tick. Elessaria, the strongest swmimmer, will dive into the pool of water and attmept to fetch Routunious. Even if she can't get to him on the first dive, at least they will have a better idea of what is in the pool.

The plan is agreed upon and Elessaria.

As Elessaria starts to remove her armor, she says, "Degar, I'll need you to keep hands on the rope, if I tug it, then you'll have to pull me up as fast as you can." Fink and Duncan retire from the pool chamber.

Elessaria practices holding her breath with Degar timing her efforts, to get a sense of how long he should wait before pulling her up anyway. Then, satisfied they have prepared as best she can, she straps on her sword and holding tight to the bag of coppers, she dives in. The elf sinks past the surprised nixie and touches down at the bottom to the pool, which flares out into a rather wide, domed chamber. She notices a opening, like a cave to one side and near it a hut made of woven living water plants. In it, she sees Routunious acting like a domestic servant, cleaning and repairing the nixie's home.

Elessaria beckons to Routunious who starts toward her, but the nixie intervenes and seems to be able to telepathically command Routunious to return to work.

Suddenly, Elessaria notices movement above and around the hut and realizes that several giant fish are now circling the doorway like guard dogs. The nixie swims above, watching as Elessaria takes out her sword and heads toward the entrance of the
dwelling.

The fish attack! The first fish misses as it streaks toward her flashing needle-like teeth. The second fish is actually an eel, and it snakes in and bites for a great deal of damage. Elessaria tries to get her sword in for a strike, but she is unused to underwater combat and comes nowhere near her target. Her lungs begin to ache from the need for air.

The fish swims in from behind and bites Elessaria, drawing more blood. Again the elf tries to counter and misses. The fish bites her again and again. Routunious watches mournfully as he continues under his compulsion to do his chores. Another strike from the fish rips away a large chunk of flesh from Elessaria, who winces in pain. She has had enough and tugs forcefully on the rope. Degar immediately begins pulling her up with a steady, hand over hand motion.

Neither the fish nor eel pursue her, and the nixie watches her ascent with a smile of satisfaction. Her home is safe from intruders.

As healing is given to Elessaria, the company bickers about what to do next.

Elessaria stops any talk of leaving the priest behind, "It doesn't just come down to loyalty. As the party's only cleric, there is no question. Routunious must be saved."

Stago pulls Duncan aside and asks what spell the mage has memorized today.

"Burning Hands," he replies.

Stago says, "Cast it on my ring of spell storing. I'll cast my color spray. I have a scroll of water breathing--"

Elessaria interrupts, "You have a what?"

Stago explains, "Let me finish...I think that if we all hold hands while I cast it on one of us, it will affect all of us, but for a much shorter duration than if I'd only used it on a single target. We'll use the scroll and then we'll swim down there and attack the nixie. If she is defeated, the fish will swim away and it is very likely the priest will snap out of it and be his old self again."

"Why didn't you suggest this the first time?" Elessaria asks.

Stago replies, "You're the leader, I wanted to give your idea a chance to succeed."

"More likely you forgot you had it until just now. If the duration of the spell is diminished by the number of people it is cast upon, then Fink and Duncan should remain in the cave with Tick-a-Tick. We three should be adequate for the assault, and we might need the extra time. How long for three of us?"

Stago replies, "About four hours."

"Let's do it."

The gnome removes all of his items, save for a dagger, his clothing and the ring. He
casts scroll of water breathing on the away team.

As the away team descends deeper into the pool, they get closer to the astonished nixie. At 20 feet, the males in the away team find it difficult to take their eyes off of her. Degar shakes it off, but Stago succombs to her charms. He has fallen hopelessly in love with the enemy. Degar can tell what is happening and as he sinks past the nixie he swings at her with his axe, shouting through a torrent of bubbles, "Take that, ye miserable little useless creature!"

The party touches down at the bottom of the pool. The nixie, who seems able to tell which males are affected and which are not...perhaps because the charm also establishes a telepathic link between nixie and slave. Stago seperates from the party and goes down the corridor by the hut at the nixie's behest.

The fish and eels immediately attack the remaining members of the away team. Degar takes a deep bite from the fish, and it swmims past his reaching fingers. The eel chomps into Elessaria. This time she manages to stab it with her weapon, however. Degar connects with his axe and wounds the fish. It is still able to fight, however, and hits Degar back with a fierce bite. Degar fights back, but misses.

The eel also manages a lucky and damaging bite on the elf.

Meanwhile, Stago & Routunious have been commanded to walk through the cave and down the passage. The water is calm and still, like the water of the pool, but at a certain point they feel a tingle of energy, as though they have walked through a wall of force. Suddenly there is a change in pressure and the water has a current. They keep walking, though it is harder to keep their footing now, and exit the passageway to begin walking along the bottom of an underground river.

Back at the fish fight, Elessaria hits the eel and slices it in twain! Although seperated from its body, the eels head still manages a final bite which deals a great amount of damage. The elf tries to pry the jaws apart and remove the head but before she is able to, she passes out from loss of blood.

Degar sees this, but cannot help as he is still engaged with the fish. He decides to break away from the melee and give aid to Elessaria. The fish tries to take advantage of the fleeing dwarf but somehow misses its attack.

Degar surprises the fish by spinning in the water, bringing his axe in a beautiful arc which slices through the water, the fish and leaves both halves the bloodthirsty creature slowly sinking to the bottom. He swims to the unconcious elf.

Meanwhile, Stago has caught a fish in the underground river and gives it to Routunious. Routunious puts it in a bag he is carrying. Stago swims up to the surface to takes a look.

He sees an immense space of a giant cavern through which the river rushes. Upstream there is a shattered bridge and columns that resemble some sort of evil beings. After doing his best to commit the surroundings to memory, he submerges again and returns to gathering dinner for the nixie with Routuinous.

In the nixie cave, Degar grabs Elessaria and begins pumping his way to the surface with the elf in his arms. Breaking water, he bellows to Fink and Duncan, "Mushrooms!"

The dwarf has to submerge again for a moment to breathe more water, but by the time he comes back to the surface Fink is there to give Degar a mushroom. Degar puts
it in Elessaria's mouth and makes her swallow. She begins to heal.

Unknown to those on the surface, the nixie begins to take the threat seriously now that her guardfish have been slain. She swims out to Routunious & Stago, and beckons them to follow her away.

Just below the surface, and still holding onto Elessaria with one arm, Degar eats some of the healing mushrooms himself. Restored, the dwarf and elf wave to Fink and Duncan before they submerge and swim down to the nixie's underwater lair. They find it abandoned but full of gems and art objects.

With neither the nixie nor her slaves anywhere to be found, the pair collect the items from the nixie hut and bring it to the surface. Doing so takes about half an hour. They leave the items with Fink and Duncan to catalog, and swim back down to look for Stago and Routunious before the duration of the spell expires.

The items they have stolen from the nixie include:
Alexandrite (200 gp).
Carved coral statuary of pregnant female nixie with the inscription "Acquar" (1300 gp)
A male version of the statue with the words "Stago'oquar" (300 gp).
Scrimshaw (30 gp)
Azurite (10 gp)
Carnelian (50 gp)
Citrine (50 gp)
Coral, black (100 gp)
Jade (100 gp)
2 Jaspers (50 gp each)
Onyx (25 gp)
Spinel (500 gp)

After examining the treasure, Fink and Duncan put it into Tick-a-Tick.

"You know," Fink says to Duncan, "this is a lot of of treasure. And when they jumped in the water, they left a lot of magical items up here for us to watch, and I suspect that this metal fighting machine here, you could probably control it the same way that Stago did when the priest went after that fish woman."

"I don't think I like what you're suggesting."

"I'm suggesting that there are bad people after me and that this pile of loot would go a long way to getting them off my back."

Duncan, shocked, says, "Surely you're not suggesting we steal from these people and abandon them to these tunnels!"

Fink shrugs, "Why not? I've known you a lot longer than this Severed Head crowd. Why should I be loyal to them?"

"No. I'm not going back on my word."

Fink gives up on the argument.

Down below, Elessaria & Degar swim through the cave and down the corrider at the bottom of the pool. They also feel the tingle as they pass through the strange energy barrier. It takes a moment to adjust their swimming to the motion of the current that is on the other side.

Standing at the edge of the corridor which empties into the underground river is the nixie. They hear her voice in their minds through some sort of telepathy.

"My name is Mara. Why have you come here to kill my pets, take my slaves, and steal all my wealth? I tried to help you in the Wood Wose attack."

There is a long debate about whether or not the help that she offered them could also be construed as an attack, and that the taking of slaves is just as wrong as the theft of material goods.

In the end, they strike a bargain. She will trade one of her slaves for the treasure that the party has stolen from her. She will release the second when they have found and given her treasure of equal value to what they took.

Degar and Elessaria feel they have little choice, their water breathing spell is soon to wear off and they would not be able to harm their companions should the nixie order them to defend her.

"Agreed," Elessaria says.

The nixie asks, "Which one do you wish to take, then?"

Elessaria considers it, and decides that because they have Duncan, a priest is more immediately of value than an illsuionist.

"We would take the priest now, and will return soon for the gnome."

"Nixie," Degar questions her, "what can ye tell us of the caverns and the pool ye live in? We're not here to plunder yer goods, but took them only to use as a tool to bargain for the return of our companions....our real mission is to find information that will solve a problem on the surface, out in the open air of the town."

Mara considers this, and says, "Long ago, my pool was the source of water for the fountain in the courtyard of the temple. I kept it pure and clean for them...but that was so long ago and the fountain no longer flows...the priests no longer visit me and care for my needs."

Elessaria asks, "Those creatures...the ones made of wood...you called them something."

"Wood Woses," she says, "Some people call them Night Shades. I don't like them. They started showing up after the priests went away. I sleep at night, though and that's when they prowl the caverns. I'm afraid I can't tell you much about them. I don't leave my pool very often, and no matter how lonely I get, they aren't the kind of company I'd like to keep."

"Thank you," Elessaria says.

Degar asks, "Where does this river flow to?"

"Eventually it feeds into the River Tesh, when you come back with the rest of my treasure, I can help you breathe water again and escape this way."

Elessaria grabs Routunious' hand and tugs him down the corridor, "We'll keep that in mind."

They all travel to the bottom of the pool and Elessaria swims to the surface to explain the deal they have struck. All of the treasure is dumped back into the water and Routunious is released from his charm spell.

3 hours later, everyone is topside, except for Stago who has remained with the nixie.

They make ready to continue their quest, with the added need to aquire a great deal of treasure to purchase back their friend.

Sources:

• Reaper Miniatures: Aquatic Familiars
• Reaper Miniatures: Pillar of Evil
  

21 Eleasias, 1368: Deeper, Darker, and More Dangerous

9:00 am
The party, in battle order, march down the tunnel until they come to a fork in the passage where the excavated shaft meets the natural caverns below. In front of them is an enormous formation where ancient stalgtite and stalactite have met. Here the downhill slope ends and the cavern in front of them is more or less level.

Illuminated by Routunious' hat light, the party is struck by the immense natural beauty, and so are startled when they hear a strange farting noise.

After looking amongst themselves, they see walking toward them a small mushroom on legs, with arms, and a very human-like face on its stalk. More lurk in the shadows behind it.

Elessaria asks, "Is this a mushroom man?"

Degar and Stago confer, and Stago says, "I've never seen a myconid, the correct name for a mushroom man...but they are generally larger and we've never heard that...noise...associated with them. I think this is something else."

Degar says, "I've heard tales of wee critters like these...Friendly Fungus they are called. I never thought I'd see one, so I didn't pay any attention to what those tales told."

Stago brightens, "Friendly Fungus, of course! I think that their flesh has curative properties."

Elessaria says, "If they are friendly, we're not eating them."

They walk into the cavern and see more fungoids. They sidle by...except for Stago, who attempts conversation with one of them. The Tendrils from Friendly Fungus reach toward Stago. The gnome scratches the cap, and instead of farting, the creature emits a sputtering purr.

Stago exclaims, "It enjoys head scratching!" Stago stops scratching the fungoid and has to hurry to catch up to his fellows. The fungoid follows him. The party emerges from the tunnel into a large room. The cavern is moist with moss and earthy smells, and the floor and walls are slick. A circle of enormous mushrooms in the center of the cavern hides the other side from view, but they can see squat, dark shapes moving in the shadows, circling around on both flanks.

The party discusses what to do next.

Stago pipes up with a suggestion, "Let's toss a torch into the circle of mushrooms and see what happens."

Elessaria reacts very strongly against this suggestion. She seems to be having some sort of memory or premonition that fire in these caverns would be very bad. Routunious agrees with Elessaria, but without the emotional underscoring to his reasoning. Stago is barely dissuaded.

The party decides to retreat from the room, and returns down the passageway they have just traversed. Behind them, in the large cavern amid the mushroom circle, they hear the sound of breaking glass.

Stago pleads with them to take direct action, "Whatever is back there, it's just going to follow us!"

The party returns to the point where they met the fungoids beneath the natural column. The fungoids seem very agitated and are waving their arms and emitting sharp farting noises.

Elessaria asks, "Does anyone else thing they want to lead us somewhere?"

Routunious nods, then asks, "Yes, but to rescue us or to take us into a trap?"

"Let's hope they are as friendly as their name would imply," she replies and begins following the fungoids down the other pathway. This passage opens into room with a large pool of still water. reflecting the hatlamp of the priest. The dark surface of the pool hiding anything that might be submerged within it.

Stago examines the ceiling. Even though he is actively looking in the shadows of the uneven rock formations above them, the entire party is surprised to see something floating in the air above them.

It looks big and mean, like a bloated dwarf made entirely of wood. Three more of the creatures move in from the passage beyond the pool.

The Bark-creature that is flying, spits at a viscous liquid at Elessaria, and it hits her in the face. She screams in agony and stumbles backward against the rock wall.

Duncan, the young mage, casts magic missile at one of the creatures on the ground that is advancing toward them. They strike it unerringly and seem to cause the monster pain.

As she shakes her head and grimaces through the pain, Elessaria realizes that her limbs are slightly numb, and she immediately understands that the creature's spittle has poisnoned her, causing a degenerative nerve damage that is likely to get worse as time passes. The fungoids farting becomes even more agitated.

Stago also casts magic missile at the same creature Duncan attacked. It staggers, then cries out, "Ainecotte, I come!" As it shouts, it splinters into kindling.

The gnome shouts to the priest, "Enkat? What the Nine Hells is Enkat?"

Routunious shouts back, "A little busy here." The priest tosses knives at one of the two remaining creatures on the ground. One of the knives thuds into the bark-like skin and stays stuck there, the other clatters on the stone as it flies past the head of the creature. The knife that hit seems to have drawn blood...which oozes like sap from around the blade.

Fink fires an arrow, hitting the same creature that Routunious struck. More sap spatters out where the arrow strikes home. Elessaria & the halfling avoid the sap.

Fink fires another arrow, but misses.

The creature, in turn, strikes out at Elessaria with its club, but misses her even in the elf's weakened state. The other two creatures close on the party.

Degar intervenes and attacks the one on the ground with his hammer. The creature attacks him at the same moment. Degar misses, but the creature hits him in the face with his spiked club. The damage is only slight, but the Dwarf's face feels like it is on fire. He cries out, "Poison!"

Elessaria draws her bow, nocs an arrow and lets loose at the creature she has been fighting. The creature's head nearly explodes from the force of the arrow hitting it. Sap flies everywhere, but all of the party manage to avoid the spatter pattern. The creature falls, unable to crie out because it no longer has a mouth.

Elessaria and Degar feel the increasing clutch of the poison on their nervous system.

Because of their heightened sensitivity in the heat of the battle, no one is surprised when up from the center of the pool appears the head of a very beautiful woman. All of the funoids begin to purr when they see her.

She has light green skin and dark green hair. The beautiful woman of the pool shouts to them, "Quick! Hide in the water!"

Strangely, each member of the party feels a compulsion to obey the illogical command, for surely if they hide in the water they will drown. They all resist the compulsion, however...all, that is, but Routunious.

As Stago fires sling-bullet at one of the remaining bark creatures, Routunious begins running toward the pool of water. Fink hits the bark creature Stago is attacking with one of two fired arrows.

As Routunious gets nearer the edge of the water, the woman in the pools shields her eyes from his hatlamp and shouts for him to take it off. She seems very afraid of it.

Degar misses his attack on the other bark creature. Routunious flings away his hat as he leaps into the pool. The lovely green woman grabs him and kisses him. When she releases the priest he sputters and gasps, and she drags him under the water.

"He's drowning!" Elessaria shouts.

Stago looks into the pool and sees Routunious smiling and waving back at him, seemingly happy as a fish.

"No!" Stago shouts to Elessaria, "He's breathing water, now."

The green lady begins tugging at his robes, and pulling Routunious deeper into the water.

Elessaria, still suffering from the sap poison and fighting one of the bark creatures, fires again with her bow and misses widely with her first shot, but the second hits squarely. It cries out, "Ainecotte!" Then it falls to splinters, clattering down the stairs.

The strange nymphette in the pool swims to the surface and pulls hat underwater. Suddenly everyone is plunged into darkness. It takes a moment for those with infravision to shift to that spectrum. During that transition the last remaining bark creature, the one flying in the air, strikes out at Degar and he feels the rush of air as the spiked club narrowly misses his head.

Fink climbs into the pool of water, hanging on to the ledge. He ducks his head under water, shouting through bubbles at Routunious.

Stago fires a magic missile at at the flying creature and causes some damage, as well as releasing a fine rain of poison sap from above.

Routunious surfaces with Fink, and chokes on air. He can't breathe out of the water since he kissed the green woman. She swims up to grasp him in a hug, kissing him deeply again and then submerging to pull down Routunious's pantaloons. She struggles with his robe and as they sink again it is just barely possible to make out that they are engaged in an act of sexual congress.

Degar again hits the bark creature, causing it to explode into splinters which rain down around the angry dwarf.

Elessaria goes to the pool and dips her hands into it, using them to wash as much sap off of herself as she can. The green woman under the water looks up from what she is doing at this unclean use of her water and frowns. Elessaria doesn't care, even after washing the sap from her face, arms and hands she continues to worsen as the poison spreads through her system.

Degar checks body of fallen bark creature but it has no treasure. Suddenly, he gets a bright idea and pushes his warhammer into the pooling sap oozing from the creature's wounds.

Stago retrieves all of his sling bullets that he can find.

Elessaria scratches a fungoid's head. It makes a mournful noise and leads Elessaria to the cavern-room with the mushroom large circle of mushrooms. She is too weak to resist. Degar and Duncan follow with weapons drawn.

Because Routunious is underwater, Tick-a-Tick stands motionless.

"That's a problem," Stago says. He uses his wand of perfect illusion to create the image of Routunious -- complete with voice -- to command Tick-a-Tick to move toward the pool. Stago ties rope to Tick-a-Tick and then tosses the other end into the pool.

Meanwhile, friendly fungoid has lead Elessaria to a large mushroom and is pointing to it and farting. It gestures as though funneling food into its mouth.

"You want me to eat it?" She asks, then says, "I'm too weak to argue."

Elessaria grabs a hunk of the mushroom and eats it. Almost instantly she has a convulsion and breaks out into a hot sweat. She falls to her knees but feels strenght flooding through her and knows that she is regaining control of her musculature.

Degar explores the small alcove just off the room with the pool and finds a pile
of treasure:

2849 gold pieces...he pockets 100 pieces before calling out to the others to divulge his find. In addition to the gold, there are 6,700 coppers and a suit of brigandine armor that the dwarf is certain has an enchanted quality to it.

Elessaria returns to the pool chamber and says, "We need to rest and recover before we undertake the search for the priest. Set watch and take turns eating and resting.

21 Eleasias, 1368: Into the Crypts

The party steps through the wedged portcullis and enteres the corridor. The priests of Lathander were buried here; the high priests in graves and the lesser priests in the alcoves on either side of the passage. Long, narrow alcoves are stacked three high along both walls of this tunnel, and the floor is covered with graves. The graves are covered by large slabs of stone and bronze depicting the deceased and listing their titles and accomplishments. All of them seem to be priests and warriors devoted to Lathander, the god of the morning.

Elessaria walks in, steps on a grave and holds her breath. Nothing happens. Degar follows her in. He whispers, "There are crypts everywhere ye look. You have to hand it to them, these priests didn't waste any space."

Elessaria walks down the hall, and rounds the corner and sees that the crypts here have been excavated and a tunnel has been dug behind them. Stago walks around the other way, and joins them. He peers down the tunnel that has been dug through the graves there. They decide it would be prudent to thoroughly search the crypt area before venturing down the tunnel.

He finds a door with a fairly complex lock. He takes off his armor to better his chances for lock-picking, and other thieving skills. He checks for traps, but doesn't detect any. The halfling manages to pick it the lock in 5 minutes time.

Once the door is opened, Fink & Degar look inside and see a small stone chamber with two benches and a mural on the wall of Lathander descending from morning clouds. The benches are covered with yellow tablecloths and set with golden candlesticks, blackened silver censers, and a pink stone disk, Lathander's holy symbol.

"This is interesting," Fink says. The halfling spends an entire hour searching for traps in this hidden chapel, but finds none. Outside, to pass the time while the thief does his work, Routunious explains about the altar service and the ethics
and foolhardiness in stealing holy items from the temples of gods."

"We should leave it. At least for now. Close the door and if we later decide to take it with us, we know where it is," Elessaria decides.

Fink protests, "If we close that door, it will relock, and I don't know if I can open the lock a second time."

Routunious says, "Then that would be a sign from the gods that it wasn't meant to be."

"Let us enter the tunnel," Elessaria says.

This passageway was made by tearing down the back wall of a crypt alcove and then tunneling down to the natural limestone caverns below. The company steps through the opening onto a rough stone tunnel sloping downward.

Just around the first bend they find the bodies of two slain guardsmen which lie next to the battered body of an enormous, insect-like creature that almost fills the narrow tunnel. The insect creature isn’t moving, but they can hear clacking noises from the tunnel beyond.

Elessaria moves guards around. Piecemeal, as they are rotted. The giant insect proves more difficult to move.

The elf asks, "What is this thing?"

Degar and Stago both reply in near unison, "Hook horror."

"This one's a male," Stago says.

Routunious asks, "How can you tell?"

Degar replies, "Because its littler than the females."

"What does a female one look like, if that one is little?"

Degar points behind the priest and says, "Like that."

Coming around the corner in the passage beyond the dead bodies is a behemoth with enormous claws for hands. It clacks the claws together in a percussive warning of impending doom.

The party falls into defensive positions, and Stago fires magic missile from his ring of spell. Tiny crackling magic bullets spring forth and strike unerringly against the chitinous hide of the creature with little to no effect.

Routunious & Fink move closer, in order to make use of their ranged weapons. Routunious readies his throwing knives and Fink nocs his bow.

Degar jumps on top of the bodies of the dead guards and prepares to use his hammer to deadly effect.

Fink moves in front and fires bow. He gets off two shots, but only one hits the creature. Degar brings his hammer down and cracks the exoskeleton of the female hook horror.

The horror swings its massive claws at degar and the dwarf manages to duck or dodge them both times. The dwarf has to move backward quickly to avoid the razor sharp beak, and nearly loses his footing on the corpses upon which he stands.

Elessaria misses both of her arrow attacks. Routunious readies a knife to throw, and the hook horror lashes out at Degar again. Though it misses with both of its claws, its beak manages a strike and it rips into the dwarf's flesh at the shoulder.

Stago fires another magic missile from his ring and this time the missles blast through the creatures natural plating, leaving smoking holes as it collapses to the floor of the tunnel. Degar is still bellowing with rage and leaps on the unconcious creature and bashes its head but can't quite seem to kill it. Elessaria approaches and uses her longsword to sever its head, ending its life once and for all.

Degar says, "Thanks, elf. I'll toast you with a draft of extra healing potion."

Fink checks bodies of the dead guards, and even the hook horrors. The first guard he examins has 18 gold pieces, the second only 16. The hook horrors carry no treasure of any kind.

21 Eleasias, 1368: Entering the Temple Cellar

4:00 am
The morning comes to the Teshford Arms, and the joined parties of Degar's Avengers and The Company of the Severed Head arise before dawn. Stago dubs them collectively The New Firm.

They eat in their rooms from their rations, not wanting to breakfast in the taproom for fear there are still angry mob members who would try to kill any wizards, dwarves, or strangers on sight.

4:14 am.
After sneaking out of the inn, the company is on the road. By dawn, they are at the riverside gate of Dagger Falls.

The guard shouts down, "State your business."

Routunious shouts up to him, "We are here to do a job for Constable Tren."

"We were told about the fat guy in the yellow hat, the elf, the gnome and the walking construct...but nobody said anything about no wizard, halfling and a dwarf. Especially the dwarf, they aren't very popular around here."

Elessaria joins the discussion, "Did Tren tell you that we were going to go into the temple ruin?"

"Yes," the guard agrees.

The elf continues, "Did he tell you we were going to go in after we collected our supplies?"

"Yes."

"Well then," Elessaria concludes, "The dwarf, the wizard, and the halfling are our supplies. Are you going to let us in or tell Tren you didn't want us to get started on the job he hired us to do?"

The gate swings open and the company is granted wary entry. As they enter, Elessaria notices the movement of what might be a hidden person spying on them from the other side of the road. She mentions it to Routunious, who discounts it as unimportant.

Routunious says to her, "We're not sneaking around, and everything we're doing is not only legal, but stamped with the approval of every known side in this dispute. Whoever might be spying on us is wasting their time."

Elessaria agrees, but is still uncomfortable. There may be more players than any of them are aware of.

The New Firm heads to the temple ruins. Waiting to meet them is Constable Tren and his two thugs and Marrakt.

"I've been told you're starting early," Tren says.

"Word travels fast here, doesn't it?" Routunious asks.

"Don't you forget it. Nothing happens inside these walls or within a hundred miles of them that I don't know about."

Elessaria matches his tone, "Except for where Randal Morn is or what is causing this Dream Fever."

"You got a mouth on you, elf."

"I'm just reminding you that you wouldn't hired us if you were as on top of everything as you pretend to be. We may as well be honest with each other."

"Have you got everything you need?" Tren asks, looking suspiciously at the new company members.

"No more and no less."

"Alright, elf, then let me get the hell out of your way," Tren says with considerably more profanity than would be appropriate to print. He laughs as he and his bodyguard depart.

The company stands at the entrance to the cellars of the temple. The rains of eight seasons have washed away the worst of the soot and ashes, but the temple is only a shell of what it once was. To the right is a cracked marble basin, streaked with soot and entirely empty. It looks as if water once poured from a fountain in the center of the basin, but it has long-since dried-up. At one time, the temple of Lathander was known for its pure bubbling fountain, used by families throughout the town for drinking and cooking. Now it stands empty.

They look down the stairs they are about to descend. At the base of the stairs is a small wine cellar, with oaken casks lining the walls on either side. Wooden beams are draped with spider webs and white nitre; a pale, flickering green light illuminates the room. A portcullis blocks the path to the left; beyond it they see crypts.

6:00 am
Once they are all in the wine cellar, they establish and form up in a battle order.
1. Elessaria and Degar
2. Stago
3. Duncan
4. Routunious and Tick-A-Tick
5. Fink

Stago is excited by the Nitre, he is convinced that under specific conditions and with the proper chemicals this substance could be explosive. Routuinious' curiosity as an engineer is piqued, but after a brief discussion they decide that there is no need to spend time collecting it now.

The passage to the crypt area is blocked by a closed porticullis.

Up the stairs to the guards, Routunious yells, "Do you have keys to this locked gate?"

The answer shouted back is as short as it is disappointing, "Nope."

The party hears a scurrying sound behind the barrels after the shouted exchange.

"Scurrying is always a bad sign," Fink mutters, looking from side to side.

Routunious, with other priorities, asks, "Any bottles of wine?"

They look, but there are only 400 lb casks of the fermented juice.

Elessaria asks, "What does wine have to do with the worship of Lathander? Does anyone know anything about religion?"

"Obviously," Routunious says, "but I don't know much about Lathander worship."

Duncan, who comes from an area not too far distant, says, "The priests of Lathander prized their wines, fermented from grapes grown in their vineyard outside town. But in the eight years since the temple burned, the vineyards have gone to seed. This wine is probably the last of the Morninglord wine that exists."

Again, they hear the scurrying of an animal. To determine what it is, Routunious and Degar start trying to move the casks aside. This causes the scurrying to become a hissing sound.

Degar says, "There's nothing here but wine, and if we not be fer drinkin' it, let's be fer leaving it behind! Let's go!"

No one is surprised when this outburst from the hot headed dwarf is followed by a huge furry creature leaping out from behind the casks directly at his throat. The creature looks like a rat, but inconcievably huge. Also, the creature has bony plates jutting painfully from its joints. Its teeth are thick and sharp like tusks. And it has a horn.

Degar shouts, "Aaaagh!"

Routunious exclaims, "By the gods, what kind of rat is that???"

Degar doesn't care what kind of rat it is, so long as it is soon a dead one. He lunges at the creature to smash it with his hammer. Routunious moves away from the rat and the hammer swinging dwarf as quickly as he can.

Degar smashes at the rat, but misses. The head of his hammer impacts one of the kegs of wine and it explodes all over the dwarf, filling the room with the heady vapor of the vintage. Wine flows everywhere. The Rat attacks Degar with its horn and misses.

Degar sings begins singing a battle song, but doesn't fall into a rage but begins twirling with his hammer preparing for another blow.

As Routunious steadies himself from the shock of seeing a giant rat with horns, he is startled to see another one appear on top of a keg of wine.

Everyone but the dwarf is surprised by this development. Degar misses the first rat and destroys another keg of wine. When it ruptures everything and everyone is drenched in the wine. The fury of his swing carries the hammer through the keg and up again in an impossibly sharp arc...the wine causes his grip to slip at the worst possible moment and the hammer crashes into the dwarf's own head...knocking him unconcious. He falls to the floor and his labored breathing bubbles in the pooling red liquid from the cask.

The second rat scurries toward the unconcious dwarf and slashes him with its claws and bite attacks. The blood from the dwarf is flowing freely into the wine and it is clear to the party members on the stairs that if something isn't done immediately, the dwarf would die from his wounds.

Elessaria leaps at the rat chewing on the dwarf's head, and notices it has remarkably
intelligent looking eyes.

She shouts back at the rest of the party, "Are they were-rats?"

"I don't know what they are, but kill them! Kill them!" Routunious shouts.

Elessaria strikes at the rat in front of her with her longsword, inflicting enormous amounts of damage including losing a leg, but the rat doesn't die, it only looks more angry.

Routunious prepares to throw a dagger, then thinks better of attracting the rat's attention. He commands Tick-a-Tick to attack the rat fighting Elessaria on the dwarf's body.

Before the automaton can reach the rat, it turns on Elessaria, but lacking a front leg, it has fewer attacks and does only a small amount of damage to the elf. Elessaria strikes back, but misses again.

Routunious decides to throw a dagger, and misses badly. The dagger strikes the wall, snapping the blade in half when it does. He tries again, and also misses.

The rat hits Elessaria with its remaining claw, just missing her with a bite.

Tick-a-Tick, following his command, moves toward the rat. He is smashing all the casks of wine in his path, spewing the liquid all over the cellar floor.

Tick-a-Tick hits the rate with a bonecrunching thud. Elessaria severs its head.

Routunious rushes to the dwarf and tries to use his healing proficiency on Degar, but only manages to staunch bleeding. The priest then casts healing spell, bringing Degar barely back to conciousness.

Degar opens his pack and removes a bottle, then he drinks a draft of extra healing potion and is fully healed.

Elessaria also drinks a portion of a potion of extra healing potion to restore herself to full capacity.

Routunious examines the dead rat's head. He says, "This is a dire creature."

Duncan says, "What is a dire creature?"

The priest says, "Dire animals are animals that become deformed by proximity to intense evil. These are Dire Rats."

Elessaria agrees, "I've never seen one, but I have heard of them. The dire version of any animal is identical, save for its enormous size and the presence of jagged bony protrusions extending up and out of its flesh. Dire animals, are infused and transformed tremendous evil energies."

Stago asks, "How are they formed?"

"No one is certain how dire creatures come to be," the priest explains, "whether they emerge from some extra-planer existence, are created by some kind of conjuration or alteration magic...the prevailing theory is that they were once, in fact, normal creatures of their kind but were unusually susceptible to the emanations of evil because these types of creatures are almost always encountered in areas where evil rites and magic has been practiced for many years, although it is possible that these creatures are simply drawn to such evil and not created by it."

Elessaria says, "Regardless of how these creatures come to be, they are always a sign that not only is there evil in the area in which they are encountered, but that evil is deeply rooted and long-standing, of at least 5 years duration. The greater the number and variety of creatures in an area, correspondingly, the greater the power and scope of the evil."

"Oh." Stago says glumly.

"Ye thought this was going to be easy?" Degar laughs, twisting his tunic to drain the wine from it.

"Maybe not," Stago says, "but I didn't think it would so messy so soon."

The party hears more scurrying, and Elessaria goes to lift porticullis.

Stago cautions, "Shouldn't we kill other rat, first?"

Elessaria & Fink prep their bows in agreement. Tick-a-Tick continues smashing wine casks, revealing two large rat holes in walls, but no more rats can be found.

"I think we scared it off." Routunious says.

"I think you're scaring me off," Stago says.

Through porticullis, Elessaria can see a stone door with a lock. There are crypts on
the floor and the walls where generations of Lathanderite priests were buried.

Elessaria & Degar attempt to lift porticullis together. It slides up with little difficulty.

Stago gives Routunious some iron spikes to drive into the tracks of the porticullis to keep it open as they pass through it.

20 Eleasias, 1368: Bar Hopping

6:15pm
Somewhat stunned by the meeting with Tren, the company steps out of the garrison gate and considers options.

Stago asks, "So, we're working for Shandar, Randal Morn, and the Zhentarim now?"

"Keep it quiet, gnome." Elessaria cautions. "Let's go somewhere and consider what we do next."

"That Broken Dagger place looked interesting," Stago says.

"Personally," Routunious says as he begins walking toward the warehouse district, "I think it is a stroke of brilliance if we can get paid three times for the same job."

They move quickly through the streets to the Broken Dagger tavern. This dismal taphouse is the very epitome of rough and tumble bars. Bored Zhentish soldiers, orcs, and mercenaries are congregating here...as they probably do all hours the bar is open.

The place is owned and operated by Tharwin One-Eye. They talk, they mingle, they drink.

Stago asks the gruff bartender, "Heard anything interesting lately? Anything unusual?"

Amid the stream of obscenities that flowed from his mouth, the party learns that the wooden beams of the Red Rock Tavern recently sprouted leaves and blossoms inside.

"Well, that seems like a sign to me," Routunious says, draining his tankard. They pay their bill and make their way to the North gate and exit town on thier way to the Red Rock Inn.

7:00pm
As they leave the gate, the notice that the bald thug, Larkell Greenspring, is still following them.

They make their way to the Red Rock Inn, a ramshackle tavern frequented by folk of the surrounding countryside--several of whom sit quietly drinking at the few small tables in the taproom.

They introduce themselves to the owner, a former minstrel named Kessla. They notice that Larkell has remained outside on a bench near the door.

Stago points to the wooden beams on the ceiling, which are covered in bright green leaves and flowers. The flowers are beginning to lose petals and look somewhat faded. The gnome says, "Look! Tharwin told the truth!"

Kessla says, "If he did, its likely the first time. Who's your friend who's sitting on the porch?"

Routunious returns, "No friend of ours, he's a Zhent Agent that Tren has watching us."

"If you're being watched by a Zhent agent, you're probably alright," Kessla says to the party.

Elessaria asks her, "We were told by a rider on the road that this was a place where we could meet Loudon the Cooper. Is he here?"

A voice from behind them, asks, "Who wants to know?"

The company turns to see Louden the Cooper sitting at a table in the shadows.

Elessaria says, "Randal Morn sent us."

Loudon asks, "Anyone can say that Morn sent them, how do I know its true?"

Stago quips, "How do you know it isn't?"

"Few who work for Morn enter and leave Tren's tower as easily as you did less than an hour ago."

"Oh, you know about that, do you?" Stago asks gloomily.

"Is Greenspring watching you or guarding you?"

Elessaria says, "If you were spying on us, you know that we were taken to Tren's tower, we didn't go there of our own free will."

Kessla asks, "If you were taken there, why'd he let you leave?"

Routunious explains, "He thinks we can find the answer to the Dream Fever. He thinks that Randal Morn has something to do with it."

"You know that isn't true," Loudon says, "did you tell him he was wrong?"

Elessaria replies, "If we had told him he was wrong, we wouldn't be sitting here. Isn't it better to prove to him he's wrong while finding the true cause of the sickness?"

"She's got you there, Loudon," Kessla says.

"If Morn trusted you," Loudon says cautiously, "I suppose there's reason enough for me to trust you too."

Routunious says, "Tren has hired us to explore the ruins of the temple."

Kessla gasps, "Then you are working for him?"

Elessaria explains, "We knew that agreeing to his offer was not only the only way to get out of the tower, but also past the guards and under the temple ruins. I really believe the answers to all our questions are buried there."

Loudon chuckles, "Smart. Dangerous game, but smart."

Stago asks, "What--other than your wooden beams sprouting flowers and leaves--have you noticed recently that is out of the ordinary?"

Kessla says, "I don't know if it means anything, but the only other odd thing I've noticed is an old man with a gray and stringy beard started coming in here a few months ago and has been buying supplies with these..." As she finishes, she pulls out several small gemstones and hands them to the gnome, whose eyes light up at the sight.

Turning them over in his hands and examining them closely, Stago says, "These are dwarven money. Gemstones with runes carved on them."

Routunious takes one of the gems and looks at it under the lamplight. He says, "This is the rune of the Bladebright Clan."

Stago whispers, "Curious."

Hearing the name of the Bladebright Clan, they pique a dwarf's interest who is sitting at a table with a human man in a green cloak and a darkly dressed halfling.

The burly dwarf rumbles, "What speak ye of that fabled clan, the Bladebrights?"

Routunious says, "Someone has been paying for drinks here with Bladebright gems."

"Let me see that," the dwarf says, snatching the stone from the priest's hand.

"My name is Routunious, friend."

The dwarf mutters back without looking up from the stone, "Degar. I am Degar and of the Bladebright blood. Come from the headwaters of the River Tesh to find me homeland and to avenge the losing of it. I've been putting together a party to help me do it. So far, I've got me a pup of a wizard and a runt of a thieving halfling. You wouldn't care to be joining me, would ye?"

The company looks over at the table where the halfling and wizard sit uncomfortably holding their tankards, and then at each other.

"We're already...overemployed, but if it is in our mutual interests I don't see why we shouldn't help each other." Routunious said, diplomatically leaving all options on the table. The dwarf throws the gem back at him, laughing loudly.

"A fine answer. Nothing said, but nothing kept from being said! That bauble is the genuine article. Whoever spent that here knows something about the dwarves who once owned it."

Stepping forward to the bar, the young wizard says, "We should attempt to locate him."

The dwarf nearly knocks the wizard off his feet as he slaps him on the back, saying, "This be Duncan. He's my spell caster. Comes equipped with some powerful magic items, he does."

"I...inherited a few small magical items from my mentor...who recently passed on."

The dwarf lowers his voice conspiratorially, "The wizard that was tutoring him, has a family that thinks the boy killed the old sorcerer for these items. He's trying to clear his name."

The halfling slips off his chair and onto the floor, approaching the bar and the assembled company. "I am
Fink Windowbreaker, originally from around the Shadowdale area...Teshwave, to be exact. Let us just say that I have an affliction which requires a steady inflow of gold in order to stay healthy."

Degar winks at Routunious, "He's got debts no honest person could pay. His needs are my opportunity."

The Company of the Severed Head introduce themselves while keeping as much information private as they can...including the dwarven stronghold at Eagle's Eyrie and the sword they took from long dead Dorn the Grim.

The two companies decide to, at least temporarily, join forces. The hour grows late and they decide they should go back to the Teshford Arms. When they step out the front door, they are somewhat surprised to find that Larkell has departed.

Along the way, Elessaria & Routunious have a hasty whispered conference and decide to divulge some of their knowledge of the Brightblade watchpoint on the mountain. They tell him of the dream that they had and how to find the watchpoint. They show him the paper with the runes that they copied. Degar nearly weeps at getting so much information so quickly after meeting his new companions.

As they draw closer to the Teshford Arms they hear a great deal of commotion inside. Stepping through the door, they hear an angry man shouting, "Every single horse in the stable is dead!" Even though it is late, Eb Farnam is at Olavia's side trying to calm the patrons.

"I understand that this is a very regrettable circumstance," the oily clerk is saying, "but there is absolutely no liability on the part of our establishment for the loss of your animals."

"They were in your care!"

Farnam calmly retorts, "But we didn't kill them! And if you had bothered to read the liability waiver on the inside of the stable door--"

"We demand just compensation!"

Olavia shouts at the mob, "We can't pay you for horses that died of natural causes while they were in our stables!"

"How can 7 horses all dying on the same night be natural?"

Another man shouts, "It ain't natural! It's magic!"

Still another says with force of fact, "It was a wizard. The only good wizard is a dead one, and I don't mean a lich, either!"

A chanting chorus of "Kill the wizard" starts up among the patrons. Another faction cries out, "It ain't wizards, its dwarves. Mark my words, if there is trouble in Daggerdale, then you can trace it to dwarves." That faction begins countering the call to kill the wizards with a demand that all dwarves be killed on sight.

Duncan pulls his hood over his head and tucks his staff as best he can under his cloak. Degar pulls a blanket out of his pack and throws it over his head like a shall. The entire party dashes through the crowd in the taproom and up to their rooms upstairs.

Degar, Duncan, and Fink are given Selina's private room. Once inside it and after locking the door, Routunious nods to Elessaria. She opens her pack and unrolls the cloth that covers Olar, the Mage Killer.

"The fabled blade of Dorn the Grim...Ye've got to take me to this Eagle's Eyrie tonight!" Degar says.

Routunious reminds him that promises were made at Red Rock Inn, and Degar's honor demands that he help the Severed Head Company before they go up the mountain.

Degar grumbles but he knows the priest has him cornered. Nothing matters to a dwarf more than honor. They agree to sneak out of the Inn and go directly to the temple. Tren gave them another 24 hours to prepare, but they are all certain starting early won't cause any trouble.