The Cast of Characters:

• Thorgard
• Tatrin
• Xrith'atiril
• Halaema Elf Magic-User / Thief AC 6/8, MV 12“, Doors 1-3, Listen 1-3, 16,16,12,16,14,11, hp 2, AL CN, Zo, 180
• Lygan
• Jacob
• Josalyn
• Delemir

It is cloudy outside and we are returning to the burial site.

Xrith, Thorgard, Tatrin and Jacob all have Continual Light. We are going to the room with the glyph and magic runes.

Xrith, Thorgard, Jacob are on doors.

In the room with the sigil that is placed on the ground toward the south end of the room, we can see that there are some faintly glowing runes that run along the lines of the sigil. The central part of floor sinks about 1” when pressure is placed upon it. Halaema goes to inspect the glowing runes, which run along the sigil and casts Read Magic. She reads the following phrase:

“At once, three must become one”.

We step on the three floor panels at once and nothing happens. Then step on all 4 and nothing happens. Later, we pressed the bricks in and nothing happens.

Finally, we step on the bottom three squares and move toward the central tile. It begins to shake violently and Xrith, Thorgard and Jacob start descending after all three moved to the central square “at once”. The rest of the party jumps onto the descending platform.

Eventually the bottom part opens to a wider area below. As we descend down through the crack that widens, we see that there is a crimson orange glow that fills the area.

Josalyn immediately begins to turn undead.

The crack grows wider and we are standing atop a 10' x 10' area with no ground around us. Once the platform clears the upper floor, we find that we are in a very tall room. The entire party is crowded together upon the top of a platform in a very tall room. As we look down, we can tell that the drop beneath us is 40'.

On the ground below us are 3 Gargoyles plus a 4th one with a jade in its forehead plus 4 of the flying Blue Insects. One of the 3 Gargoyles is wielding a longsword that has the crimson orange glow. Its hilt has gold leaf and it has carvings of gold upon it.

There are many sparkling coins below, lying on the ground and they are 20' down.

• Xrith fires his bow at an insects.
• Halaema shoots an insects.
• Jacob and Briiz shoots an insects.
• Josalyn casts Find Traps.
• Lygan shoots.
• Delemire shoots.
• Thorgard shoots.
• Tatrin shoots.

They have the initiative. Briiz shoots first and the insects have AC 3. Briiz hits one insect for 4, killing it! The Jade Gargoyle begins casting a spell and the 3 remaining insects shoot at the party. Briiz shoots another arrow and misses.

The Blue Insects strafe upwards and shoot their projectiles. Josalyn is shot at twice one shoots at Briiz. Both projectiles miss Josalyn and Briiz has AC -2, which also misses.

The three Gargoyles are charging at us. They get to 1“ away and then attack us. There is one attack on Halaema and two on Delemir. Halaema has AC 6 which means the Gargoyle hits on a 7. There are two hits with claws and she takes 1 and 3 damage, which drops her! Halaema is down!

Delemir has AC -3 but there are no hits! The sword wielding Gargoyle misses Delemir with its sword and it hits with its bite and claws on a 15, it misses! Delemir staves off all attacks from the Gargoyles!

Halaema must roll for the direction she falls to see if she falls off the platform. She rolls and does not fall off the platform but rather onto the platform!

The Gargoyle's spell goes off and we are all in melee at this point. The Magic Missile goes off at Delemir as an orange streak shoots and automatically hits. He takes 12 damage.

We did not get any attacks this round and Josalyn was looking for traps, though she did not find any.

• Josalyn attacks.
• Jacob attacks.
• Briiz disengages.
• Lygan attacks a Gargoyle.
• Delemir casts Prayer.
• Thorgard attacks the one with the glowing longsword.
• Tatrin heals Delemir.
• Xrith attacks the longsword one.

We lost the initiative again. 3 Gargoyles will attack and are going after Jacob and Thorgard. Jacob hits one for 13! Thorgard hits one for 8!

They attack Delemir, Thorgard and Xrith'atiril. The sword wielder is on Xrith. Thorgard has AC -2, and they all miss! Delemir is hit by a bite and a claw, dealing 1 and 3 damage. Xrith has AC -2, all miss and he fights off the sword attack!

The Blue Insects are shooting straight down and have a chance to hit the Gargoyles, who are immune to the damage. 2 are attacking the Gargoyles! 1 of the insect's projectiles is on us and attacks Josalyn. It MISSES! The Magic Missile goes off and shoots straight down at Tatrin, he loses his Cure Light Wounds spell and takes 10 damage!

Lygan destroys one of the Gargoyles! Jacob hit for 13 and Thorgard hit for 9, destroying a second one!

On the ground we can see that there is a non-moving Halfling figure that looks entirely decayed. The Halfling is missing his boots! There are loose stones and some rubble along with a suit of chainmail on the pile of coins. All of the walls are made of cobbled stone.

• Thorgard attacks.
• Tatrin does Cure Light Wounds.
• Xrith'atiril attacks the one with the sword.
• Halaema loses 1 hp.
• Josalyn attacks.
• Jacob shoots.
• Briiz shoots at the bugs.
• Lygan attacks.

We have lost initiative again!

Briiz goes first and must hit AC 3 against a Bug. He misses! The 3 Insects shoot down into our group and now there is only one Gargoyle. There is a 90% chance to hit one of us. One, actually two are on the Gargoyle and one is attacking Jacob. Jacob has AC -5 which easily MISSES! The Magic Missile flies down and will hit Tatrin who loses his spell and takes 10 total damage. The Gargoyle attacks Josalyn who has AC 0. There is 1 hit with a claw but her remaining STONESKIN protects her from any damage!

Josalyn hits the Gargoyle for 7 damage. Xrith'atiril keeps missing with his attacks. Jacob is not able to shoot since he is now in melee. Delemir casts Cure Light Wounds for 2 hit points on himself. Halaema loses another hp as she remains unconscious.

• Jacob and Josalyn are on the Gargoyle.
• Delemir attacks.
• Thorgard attacks.
• Tatrin disengages.
• Xrith attacks.

Xrith hits for 10 damage. Thorgard hits for 4. Lygan hit for 8 damage.

The final Gargoyle is obliterated! Briiz hits twice for 2 and 5 damage against the Insects. Neither of the remaining Insects are killed. The Insects shoot their projectiles downward and Thorgard, Lygan and Josalyn are attacked. Thorgard is hit for 5 damage and must make a save, HE DOES with a 3 on the die roll! Thanks to being a Dwarf… Josalyn is missed. Lygan is hit and he takes 4 damage and must save versus poison also. HE SAVES! The Magic Missile also goes for Lygan and the spell hits for 7 damage!

• Thorgard shoots one of the Blue Wasps.
• Tatrin casts Dispel Magic on the main Gargoyle.
• Xrith'atiril shoots at the Jade Gargoyle, aiming for the jade gem on its forehead. He must hit AC 0.
• Briiz shoots the Bug.
• Josalyn tends to the fallen Halaema.
• Jacob tries to throw a lasso around the Gargoyle.
• Lygan shoots at the Insects.
• Delemir shoots at the Insects.

He must roll a Morale check for the remaining Gargoyle with the jade gem, but it gets a bonus. Briiz shoots and his first shot hits a Bug for 4 damage, killing it! The Gargoyle passes its morale and fights on. It casts Magic Missile. The Insects shoots down at Xrith'atiril and Thorgard. It misses Xrith and one hits Thorgard for 6 damage, he saves! The Magic Missile spell completes at the same time and Lygan is hit for 11 damage.

Xrith shoots at the jade gem on the Gargoyle and ACTUALLY HITS for 2 damage! He must roll a save at 17 and the JADE IS SHATTERED! The gem light goes out…

The Gargoyle is still flapping around. Jacob rolls under his Dex score on a 4d6 and must roll to attack with a lasso. HE GOT IT! The lasso pulls the Gargoyle toward the ground and it must make a petrification save and if it fails it takes falling damage for 30' of distance. THE GARGOYLE FAILS and it takes 15 damage! However, it is not completely destroyed yet. Thorgard hits the Bugs for 6 and 3 damage. It kills one!

Tatrin picks up the glowing sword.

There is a Morale check on the Gargoyle again and it is fighting to the death!

• All of us attack.

Xrith hits the Gargoyle for 8 damage. Joslayn hits for 9 and 5 damage. Jacob hit for 9 damage. Delemir hits for 5.

The Gargoyle attacks Delemir who has AC -3. THERE ARE NO HITS!

WE DESTROY THE GARGOYLE!

The glowing crimson orange sword is in Tatrin's hands. It has two golden Giant heads pointing out from the center with balls of gold that are reinforced with mithril. The hilt is made of soft metal but there is no damage on it. Tatrin puts it in the scabbard they found before and it fits perfectly! The sword is considered a longsword.

Tatrin tries to spar with Jacob and finds that it is at least a +1 sword.

Lygan needs heals so Josalyn heals him for 11. Tatrin also casts a Cure Light Wounds for 4 hp on Lygan then casts 1 on himself.

Xrith finds that the body is an entirely decayed Halfling with its face down on the pile of coins. It wears leather armor, a belt, some clothes, and has a sack contains that contains gold coins, a sling and 23 bullets. Josalyn casts Detect Magic and sees weak magic buried under the coins.

• 300 gp.
• Elven Chainmail with Strong Magic - It is man sized!
• A Halfling's Cloak with Strong Magic - It is dark in color with a brown interior. It is black on the outside with a high collar like a Vampire's cloak. Inside the collar is a word: WIPWILLO. The Cloak will still work when worn by someone larger than a Halfling.
• 51,400 cp.
• 40,000 sp.
• 1,700 ep.
• 500 gp.
• Potion Vial with Light Magic.
• A jade gem worth 50 gp.

Jacob tries on the Elven Chainmail and spars with someone. It is a suit of +2 Elven Chain. Delemir tries on the cloak and it fits so he tries to sneak around. He says the word WIPWILLO and the cloak splits down the middle like a sudden rush of wind. It unfurls into a set of bat wings with a 20' wing span! Delemir takes people up and out of the pit with his new wings.

We load up all the gold, electrum and treasure with our horses outside.

Delemir finds that they are barely able to get all the gold due to weight limits so he is flying super slow. He does not have perfect flying but more like a flying animal. He can support up to 500 coins of weight with his cloak. Due to the nature of the wings his hands are free with the cloak so he can still perform other actions.

We go to the room with the stone heads and Josalyn casts Find Traps again. There is still a trap on the Elephant head, the Lion head, and the Snake head. The Elephant and Lion heads are magic traps. We stand back as Josalyn casts Dispel Magic. The Elephant head trap is dispelled but there is still one on the Lion. Jacob will go to open the Elephant head's mouth. Inside this one, instead of a big tube as we found in the Dragon's head, there is a golden tipped device where the tube would have been, kind of like a wand or a cane. It sticks out 2.5” and is covered with gold leaf. Jacob will take it out but finds that it does not come out easily.

Briiz rolls Remove Traps and he is able to remove the golden tip and now there is an object in his hands. It looks like a small cane or wand that is gold plated and 2.5“ long.

Josalyn casts her Dispel Magic again on the Lion head. The mouth of this stone face looks like the Elephant but Thorgard notices that around the lion, there is some damage to the stone. He does not see anything that moves. There is a mechanical trap on the Snake head.

Briiz disables the mechanical trap and he gets inside the mouth where he disables a liquid projectile device. It was too big for a needle and more like a 4.5 mm in diameter hole that would unleash a liquid or a spray.

Thorgard takes a look and sees that nothing inside this head moves either.

We decide to take the passage to the north.

Halaema is no longer in a coma and she weights 1,508 coins. Briiz is mighty strong and just carries Halaema out.

We come to the gem activated door leading toward the east cave passages. Thorgard puts in the missing prism gem and the door opens. The group enters the passageway. Josalyn casts her last Find Traps as we go and we continue on at a brisk pace. We go down a long tunnel which splits off into other directions where it comes to dead ends. Eventually the tunnel opens up to a cave room…

We are surprised!

There are 9 Bombardier Beetles that are being disturbed by us as we approach! During the surprise round, they will do their namesake thing. There is a roll to see what actions each one will take and 4 of them are unleashing their gas bomb. The encounter distance is rolled and they are in range. They are unleashing this just as we stumbled on top of them.

They blast off a cloud of reddish acidic vapor.

• Xrith failed his breath save 3 times.
• Jacob failed 1 time.
• Thorgard failed twice.
• Lygan failed 3 times.
• Delemir failed 3 times.

The damage to Delemir is 17 and 5 for a total of 22 damage! He is immediately dropped to -2 hp. Delemir is unconscious! The damage to Lygan is 23 plus 3 for a total of 26 damage and he is now at -1 hp. Lygan Drops! Thorgard failed twice and takes 15 plus 8 for a total of 23 damage. His plate armor absorbs 1 damage per dice so he absorbs 12 from this, taking 11 damage. Jacob takes 8 plus 9 for a total of 17 damage and he absorbs NONE! Xrith failed 3 times and takes 19 plus 4 for a total of 23 damage. He takes 11 damage and his field plate armor absorbs 12!

Anyone within 16' is effected. Halaema, Tatrin, Josalyn and all of us must roll a d10. On a 1 or 2 we are stunned!

Tatrin and Josalyn are stunned AND if you are not stunned but had to roll, we must roll again as we may become deafened. Xrith'atiril is deafened!

The other 5 Bombardier Beetles make their melee attacks. Thorgard, Xrith and Jacob are targets. Thorgard is attacked 3 times and has AC -2 so it hits on an 18. 1 of the Beetles hits and he takes 10 damage! There are 2 attacks on Xrith but both miss!

That is the END of the surprise round.

• Thorgard attacks.
• Tatrin is stunned.
• Halaema is not able to attack but tries to crawl away.
• Josalyn can't move.
• Jacob tries to hit the ones that has not blasted.
• Briiz starts firing into melee.
• Lygan is down and unconscious.
• Delemir is down and unconscious.
• Xrith'atiril attacks the ones that have not blasted.

Briiz fires first to hit against AC 4 and he hits for 5 damage. The Beetle is still alive. Jacob hits for 8 damage. Xrith hits for 6 damage. Thorgard hits for 7 and if it does not die, it drains a level…but it is still not dead!

5 of the Beetles can make their blast but only 2 are blasting! We must save versus breath… Xrith failed his save twice and he takes 16 damage. His armor absorbs 6 points so he only takes 10 hp damage this time. Thorgard failed his save against 1 and succeeded against 1 so he takes 9 and 3 damage for a total of 12. 6 goes to his armor and 6 go to him. Jacob takes 8 and 5 damage minus his armor. Josalyn failed her save again for being stunned and is now stunned for even longer.

There are still 7 Beetles that are attacking in melee. Thorgard is attacked with the Beetle hitting on an 18 but he is missed. Tatrin is stunned so is automatically hit and takes 10 damage. He is now at 0 and is DOWN! Josalyn is stunned and takes 6 damage automatically.

There are 2 Beetles on Xrith'atiril and 1 hits for 11 damage.

Thorgard is missed. Josalyn takes 6 points of damage automatically. Thorgard makes a retaliatory strike and hits one for 7 damage which was on one that had not done their blast. HE KILLS ONE!

Delemir fails his save versus death for Divine Intervention and fails. Halaema wants to use Divine Intervention but FAILED!

• Delemir and Lygan loses 1 hp.
• Briiz shoots.
• Thorgard attacks.
• Xrith attacks.

Briiz shoots before anyone else and there is a 14% to hit an ally. He misses both!

Thorgard hits one for 7 but it is not killed.

THERE ARE NO BLASTS THIS ROUND!

There are 8 melee attacks against Xrith, Thorgard, Jacob and Josalyn.

• 3 attacks on Josalyn which auto hits for 7, 6, 8 for a total of 21 damage.
• 2 attacks on Jacob, 10 and 7 for a total of 17 damage. His Stoneskin spell blocks the first one.
• 2 attacks on Thorgard who takes 10 damage.
• 2 attacks on Xrith, he takes 10 damage.

For the next round:

• Briiz shoots.
• Jacob and Josalyn pray.
• Thorgard attacks.
• Tatrin prays.
• Xrith attacks.

Briiz fires first but misses. Thorgard attacks and hits for 5 damage which kills it!

One Beetle does its blast… Xrith'atiril FAILED his save and takes 10 damage. Thorgard failed his save and takes 11 damage. Jacob fails his save and takes 7 damage.

There are 6 melee attacks on our front line. Xrith, Thorgard, Jacob, Josalyn are targeted.

Thorgard is missed. There are 2 attacks on Jacob and he is hit. He takes 12 damage and is at -2, Jacob falls unconscious! Josalyn is hit 3 times for 10 damage and another 10 damage and she DROPS! Josalyn is at -3 hitpoints. Xrith is missed this time.

Xrith hits for 9 damage and he kills one! Xrith uses his divine intervention and says a prayer to Riswa, but it goes unheeded. HIS DIVINE INTERVENTION FAILED! It is gone…

• Xrith'atiril attacks.
• Briiz shoots but must check loyalty.
• Thorgard attacks.

We win the initiative this round. Briiz continues fighting on and is still out of range of melee attacks. His shot would hit an ally but he misses.

Xrith hits for 7 damage. Thorgard hits for 6 damage. We kill another one!

There are 5 left.

It is now the 4th round of combat.

One of the Beetles is blasting!

Xrith takes 3 damage Thorgard takes 8 damage.

Now there are 4 melee attacks against us with 3 on Thorgard. Thorgard is hit 3 times and he takes 8 damage total and is now at -2. THORGARD DROPS!

Xrith takes 6 damage (4 to him) and 7 damage (5 to him).

Tatrin is no longer stunned.

• Briiz shoots.
• Xrith attacks.

There is one shot on Xrith but it misses. Briiz misses the Beetle. Xrith'atiril hits one for 11 damage and He KILLS IT! Things are looking somewhat hopeful…

2 of the Beetles can use their blast and 1 blasts. Xrith'atiril fails his save and he takes 8 damage.

Xrith is MISSED by the melee attacks.

For the next round:

• Briiz will charge after their attack.
• Thorgard is down.
• Xrith attacks.

We lost initiative and there are NO BLASTS!

There are 4 melee attacks against Xrith. ALL ATTACKS MISS! Then the last one rolls a natural 20 and does enough damage to take him to -7 hp… Xrith'atril is DEAD DEAD DEAD!

Briiz is charging into melee.

Briiz hits for 6 damage and he kills one!

There are 3 left. Briiz is fighting to the death… FOR JACOB! Briiz hits one for 7 damage and IT DIES! There are 2 left but neither one can blast! Briiz has -2 AC and the Beetle hits on an 18. They hit him for 7 damage!

Briiz attacks but misses. The Beetles all miss Briiz. Briiz grabs Thorgard's sword and attacks. He hits for 10 damage which kills it! There is only one left now.

Briiz hits with the +2 longsword of Thorgard. HE KILLS THE LAST ONE!

Briiz bandages Jacob and Josalyn.

• Tatrin is dead.
• Thorgard is alive.
• Josalyn is dead.
• Briiz and Jacob are alive.
• Xrith is dead.
• Halaema is alive.
• Lygan is dead due to lost hp.

Briiz moves Jacob and he can move 6”. Briiz gets Jacob to the secret door entrance to the dungeon. By the time Halaema makes it back to the dungeon door, the 4 of them are by the dungeon door. Briiz grabs Thorgard and Josalyn was also grabbed.

This group makes it back to Nettin!

Jacob, Briiz and the body of Josalyn are in Ornholm. Lusia shows up and casts Cure Light Wounds.

Lusia looks to hire some Mercenaries in Ornholm:

• 4 Pikemen, they are hired by Jacob (Briiz) for 24 gp.

Lusia bought a cart and a horse and the Pikemen can ride in the cart. Voltendo also comes. They are thinking about going back to the cave. Jacob pays for Josalyn's Raise Dead.

They make it back to the cave to retrieve the bodies. All of the bodies were there and they all make it back to Nettin without any issue. They take them back to Ornholm.

Raise Dead can be performed on some of the PCs during downtime.

Thorgard knows the Cleric who is a Cleric of Geos. Thorgard gets a discount.

The Tatrin Raise Dead is at half price as well.

The cost for Raise Dead is 2250 gp for Tatrin.

It is 5,500 gp for Xrith'atiril and his RAISE DEAD. Thorgard takes on the debt for Xrith's raise.

• Xrith is Raised.
• Josalyn is Raised.
• Tatrin is Raised
• Lygan is Raised.

Full Treasure split, Full Combat xp.

There is 1000 xp for dying. Everyone gains this, even those who died! Halaema makes a claim on the cloak.

• Potion id 170 - Halaema
• Elven Chain id 172 - Jacob
• Sword +1 - Thorgard (NO ID)
• Cloak id 171 - Delemir or Halaema, goes to Halaema
• Gold Plated Wand Tip (worth 80 gp) - Goes to Lusia

225 gp for xp.

The player shares are:

• 102gp, 226ep.
• The Henchmen get half.

• henchman 203 xp
• PCs 518 xp
• Thorgard 1018 xp
• Lygan 518 xp
• Helaema 1268 xp
• Jacob 2518 xp

Xrith owes 710 gp Upkeep and he succeeds on his disease rolls.

He has 500 gp in the bank plus 750 gp of platinum, plus the gold of Khu'sut for a total of 3750 gp which goes toward his armor repair. This is a total of 3200 gp.

For next time, it is 25 miles from Ornholm to reach the Bloodfire Nethergrotto…