To recap on the previous time the Goblin Caves were entered, the party discovered the name of the dungeon beneath the Goblin Cave. It was called AKEMELADAIN.

Inside, they described pillars that had ribbon sized stripes across them and found a cryptic statement that they could “not say out loud”. Part of the dungeon they encountered something that was in a dripping water spot. They also managed to destroy 2 wolves and a Bugbear as they found tracks of them leaving the cave along with a witch doctor and 2 Goblins. They found that the tracks that were leaving were made by 5 distinct Goblins.

There were also weird ropes tied around spikes and a giant fresco of a man riding a two-headed bull with angels on either side. They remember stories about bulls and their significance from history, and wonder if they are somehow related to the goddess Cine. Is there a Mycenean and Minoan influence on this place?

Last time they also fought some “piercers” and found a big tan stone block door with slightly engraved pillars within. There were remnants of red, yellow and blue paint on the pillars. They entered through the stone block door and could hear dripping water. They also found a pool with ripples forming in the water.

The cast of characters for this session included:

• ITHIMYR SARFANIS –> PAID 100 gp Upkeep ←-
• ZENOBIA
• OLEANDER
• HAANS BLACKROCK
• TALON

When we got up today, there was talk around the town of Gren of a huge grass fire. Traces of smoke were seen rising along the horizon. Most of the people are surprised about a lightning strike that may have caused it though it is true that there is a “heat lightning” phenomenon. However, they say that this usually only happens later in the season when there is some moisture that can act as firebreaks. These fires can cause monsters to go into places that are not favorable.

We can see that the fire spread in the direction of the Chapel and the river acted as a natural firebreak.

The weather is hot today for Spring.

A quick discussion regarding last session: when someone killed a trophy monster, the “Gorsin” for example, they were selling the head however we do not want to get into selling parts of every monster.

We head south along the road from Gren and reach the Goblin Cave. The party heads inside and to the large door.

Ithimyr has a lit hooded lantern and listens for any sounds. We hear nothing and then push open the big door. The stone door grinds open releasing a draft of air that is cold down below. There is a faint smell of dampness and the air feels thick with moisture.

We come across a heavily vandalized fresco while Ithimyr and Oleander are tracking for the blood of the wolf they killed, but there is nothing to find. The fresco depicts a two headed bull that is white and gold in color with an abstract field background. Riding on the back of the bull is a brown skinned man wearing jewelry surrounded by two angel winged beings. It also appears that sharp and blunt weapons were dragged across it recently.

Right now it is quiet. Zenobia removed a trap that we found where spears would come out of the wall at human head height and would be triggered by a pressure plate. The area is otherwise empty except for a small corpse of a goblin which appears to be a fresh kill from sometime within the last week or two. However, all of the meat is gone from the skeleton though its bones are intact and the meat and flesh are scattered around. To the south east is an archway.

Down the northern way, a light shines on a wall in the back of the room and we can see some crates in the corner. The crates appear to be white and faded, and look as dry as driftwood. Through the eastern archway, we can see that there are traces of blood similar to the blood around the goblin corpse. When we look beyond the southern archway, we can see several large human sized mushrooms that suddenly begin to SHRIEEEEKKK!

We fall back down the stairs and wait for them to stop. These are exactly like the other shriekers that were found previously. Ithimyr decides to listen at the door but does not hear anything through the stone door. We waited approximately 30 minutes for the shrieking to stop and then head to the large fresco chamber. There were no changes in that room, no signs of any creatures since the Shrieker mushrooms started going off. We decide to head up through the northern archway.

We are now in the the room that had the dry looking crates in it. Suddenly, coming around the corner, are a couple Giant Rats. They head straight for the party!

Oleander and Haans are in the front and combat begins! After a few solid strikes, the party manages to kill all of the Giant Rats.

Just as that fight ends, Zenobia sees a movement in the dark. We reposition the group and go toward the east archway where we see more rats. Ithimyr throws his second spear into the group of rats and hits one for 4 damage, which kills it.

The rats charge into our group and Ithimyr is struck, taking 3 damage. But wait, there is Morale! Ithimyr actually takes no damage but we still manage to kill them all!

Following the fight, the party begins to search through these crates. The crates contain clay pots and glass jars with a colored substance within. It looks solid like a dried powder or a liquid powder and each jar can fit in the palm of our hands. They are each 5 coins in weight. The clay pots are sealed and unmarked. Zenobia opens one and finds a flaky looking powder of a dark purple hue inside. Tiny purple hued dust rises up above the air but nothing else happens. In total, there are 28 glass jars and clay pots. Inside the bottom of one of the boxes are remnants of plant material, something like hay that has hard carbon decay. Ithimyr also notices brushes at the bottom of the crates.

The party hired some porters who are named Erik and Roger. We have them put the crates by the painted “barber stripe poles” and then we go up to the north east door. Haans tries to open the door and does so without issue.

Pushing open the door, we find a large room that is 50 ft x 50 ft in size. It is filled with debris and excretions of larger than normal rats. The room appears to be a nest of rodents that is pungent and filled with debris. There is also some rubble and a larger than normal number of rocks that have fallen from the walls and ceilings. We can see some remains of food and some kind of foul things. Lying up against a big rock are two old looking.

Haans thinks the room is stable, as the Dwarf uses his natural sense of stone construction, but perhaps it took some damage in the past. We note that there are markings on the wall, metal markings that appear to be hundreds of years old. Overall, the room looks stable enough but it is not of Dwarf make.

Talon enters the foul chamber and we follow to start investigating the rat mounds. Ithimyr disturbs a mound of tiny pink rats, newborn rats in a nest. Bitters the guard dog of Oleander swallows up three of them and the crunching of their tiny bones is quite loud. Both of the sacks are filled with gold coins.

• 100 gp in one.
• 120 gp in the other.

The party gathers up the gold and we continue onward.

We find more rocks and rubble in south room along with a single stone pedestal. The pedestal is finely crafted and there is also a wooden stand holding a small harp with five strings. We can see another corridor leading to the west so we quietly peek around the corner, those of us that have infravision.

There are several more Shriekers giving off heat and moving, very slowly. We quietly fall back as to not disturb them and go back to investigating this room.

The pedestal is made of the same stone as the fresco found in the previous room and the wooden stand is a dark brown hue that is shaped like a chalice. It has two holders with a harp of fine make placed within. The harp seems like it is attached permanently to the holders.

Zenobia checks for wires or traps but finds no pressure plates on or near the pedestal. The harp itself is attached to the holders and is carved out of the same wood but there are no attached wires or trip wires. Zenobia carefully lifts the pedestal just a tiny bit and sees that the holder is just resting on the harp and not actually attached.

Zenobia plucks one of the strings and it resonates throughout the entire room. The note fills the room longer than we would expect and seemingly hangs for a moment. She further lifts the harp and has a feeling of dread as she moves it.

Pleading to her deity, Foresi, Zenobia says, “Foresi, come on this will look good for us! We can take it right?” As she moves the harp again the feeling of dread returns. Ithimyr goes and inspects the general area and finds a hairline crack around the floor. As he points this out, Zenobia plucks another string, this time choosing the longest one. It lets out a tone but nothing else happens. She then strums all 5 strings at once…it is Cacophonous!

The ground below begins to shake and the stone below some of us cracks open. Talon and Zenobia fall into a pit that goes 10' down which knocks out Talon! We quickly pull up the unmoving body of Talon and Zenobia climbs out just as the stone starts closing back up.

Due to the fall, we will have to return to town so Talon can get on bedrest immediately.

We make it back to Gren without issue. Talon is back in town and will be off of bedrest by Rose Moon the 9th.

In the meantime, we sell off the loot we had gathered including the clay pots and the glass jars containing various dyes, all of which smell chalky. There are a total of 14 glass jars with the pigment inside a bit old and stale. Otherwise, they are considered a good quality pigment.

• We can get 16 gp per glass jar (14), 224 gp in total,
• The clay pots (14) sell for 32 gp each for a total 448 gp total.
• For all 28 jars and pots, this is 672 gp in total.

While in Gren, Ithimyr goes to the temple and to other resources in town to read about how these items were once being used by cultists of Cine. First, he goes to Syrah who says, “The cultists of Cine have preferred the use of dyes and pigments for thousands of years. Light is an important aspect of their religion. Harps are also important to worshippers of Cine and they have religious significance. There are tales of magical harps and burial places and they tend to favor aspects of sound and music. They will respect and revere music as though it was a secret code. They believe it transcends normal beings and can touch the gods who often used music.”

Syrah goes into the back of the church and comes back with a thin but old brown book. The book contains 10 to 20 different songs and it belongs to the House of Shrines, another place in Gren where worshippers may pay respect to all of the gods.

We get 178 gp plus 89 xp.

Ithimyr studies the book and did not learn anything new about the songs of Cine so he returns it to the House of Shrines. A traveler that is worshipping at the shrine to Cine says that the name “Akemeledain” sounds like an old name for Cine that was used hundreds of years ago.

We head back to the cavern, our party restored with Talon at full health. As we are traveling along the roads, we can see that about 130 yards ahead, 30 Giant Ants are moving in a brigade format, from the south to the north. We are sure to give them a wide berth and continue on our way.

Once we re-enter the ruined dungeon of Akemeledain, we head right toward the area where sounds were previously heard. In this area, the floor is a bit uneven and the deeper area to the north is flooded with water. We can see that the same level of flooding continues to the left. A series of spikes are found in the wall and in the archway. We can also see some spikes in the water as if they were violently removed from the wall and are now very bent. It is apparent that someone of something bent the spikes and they are obliterated. The air in here has a swampy odor. We do not see any movement in the water and do not know what could have bent the spikes.

Continuing on, we open the south door, specifically Oleander opens it. A wooden spear stub pops out when we open it because the group broke them last time they came through. The bones of small rodents and debris are scattered about. There is an old bedroll, similar to the bedrolls found upstairs with the goblins and their leader. There are 4 bedrolls in all with one that is fancier than the others likely left behind by the Goblin Shaman. There are bones and refuse that fall out of the bedrolls but otherwise the room is empty.

Talon begins to tap along the eastern wall and Ithimyr investigates the bones which look like the bones of small animals. He finds some pieces of spoiled food. Otherwise this is a big empty, dusty room and the dust is contained to the corners only.

We head to the western hall and try to open the southern door, which is stuck firmly. As we attempt to open the door, a huge shape has suddenly appeared behind us.

A huge creature, crowned with 5 heads that are attached by long necks has followed us here. The creature charges and there are 6 of us. Before we even know what happened, the huge 5 headed beast has crashed into us and overtaken us. It snaps at Bitters and we see that it looks reptilian. This is a Hydra.

The party tries to flee so we will be using Pursuit rules. We move at 9“ and the Hydra also has a 9” movement rate. Haans Blackrock tells us to “RUN!” and he draws his weapon, fully intent on slowing the creature down. We continue to flee and the Hydra does not follow us however we noticed that it was glistening with water. It must have emerged from the pool found on the north side. Haans also does not rejoin us.

We flee the dungeon and head back to Gren, Haans Blackrock having sacrificed himself for our escape.

We go back to town and recuperate.

RHINOCK, the Half-Orc Fighter, joins us! He has AC 4 and 10 hp.

The next morning, we find that the weather is mild and decide to check out the Chapel. There were no incidents during our journey to the Chapel grounds but we do see the devastation of a large fire. All of the grasses are gone in this area.

When we get to the Chapterhouse, the nearby structure close to the larger Chapel, we find something new. Parked on the side of the Chapterhouse is a cart that is horseless and laden with logs. The logs appear to be blackened from flames but still intact as if it survived a fire. The logs were connected by ropes but they are now frayed and unraveled. We search around but find no new tracks outside the Chapterhouse but the Giant Spider's body is still sitting there.

We re-enter the dungeon entrance inside of the Chapterhouse with the stairs leading downward. We proceed through those quiet passageways until we find the room with the portcullis. Oleander opens the door to the Portcullis chamber and the room appears empty. We try to open the Shrieker room and when we push open the door, the Shriekers do not react to the door being opened.

Inside, we find 3 Shriekers growing off the decayed bookshelves which also contain a series of decayed books. We kill all 3 with fire and arrows but Zenobia finds not a single whole tome nor a page of legible writing amongst the books. However, an object that is almost blending in with the books, is found. It is an ivory tube that holds a map or a scroll. Inside is a scroll that Ithimyr is able to decipher. It is a…

PROTECTION FROM WATER ELEMENTALS SCROLL.

We go back down to the second level of the dungeon through secret doors that were find previously. We are trying to find the stairs that lead upward. The left wall is hollow sounding but the wall looks just like rest of the walls. There appears to be a tiny gap, where the wall does not quite reach the floor.

Is there anything through the gap? There is! It is a switch on the other side…Zenobia triggers the switch.

The wall opens revealing a staircase that bends around itself multiple times. There is a door at the end of the long staircase and a key in the keyhole of the door. Zenobia peers through the keyhole but sees nothing suspicious. With the turning of the key, the door unlocks! THERE IS A HYDRA! Just kidding…

Rhinok pushes open the room which has a big steel door inside of an alcove. Standing square in the room is another OGRE ZOMBIE! It charges into Rhinok, but he manages to block the attack. With the help of Oleander, Ithimyr, Talon and Bitters, we cut it down and the Ogre Zombie falls to the ground.

Inside this room, we take a closer looks at the huge steel door. This door is much harder to open than a stone door. There is also a little, seperate, door inside the room and a large altar. On the altar is a black mask inlaid with two deep green spinel gems and a copper basin set on the right side of altar. Sitting just behind the altar are two closed chests.

The hinges where the chest opens are robust and thick. Ithimyr, a Cleric of Riswa, knows that this basin is used for making unholy water but it is a low grade basin likely dedicated to Nefer, the Lawful Evil god of Revenge. The black mask sitting on the altar is associated with him. Just under the lip of the altar we find that it is wrapped in the form of a snake body with no head. We find nothing unusual about the carved snake scale on the table, no mechanisms in the keyhole of the chest, nothing on the lip to indicate a trap.

We open one of the chests and find some coins and books, gold, silver copper and gold. Zenobia opens the other one and inside is a box attached to the inside of the lid…it shoots out a dart! Luckily, the dart misses! This second chest also contains coins along with a wrought silver bracelet with 14 citrines inlaid in it.

We take all of these items back with us to Gren.

Detect Magic is cast on all of the recovered items but we find only a faint hint of magic on the basin of water creation. We decide to appraise and then sell each of the items:

• Copper Basin worth 100 gp.
• Black mask inlaid with two deep green spinel gems worth 400 gp.
• Coin haul includes 1200 cp, 185 gp, 430 ep.
• Wrought silver bracelet with 14 citrines worth 1700 gp.
• Scroll of Protection from Water Elementals worth 1500 gp and 1500 xp.

The book we recovered details the construction of a magical rod that allows a worshipper of Nefer, to create a Necrophidius. These constructs do not normally count as undead but this book allows for the creation of an undead version of a Necrophidius. The book has details on how the rod actually works and it sounds exactly like the rod the party already has. The book has the command word for the rod and Gil Buisarme holds the rod.

The silver bracelet goes to Rhinok.

137 gp, 86 ep, 180 sp, 240 cp each.

190 xp + 65 xp each.

We ALL SCORED AN E FOR EXCELLENT!

Ithimyr levels up and will require 1 week and 1500 gp for training. He will get one roll per round per Fighter (Ranger) level versus less than 1 HD entitles (Sweep Attacks) as do all Fighters that normally get 1 attack per level. Ithimyr is now a Level 2 Ranger.