Chapter Summaries

[JadedDM]

This thread will be dedicated to story summaries. It will be updated whenever we finish a chapter. It's main purpose is to help new players catch up on the story without having to read through every single post, but can also be used by current players who maybe have forgotten important details during the game and need to reference it.

[JadedDM]

The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom I

The game begins in Yurthgreen (April) of 375 AC. In the small Abanansinian village of Buho, there was an unseen darkness creeping over the land. Villagers and cattle have gone missing; woodcutters have disappeared; misshapen beings have been seen shuffling through the forests. What could be behind these phenomenon?

An aging cleric of Paladine named Hilda Montajay was searching for adventurers to investigate this. They were to meet in the Last Pony Inn. The first to arrive was Locky Lightfoot, one of the handful of clerics of Paladine, or Fizban as the kender call him. She had been sent here by her mentor, Cleric Delbion, to prove herself. She had no idea that, in truth, she had been sent here because the temple just wanted her out of their hair for awhile.

Once the locals of this sleepy town calmed down at the sight of a kender in a public establishment, Locky and Hilda started to talk business. That was when Shay showed up. He introduced himself and joined in on the talks, although primarily he was interested in compensation. However, all Hilda had to offer them were three Potions of Healing. But they could keep any wealth they discovered. It turned out some locals had tracked the disappearances to a nearby cavern. But nobody was brave enough to actually venture inside. That would be the party's job.

Afterward, Shay and Locky decided to go take a bath and do some shopping, respectively. Just as they were finished saying goodbye to Hilda and about to set off, they bumped into a little gnome wearing a flowered skirt with several underskirts, crazy patchwork jacket, boots, and a babushka shawl. She had a donkey with her, and asked for directions. She introduced herself as Babushka and it turned out she was going to the cavern, as well and wanted to stable her donkey first. After that was settled, the trio set out.

Babushka easily found the trail of something that had passed through recently, not human, which led them straight to the cavern, making the map Hilda supplied them unnecessary. The party carefully descended into the cavern, watching their footing. It was all Babushka could do to prevent Locky from charging on ahead blindly and alone. After following the stream that poured into the cavern awhile, they came across a large waterfall. Locky discovered some strange fungal growths on the wall, however, that led down safely. She climbed down them like a ladder, realizing they were strong enough to hold her. Reluctantly, the other two followed.

Once down, Locky spirited ahead but Babushka noticed, too late, the hanging plants on the ceiling. The plants, known as hanging snagworts, immediately attacked Locky with their long, sticky tentacles. While Shay and Babushka went to her rescue, another person entered the cavern. It was Jerrard Foss, a former soldier in Palanthas who had recently turned to sorcery. He, too, had come to investigate the recent disappearances in Buho.

Jerrard aided them in the battle, freeing Locky from the glue-like substance of the snagwort's tentacles with...Mordenkainen's Lubrication. (I kid you not.) Once the kender was freed, the party kept a safe distance and used projectile weapons to finish the snagworts off.

Introductions were made, although Shay was a bit rude to the newcomer and was skeptical on why the Orders had sent a wizard. Jerrard explained that there were concerns of illegal magic in this area, hence his presence. He wasn't too polite himself. He immediately started bossing the others around, expecting them to fall in line.

The party continued on, finding another cliff and waterfall. This time there was no visible means of descending. However, the sharp-eyed gnome noticed a strange keyhole. Locky quickly picked it, causing a wooden door to open and divert the waterfall. This revealed a root ladder that would let them climb down. The party did so, finding a similar keyhole at the bottom. They also found an intersection with three options: west, east and south. The party decided to go west.

This eventually led them to a large chamber filled with strange plant-like pods hanging from the ceiling. Most were empty, but two were not. One contained some kind of chum-like substance. The other had a man in it. Not a human, though. It looked like some kind of strange plant-man hybrid. Jerrard shouted loudly that nobody should touch them, primarily at the kender. Jerrard decided the creature was 'evil' and had to be destroyed. He drew his sword and attempted to stab the creature inside its pod. The podman was not harmed, but rather awoke and climbed out, grabbing Jerrard's arm tightly. The others quickly came to his rescue and cut the creature to shreds.

Shay destroyed the other occupied pod, and the party decided they needed to rest. But they were wary about resting in the pod-chamber, so they backtracked to the room where the snagworts had been. After making camp, Locky took a dip in the pool and found a locked box in the water. Picking the lock, she discovered a wooden key inside. The party guessed the key was for the keyhole that reveals the root ladder.

The party took turns bathing, but their camp was interrupted by a podman patrol. Locky and Jerrard quickly cut down two of the four in the first round. The party as a whole took out the other two a minute later.

They resumed resting, with Jerrard and Babushka on watch. While they sat, the mage told Babushka all about the city of Palanthas in Solamnia, where he grew up, using minor illusion cantrips to illustrate the tale. After this, they decided to toss the podman corpses down the waterfall. Then they had Locky set up a wire noise trap to warn them if anything else tries to approach their camp.

[JadedDM]

The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom II

Locky, Jerrard, Shay and Babushka decided to designate the room with the waterfall and pool as their camp site and would fall back to this point whenever things got too rough. As they returned to the three way intersection, Babushka asked the men why they treated Locky differently from her. They explained she was a kender, and so...yeah. Babushka had never met a kender before Locky, so had no idea what they meant.

The party returned to the chamber with the pods hanging from the ceiling. From there, Locky sprinted ahead (prompting the others to follow her) down a tunnel which brought them to another, much smaller tunnel. The entrance of said tunnel was carved to look like a large stone face, with the opening being its mouth.

Locky and Babushka decided to scout it out, as they were smaller and both had infravision. Inside, they found a moss that covered the walls. The moss seemed to have marginal magnetic powers. There was nothing else, though. The room was a dead-end. Locky searched for secret doors, but found nothing.

The party continued on, choosing a path at random when finding a forking tunnel. Eventually, they found themselves in a large chamber with nine small trees. The trees were lined up in rows of three, in pots. Water from the various streams flowed into this chamber, watering them. Moss up above on the ceiling produced light and there was a strange sound echoing about the cavern that reminded the party of whispering.

Unsure of how to proceed, they decided to throw something at the trees. Locky randomly pulled out a bottle of elven wine, and Jerrard tossed it. As soon as it shattered, the cavern went quiet. Then the trees began to move! One by one, they started pulling themselves out of their pots. Their faces twisted by madness, their only desire was the blood of the party!

Jerrard suggested Shay use a torch as a weapon, but all the thief had was a lantern. Jerrard himself had no fire spells prepared. They thus relied on melee weapons until the first tree down. While the other trees were freeing themselves from their pots, Babushka quickly set the dead tree on fire and started making firebrands from it.

The party withdrew toward the tunnel, and because there was a burning dead tree in the way, as well, this allowed the party to bottleneck the mad trees so they could only come forward one at a time. Shay chucked his last oil flask at them, which Jerrard ignited with a cantrip.

Realizing the odds were against them, Locky dug around in her pouches until she found some small vials of oil. She started constructing crude explosive devices from them. Once she had a couple, Jerrard cast Invisibility on the kender, allowing her to move among the trees at will. She then would plant a 'grenade' and Jerrard would ignite it with a cantrip, causing a small explosion among the clustered mad trees. However, during the fighting, Shay went down and the others were too far away from him to help.

With reckless disregard for her own well-being, Babushka rushed to Shay's rescue. Reaching the downed thief would not even have been possible for another human. Luckily, Babushka's small stature allowed her to navigate the blazing obstacle course.

She leaped over a dead, burning tree, miraculously not touching any of the licking flames. Standing up, she found herself face to face with one of the living, and quite mad, trees. Ducking a branch, she dropped into a roll and dove past the creature. As she came up, she took another branch in the back of the head. She nearly staggered, but ignored the pain and continued on, leaping over another burning tree. Again, she avoided touching the flames and landed at Shay's feet.

Straddling him, she dug through his pack quickly, finding some documents, a shaving kit, and finally, his Potion of Healing. Biting into the cork with her teeth, she yanked it off, then forced the liquid down Shay's throat. He coughed and sputtered, but came to as the bleeding stopped and some of his injuries began to mend themselves.

After a very grueling fight, all of the mad trees lay dead at their feet, nothing more than kindling. The party was badly injured and Locky was out of healing. They decided to fall back to their designated campsite and rest up.

At the camp, they talked to each other. Shay thanked Babushka again for saving him. Jerrard expressed respect for how Locky handled herself. Overall, the party seemed to be growing more fond and respectful to each other.

[JadedDM]

The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom III

After resting, Locky healed everyone up. The party discussed what to do. There was concern that they would run out of supplies (food and lantern oil) soon. There was talk of returning to the surface, but also fear that would mean losing their foothold in the caverns.

Deciding to put that thought on hold for the moment, the party returns to the three-way intersection, but this time head south. They found themselves in a chamber that had a small pool of glowing blue slime in it.

The party was very wary of the slime. They tried throwing things at it, prodding it with staves, and so forth. Eventually, they decided it's safe and Locky took a sample of it in an empty vial. Babushka also asked to borrow a knife from Shay. Locky loaned her a random dagger from her pouches, as well. Then Jerrard tried burning the goo, to see if it's combustible, but it turned out to not be.

Continuing south, they found themselves back in the room of the mad trees (all still dead). Realizing it must loop around, they headed west instead. They came to another intersection, this time with a branching tunnel going deeper and further down. The party decided to not use it just yet, and continued to remain on this level.

Continuing west, they found a small 'mill' that was churning from the running river. Jerrard realized it must be where they mince up fish to put in the pods that eventually form podmen. Continuing on, they reached a small chamber with fungus pillars and a big chest in the middle of it.

Babushka suspected the pillars will come alive and attack anyone who gets close. Locky fired two stones at the chest, and Babushka tossed her staff inside, but nothing happened. Deciding it's safe, Locky skipped forward to the chest. She was then attacked by a shambling mound that was hiding behind the pillars. It immediately grabbed her and started choking the life out of her.

Jerrard, Shay and Babushka all ganged up on the monster, but found it very difficult to pierce its thick hide. And their weapons did little damage. Locky kicked silently, but slowly started turning blue. In a nail-biting climax, the party finally took down the shambler just before Locky suffocated.

While Locky was recovering, Shay examined the chest and realized it had a dart trap on it. He couldn't figure out how to disarm it safely. Locky, having caught her breath, easily did so, making Shay seem quite inadequate, indeed! Inside the chest they found hundreds of steel pieces, a handful of platinum pieces, a potion, and a strange coil of purple fungus.

The party fell back to their campsite to rest again. Shay counted out the money and split it evenly among the four. Babushka then decided to go alone up to the surface and restock their supplies. She had no trouble, but was disappointed to learn there were no more healing potions. She did buy food and oil, though.

When she returned, she sneaked toward the campsite to play a prank on the party. But she didn't realize until too late, a huge spider had followed her into the cavern. Babushka engaged it, but was bitten and poisoned. By the time Locky heard the fight and reached her, the fight was all but over. Locky tried to help her, but couldn't find a way to counteract the poison in time. Instead, they fed her a healing potion and hoped for the best. The poison knocked her out, but thankfully did not kill her.

Locky managed to heal Babushka back up. Shay suggested they hide the treasure chest and all of the coin in the pond, in the same way the key they found earlier had been. Shay took the potion and Babushka took the fungus coil and put it in her pocket.

The party played around in the water a bit, then spoke with each other. They learned more about each other, what they were capable of, and what their skills were. Then they rested up.

[JadedDM]

The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom IV

The party continued their investigation of the cavern, this time coming across a chamber that was filled with glowshrooms (mushrooms that glowed) and a floating stone head. The head did not speak or anything, it just followed Shay around wherever he went. They couldn't seem to get rid of it. Babushka was very paranoid and worried it was designed to spy on the party, so she convinced Jerrard to wrap his cloak around it. It still followed Shay wherever he went, however.

The party continued on, arriving at a larger chamber with a man-sized version of the grinder they found earlier. The chamber also contained four 'cages' made of some kind of elastic but unbreakable fungus membrane. The party quickly discovered that three of those cages held prisoners. One held a crazed dwarf who only spoke gibberish, but the other two held humans, a merchant named Merithina and one of her bodyguards, a man named Ulster.

Merithina explained she was on her way to Buho to trade some goods when her party was attacked by the podmen. They were all captured. One guard, Thuskar, was taken away. Merithina didn't know where he was or if he was even alive. The other guards were all put into the grinder, one by one. Now only she and Ulster remained.

Meanwhile, Babushka went to investigate a smaller chamber that branched off this one. It contained eight podmen caring for ten hanging pods. The podmen noticed Babushka and began to attack. Acting quickly, the party tried to bottleneck them between the two chambers. The purple fungus coil they found in the shambler's cavern suddenly hardened and straightened, tearing out of Babushka's pocket.

While the fight is on-going, Babushka broke away and tried to use the fungus staff to break open the cages. It failed. That's when a human warrior arrived, having followed the party's trail. His name was Elvenoff, a paladin hired by Hilda to help the party out. Babushka was immediately suspicious of him, but he assured her he only wanted to help.

While Elvenoff healed up Locky, Babushka decided to tie her knife to the tip of the fungus staff, reasoning that the 'magic' of the staff would somehow transfer to the knife. She then used it to cut at the cage, but again, this was to no avail.

Once the fight was over, the party introduced each other then turned their full attention to the cages. Jerrard thought of trying to burn them, he applied a drop of the potion they found, and applying the glowing goo they found before. None of these things worked. They then considered cutting the cages loose and carrying them, prisoner and all, back to their camp. But they were far too heavy for that. So instead, they merely crowded the cages all next to each other, over by the entrance of the chamber.

That done, they investigated the pod chamber. The ten pods were empty, save for two, which contained sleeping podmen. Elvenoff attacked one, which caused them both to awaken. Shay and Jerrard were able to assist the paladin in slaying them, however.

Not wanting to leave the prisoners unattended, the party decided to make camp there and try and rest up.

[JadedDM]

The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom V

After their rest and heal up, the party discussed their next move. Babushka suggested that she and Locky head back up to the first level to investigate the one tunnel they missed and make sure it wasn't important. Jerrard and Elvenoff then decided to continue exploring the second level on their own in hopes of finding a way to open the cages. Shay offered to remain with the prisoners.

Babs and Locky quickly discover the tunnel they sought was just a long drop-off into a waterfall. There was no way down but to jump, and even if they survived, there was no visible way back up. So instead, they decided to return to the room with the magnetic moss. They wanted to gather some for Jerrard.

Meanwhile, Jerrard and Elvenoff spoke a bit about the group before coming across a net that had been set up to scoop up fish from the river. This net was right in the middle of a three-way intersection. Jerrard took the fish, figuring he could make dinner later with them. The two then decided to head east. But as soon as they did, a heavy portcullis dropped behind them, cutting off their way back. Working together, they tried to lift it, but failed.

After Locky and Babs collected some magnetic moss, they were ready to head back. But a large centipede, at least a foot long, dropped from the ceiling onto Locky and bit her. The kender was instantly paralyzed. Babushka easily sliced up the bug, but had to sit and wait for the poison to wear off so Locky could move again. While they waited, Babushka told her an old gnome tale about a magic cone that made one invisible.

Jerrard and Elvenoff pushed forward, finding what appeared to be a massive lab. There were three large vats of different colored liquids, plus a pink pod that hung from the ceiling. Jerrard searched the desks, which were filled with notes. He discovered a secret word that would tame the hanging snagworts, instructions on how to convert a human into a podman, and ominous notes about some kind of failed experiment called a 'funghemoth.'

Turning their attention to the pod, they realized that inside was not a podman, but a human/podman hybrid. Elvenoff wanted to destroy it, but Jerrard wondered if this was not the man, Thuskar, that Merithina had mentioned earlier. He freed the creature, who was not hostile but unable to speak. Jerrard convinced Elvenoff to stand down, and also loan Thuskar his cloak, for the hybrid only wore his smallclothes and nothing else.

Jerrard figured that with Thuskar's mighty strength aiding them, they could lift the portcullis and return to the others. And perhaps that was the best plan. But Locky must have been rubbing off on him, for he could not contain his curiosity. He decided instead to investigate the next room.

The three stepped into some kind of warped library. There was a desk with stacks of papers on it, a scroll cabinet, and a bookcase with a glass door. While Elvenoff and Thuskar stood watch, Jerrard investigated the desk. There he found a single password, "Fahoorth." He found three scrolls on the scroll cabinet and took them all. When he looked at the bookcase, he only saw one book of interest: a spellbook. When he opened the bookcase to take it, a magical alarm went off.

In the next room, the madman behind this all--the titular Sinister Shroom, a humanoid mushroom, came rushing in. He brought with him four elite podmen, stronger than normal ones. The party was surrounded.

Meanwhile, the feeling returned to Locky's limbs, and the two girls made their way back to Shay and the prisoners. However, they were worried to learn that the men had not yet returned and were overdue. The girls decided to go after them, in case they had found trouble. However, they didn't get far before they heard a podman patrol approaching. They fell back to the prisoner cave, ready to fight them off with Shay's help.

Shay chucked a flaming oil canister at the podmen as they entered, scoring a great hit. When the surviving podmen filed in, the girls tried to bottleneck them at the entrance.

The fight with the Shroom wasn't going well. Jerrard cast a Web spell, trapping two of the podmen...but also cutting off one of their exit points. The Shroom cast Enlarge on one of his podmen, causing it to grow over 9 feet in height. Then it cast Web, trapping Thuskar and Elvenoff. This was just as they had cut down the the smaller podman. That meant all that was left were Jerrard, the enlarged Podman, and the Shroom.

Jerrard charged, but the enlarged podman stepped forward to protect the Shroom. Despite being much smaller, Jerrard managed to defeat the podman, leaving nothing between him and the Shroom. The two clash swords together, but the Shroom decided that discretion is the better part of valor and escaped. He turned to flee, leaving Jerrard to try and pick up his dropped torch and help his stuck companions. By the time they regrouped and followed the Shroom to his bedroom, they discovered it had taken several objects and then fled down another tunnel, this one with a portcullis protecting it. Too injured to continue, they decided to fall back to the prisoner cavern.

Meanwhile, Locky, Babushka, and Shay mopped up the rest of the podmen and decided to go together to find Jerrard and Elvenoff. They didn't want to leave the prisoners undefended, but decided they had no choice. They made their way down to the portcullis, but were unable to lift it. They decided to head south and see if they could find a way around it. However, Babushka was too eager and ran ahead, recklessly. She ran into a large cavern with a big tree growing in the middle of it. The tree was shackled to the ground for some reason. Before she could do much else, a thick blanket of moss fell on top of her from the ceiling, sticking to her body.

Babushka decided to ignore it, and press on. But then the moss started draining her blood, rather painfully, from her body. It was vampiric moss! Locky helped rip it off Babushka, and the gnome immediately tried to continue on, only to find two hanging snagworts blocking her path. As she fired her sling at them, Locky woke up the tree...a treant named Leafloam who explained it had been captured and tormented by the Shroom.

The vampiric moss then attacked Locky, not about to be forgotten. Shay picked the lock on Leafloam's bindings, allowing it to help them fight. Locky fell unconscious in the battle, but with Leafloam's help, they were able to defeat the moss. Shay fed the kender the unknown potion he had left, hoping for the best. Luck was with them, as it healed her back to consciousness. They decided to fall back to the prisoner cavern, with Leafloam in tow.

Jerrard, Elvenoff, and Thuskar were able to lift the first portcullis together and return to the prisoner cavern...only to discover that the girls and Shay had run off to find them. Jerrard felt they should go out and search for them, but first...he wanted to use the password he found to free the prisoners. Remember earlier when the party pushed all four cages next to each other? Yeah. So Jerrard spoke the password, opening all four cages at once (because they were in close proximity). This allowed Ulster and Merithina to be free, but it also freed the crazed dwarf. It was only an illusion, though. The crazed dwarf was, in fact, a very hungry troll!

Elvenoff got lucky and cut off one of the troll's arms, but the arm continued fighting without its body. Jerrard managed to pick it up, though, and toss it into the big meat grinder. Elvenoff was knocked out, and Jerrard, Ulster and Thuskar were all knocked into single digit HP. It was then that Babushka, Locky, Leafloam and Shay arrived.

Instantly, without thought, Babushka chucked Shay's lantern at the troll. It broke, spilling burning oil all over it. The troll fell to the flames, while Jerrard saved Elvenoff at the very last possible minute (he was at -9 HP). Shay quickly dumped another flask of oil on the burning troll before it regenerated, killing it for good.

The party was reunited, and with new members, but all were seriously wounded. The two groups caught each other up, and introduced Leafloam and Thuskar. They debated on whether they should retreat or try to hunt down the Shroom. For now, they decided to just rest and heal.

[JadedDM]

The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom VI

Babushka and Leafloam spoke a bit, as the treant has never seen a gnome before, nor has the gnome ever seen a treant before. Shay then brings up an idea. Locky should focus all of her healing on just herself, Babushka, Shay and Jerrard. The rest will remain behind, guarded by Leafloam. Everyone agreed to this.

Jerrard casts Armor on himself and on Merithina, to keep her safe. She thanks him, and asks that everyone return alive. She wants to bring them all to her home of Shrentak in Blöde, and reward them all properly for saving her.

Shay lights up a torch, but the stone head that always followed him decides to remain with Elvenoff's lantern. Babushka finally realizes the head is drawn toward the brightest source of light.

Instead of going under the portcullis, the party returns to the room they found Leafloam. Jerrard brags that he has the password to let them pass by the hanging snagworts, and wants to try it out. Sure enough, the password works and the plants let them pass unmolested.

They come into a large chamber with a strange wooden chair surrounded by needles. There is a shelf full of bottles of various liquids. Locky spots a bottle with horses painting on it and grabs it, while the others speculate on what the chair's purpose is (they decide it's for torture; they're partly right).

They continue into the vat room, and Babushka scouts ahead. She realizes there are two elite podman in the bedroom coming this way. They are the ones that were trapped in Jerrard's webbing in the last battle. The party attempts to ambush them, but Shay's torchlight gives them away. (This comes up later on, too. The party consistently keeps forgetting about the torchlight, how it impedes infravision, and how the men can't see without it. But also how it reveals their location to the enemy.)

A fight breaks out, and Babushka drops her staff during the battle. Rather than draw her knife, she just starts biting the podman instead. Once the podmen are dead, they explore the bedroom. Shay is eager to start looting, but Jerrard dissuades him, convinced the treasure is all trapped magically somehow.

After a thorough search, they find a couple of levers in some holes in the wall. They realize, after some trial and error, that the levers control the portcullis that the Shroom used to escape. After lifting it, so they can follow...that's where things got weird. I guess they wanted to prevent anyone else from using the levers, so Jerrard attempted to destroy a bookcase by kicking it, and using a piece of the wood to block the lever. But his kick was too feeble, and only served to give him a stubbed toe. Eventually, they just jam a book in there instead before continuing on.

The tunnel leads them to a massive chamber with a river running through it. South of the river is what appears to be a small jungle of fungus. Their torch goes out, so while Shay is lighting a new one, Locky and Babushka spot movement in the 'jungle.' Sure enough, a large and disgusting creature emerges and starts heading their way.

This is the funghemoth that was mentioned in the Shroom's notes. It was a failed experiment that the Shroom was never able to properly dispose of. A fight breaks out, and the funghemoth gets a critical hit, taking Shay down. It then takes Babushka down, as well.

Jerrard saves Babushka and Locky saves Shay. They drag them back toward the bedroom, where it is too narrow for the funghemoth to follow. Locky uses her last healing prayer to revive Babushka, but Shay is out cold. Abandoning most of their gear to lighten the load, they carry him all the way back to the others.

Ulster and Thuskar then return to the bedroom with Jerrard to retrieve their gear without incident. They decide to rest and try again later. During the downtime, Jerrard remembers he has those scrolls he found in the Shroom's library. Studying them, he discovers one has Fireball on it, one has Flesh to Stone on it, and the last one...is cursed. Upon reading it, Jerrard develops a magically-induced phobia of any and all plantlife. Oops.

[JadedDM]

The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom VII

Jerrard suddenly found himself terrified of all plants, and that included Leafloam and Thuskar. He managed to control his fear for now, but he was quite annoyed and hoped the curse was not permanent. Meanwhile, Locky revived Shay and healed up herself, Jerrard, Babushka and Ulster. Since Shay was still badly injured, the party decided to try again, but this time take Ulster with them and leave Shay behind.

Ulster also noticed that Jerrard smelled like rotting fish for some reason. The absent-minded wizard remembered then, he had picked up several trout from a fish trap earlier, and completely forgotten about them. They've been rotting in his pack since then.

From this mishap, a plan was formed to deal with the Funghemoth. Jerrard would turn Locky invisible, and give her the fish. She would set them as bait for a trap. When the Funghemoth arrived to eat the fish, Jerrard would trap it with a Web spell and then use the scroll of Fireball to finish it off. That decided, the party returned to the Funghemoth's chamber. Locky then blessed the party.

The plan went well. The invisible kender placed the rotting fish on the other side of the massive cavern. When the Funghemoth came to investigate, she slipped away. Jerrard managed to save against his fear just barely (the Bless helped), and then he trapped the abomination into a web and cast the Fireball spell from the scroll, incinerating it completely.

While the others celebrated their victory, the invisible Locky decided to explore on her own. She swam across the river to the southern side of the cavern, where the Funghemoth had nested in a small forest of fungus. There she found some goblin bones, a gemstone, a rusty long sword, and a large amount of coins. Ulster was sent to help the kender, but there are way too many coins to collect now. They left them behind, although Locky took the gem and Ulster took the sword. During this time, Jerrard remained behind, holding Babushka's hand.

The party continued forward, taking a sloping path down to the third level of the cavern. There they found a room with two doors, one open. Deciding the Shroom went that way, they follow it into a pod-room. But this one was long abandoned, and the pods are dried up husks. Jerrard is too afraid to continue, so he remains behind with Babushka while Locky and Ulster gather up the dead podmen and burn them.

By this point, there is only one torch remaining. Jerrard suggests they return to the funghemoth's chamber. There, they chop down some of the mushrooms there to use as torches. Once they have a decent supply, they return to where they were. The next room is a small storage room, full of dusty old containers. Locky takes a brass lamp and a wooden jar shaped like a mushroom, but does not bother looking inside either. She also finds a small locked box with four coins in it. She takes the coins, but leaves the box.

The party continues on, into a cavern. Inside the cavern is a rock ledge covered in a red moss. Jerrard recognizes it as glue moss, a very sticky substance. Wondering what is up on the ledge, Babushka volunteers to climb it. But they tie a rope around her first, so they can pull her off if she gets stuck. She climbs up, and does get stuck. When they pull her off, she leaves behind her boots and some of the skin on her hands. After Jerrard lovingly applies ointment to the gnome's hands, he suggests he carries her since she is now barefoot. Babushka explains to him that she's just fine, and the party decides to ignore the ledge and continue on.

The party reaches a fork, but can't figure out which way the Shroom went, so they let Locky choose. She leads them to a cavern with a couple of big pools in them. Locky throws stuff into the room, wondering if it will trigger anything. A giant frog leaps out of the pool and attacks. But Jerrard blasts it with a spell and Ulster and Locky help cut it down before it can do much. However, the kender loses her invisibility as a result.

The party continues on, Jerrard flirting with Babushka the whole way (or at least, it sure looks that way), earning some odd looks from Ulster. Eventually, they reach a large cavern that is a dead-end. However, at the far end is the Shroom and four podmen. The girls sneak forward first, then attack with projectiles, hitting the podmen before they knew what was happening. They took out one of the podmen quickly, but another grapples with Babushka. Jerrard then ran in to help, freaked out, and ran back out. Choking down his fear, he ran back in but couldn't see the Shroom to cast at it. Ulster went with him, carrying the torch, and thus ruining the girls' infravision but making themselves big targets for the Shroom. The Shroom cast Mirror Image and Protection from Good on himself, to protect itself from the rocks the girls tried slinging its way. Then it blasted Jerrard with some Magic Missiles.

Teaming up, Jerrard and Locky helped cut down the podman fighting Babushka. But then a third podman started grappling with Locky. Ulster, not sure what to do, hurled the torch forward. It landed near enough to the Shroom that the party could now see him. However, he and Jerrard could no longer see the podmen in melee range!

Jerrard and the Shroom exchanged more Magic Missiles, weakening the party severely and destroying all of the Shroom's mirror images. Soon after, Jerrard went down, the Shroom stomped out the torch, and then Babushka was knocked out, as well. However, they took out another podman, leaving one remaining. While Ulster blindly grappled with it, Locky went for the Shroom. She was out of stones, so popped in that bottle she found with the horses painted on it into her hoopak and launched it.

What Locky did not know was the bottle was magical, and designed to summon two riding horses if ever broken. The bottle hit the Shroom (critical hit), shattering on its big mushroom head. The two horses appeared, landing on top of the Shroom and trampling it to death. Locky then finished off the last Podman, bringing about complete victory to the half-unconscious party.

Locky used her last healing spell to revive Babushka. Ulster searched the Shroom and found a potion and a spellbook. They fed the potion to Jerrard, and it revived him, too.

Once awake, Babushka calmed down the startled horses. She was very distressed, however, as she wasn't sure how they could get the horses out of the cavern, as they couldn't climb ladders. Locky told them all what happened, but since Jerrard and Babushka were unconscious and Ulster was blind, it sounded all like some typical kender tale to them...save for the fact that the horses were clearly there now and weren't there before.

Leading the horses with them, the party returned to the prisoner chamber (taking several stops along the way to rest), and reunited with their companions. Everyone was pleased to hear that the Shroom was dead and were eager to pack up and move on. But Babushka, Jerrard, and Locky all wanted to stay! This caused a rift in the group. The prisoners, Elvenoff, and Shay were all eager to leave. They decided to head back up to the surface on their own. The PCs convinced Leafloam to stay behind and watch over them and their horses while they rested up.

Luck was on their side, though. After nine hours of rest, nothing disturbed them at all.

[JadedDM]

The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom VIII

The party ate a meager breakfast while Locky prayed for her new spells, then healed everyone up decently. They then decided to return to the surface and come back later with food and water for the horses and possibly find another way out of the cavern that the horses could use.

The party left the horses there and trekked back to the root ladder. Locky had given the key to divert the waterfall to Merithina and was unable to pick it herself. That was when Leafloam pointed out that the fingers of the Podmen all work as keys. Luckily, there were some dead podmen right nearby, as the party had thrown them over the waterfall several days ago. Leafloam ripped off a finger, and Locky used it in the lock, diverting the waterfall so they could climb the root ladder.

Eventually, they made it back to the surface to find it was a lovely spring day outside. They started heading back to the village, Leafloam lagging behind. He seemed very lethargic, possibly even ill, but nobody seemed to notice.

Once in town, Leafloam planted himself in the first patch of grass he could find. Babushka ran off to see to her donkey, Dekker. The other two went to the temple to fill in Shay and the others. Ulster and Merithina were with him, as is Elvenoff. Thuskar was being tended to by Lady Hilda.

When Babushka rejoined them, Locky insisted that Shay split up the treasure they found (each of them gets about 310 steel pieces). After he did so, Locky immediately sought out Hilda, gave her 150 steel, and then ran away before she could respond in any way.

Shay explained to the others that the town considered them heroes and agreed to let them stay for free for a week. Merithina wanted to return home to Shrentak in Blode, and asked them to join her. They all agreed, save Elvenoff. He decided to stay in Buho and learn more about this Paladine from Hilda.

Locky, Babushka and Jerrard returned alone to the cavern with fodder for the horses. Jerrard was terrified of the sight of the dead snagworts, though, and could not enter. Only with the help of a Bless spell was he able to brave the area. Shortly after arriving, they met two gnomes named Wingnut and Sunni. They explained they were hired by Hilda to devise a way to lift the horses out of the cavern.

While the gnomes worked, the party discussed returning to the Funghemoth's lair and getting all of those coins they left behind. But Jerrard's fear of plants was a problem, so they instead decided to camp in the cavern for 8 hours, so Locky could then pray for a Remove Curse spell.

Naturally, this led to a quartet of huge spiders finding their camp and attacking. Babushka charged right into their midst, trying to not wake up Locky (who thankfully woke up on her own anyway). The gnome quickly found herself surrounded and overwhelmed. The two engineers had pistols but they were of little help.

The party managed to take out two of the spiders before Locky started pelting them with random items in her belt pouch (including a Potion of Healing that was unfortunately destroyed). Babushka was knocked unconscious and poisoned, and Sunni and Jerrard got poisoned, too.

Locky was able to stabilize and even revive Babushka, who then jumped right back into the fight and despite all the penalties, managed to take down a third spider. After a couple more rounds of a lot of misses, they eventually killed the fourth spider, as well.

Babushka cleansed the poison from Sunni but failed to do so for herself. Locky tended to her the best she could, and with her aid, the gnome was able to beat the poison. Jerrard, however, was ignored during all of this and took quite a bit of damage from the poison, but survived.

Shortly afterward, they were then attacked again by a pair of giant centipedes, but managed to fight them off without too much difficulty. By that point, the gnomes had finished their work (they engineered a pulley and rope system) and Locky was able to heal everyone again and remove Jerrard's curse.

They were successful in pulling the horses up to the surface and escorting them back to the village. After stabling them and cleaning up, they had a meal with Ulster and Merithina and talked about Shrentak. Babushka went outside, Locky joining her, and told the kender she was molested by her cousin back in Mt. Nevermind. The group then disbanded and went to their rooms to rest.

[JadedDM]

The Pod-Caverns of the Sinister Shroom IX

The week passed without further incident. The party healed up and rested, and enjoyed the hospitality of the small village. By the end of the week, Thuskar had recovered somewhat. He could speak now, although it was still difficult to understand him. Hilda speculated that eventually, he would revert back to normal entirely.

The party said their good-byes to Hilda, Elvenoff and Leafloam, then headed to Crossing, a port town to the north. From there, they managed to hitch a ride on a boat across the New Sea and down to the port city of Shrentak in the nation of Blödehelm. By the time the ship docked, Thuskar was considerably better, only a greenish tint to his skin suggesting he was ever sick.

Shrentak, a small city with a population of nearly 4,000 souls, it sits on the delta of the Zakra River that opens out into the New Sea. Compared to the sleepy village of Buho, this place is a crowded metropolis. Although nowhere near as big as Jerrard's hometown of Palanthas, the city is considerably more varied. Humans, dwarves and elves can be found alongside goblins, ogre and draconians.

Merithina was quick to lead the party to her house, which turned out to be a large mansion with its own servant quarters. Once inside, they were introduced to her father, Linton Bronzemoon, who was quite thankful to the party for rescuing her.

After introductions were made properly (and Linton gave his servants a command in Ogrish to hide the good silver after learning a kender was among them), they all sat down to a large feast. Afterward, the party are given their own rooms (although Babushka decides to sleep in Locky's instead).

The following day, Thuskar and Ulster return, eager to show the party around town. Both were paid 100 steel by Linton, and Babushka generously offered them another 50 each, as well. Now they could finally restock their gear that was lost when they were captured by the podmen. Thuskar escorted the girls to the marketplace, while Ulster offered to show Jerrard the mageware shop. He had spent last night scraping the rust off that long sword he found in the funghemoth's lair, but the next morning, the rust had returned. Thus, Ulster suspected it might be enchanted in some way.

After Ulster had the sword checked for magic (it was), and Jerrard traded in some goods (including the Shroom's spellbooks) for some new spells and items, he spotted his old master, Caron Bergnell across the street. Making up an excuse to Ulster, Jerrard followed the mage into an alley.

Caron congratulated Jerrard on a job well done, but claimed there was someone who needed to speak with him. Jerrard agreed, but was surprised when Caron suddenly teleported them both away to a strange room in a stone building. Caron revealed they were now in the Tower of Wayreth, over 300 miles away!

Caron escorts Jerrard to a room where he meets with none other than the three heads of the Conclave, Dunbar Mastersmate, Dalamar Argent, and Justarius. Before Jerrard can comprehend what is happening, Justarius, Highmage of Wayreth, said, "Welcome, Magus Foss," using the proper title for a fully initiated Wizard!

The three wizards explained that the reason they sent Jerrard, a mere apprentice, to investigate the pod-caverns was to serve as his Test. He was pushed to his limit, was forced to utilize all of his magic, and failure would have meant death. He passed with flying colors, however, and learned to work with others (he had been quite anti-social prior to the adventure). However, there was one matter of contention. Although Jerrard had been taught under a Red Robe, he had shown a deep sense of justice and compassion. So he was offered a choice: Join the Order of Lunitari as he had first planned, or instead take on the white robes of Solinari. Jerrard chose the latter, becoming a White Robed Wizard.

Jerrard was then teleported back to Shrentak with Caron, so he could rejoin his friends and turn over the Shroom's documents and notes he had collected to his former master.

Meanwhile, after a brief shopping spree, Locky noticed a temple district and insisted on taking Babushka there. It was all Thuskar could do to keep up with them. He attempted to give them a proper tour, pointing out each of the temples, but Locky immediately skipped them all to find a Temple of Paladine. There wasn't one, but rather a small temple dedicated to six of the Gods of Light.

Locky met with the local head priestess of the temple and donated 72 steel before asking for a brief tutorial on the gods for Babushka.

After all of this, the group met back up at the mansion to share stories. Jerrard also gave Babushka a Longtooth Dagger he picked up at the mageware shop. This special weapon functions as a short sword +2 when used in battle, but remains as light as a dagger.

The next couple of months passed largely without incident.

Locky spent most of her time exploring the city, exchanging stories of her exploits to any fellow kender she met (not to mention anyone else who was willing to listen), and praying at the nearby temple of light. She also spent time with Babushka, teaching her the basic concepts of first aid and doctoring.

Babushka learned to use the short bow from Ulster, and taught Locky the basics of herbalism. But overall, she found herself more comfortable away from the city and out in the wild, wandering the trails in the nearby mountains or just walking alongside the Zakra River.

Jerrard practiced his new spells when he wasn't learning how to speak Gnomish from Babushka. His power now crests and falls with the phase of the white moon, and when it's full he marveled at the boost in his strength.

And Shay continued to slip out on occasion and disappear. When pressed on his activities or where he's going, he just claimed he's running minor errands.

But as spring left and summer arrived, Jerrard and Babushka began to emphasize with Locky's restlessness. The kender was eager to move on and explore new places. Jerrard felt he had learned all he could from this place. And Babushka just wanted to go somewhere a little less...crowded.

As if sensing their discontent, one day Linton approached them with a proposition. He told them that one of his merchants was bound for the nation of Khur, to make a delivery to the town of Ak-Tubal. It's a small but well-defended town of about 1,200 souls, and home to the Mayakhur tribe.

Unfortunately, bandits sometimes plague the area and Linton didn't have any available warriors of sufficient skill to protect his merchant. If the party could accompany the merchant to Ak-Tubal's inn, he would be eternally grateful.

It seemed like the perfect solution. Babushka was eager to get away from the city, and she had heard there are many exotic kinds of plants and herbs one can find in the desert. Jerrard was eager to put his sword and his spells back into use. And Locky was quite excited to go somewhere she's never been before, especially such an interesting place as Khur.

Only Shay opted out. He rather liked it in Shrentak, and might even buy a house there. However, Ulster and Thuskar volunteered to join the expedition as the party's henchmen. And so, saying their farewells, the party departed with the merchant, across the mountains, and into the wastelands of Khur...

[JadedDM]

The Sarcophagus Legion I

The party traveled through the mountains to reach the desert kingdom of Khur, escorting one of Bronzemoon's merchants (a silver-tongued half-elf named Faendal) to the village of Ak-Tubal. The village was considerably less friendly than Buho or even Shrentak. The locals tossed more than a few unfavorable stares the party's way. Faendal quickly left to attend to business, so the party headed to the nearest inn--a rustic place with the dubious name of 'The Severed Ear.'

Inside are a few Khurs smoking a hookah, a kapak draconian at the bar, and a very shady looking innkeeper named Kazeem. Jerrard politely asked for lodging, but Kazeem asked some rather outrageous prices for the foreigners to stay. The wizard attempted to haggle, but when Kazeem made a subtle threat, Jerrard quickly conceded and paid the full amount. Thuskar went to stable the two animals (Dekker, Babushka's donkey and Wittchen, one of the horses that was summoned during the Shroom battle; the second horse was left behind in Shrentak).

Moments later, a young woman wearing the typical veils to hide her face (for modesty's sake) of the locals entered the inn. Ulster was immediately smitten by the woman's lovely eyes.

Looking around the inn, the woman, Imani, decided that the party would serve her purposes. She sat down with them and asked for their help. Her sister-wife, Syriana, had been kidnapped by desert bandits, and she wanted them to help her rescue her. Babushka was concerned they would not get paid, but Imani assured them they would be. Their employer was the local Khan, her husband, the man in charge of the entire town (Imani is his fourth wife, Syriana his fifth; it's common for wealthy men to have more than one wife in Khur). Babushka asked a number of other probing questions, deeply suspicious, but eventually reluctantly agreed to help, along with the others.

The party quickly departed for the palace with Imani, completely forgetting Thuskar in the moment. He returned to the inn after stabling the animals to find he had been abandoned, to his chagrin.

The Khan was a hideously grotesque, overweight man with a high-pitched voice. Surrounded by his harem, a number of servant and slaves, a contingent of Baaz bodyguards, and numerous sycophants hoping to curry the favor of the most powerful man in town. The party arrived just as he was speaking with another man who apparently owed the Khan some money. The man begged and pleaded for more time. The Khan's vizier, a sinister looking fellow wearing black robes, made a suggestion. Pleased, the Khan had the guards hold the man down for the "Feast of Eyes." His pet Vulture was then allowed to eat the poor man's eyes. The blinded man was then carted away.

With this less than stellar first impression, the party stepped forward for their own audience. They introduced themselves and Imani explained they were going to help her in her quest to save Syriana.

The Khan was pleased and explained that while Syriana was a 'mere trifle' to him, he could not abide people stealing what is rightfully his. Apparently, Syriana was in a caravan on her way to the Khan's summer home for their honeymoon, when a group of desert bandits attacked, possibly the dreaded Midnight Jackals--a notorious group of outcasts and thugs. A single porter managed to escape and report what happened. This happened only the night before, so the trail was still hopefully fresh.

For their efforts, the Khan promised them 5,000 steel pieces. The party readily accepted. Jerrard asked to interview the porter, who was brought forth--a 12 year old boy (who was quite articulate for his age and spoke Common exceptionally well) named Nejo. The party was escorted to the vizier's library so they could speak with the boy in private.

The boy reported that the attacked happened at night, while the caravan was camping. The bandits struck and killed everyone save the princess, who was taken, and himself. He only survived because he went off to track down a camel that had gotten loose. The party considered hiring Nejo as a guide, but Imani was adamantly against taking the child with them. Jerrard paid him a steel piece and sent him on his way.

The party made some arrangements. Jerrard asked to allow Wittchen to be stabled at the palace, even though he had already paid for the inn's stabling. They decided to bring Dekker with them and load him up with extra food and water. However, they needed proper clothing to survive the desert. Imani agreed to help them with this matter, but first she had something to take care of. Parting ways, the party returned to the inn to fill in Thuskar on what happened.

By the time the horse was re-stabled, Dekker was stocked up, and new clothes had been purchased for Thuskar, Ulster, Locky and Babushka (Jerrard decided to keep his white robes, which worked just fine), it was already 3 PM. Imani brought her own horse, Artemis. The group set off.

Within only half an hour of travel, the party was starting to overheat and take damage. Ulster, Thuskar, and Imani quickly shed their light armor, but Babushka insisted on keeping hers on. Their progress had been very slow, and Imani realized it was because nobody else brought horses. The two smallest members, Locky and Babushka, were slowing them down the most, as their legs were shorter. Dismounting, Imani volunteered to allow them both to ride Artemis, allowing the party to double their speed.

After another two hours, the party reached the site where the caravan had been attacked. The dead were already being feasted on by vultures and jackals. Searching around the site, for the vultures were quite territorial, Babushka found a set of tracks from the princess, who appeared to have her legs bound before she was picked up and carried off on horseback. Babushka questioned Imani on this, but the warrior princess had no idea why Syriana's legs would be bound. Babushka considered that Syriana might be better off with the bandits than the Khan, a theory Imani thoroughly disbelieved (the Midnight Jackals were known for their brutal treatment of females).

There seemed to be tracks for about ten horses leading northeast, so the party decided to follow them. They traveled for another two hours before the temperature, thankfully, began to drop as night fell. Three hours later, it was fully night and the party was too exhausted to push on, so they made camp and set up a watch.

That night, at 4AM, a lone, starving hyena tried to sneak up on the horse and donkey. Babushka attacked, calling for help. Jerrard and Thuskar woke up to help, but the hyena decided to run off anyway. The rest of the night passed without incident, and most of the damage the party took from the heat healed up.

[JadedDM]

The Sarcophagus Legion II

The party awakened the following morning to find it was quickly growing even hotter than it was yesterday. They set off, Babushka and Locky riding Imani's horse to help speed them up a bit. After traveling six hours, they came across a grisly scene. Nine dead dervishes and ten dead horses, lying in the sand and covered in black scorpions. The corpses appeared relatively fresh and unlooted. Immediately, Babushka approached one and tried to take its waterskin, when suddenly all nine of the dervishes got to their feet and attacked.

Locky managed to turn most of them away, and the others all rushed to be the first to cut down the remaining ones. In doing so, however, they left the donkey and horse on their own, and the two animals began to grow agitated at the sight of battle and smell of decay. Babushka and Ulster rushed back to calm them down, while Locky healed and the others finished off the dervishes.

The party speculated on whether this was a deliberate trap set to stymie their efforts. Ulster noticed some tattoos on the dead bodies, and Imani recognized them as the sigils of the Midnight Jackals, a group of castoff criminals that often raid villages and caravans at night. Babushka searched again for tracks, and found the tracks of one dervish and the princess heading toward the mountains. Meanwhile, Locky realized she can ask Paladine for help in beating the heat, and cast an Endure Heat spell on Dekker the donkey.

Babushka was still worried on what created the undead in the first place, and why. The party speculated a bit, but weren't able to come up with any concrete answers. Instead, they looted the dervishes of their waterskins and pushed on.

After another hour, though, Imani's horse, Artemis, was near death. Locky healed her at Ulster's prompting, and they continued. But after another two hours, now Imani and Jerrard were almost dead. Locky healed them the best she could, but her own power was limited. But during the respite, Imani recognized the mountain they were heading to, and gave some history on it.

"The mountain is called the Black Plume now, but it was originally called Mount Qusa ten years ago," she said. "The story is that a group of dwarves were exiled from their Mountain Kingdom for the worship of Torghan the Avenger, and the dwarves made the mountain their new home. Torghan purposely led the dwarves to this mountain as he wanted the silver within it, and he put his worshipers to work. Though, the exiled dwarves couldn't keep up with the demand from their god, so they started buying slaves from the Midnight Jackals to keep up with the demand. Sadly, the human slaves didn't last very long due awful conditions. To keep up with the demand from the dwarves, the Midnight Jackals went on a raiding rampage. I can't count the number of times the Midnight Jackals raided my tribe for slaves," she explained with a small sigh.

"With the help of the new slaves, the dwarves ended up digging a little too deep and they came across some dark dwarves. The exiled dwarves and the dark dwarves broke out into war over the silver within the mine, but ultimately the dark dwarves won. Ironically, the exiled dwarves were turned into slaves by the dark dwarves. Though, it seemed the dark dwarves really didn't know what they were doing when it came to mining silver, so in the end they gave up on the whole endeavor and left the mountain. Now, the Black Plume is said to be haunted by the dead slaves and various other creatures that have taken up residence there."

After another hour, they had arrived, but were in bad shape from the heat. They argued on how to proceed, but ultimately decided to just head inside (and out of the sun), turn Locky invisible, and allow her to scout ahead.

Stepping inside, they all felt a foreboding sense of evil in the place. They were in a large room with several statues of sphinxes with gems for eyes. There was also a dervish in the center of the room, dead (his throat slit). Jerrard cast the Invisibility spell, and Locky pressed onward. In doing so, she triggered a trap. The doors slammed shut, locking the party inside. Then gas begin to flow from the sphinxes' mouths. Everyone but Locky, Babushka, Thuskar and Artemis were knocked unconscious. Locky continued on ahead, squeezing through the half-closed inner doors while Babushka and Thuskar tried to make sure everyone was alive and prepared for an attack that never came.

Locky explored a room to the left and found nothing of interest but some kind of rat-dog hybrid that sensed her presence, but could not see her. Deciding this was 'boring,' she returned to the others. Around that time, the outer doors swung back open, releasing the gas, and allowing the party to rouse. Once everyone was on their feet, Locky told them what she saw. Babushka speculated that someone very powerful was intentionally killing off the Midnight Jackals to create an undead army.

The party set a watch and decided to rest there, leaving the dead body where it laid. After eight hours, most of the damage caused by the heat had healed, and it was late at night.

[JadedDM]

The Sarcophagus Legion III

When the party finished resting, it was after 3AM. They discussed what to do with the two animals, Artemis and Dekker. They decided to bring Dekker with them, but realized Artemis wouldn't willingly go underground, so left her behind. But not before Jerrard decided to turn her invisible.

Squeezing through the partially open doorway, Locky (still invisible herself) and Thuskar searched around a bit. They found a small room nearby full of old cots, and a couple of large winches, and a pair of headless dwarf skeletons hanging from the ceiling. Realizing the winches were for opening and closing the doors, Thuskar used one to open the inner-door, so the party could follow.

Across from the room with the winches was a small room with some old mining equipment, and a number of barrels (mostly smashed). They realized the main hallway stretched to the north and branched off into a number of smaller corridors, leading both east and west. They chose one at random and followed it, and it brought them to a cylindrical room. The lower part was completely covered in thick webbing. Spiraling staircases led up to a catwalk and a number of prison cells. The party heard a woman's voice, sobbing, coming from above.

Locky searched for traps, but couldn't find any, so the party climbed up the stairs. However, a trap door dropped both she and Babushka down into the webbing. The others hurried back downstairs to call after them. It was then that a giant, half-mechanical spider appeared and made its way toward Babushka (as Locky was still invisible).

Babushka managed to break free of the webbing just as the clockwork spider attacked her. Locky struggled to cut herself free with her dagger, and the others fired arrows and bolts at the spider--but the masses of webbing tended to catch any projectiles before they reached their target. They eventually were able to put it down, although Babushka was poisoned and badly wounded by the time that they did.

The party managed to use a rope to pull them up, and Locky treated and healed Babushka. They wondered whether the bandits had set this trap deliberately for the party, although Imani and Babushka thought that unlikely. They reclimbed the stairs, this time being careful to avoid the trapped one.

The source of the crying turned out to be the ghost of a female dwarf, locked up in one of the cells. She said her name was Dala Rockcrusher, and when the party questioned her, it became increasingly clear she was unaware she was dead (otherwise she could have just walked through the bars of her cell). Locky couldn't pick the lock, so the party searched until they found a key and were able to free her. Dala thanked them, and told them a bit about the layout of the mines (although 10 years out of date), pointing out to them the mines, silver vault, the slag pits, the lab, and the shrine. She then decided to leave, hoping to find a new home. She faded away as she left, possibly passing on to the next world.

The party headed west, coming across the silver vault. They didn't enter it, but rather Babushka searched for tracks and found nothing. Concluding that nobody has come by here recently, including the princess, they decided instead to check the lab. Pushing open the door, they found themselves walking into some kind of nightmare. A number of strange, mutated rats were in the room, squeaking in torment. Some were in jars, others were stuck in a wall of plaster. There were also a handful of strange dog/rat crossbreeds. Finally, there was a Theiwar, a dark dwarf, performing some gruesome experiments on the creatures.

As the Theiwar thought these intruders were trying to steal his work, he attacked. Locky tried to turn him, thinking he was undead. While the party fought off the vermin-dogs, the Thiewar used a spell to extinguish Jerrard's torch. So the wizard quickly lit his lantern and set it on the table, illuminating the entire room perfectly.

Thuskar completely lost it as memories flooded back of his time as a guinea pig under the Sinister Shroom. Going into a rage, he started killing all of the rats, even the ones in the wall, ignoring the dark dwarf almost entirely.

Once the vermin-dogs were dispatched, the party centered on the dwarf. It seemed things were going their way, but the Theiwar cast Blink on himself, and after that, they couldn't keep up with him. He kept teleporting away, avoiding their attacks. Despite the six to one odds, the dark dwarf was winning. Realizing they couldn't win without heavy losses, the party retreated. Jerrard cast Web, trapping the dwarf...until he teleported out of it! As the party left the lab, the dwarf slammed shut the doors and threw up a Wall of Force to keep them from reentering. Unfortunately, they had been unable to retrieve the lantern and Babushka's sling (which she had dropped in the fight).

Wounded and tired, but having rested only 20 minutes ago, the party pressed on toward the lab. As they got closer, it started getting warmer. They passed by a large hole in the wall, like something had burrowed through. It was big enough for Locky and Babushka. They considered exploring it, but Babushka was convinced the bandits would not have taken the princess in there, so they continued on.

The party reached the shrine, which was dedicated to Sargonnas, the evil god of vengeance, hatred, and dark passions. It was quite hot and full of dark smoke, which made it difficult to see. The shrine doubled as a forge, where the dwarves would sacrifice metal goods to the dark god.

Realizing the soot would leave footprints, Babushka searched and found one set of prints--those of a young woman's--leading to a corner of the forge. But nothing else. Puzzled, the party cautiously approached. They found Syriana, covered in filth and soot, her clothes tattered, and clutching a bloody knife. She was near hysterical with fear, and threatened anyone who got close to her.

When she recognized Imani, she actually became further agitated. Screaming, she claimed the khan sent Imani and the party to capture her so he could execute her. She claimed he must have bribed Imani with the promise of freeing her son, Malik, in exchange for Syriana's life.

Imani admitted she had bargained for her child's freedom (something the party knew nothing about) but she had no idea the khan wanted her dead. After calming the princess down and giving her some water, she told her tale.

One day, some guards took her aside, held her down, and cut her hand open. Collecting some blood, they let her go. Not too long after that, the khan announced she would be taken to his summer palace to the south, and he would join her there soon. Instead, she was shackled and forcefully placed in a caravan. While they traveled, she overheard the guards talking about how the khan was going to kill her.

During the trip, they were overtaken by the Midnight Jackals. The guards were all killed, and she was taken prisoner--again--by the bandits. However, later on, the bandits were then in turned attacked by some undead. They were all killed save one, who escorted the princess to this mine to hide. He accidentally tripped the same trap Locky did, and was knocked out by the sleeping gas. Quickly, Syriana stole his dagger (and food and water), slit his throat, and ran deep into the mines, finding her way to the shrine and has been hiding there ever since.

The party discussed this. Babushka immediately jumped to the conclusion that the creepy vizier was behind this all, and he wanted to use Syriana's blood for some unknown, but no doubt nefarious, scheme. She also verbally assaulted Imani, treating her as a representative of the people of Khur as a whole, for their different and somewhat backwards culture.

Imani, however, was mostly concerned that the party would put Syriana's safety over that of her son's. Without Syriana, she could not win his freedom.

It was Ulster who came up with a plan. The party would hide the princesses somewhere, then return to Ak-Tubal. Under Jerrard's invisibility spell, they would sneak into the palace, rescue Malik, and then smuggle him (and Wittchen, the horse Jerrard left in the palace's stables) out of the village. Then they would ride for Shrentak.

Everyone was quite surprised by the plan, and all agreed to it. Syriana, especially, seemed impressed and took quite a shine to the swordsman. But he was too wrapped up in his crush on Imani to even notice!

The party backtracked to the entrance chamber and set a watch. Jerrard realized they could use the pieces of broken barrels in the storage room to use as fuel for a small fire. The party discussed possible places with Imani where they could hide the princesses while rescuing Malik.

[JadedDM]

The Sarcophagus Legion IV

After resting, the party started discussing what to do with Syriana now that they had her. They decided that taking her back to Ak-Tubal was out of the question. Imani mentioned a few places that they could go, but the party was very low on supplies. After some thought, they salvaged a barrel from the storage room and had Locky fill it with water with the use of a Create Water spell. Locky also healed everyone up the best she could, but doing so meant she had no room left for heat protection spells.

Locky suggested they wait another day so she can ask for heat protection spells, but they only have enough food to last two days, which means staying another day will be a bad idea. Babushka suggested they move at night, but again, this would slow the party's movement rate down by a third. Deciding they had no choice but to proceed now and hope for the best, they stripped the dead dervish of his clothes to give to Syriana and then set off.

However, as soon as they stepped outside of the mine, they found themselves surrounded by Baaz Janassaries, light mounted lancers, and mounted archers. The vizier, Timur-i-Ling was with them as well, and he congratulated the party on finding the missing princess. Babushka and Jerrard attempt to 'disbelieve' this, but alas, it was all too real.

With no other choice, the party surrendered their weapons and gear and allowed themselves to be chained to stakes that were pounded into the ground. Syriana was taken, and their gear was thrown into a nearby pit to be collected later. They also took Dekker, but not Artemis (who was still invisible).

The party was left to slowly die under the blazing sun. They all tried and failed to break free of their bonds. As they tried to think of what to do next, Thuskar noted a group of riders heading their way. The leader of the group turned out to be none other than the same Kapak the party saw in the tavern when they first arrived in Ak-Tubal.

The Kapak, who called himself Karkat, and his companions (all human males, save one female) freed the party. He said there wasn't time to explain now, but there would be later. For now, the party had to come with them to save Syriana or something called the Sarcophagus Legion would be raised. When the party went to retrieve their gear, however, they found it guarded by a giant fire beetle. The party argued that Karkat and his men had to help them retrieve it. Karkat refused, but they kept at it, until he finally snapped and agreed. The beetle went down in one round. Jerrard then remembered how to make Artemis visible again, and the party set off, doubling up on the horses with the others.

After traveling all day, the group made camp at night. In doing so, they discovered some human bones from an old caravan that apparently was claimed by the desert some time ago.

Having settled down, the party was ready for some answers. Karkat let the young woman of his group, Safa, tell the story.

Long ago, before the Cataclysm, the Lord of Bones, Chemosh (God of Death) had an affair with his mortal high priestess. From this union came a demigoddess known as Sekhmet. She was a killer, a weapon to be aimed at Chemosh's enemies. Not only was she a skilled warrior, but her blood would animate the dead. Sekhmet eventually developed her own cult dedicated to her, a group of assassins known as the Hungry Shadows. Safa explained that they were a cell of that ancient group, or what was left of it.

One day, Sekhmet decided to usurp her father's title. Chemosh discovered the plot and banished her the Pit of Fangs, an infernal prison where the inmates are tormented by the biting of ravenous jackals and rats for all eternity. Chemosh then took measures to stamp out all knowledge of Sekhmet from the public, in hopes of her being forgotten altogether. Only one temple remained toward Sekhmet, and it was reclaimed by Chemosh and then abandoned. It is in that temple that the mummified remains of Sekmet's past followers are enshrined, the Sarcophagus Legion--an army of dead waiting for the day to rise again.

However, before she was banished, Sekhmet gave birth to offspring of her own. Most of these scions were hunted down and killed by Chemosh's followers. But there was one remaining that even he did not know about--Syriana. The princess herself isn't even aware of this, but recently, the khan and his vizier found out. Karkat and the Hungry Shadows also caught wind of it, but by the time they could track her down, she had already been kidnapped by the Midnight Jackals. So when the party was sent to find her, they followed them (or rather, followed the khan's men who were following them).

The vizier intends to sacrifice Syriana, using all of her blood to revive the Sarcophagus Legion, which the khan will then use to conquer all of Khur and make himself High Khan. The Hungry Shadows aim to thwart him, but none of them can actually enter the temple without arousing Chemosh's wrath. But since the party is not followers of Sekhmet, they should be safe (relatively).

After telling the tale, the party was left alone. Locky and Babushka went straight to sleep, and Jerrard was about to join them, but Imani insisted they discuss some kind of plan for the temple. However, the subject was quickly derailed when Imani asked Jerrard about his ambiguous feelings for Babushka. Jerrard then pointed out Ulster's feelings toward Imani, which embarrassed him so much he ran off to tend to the horses.

Imani wasn't sure what to do with this knowledge, as her people had a very different courting process than Ulster's. They talked a little more, before both getting some rest, as well.

[JadedDM]

The Sarcophagus Legion V

The next morning, the Hungry Shadows used some kind of liquid to animate the skeletons they found the night before. The party was very nervous, but the Hungry Shadows insisted they needed all of the help they could get.

Babushka quickly checked the Fungus Staff, seemed puzzled that it wasn't dried out or damaged, and then the party set off.

Locky had memorized Endure Heat, but forgot to apply it to Artemis. Only when the horse was about to drop dead, did the kender heal her and then remember to cast Endure Heat.

Once they arrived at the temple, one of the assassins scouted the area out. The entrance was being guarded by the light lancers. Karkat came up with a plan; the skeletons would rush in first, and the assassins would back them up. While the lancers were busy, the party would slip in quickly, find the princess, and save her. Jerrard made Locky invisible again beforehand.

As soon as they entered, Chemosh began whispering in their minds, trying to drive them mad. Babushka insisted it was a spell of the Vizier's that was only trying to scare them off. Locky tried a variety of things, including Turn Undead, Bless and Protection from Evil, but nothing could stop the whispers from coming every half hour spent in the temple.

The party sent the invisible kender ahead to scout, but she took a very long time, and they started getting impatient. Locky cast Light on Jerrard's robes so the humans could see, and they finally chose a direction and started walking.

They found a room that contained a fountain shaped like a scorpion that appeared to be filled with blood, bones scattered on the ground, and every Necromantic spell imaginable carved on the walls. The party became very frightened, and thus turned back and chose a different direction instead.

The next room had hieroglyphics all over the walls, and two large columns/totems with gemstones in the eyes of the various animals that made the totems. Babushka, searching for tracks, walked right past the columns and found a pair of Baaz hiding behind them. She was quickly ambushed. In addition, two more Baaz had climbed to the top of the totems and had hid there. They began throwing daggers at Jerrard, who was lit up from Locky's spell. They had seen the light as the party approached and prepared in advance.

Eventually, the Baaz on the columns ran out of daggers and hopped down to melee. Eventually, the party defeated them all, turning them to stone. Imani realized that they had been prying gemstones from the totem's eyes, although nobody thought to try it themselves (or claim the gems the draconians had already pried out).

The party found a set of stairs that descended very deep underground. Following them, they arrived in a massive chamber filled with upright sarcophagi, each one housing a mummy awaiting to be brought back to the mortal world. On a nearby altar, the Vizier had Syriana chained up. He also had half a dozen Baaz with him. The Baaz attacked, hoping to distract the party long enough for the Vizier to perform the ritual to raise the Sarcophagus Legion (and kill Syriana in the process).

Locky dropped a Silence spell on the altar, though, thwarting the ritual. Babushka then killed the Vizier with a couple of shots from her bow. The draconians were slain shortly after that.

Once the battle was over, the party attended to Syriana. Locky tried to pick the locks, but failed. They were at a loss at how to free her, until she pointed out that the Vizier had the key. Locky searched him, and found a dagger, a wand, a ring and a key. She pouched the dagger, gave the wand and ring to Jerrard, and used the key to free Syriana.

Babushka wanted to explore the temple further, but Jerrard insisted they hurry back out. He entertained the idea of destroying the temple, but didn't know how. The party returned to the entrance, but were too nervous about going outside. They sent Locky alone (Babushka followed shortly) and she found Karkat and the other assassins had been victorious, and were waiting very impatiently.

It was during this time that Jerrard and the others finally told Syriana about her birthright and the Hungry Shadows. She was understandably in shock about the whole thing.

Once the party finally left the temple, there was some debate on whether Syriana should go with the assassins or not. Karkat argued they had no choice but to hand her over. The party would never survive in the desert with one horse and donkey and barely any food or water. The party agreed, and so the whole group set off for the village of Alan Ak-Khan.