It is currently mid Blood Moon.

• In Ornholm and Nettin, two small communities located across the tall grasslands to the west, have reported that two bands of Ogres have turned their communities into a battleground. They are attacking travelers.

• Fisherman throughout Gren claim to have not caught a single fish. Not a single one! The food prices are increasing as a result.

• Merchants have reported that a trio of Werewolves have been attacking caravans. Their caravans have lost mostly copper coins, silver and a valuable platinum pendant worth 7,000 gp. They believe that an old stone shrine is their base.

• Exar the Ranger from the northern woods and member of the Order of the Midnight Sun, has ridden down from the mountains because his two companions, the Illusionist and the other Ranger, have gone missing. Ithimyr has also heard this news from Exar.

• The Great Summer Hunt in Mombafra begins. The hunt is to find GUILLOTINE BEAK. The successful hunter shall receive one request from Lord Thompson's Court.

Our character lineup for this session included the following adventurers:

• DAN - AC 9/10, MAG 3
• MORRIC - AC 1/3, DWARF FTR 2, +2 Platemail (from the Marble Keep), +1 Battle Axe (from a Minotaur)
• GRUHHL - AC 3/4, FTR 2
• ITHIMYR - AC 1/3, RGR 3 / CLR 3
• INGERD (Jack) - AC 3/4, DWARF FTR 1

Ithimyr owes 300 gp upkeep. Paid.

We discuss the casting of Stinking Cloud when it was previously cast upon the Minotaur. The group decides that this spell allows us to opt to roll on the Assassination Table because the effected creature becomes Helpless. Concentration for this spell is not a thing.

Linkboys and Porters are available for hire. They are hired by Dan, the “Muscle Mage”. Dan can see like a cat because of his Cat familiar.

We depart for the south, heading to the Marble Keep.

Syrah is interested in finding out where “Nissus” is buried because of an artifact that can rend souls from bodies. There is also a Green Dragon at the Keep.

We discuss how Manes Demons can reform after being killed because they turn into a gas.

On our way to the Keep, we are not waylaid. When we get there we can tell that the corpses of the Boarmen clan have long decayed by now.

We enter the Keep via the tower entrance. Meanwhile, Dan shows up with an exquisite purple robe.

As we move further within the Marble Keep, we struggle with the second door. Ithimyr feeds the dog a piece of trail rations and then we head to the south, toward the LABYRINTH. We are moving at 30“ per turn with the slowest movement speed among us at 6”. We cross the rope bridge that they made last week, where they explored with Iskandar. There is about 40' of a chute before opening up into a wider cavern below. There was a low rumbling, growling sound that was heard. It came from about 30' down from the bottom and the cavern opened up to multiple paths.

We continue down the hall and head down to the right. It bends slightly and then keeps going before it opens into an alcove up ahead. We cannot see in. As we get closer, it appears that there is a sarcophagus at the end of each alcove. There is also a huge steel spike driven down the center of each stone and cracks run down the sarcophagi. The impact of the spikes damaged the lid.

Ithimyr removes one of the hulking slabs to peer inside the sarcophagus. There is a corpse inside, partially mummified. We also find threads of a burial shroud and the head of the corpse appears to be of a normal human. The threads are a dark gray color and preserved quite well. Otherwise, both sarcophagi are unmarked. Morric can tell they are similar in age based on the stonework.

Both spikes pierce the exact same location on each sarcophagus. We had previously found a sarcophagus like this where we found a potion in the chest cavity. We open all the sarcophagi. One has a corpse and a skull with something moving around inside, there is a little rattle from one of the skulls. Dan crushes the skull and pulls out a black jet stone.

Suddenly, from far away, a voice echoes. It is a command in the Hobgoblin language. Following this, we are attacked by 10 armed Hobgoblins. They are 60' away.

Ithimyr casts Hold Person and manages to succeed on one. That Hobgoblin is held for 7 rounds. They have AC 6/5 and have a 5' Halberds. Morric gores one, as they are attacking Gruhl, and he does 7 damage. Ingerd also gores one.

After several of them are killed in the combat, the Hobgoblins surrender.

We immediately begin questioning the survivors.

They say that they are part of the band that was laired here some weeks ago. They tried to pull treasure for themselves. The Hobgoblin shakes his head when asked about having found any treasure. He says the bodies had already been stripped.

Some Hobgoblins can speak common but not many of them. Tied to each of their belts is a coin pouch. There is a total of 10 suits of chainmail, 7 halberds and 3 spears. There is also some coins:

173 cp.

We resume our search of the sarcophagi and find that the last two do not have any spikes. Besides the jet gem found by Dan, we also find a warhammer that is wrapped with silver wire. There is also a body in the 10th sarcophagi with a burial shroud that is in perfect condition. The shroud depicts a lance puncturing an eyeball from the sky.

Ithimyr does not know of any religious significance of the eye but after doing some research, he has heard about group that lived long ago called “The Green Lance”, They were a dark cursed force of men that did evil deeds. They were said to be darker than Demons and they existed 1000 years ago. The image here does not have a green colored lance. However, we determine that the lance symbol may be related to The Green Lance but the eye is not a symbol he has heard of.

We examine the spikes and find that they are smooth iron spikes, pointed downward in the same way as the lance on burial shroud. The warhammer looks unmarked and the wire appears to have been applied after it was created.

We have been in the dungeon for 1 hour.

We leave this area and head toward the other hallway and find a southern dead end. There is also another dead end leading the other way. In the southeast corner, this hallway goes for a long way. We cautiously move forward and find that it curves to the left.

The party proceeds down the hallway with a bullseye lantern that casts light on a large form seeping down along the wall. It looks like a Giant Amoeba hanging on the wall and it is 20' away…

The Amoeba is surprised. We can tell that it is translucent and it has AC 8.

Ingerd hits it with 3 bolts and jelly pieces fly out. It is critically damaged! The Giant Amoeba creature pulses a bit and becomes black as oil and as thick as pudding. We slice it apart and the pudding creature dies, then it spreads out along the floor.

We light up the pudding creature but it does not catch. WHAT WAS THIS CREATURE?

This hallway appears less traveled than the other parts. All the walls and floors are aged greatly and covered in dust. It appears to be the same stone as the labyrinth. We don't notice anything significant in the hall so we head to the left where we find a statue of a figure. It appears to be royalty and has a spiked crown. The statue is also wearing thick fur and its arms are raised in prostration. The facial expression looks stoic and determined.

To the right, the hallway bends to the north. Dwarves can notice traps and sliding doors on stone. They can look for traps on stonework.

Ingerd and Morric examine the statue including the back of the statue, where they find a slot in it. It is about half an inch wide where the left shoulder blade would be. It looks like a big coin slot. Dan inserts a dagger into the slot and hears a click. The stone wall suddenly moves behind the statue revealing a hidden 5' passageway.

The air from here is filled with moisture and we can all smell plant life…lush green plant life. Dan pulls his dagger out and the door grinds shut. A linkboy holding a bullseye lantern shines it down the secret door passage.

The air feels a little warmer and there is some light. The walls, ceilings and floors are covered in vines and thorns from dark green plants. The entire area is covered. We can see the faintest peach colored light coming from a side passage about 10' down the passage. 25' further down the corridor it appears to be covered in more thorns and vines.

We find a glowing peach fruit hanging off from the vine wall. It is twice as big as a softball and produces a quiet humming noise. We know that there are many magical fruits found in the woods, there are too many options to pin down what this could be. Morric goes to grab it.

Suddenly, we hear screams from the south then a whimper. This is followed by the sound of metal and vines being dragged across steel. We can see some creatures seemingly made of vines and they come barreling toward us!

One of the vine creatures drops to the ground and moves no more immediately as the peach is harvested by Morric. Ithimyr throws a burning oil flask and hits the other one for 9 damage. Stinking Cloud is cast by Dan and the vine creature falls limp. Both of them start seizing and burning and the whole place starts going up in flames.

We close the secret door behind us and it shuts. There are trails of smoke coming out from behind the door. The whole place is burning as we make an escape.

We make it out of the dungeon but do not see any smoke coming out of the keep.

Back in town, we speak to DONOVAN the Magic-User. He believes that the first amoeba creature we found was probably an Ochre Jelly creature that would have dissolved all of our flesh.

The fruit that Morric grabbed is still glowing, but it is not humming. It still has a peach colored light and feels quite heavy. We wonder, maybe this is a symbiotic creature, where the fruit is somehow tied to those vine creatures. Donovan is willing to pay us 120 gp for the fruit but before taking him up on that we speak with EXAR.

Exar looks at the fruit and says in a neutral tone that he has not seen anything of its like. After also speaking to the Temple Priestess, Syrah, she says she that the tapestry we found is the sign of The Green Lance, which were known from 1,000 years ago. She says they were worse than Demon worshippers. It is said that they had a great army that terrorized this part of the world. There must have been a branch of their forces, hidden in some keep or vault to the north east of Gren. Nobody else normally uses a lance as a symbol. It may be associated with a Magic-User.

She will requisition the tomes from Criss Antha to find hidden complexes that could be connected to the Axe and to Nissus.

Ithimyr casts Detect Magic on the peach and the burial shroud revealing that both are magic. The Burial Shroud is like a spellbook. The hammer does not radiate with any magic but it is 10x normal value of a hammer (10 gp). The jet gem is worth 100 gp (we can sell for 80).

Syrah thinks the axes and plate mail of Gruhl possibly once belonged to a General of Nissus but they are not otherwise evil or anything.

We make our way south, once again, to the Marble Keep. It is HOT.

Once we return to the Keep, we find that it appears normal. We return inside, back to the secret passage we found full of vines and those vine creature.

Inside, we find a sign of great burning of all the vines and the wood. There is still a faint trace of the Stinking Cloud smell. The hallway to the north of the maze curves and gets smaller, about 5' from where the fire reached. These walls are all cool to the touch but otherwise the entire walls are covered in burnt marks and burnt vines.

We take the other left and find a room. In the corner of the room is a shriveled orb that instantly crumbles to black ash. This may have been the other fruit belonging to one of the vine creatures.

We briefly discuss our Dwarf companions and learn that Ingerd comes from a REBEL MOUNTAIN HOME and does not have a beard as a normal female Dwarf.

Heading further down the hall, we find that there is a keyhole. Dan pulls out the key that he found earlier and puts it into the keyhole but it does not catch. We believe that the Minotaur's key might fit…so Dan jams it into the wall and turns it. A 5' section of wall slides deeper in, revealing that inside the area is completely unburnt.

Beyond is a room filled with coins along with a coffer. We determine that lying here is a total of 20,000 sp along with 3 rectangular coffers on top of the silver pieces, all closed. There is also a crown of twisted silver that is speckled with jets and red garnets. Gruhl opens each coffer to find more coins:

600 gp 400 gp 400 gp

Morric sees something gold slide down and finds a little ring lying on the floor. In total, we have approximately 21,400 coins worth of weight. It will take 4 turns of trips going one way and 7 trips in total to haul this out. Overall, it will take 24 turns.

During this time we ran into no trouble at all but it took 4.5 hours.

With the treasure in tow, we head back to Gren.

Back in Gren, Ithimyr casts Detect Magic and we see that the ring glows with a powerful magic.

We stay overnight to recover and regain spells.

Morric notices during a sprawl with Dan, the Muscle Mage, that he feels a jab of pain. Is it from the magic ring?

We decide to head back and we make it back to the keep without any issue.

It is starting to rain so we head inside and quickly head back to the smaller labyrinth area. We find another burned fruit here along with a 4th fruit. We finish exploring the small maze.

Finding nothing more in this area, we head back to the south maze. There is a passage that ends in a dead end to the west so we go left. This way leads to another corridor that ends in a dead end and then the other passage moves north. We come to the end of the entire maze and find nothing.

We head north east through a passage that goes more north and then east. We find yet another dead end. As we start discussing our plan, the sound of small teeth clatter to the ground behind us. We turn around to see a medium sized humanoid being crawling on all fours that is composed entirely of teeth! There is a red glint of eye sockets where eyes would be. It looks like a massive elemental form, like a tidal wave of teeth. It charges us on a wave of canines…

We do not have time to prep for a charge. The creature has AC 8 and it attacks Morric, swinging both of its arms. Morric blocks the attacks with his shield. It manages to hit Ithimyr next, who takes 5 damage. Following this round, we manage to score some solid blows and destroy it! The creature dissipates into a pile of teeth and is destroyed.

We find that most of the are from wolf, dog, bear and small rodents. There are also a few human teeth and some giant snake fangs.

After the fight, we find a false wall in the back with a panel that slides, so far as the Dwarves can tell. The west wall has very faint scratch marks moving back and forth from the secret door. On the ceiling, about 15' above us, is a slightly discolored stone. Ithimyr uses his 8' spear to depress the stone button on the ceiling, which causes the secret door to open.

Inside reveals a large chamber. There is a black wood desk that is long and has many drawers. It is an impressive desk. The entire wall is an etched map of the stars and Ithimyr can recognize many constellations that are normally visible in the Summer. These etchings go all the way to the ceiling.

There is also an enormous rug that was heavily worn down in here. It is maroon and brown in color with silver trimming. It appears to have been stained dark red in the hallway and just to the right is a statue sitting on a pedestal with crossed battle axes on its back. It is hewn from stone and attached but is not directly a part of the statue. On the wall with the etched stars is a small table with a steel lockbox. We can see the lock from here.

On closer examination, the huge rug is heavily worn down. On the back of the statue, the axes are attached at a weird angle. Do the battle axes move separately on the statue? Gruuhl investigates. They can be rotated in two steps to be correctly aligned or in the opposite direction.

The vestment key does not fit into the lockbox. Morric goes through all the drawers finds a dog collar and a red leash and he recalls that the dog statue had a collar and leash. Morric attaches collar to the Dog and it is a perfect fit! The Dog looks at Morric expectantly and then barks 3 times.

When Gruhl aligns them, the statue axes, to be straight, it closes the secret door.

The lockbox is 300 coins in weight and we start looking for secret drawers. Many of the drawers, on the long generals table, have been looked through and after checking everything, Morric finds a cleverly hidden panel. It is made of stone.

Ithimyr casts Find Traps and sees, through the wooden table, that there is a mechanism of some kind inside the rectangle above the stone panel. It radiates as would a dark evocation. Dan and everyone bends open the lockbox with a crowbar. Once we get it open, we find that there is only a scroll inside the box. It is an Arcane Scroll seemingly and it does not begin to fade.

We find another secret door beyond which is a beautiful mosaic that changes color and shape. Its form is as if we are being shown all the different parts of the dungeon we have seen before. It presents in vivid color and precision, including corpses we have slain. As we think of the dungeon, the mosaic changes to show that part.

Walking down one of the tunnels within the Mosaic is a group of 6 Manes Demons.

We head out of the Marble Keep and this time, our new friend, the Dog, is able to leave with us. We head back to Gren.

Read magic is cast on the Arcane Scroll and it forms into a Treasure Map. It appears to be the surface of the Marble Keep but it reveals a secret entrance to a hidden way. This leads down to a small crypt below the Keep. There are instructions with a key word to open the secret door.

The Burial Shroud (faint magic) is one of the greatest remnants of something from over 1,000 years ago. The Silk Caravan will purchase it for 750 gp. The Crown of jewels is worth 1,600 gp (256 gp each). Ithimyr takes the silver wire hammer. Dan claims the magic ring and he tries to get a price on it. He is offered 5,000 gp, which he denies the sale for. Gruhl ends up taking the ring.

Per person we get 975 gp, 12 sp, 4 cp,

Ithimyr gets 1,143 xp, or 571.5 / 628.65 for each class. He pays the 300 gp upkeep cost and the 600 gp towards his loan, only keeping 75 gp.

The date of this adventure ended on 494-6-22.

During downtime, spells are traded and Maervahr learns the 1st level spell Shield from Iskandar (Jordan) for 100 gp worth of inks. Maervahr spent 100 gp to copy the spell.