• Alexios Porphurogenitus Palaiologos - PAL1, AC 3/3, large shield, MV 9“, Doors 1-3, Listen 1-2, 16,10,12,10,15,17, LG, Venha, Mason.
• Fothas - Dwarf FTR5
• Sapphira - PAL1
• Clancey - FTR1
• Galador - FTR5
• Keisial - RGR1, AC 4/4, MV 9”, Door 1-2, Listen 1-2, 13,11,12,11,16,14, hp 17.

We are returning to the site of Old Mombafra to continue the quest to find the Dwarven tubes for Fothas.

We find the site of the melted well and the same pool of brackish water as before. The party must open 5 doors before we get to the main entrance that we found.

Clancey is opening doors with Fothas and Galador too.

We make our way to the complex and we find that the corpses of all the Thieves were picked apart by small animals. Nothing intelligent had looted the bodies and they still have daggers and what not. We find a hole leading straight down about 10' or so and there is about 1' or so of open space. This is the same hole that we broke our way into using pick axes. We are now gazing down onto a dark stairwell below and can get through with two more hours of digging.

Clancey stands guard with a Bullseye Lantern while the others start digging. It will take us 4 hours to dig with 2 pickaxes.

Twenty minutes later as the party continues digging, we are suddenly beset by a small horde of Giant Rats! They begin coming through the door. Clancey had shut the door but the Rat horde pushes through and he falls back to the group.

As the Rats break through the door, Fothas is now up front in melee. They have a 1 to 13 chance to hit Fothas. The Rats have an AC 7 or 8 with a charge. Fothas does get full sweep attacks and kills two of them.

They charge into Sapphira, Alexios and Galador. Sapphira hits for 1 damage and Galador does 9 damage. There is one attack on Sapphira but it MISSED! Galador killed two of them.

Fothas has AC 0 and gains a +2 AC from Protection From Evil as we have two Paladins! There is one hit for 2 damage.

The final Giant Rat flees and we kill it!

We clear out a tunnel and can now access the area below.

The party descends down and Clancey pulls out his bullseye lantern. The air smells of bog water but it is evident that this stairwell has not been used in a VERY long time. There is a sturdy looking wooden door with some metal reinforcements that lock built in. The stairs continue descending downward.

We find a circular panel that looks like a large button or switch. Clancey depresses the circular panel and a wall descends down into the earth, revealing a hallway. There is a newer wall on either side.

There is another doorway that does not have a heavy lock but is equally sturdy. Clancey carefully inspects the lock but does not see anything out of place. The door is locked.

On either side of the south door are two staircases going down. The stairs are not Dwarven construction. We hear nothing at the door and the open the door. There is a stone lever built into the wall of the room and the lever is in the up position against the back wall. The entire thing is made of stone. Otherwise, the room looks empty and unused. With the lever, the room looks like it could be an elevator.

We go southwest-ish along the stairs and find a large open room to the south with a door across the way. Clancey shines his bullseye lantern down into the room, which is empty except for a statue of a lithe Elf. It is carved of slate and appears like it is gazing with knowing eyes and a clever smile. There is a wet soggy rot smell, like a smell of death. The statue has a long curved sword at its side and it is carved to look like the figure is dressed in regal clothing. It is very tight fitting on its form and we get the impression that the person is an expert of some sort, like a Duelist or a Thief. He is athletic and the Elf looks confident.

Keisiel lights a torch and Clancey makes his way along the wall, poking along the floor. As he pokes, suddenly the end of his sword descends through the floor. He carries a 6' long two-handed sword.

Clancey peers through to see what this is and meets the smell of death, which gets worse. His light illuminates a 10' deep pit with spikes and several impaled Giant Ants.

There is a statue on the other side of the pit. On the base of the statue is some dark discoloration that rises up where the base meets the floor. The discoloration is particularly dark. It looks like it was caused by damage taken over time from some liquid. The base also has an Elven name written in Common:

ELIL'TYAN

The Elf statue also has two red streaked topazes for eyes.

We go south for now.

There are two decayed Humanoids descending down the stairs. These are Zombies!

Clancey shoots at them with a shortbow as the Zombies engage our party. Zombies attack last.

Clancey draws his two-handed sword and attacks and both Clancey and Fothas cut down a Zombie. One of them strikes Galador however the Zombie meets his Protection from Evil and it does not hit!

Galador retaliates and kills the last Zombie!

The Zombies each had a leather cord on their waist, as if they once wore raiments. The Zombies were also wet.

We can tell that the staircase on the other side descends into water.

We open the south door.

The door opens into another chamber revealing some stairs to the left. It descend into some ICKY water. To the right is a chamber dominated by an altar to Tralf.

The altar is carved of Alabaster and there is an empty iron tome holder with a hook for holding an open book. There is a rod that goes up the side of the altar and the hook hangs over the altar. There are also some inscriptions in Common, some writing showing multiple stanzas of script. There are no other doors in here.

Clancey checks the floor and around the altar and we can see that there is a flooded hallway to the east. The other way also looks like a flooded hallway that were once former passageways.

Around the altar we find some dried candlewax and three poems.

• The first poem is called the “Song of Everknowing”, which is about knowledge.
• The second poem is called the “Song of Silver Segacity”, a poem about the virtues that the temple of Tralf respects.
• The third poem is the “Song of Secret Fortune”, which is about treasure.

Clancey finds hidden amongst the inscriptions an almost perfectly hidden rectangular crease. The area on the altar could be removed somehow but he does not see a way to open it. Whatever lies beneath it could descend about 5'.

Fothas searches as well but does not find any mechanical way to open the panel as it is a non-mundane mechanism. Clancey tries to strike the compartment and it chips. He continues and does more damage, and the panel begins to give away more quickly.

Two more Zombies rise up from the murky waters and engage us at the base of the altar. However, in this first moment, no actual blows are exchanged.

In the next round, we destroy the Zombies.

Sapphira pushes down on the book holder and the lantern that is set there bends the hook as it is a pretty thin metal. This does not break the rod. Fothas then uses an iron spike and a hand axe to hit open the compartment. He gets it open and find:

4 gems:

• 100 gp deep black jet
• 10 gp clear pale blue green zircon
• 10 gp clear pale blue green zircon
• 500 gp large black jet

Fothas and Clancey feels a slight feeling of mental discomfort. We feel as though we dont have permanent ire, just displeasure.

We discuss our options and someone finds that a Potion of Gaseous Form would function for 1d4+4 turns.

There is a timer on the main door to this lower level so we decide to head back to the surface to rest.

We rest and the next morning, we head out back to the well.

Four scraggly looking Men with swords at their sides approach us. Clancey has his two-handed sword at the ready and says “Who are you?”

The 4 Ruffians draw their blades. With this, they tell us “We don't want any trouble down here.”

We do not attack and the Men look relieved. They tell us that they. too, are noble travelers. They seek to explore this new domain below the city.

The four Men look grim and uneasy as Fothas can tell that they are outmatched. They look like they are actually upstanding citizens and likely unqualified to explore the area. They have obviously not seen any battles.

We tell them that if any of them have such bravery, they will leave their names with the proprietor.

We return down the well and manage to get all the way back to the chamber we were in.

It takes us about a half hour to break down the door with the heavy metal reinforcements. When we finally break down the door, this reveals a 20' deep chamber with 3.5' tall candleholders made of iron. In the back of the room is a tabernacle. It is dark and dusty and made of wood, finely made. It looks more like a cabinet with two decorative doors and knobs.

Clancey examines the wooden box, which is much nicer than a normal box.

He opens it and must SAVE VERSUS SPELLS!

From inside the box, it suddenly manifests a magical glyph! Clancey is overcome by the magic and dies from the spell.

CLANCEY DIES!

Having unleashed the magic, this has removed the trap and the rest of the party collects the objects within, after moving Clancey.

• 2 vials of clear liquid (1/2 holy water value)
• A silver bell (20 gp)
• A silver prayer chain (38 gp)
• A silver candlabra with 3 candles (30 gp)
• A book “ALL WHICH IS KNOWN” but every page within is blank.
• The decorative wooden box

Fothas opens the box and finds 15 long candles.

The party leaves and goes back to the top.

There are some ripples and a splash from within the range of our light source.

Fothas immediately fires two arrows into the water but there are no more splashes or big ripples. Galador approaches and sees the opaque water that is undulating. He does not see anything else and there are no differences from before.

They leave the dungeon but on their way back they are called back by a woman in a dark robe.

The woman inquires as to why we go back and forth all the time. She then disappears into the building and goes inside.

We are selling the gems.

Avuin is a Human Ranger and he rolled an extra starting gold amount due to him being from being from Ulan. This was for some treasure that was once found in a well there, over a year ago. Avuin purchases some Banded Armor, the people's armor.

With a new group formed, the body of Clancey the hapless Fighter, left to rot, we return back down the well and return to the chamber with the lever.

We arrive unscathed.

Inside the room, we pull the lever and head to the south room. Meanwhile, Avuin lights a torch.

We can see that now that the lever was pulled, the water level has receded.

To the right we see the dripping of three Zombies. From the chamber all around, the water drips.

Avuin throws a hand axe and HITS for 2 damage. Keisiel hits one for 2 damage, unleashing an arrow.

In the next round, after engaging in melee, Avuin hits for 13 damage using a two-handed sword, the one that once belonged to Clancey. HE KILLS ONE!

The other Zombies are both attacking Galador and luckily, both missed. Avuin's Guard Dog hits one and finishes off another of the Zombies. Meanwhile, Alexios is hit for 5 damage!

RUFF, the Dog, and Galador hit and kill the third zombie, all 3 Zombies are dead.

There is a door with a ring handle that has been obliterated along with a broken statue. The obliterated door is wide enough for a head to peer through. Beyond the door, it looks like an empty room. The wall is 30' away.

The statue is broken and was of a Human. It was totally destroyed.

We go beyond the door and into this room that was flooded just a bit ago. In here is a stone table as the only piece of furniture. There are two old mugs and a rod below it. The rod is an ornately made tube of metal and stone combination.

THIS LOOKS LIKE WHAT FOTHAS NEEDED.

• The mugs are ornate, weighing 30 coins each. Worth 85 gp each.
• Metal and Stone Tube is 160 coins in weight.

We open the door to the north east and find another previously flooded room. The water stretched up high above our heads based on the water line. On the floor are some bulbous black things scattered everywhere. These look like they were once Giant Ants. There are also some insect sized logs in here.

The east wall has a long metal grate that is a couple inches up on the wall, possibly where the water drained out.

There are 4 Humanoid Zombies that have absorbed so much water they have trouble walking. They rotate themselves toward us.

Avuin hits one with a thrown hand axe dealing 4 damage. Keisial shoots one and with his direct hit, water bursts out of the body. Galador hits the one that was also hand axed and it is destroyed. Now only 3 remain and they engage Fothas.

Avuin attacks with his two-handed sword but missed!

Fothas hits for 8 damage but instead only does 7 damage. Galador slices through one and Keisial hits another. It is destroyed and now, 2 Zombies remain.

RUFF the Dog hits for one for 7 damage. Sapphira hits the other for 6 damage, destroying it. They both gush out icky Zombie water all over the place.

However, now ALL ZOMBIES ARE KILLED!

There are four columns with a rectangular base and round as they go up 15 feet. There are heavy water line markings on the columns though we can tell that the water level has varied over time.

We have a bit of trouble at the door.

There are suddenly eight creatures flying around us, darting about in the air. These are 8 Stirges, which are like massive mosquitos.

In the room beyond we see a perfect arc of dryness made from basalt but there is a 4' hole burned through it, like lava poured through a jelly. It had the consistency of butter and the hole descends into blackness. There are some growing mushrooms and some cocoons that pulse angrily.

These flying creatures are glowing Stirges with a sickly red aura with red energy below them, It is a translucent energy and we see their needle-beaks dripping with blood.

Two of them are trying to attach to each one of us as we have LOST SURPRISE! ::sadface::

• Two Stirges attack Fothas, 1 attaches to him.
• Galador is hit by 1, it attaches.
• Avuin gets hit by 2, 2 attach.
• RUFF is hit by 1, 1 Stirge attaches.

Avuin attacks the one that is attached to him as his Guard Dog bites one for 4 damage.

Each of us struck by the Stirges instantly feel lightheaded. They appear to be empowered to drain blood quickly and they become more bulbous in form.

• Galador takes 8 damage.
• Fothas takes 7 damage.
• Avuin takes 8 damage and DROPS!
• RUFF takes 4 damage.
• Fothas takes 1 damage from another one that attaches to him.
• One of them misses RUFF.
• Galador is missed

In the next round:

• Galador takes 4 damage and the Stirge detaches.
• Fothas takes 2 damage from one and it detaches.
• Fothas takes another 4 damage from a second Stirge and then it detaches.
• Avuin is being drained.

They do 6 damage to the Dog and Avuin is fully drained, killing him outright! AVUIN, THE RANGER OF ULAN, IS DEAD!

Keisial kills the one Stirge that is on the Guard Dog and Guard Dog, RUFF, attacks. However a Stirge is still attached to the Dog and it is killed.

Sapphira kills one and then Fothas hits, killing another one. In the next round, we have killed all of the rest of them!

The red glow fades a bit but is still visible as it pulses.

AVUIN LIES DEAD IN THE GLOW OF THE STIRGE CORPSES.

Alexios declares that he will try to get Avuin raised.

Everything in here has been melted to a black gloop that is glowing steadily. They had previously thrown burning oil at the area and the Dwarven Tube had survived the fire!

We find and also lost some treasure:

• A golden Dwarven collar inlaid with ambers worth 4,500 gp! The golden collar was obliterated!

We see a hole that descends 60' into a large chamber beneath us.

As we return to the surface and start heading away, some Beggars specifically asks one of us for alms for the poor. We find it odd but do not oblige.

The xp is split amongst all of the surviving characters.

• The henchman is getting 89 xp.
• The other players are getting 178 gp with 7 gp leftover for the homeless.

• Alexios gets 648 xp
• Everyone else else gets 642 xp
• The Henchman gets 277 xp

It will cost us only 1,000 gp to raise AVUIN since he was only 1st level.

The Fee for Raising Dead can be deferred at the Temple of Venha…but, we must promise to return 1,100 gp at a later time.

Avuin is RAISED! He gets 290 xp with a bonus.

We end the session on Reed Moon (5) the 8th, 496.