• Maervahr - STONESKIN
• Fulmok - STONESKIN
• Anthrys - Human Magic-User 1, AC 8/10, Fulmoks Cloak, 1-2, 1-2, 12,18,8,14,10,9, hp 3, LE, Sleal, INVISIBLE
• Thorgard - STONESKIN
• Tatrin - AC 0/2, +4 Ring of Protection STONESKIN
• Falavor - STONESKIN, INVISIBLE
• Risten - STONESKIN

Medallion id 185 is probably an Iron Flask.

Thorgard and Tatrin in the front line.

We are heading down the hole of of the BLOODFIRE NETHERGROTTO.

Strength is cast on Thorgard and Deeppockets is cast on Maervahr.

Thorgard and Tatrin with light and on doors.

There is a magic statue in this first pillar chamber.

The gong is unmanned this time and we head toward a cavernous passage leading north.

We can see at the edge of our light that the cave ground goes up at a 45 degree angle, to an elevated area that we cannot see. But in front of that area is some stuff.

There is a sea of gray mushroom with black under their caps. There is a path that moves through them like a garden path that goes almost to the upper area, about 5' away. The mushrooms are normal sized, no bigger than 1/2' tall and growing straight out of the rock. There is some organic sediment around them, not unlike the Ichor Weep we found.

Against the wall are two barrels that look like the one we saw down south, there is an iron rod in the wall filling up the barrels with water.

Anthrys knows these are mushroom that are native to the low below ground, maybe inside of Vernum. Mushroom are capable of growing straight out of rock. Anthrys knows they are not good for eating but can be brewed into a strong beer.

We will head through the mushrooms to the elevated area.

Tatrin casts Find Traps.

No traps so we climb up to the upper area.

On the cave wall are giant obelisk crystals, 2 clusters of 3, 20'-15' long. We could stand inside one they are so big. They are growing out of the wall and there are 15' high ceilings. They are clear and 80% translucent. Mostly clear with a little pink. These are not a common type of crystal but Maervahr doesnt recognize them. Not correct properties.

Our light affords us a bigger view of the room.

Maervahr will use detection of magic to check the crystals. There is a third collection of crystals, 4 growing out of an alcove.

There is magic coming from ALL of the crystals. Maervahr can see that one is Conjuration school and another crystal is Illusion magic.

Tatrin will sling a coin down as far as he can. The illumination reveals that the way does not go much farther and it dead ends.

Tatrin and Thorgard try to disbelieve the wall at the far end. The cave appears as it should be.

We leave this area and head south.

We find that the south passage continues to the lake of fire area.

The party continues down the passage and we go toward the door leading south. Falavor finds no traps on the door…

Encounter distance is 3“ suddenly hear a cacophany of noises, insectoid. 13 Fire Beetles show up!

They go to attack and they get within 1” of us. The front line is being bitten.

Tatrin, Thorgard and Fulmok in front.

4 attacking Tatrin, AC of 1 without shield. They hit on 15s. 1 hit, STONESKIN. 3 attacking Thorgard. 1 hit, STONESKIN. 5 swarming Fulmok. AC 4, 3 hits for 15 damage! STONESKIN eliminates 7, he takes 8 damage. 12 hp left.

• Falavor watches the rear
• Risten watches the rear
• Maervahr charges
• Fulmok attacks with his morningstar.
• Anthrys hangs out.
• Thorgard and Tatrin attack.

2 attacks on Tatrin, both miss. 4 attacks on Thorgard, all miss. 2 attacks on Fulmok, miss. 1 hit on Fulmok, another hit. takes 6 and 8 damage. Fulmok drops.

Maervahr hits for 5 damage. Thorgard hits for 5. Tatrin misses.

• Tatrin attacks
• Thorgard attacks
• Anthrys throws a sling bullet.
• Falavor stays back.
• Risten casts Sleep.
• Maervahr goes psionically invisible. +7 to AC to avoid Anthrys sling.

The Sling misses Tatrin. Thorgard hits for 5 damage. Tatrin hits for 6 damage.

That kills 2 of them, leaving 11 behind. All 13 get their attacks.

7 attacks on Tatrin. 1 hit, takes 3 damage. 6 attacks on Thorgard, all miss.

Risten's Sleep spell goes off. 6 of them fall asleep!

• Maervahr will pop one from behind coming from invisibility.

Thorgard does 5 and 7 damage. Maervahr barely missed.

1 attack on Tatrin, missed. 2 on Thorgard, missed.

• Maervahr pops out of invisibility

Maervahr hit one for 6 damage.

Maervahr hits one for 2 damage.

ONLY ONE LEFT!

Tatrin did 5 damage on the last one.

Maervahr did 3 damage. It misses Maervahr!

They were eating a corpse of a FIRE HALF GIANT. It still has a coin pouch.

• 2000 cp
• 1000 sp

We are at the south door, Maervahr has a 1-8 to listen so he does. 25% chance for Falavor. Maervahr hears metal dragging on stone for 3 seconds.

Maervahr does not detect anything with the Amulet of ESP so he casts Fly.

Thorgard and Tatrin fail to open the door.

They fail again and then we realize it is locked.

Tatrin casts Find Traps, none detected.

Key 55 and 19 fail, but Key 11 opened the door!

They shove the door open and reveals a room that is simalarly ornate to the room that contained the throne. It is quite large.

There is a bed with nice furs for Fire Giants.

There is some kind of metal thing built into the stone, like a cabinet or safe, two slots in it that might be trimmed in valuable metal.

The room is occupied by a single Hell Hound and is extremely enraged looking, smoke coming out of its skin. Its dragging along a metal chain, thick one. A rectangle of bolts coming from the hole in the wall by the safe.

It is 3“ from the door and 2” from the door openers.

• Risten holds the door
• Falavor goes in
• Maervahr goes invisible and enters the room.
• Thorgard attacks.
• Tatrin casts Prayer.

The Hell Hound charges! It is attacking Tatrin. Tatrin must save, he does and takes 4 damage. Both of them can attack the Hell Hound. It is medium.

Thorgard hit for 11 and then Tatrin hit for 3 damage. It does not appear daunted. Tries to bite Tatrin. Damage is 6 points after it bites. Prayer spell is lost.

Maervahr is above the Hell Hound.

Thorgard gets his other attack doing 8 damage.

• Both Thorgard and Tatrin will attack.
• Falavor backstabs.
• Risten holds the door. and casts Magic Missile.
• Maervahr casts Light on its eyes.

Falavor is totally invisible.

Tatrin must save vs breath and takes 4 damage.

AC 4 for the Hell Hound.

Does Backstab and Invisibility stack for damage bonus?

Thorgard hits for 8 damage. Falavor hits for 21 damage!

Maervahrs spell illuminates the room more.

Hell Hound is down and there is a metal thing, rectangular in shape. Giant sized handle. To the left and right are trapezoid openings, about 4“ on the longest bottom part. The one to the left is trimmed, we can see the inside has gold leaf to it. But the other is silver trimmed.

Tatrin sees no traps. These are the size of those ingots.

Falavor will check the rectangle and Maervahr goes to listen at the north east door.

Thieves can foil magical closures through knowledge and study of such items.

Falavor was unable to open it.

Maervahr uses the Scroll of Knock to open the door. We hear a whining sound.

We see some bricks and sticks of metal and a potion vial.

• 4x 50pp stick
• 1x 500gp brick
• 2x 500 ep brick
• 15x 500 cp brick
• 22x 500 sp brick
• 50 loose gp
• Potion Vial

4x 50pp stick 1x 500gp brick 2x 500 ep brick 50 gp Potion Vial 2x 500 sp brick

Maervahr and Anthrys takes a brick of silver too.

We search the room thoroughly and find nothing but mundane giant belongings.

Maervahr is floating up at the ceiling and they open the door. Falavor is hiding in shadows.

This room is an armory.

• 3 suits of half giant plate armor
• 2 giant shields
• 50 iron spikes
• 2 animal collars
• A pile of Boulders
• 8 barrels

No magic detected by Maervahr.

Thorgard checks the barrels that are full to the brim with liquid. He can tell that this beer is not properly fermented yet.

We leave and will head back.

We continue back the way we came.

Not surprised.

We get right next to the gong when the front liners detect insects to the south, near the bend.

• Tatrin casts prayer.
• Anthrys stands back.
• Falavor readies his bow.
• Risten stands back.
• Maervahr goes invisible.
• Thorgard steps in front of Tatrin.

Tatrin begins casting in a couple segments.

The noise grows larger but is going away from us.

By the time the spell has completed, the sound goes away.

The rest of the trip out is uneventful.

We will camp outside tonight. Fulmok is healed for 5.

No encounters.

Stoneskins on Thorgard and Tatrin is cast by Maervahr.

We make it back to Ornholm the next day.

Fulmok is healed for 16 hp and he must get bedrest.

We will split the XP now.

Maervahr uses detection of magic on the vial and finds that it is illusion and phantasm.

part one treasure: 34 pp, 90 gp, 166 ep each, henchmen get half

Fulmok tastes the potion and we hear a gulping noise from 30' away.

Potion of Ventriloquism. Claimed by Falavor. ID 190.

343 xp for player shares.

• Fulmok gets 59 xp
• Henchmen get 198 xp
• Players get 525 xp

We will wait on Timbraun and Litlee.

Mid day on the 22nd when we get back.

Maervahr scribes a new Scroll of Knock.

The entire party now has Stoneskin.

It is New Years Eve and the Festival of Geos is going on!

Thorgard helped with the festival in Mombafra last year. Rumors of people going back are heard.

We travel back to the Grotto.

Maervahr casts Deeppockets and Strength on Thorgard. Invisibility is cast on Risten and Falavor.

Thorgard has 18/50 strength.

We now have Timbraun and Litlee.

Thorgard plans to use his ring of water walking to walk across the mud into the passage beyond.

We get to the mud room. The cavern becomes depressed, it is a pool of filth and nasty smells. Water is trickling down the walls. There are shells of Fire Beetles and the rotting tail of a Subterannean Lizard.

Thorgard can sets out…now he must…

The weasel chittered and we are not surprised.

He can see with the light that there is a cavern with more filth. Thorgard rapidly looks around and sees a tentacle sticking up from the muck. Much like an octopus but on the tip of the pad are pupils with eyes.

• Thorgard runs
• Tatrin shoots a sling bullet.
• Timbraun casts Magic Missile
• Litlee casts Find Traps.
• Falavor hides in shadows.
• Risten stays out.
• Maervahr goes psionically invisible.

We lose initiative.

The tentacle pad with eyes moves toward us with sloshing noise. From underneath, the creature emerges that is all mouth and teeth.

It has AC 4 on a charge. We miss it. Two tentacles are snapping at Thorgard.

They hit on a 13. Both miss! and the Bite misses!

Thorgard runs and keeps his stoneskin since it MISSES! Timbraun finishes Magic Missile it does 10 damage. Tatrin missed.

The creature submerges itself in the much.

Maervahr uses his Medallion of ESP to detect the Otyugh underneath. Thorgard throws his hook in to try and fish for the Otyugh.

Thorgard strikes the muck and there is churning as it moves. Its below the surface a good depth.

• Tatrin will get ready to shoot.
• Thorgard drags the hook along the water.
• Timbraun and Litlee stand by.
• Falavor hides in shadows.
• Risten stays back.
• Maervahr waits for the creature to emerge.

The initial hook missed the Otyugh. He also fails to hook it the second time.

It does not surface.

We go south to the lizard nest lair. We will continue south to the forge.

Another set of stairs go up a couple steps there is a great geyser of magma. The Fire Giant's body is totally gone.

Litlee has Find Traps and this is the last turn for it. The cavern terminates in a rough wall. There is a door to the east.

There were no traps on the door.

Falavor and Maervahr listen at the door.

Through the door Falavor hears something muffled and distant. Kind of like the slapping of something far away.

We open the door. Thorgard and Tatrin on doors, failed first time but then we get it.

We step into the room finding an empty chamber with two doors and an archway. There is no illumination in here but there is a faint red glow coming through the archway. Similar to the Lake of Fire illumination.

Tatrin casts Find Traps. No traps detected.

The slapping sound is quiet now.

As we come around the corner we see a chamber with an altar of basalt with two pitch black statues of fangs made of unknown materials, they almost touch 10' above the water. There is an aspergilum made of solid gold laying on the altar. Beyond the altar is the great lake of fire, that illuminates the area but not the ceiling. It is not low out there. We can also tell that there is a path across the lake of fire that go someplace beyond.

Wrapped around the altar is a sizable dragon like creature. 30' long. Looks like a Gray Dragon without wings. Crouched down as if waiting.

• Maervahr casts Polymorph Other.
• Tatrin casts Light
• Thorgard moves to engage.
• Timbraun casts Shield.
• Litlee also casts Light.
• Falavor stays back.
• Risten stays back.

Simultaneous initiative.

Light is 4 segments as is Polymorph Other. Shield is 1 segment.

Thorgard begins to move in and the huge beast darts out around the altar and it strikes one of the black fangs creating a gong sound. It goes straight toward Thorgard and unleashes a stream of flame at him.

Thorgard's ring does not work and he fails his save, he takes the full damage. He takes 9 points of damage.

His armor saves. His sword saves. His scabbard FAILS! His other sword saves. His ring of fire resistance saves. His ring of water walking saves. His backpack saves.

It is now engaged in Thorgard in melee.

The Shield spell completes.

Both Light spells go off and Polymorph Other. Fails one save illuminating the altar and the Lizards eyes.

It resists the Polymorph spell!!

• Thorgard attacks
• Tatrin casts Prayer
• Timbraun moves within 2” of it.
• Litlee charges
• Falavor tries to backstab it. He can deal subdual damage.
• Risten
• Maervahr casts Polymorph Other.

We win initiative.

Falavor is successfully moving silently.

Thorgard and Falavor. Thorgard did 13 damage.

Falavor does 42 damage. KILLING IT UTTERLY!

We can see that it doesnt have wings but doesnt look like any dragon we have seen before.

Maervahr collects parts of the Dragon creature.

There are no traps.

Maervahr uses Detection of Magic and finds strong magic on the Aspergilum but not the type.

Falavor and Thorgard search the altar.

Maervahr taps along the walls.

The polish on the horns have worn away due to age and they look impressive. There is no magic but looks like it was once blessed for Sleal. If we could transport it to the Temple of Sleal, they might pay for it. Nobody finds any sliding panels. All the walls seem solid.

Maervahr pulls out the Folding Boat and says Logro-pa, activating the boat. The boat floats steadily inside the lake of lava. It does not seem to conduct heat. Nothing is changing color or losing structure. The oars look impervious

The boat is large enough for all of us plus a few more people.

We are illuminated by the magic spell and the glow of flames. The boat resists the flames and we move through the lava. And we can see where everything connects.

We are halfway into the lake and we can see a pathway going to places unknown.

Not surprised.

We detect something is amiss with the streaks of flames. We turn to look and see an unnatural aspect to the flames that manifest next to the boat.

They rise up to a column 10' tall. It has two docile peaceful eyes floating in the flame looking down at us. This wall of flame rises up from the fire, looming over us.

The boat is 18' x 6' x 4' deep and does not have a room.

• Maervahr goes psionically invisible.
• Thorgard attacks.
• Tatrin casts prayer.
• Timbraun does nothing.
• Litlee attacks.
• Risten holds up the medallion and says the command for the Iron Locket.

The eyes look like a primitive organ.

When Risten produces the medallion, Litlee finds her weapon is totally ineffective.

No Magic Resistance so it must Save versus Spells or is trapped.

The wall of flame is sucked in with a howling flame and goes into the locket which is too hot to hold. He hands it to Timbraun.

The Fire Elemental is contained!

We make it to the passage on the other side of the Lake of Fire.

Maervahr uses Clairaudience but does not hear anything.

Tatrin casts Find Traps but no traps are detected.

We proceed further and find a cave before us. To our right is a pool. Laying in the pool is a huge skeleton that is 16' long, thicker than anything we have seen on a humanoid. It is draped half in the pool and half in the wall of the pool. Wall is made of obsidian stone that rise to a height of 3.5'.

The skeleton is hung on it as if it died in the pool. One arm in the pool, one arm on the floor. Besides his arm and angled in the pool is a huge black scythe. The whole shaft is severed vertically. The blade of the scythe looks like death's scythe but the blade is shattered, partially submerged and made of steel. It is laying over the big skeleton.

Inside the pool are hundreds of tadpole like entities. They look plasmic in form, a very difficult state. They are 3“ long in the water, which is blackish. They gently pulse.

The scythe spans the entire length of the wall, it is 30' long.

Lowir had slain the Fire Giant Lord.

Maervahr uses detection of magic. There is a weak level of magic from the scythe and it has necromancy. The pool itself is Very powerful magic. The pool is Alteration and the tadpoles also have alteration.

Maervahr explains the magic to Thorgard.

He takes out Lowir's blade and asks for a blessing of Geos and goes to wade into the pool.

There are many different kinds of magic pools but the commonality is that their effect takes effect once.

So Timbraun, Litlee, Maervahr, Risten, Thorgard.

Tatrin and Falavor dont go in. Actually Tatrin does go in and Falavor is reconsidering.

Maervahr will use Precognition and we determine the number of factors.

The number of points it will cost can be determined.

Actually he does not…

We enter the pool and nothing happens, Thorgards beard in the pool but the tadpools swim around.

All of the tadpoles are energized with life and swim around us.

Everyone of us will have our Strength score changed by 1d3 points. It will be a 50/50 to increase or decrease our score. Because Thorgard posseses the blade of Lowir, he is 100% chance to succeed plus a +1 to his minimum strength (1d3+1).

Thorgard gains 3 Strength. He now has 18/49 Strength!

Falavor loses 2 points of Strength. The tadpoles run up against Falavor and gain essence from him.

Maervahr gains 1 point of Strength, he now has a 16.

Timbraun loses 2 points of Strength.

Litlee gains 2 points of Strength.

Risten gains 2 points of Strength and now has an 18.

Tatrin is drained from 10 to 9.

When this is done, most of the tadpoles have poured themselves into our bodies, whereas the others that were drained. 5% of the tadpoles are still swimming around.

There is one other thing:

First, Thorgard gains full knowledge of the Blade of Lowir and an extra power. It is a longsword +1, +2 against all Giant Class creatures and +2 against Half Giants. It is +3 against a True Giant and a +4 against a True Giant Lord. Final Power is that a Fire Giant or Fire Half Giant it gets a +1 against other bonuses (+5 against a Fire Giant Lord).

Finally all characters who gained strength and gain a +1 against all saves versus fire.

We thoroughly search the room and find remnants of pieces of metal, damaged armor bits, 3 empty potion vials, glass, stoppers, leather or vellum, snapped wand, old arrows and javelins. They appear to be 100 years old.

We head back to Ornholm. No encounters on the way back.

Holt says that the Aspergilum thinks its a device that could be used in a Sleal ritual. It looks large and robust.

We will sell the Aspergilum during downtime. We will get 2600 gp based on the gold value.

8000 gp total value when sold.

5 player character and 2 henchman.

player shares: 1332 gp, henchmen get half.

XP Rewards:

• Henchmen get 712 xp
• PCs get 2089 xp
• Thorgard gets 4089 xp

We will advance 1 week. Two Wednesdays from now more Nethergrotto or a DL 5 for Fandilas.

The locket was rolled super long ago when he made a mistake, he keeps a list of every item he rolled and didnt place. That locket was prepared during the Forgotten Master tower.

Thorgard is now level 8 Fighter. He needs a Lord level trainer. He now has 75 hp.