• Thorgard
• Tatrin
• Lok-Vurn
• Jacob
• Josalyn
• Kheskhor
• Thalen
• Walker
• Eomiaje the Bear
• Risten
• Lyo
• Lucien

We had an encounter with a creature that cost Thalen 20 years of his life!

Lucien, Kheskhor and Eomiaje had departed with 2 bodies. Lok-Vurn and Kheskhor are both unconscious on his back.

After the fight, the party that fought the weird Wraith creature, they decide to get the fuck out! Presently the party that was in the fight has reached the party that left earlier. We are now on the surface in the sun where we fought the Bugbears.

We are now out of the dungeon.

Eomiaje can lay on top of the trap door. We can also bar the door with a long piece of wood. The carts outside did burn but they managed to pull the chest off of it before it could burn.

Jacob will go cut down a tree while Eomiaje lays on the door. Thorgard, Risten and Lyo can dig. Lok-Vurn bent the portcullis bars to break in so they are not fully blocked. The trench in front of the portcullis will just be in the front door.

They can cast up to 3 Phantom Armor and 2 Invisibility spells. We were quite successful with digging our trench and barring doors. Lucien gives Thalen a small mirror.

We advance to the night. Kheskhor casts Wizard Lock on the trap door. Lok-Vurn and Walker are turned invisible and Eomiaje and Risten are given Phantom Armor, as does Walker. Walker is healed for 4 hit points.

Kheskhor tries on the magic cloak. Jacob spars with Kheskhor while he wears it, it provide a +2 AC bonus! Kheskhor obtains the cloak and now has AC 1/10. It does stack with Bracers of Defense.

We are outside of the tower and night is coming.

The surrounding hills have occasional jutting cliffs. They cast Wizard Lock on top of the trap door and bar it with some trees. Eomiaje bent the bars and now the portcullis is bent open. The horses are inside.

There are no encounters.

The weather is clear today.

Eomiaje obtains a Cure Light Wounds and is now also invisible. Lok-Vurn and Walker are both invisible. We clear the rubble on the trap door and go back down.

We re-enter the hall with 6 cells and are now back inside the dungeon. Josalyn casts Endure Heat on herself and Jacob.

The two doors leading north are normal wooden dungeon doors. There are two stone disks in each alove.

Josalyn casts Find Traps before we open the door. Jacob, Thorgard and Eomiaje are opening doors. We can all three stand together, despite Eomiaje, due to Thorgard's small size.

Josalyn with her Find Traps does not see one up ahead. To our left is an area with an empty fountain made of stone that is crescent shaped. It is facing a broken stone site where a plant was in the past, but it is now just rock. There is a door to the west and north. The hallway goes another 20' where it T's off. There is a warm moisture in the air that is reminiscent of the more warm tropical areas of the world.

The air from the north is warm. There is also a bunch of glass on the floor where the wall had a window in it. Starting at the floor and going 10' up toward the ceiling, it was once a glass dome on the wall. The pieces of glasses were curved like from a big snow globe. The hallway opens to a parallel hallway that also goes north and south.

We check out the west door. The fountain is completely dry and empty, it may have been a pool at one time. The stone disk in front of it is empty of dirt. There are no traps on the door and we open it.

We are inside of a hall which contains 6 desks facing a bigger seventh desk at the end of the room. The big desk is in the south and there are three rows of 2 desks. Behind the big desk is a large blackboard on the wall. To the right of the big desk is a globe, like a model of the current planet that is on a brass cart with wheels. The thing holding the globe is gold and sparkles in the light. There is a small stool in the corner with a dunce cap in it.

Eomiaje sniffs the air and detects a foreign scent, like getting off a “plane” in a different climate, but that x10. It is a very jarring smell to it. He can scense that there are many weird profiles that were here recently, like within the last day but does not see anything in the room that would be the source.

We throughly search the room. It is free from any hidden things and the furniture is arranged in order. There were some spider webs that were disturbed in places we could not have gone. In 2 of 4 corners they were ripped.

Josalyn and others noticed that the globe is of a nice quality and could be removed from the stand that it is on.

We go back to the surface which takes us a turn. Walker relinquishes the Rod of Alertness to Thalen. It is a two handed footman's flail.

We return down the stairs and we hear something crash from far away. We are at the surface of the tower and the sound came from below.

The party returned to the room and Thalen uses the rod to detect magic but does not detect any. The whole stand is about 2,600 coins. It would only be 200 coins for the stand, which is made of brass. We head to the north door from the room with the dry fountain.

The door opens easily.

We are in a near identical room but this one is a bit bigger and in total disarray. There are 24 globular creatures. They are 3' in diameter with 6 eyestalks, they go around the bulbous flying thing like a crown. The only thing on the creature are some claws but has no other appendeges.

The 29 creatures are flying around and one of them is wearing a dunce cap. The other is the center of attention, one of them holds a scroll that is 40' down, the creature is up 8' in the air. When we burst into the room. All the room stops and falls silent.

• Eomiaje asks “What class is this?” and waits to see.
• Lucien and Thalen vibe.
• Thorgard asks if they speak common.
• Risten waits to see.
• Josalyn casts Protection from Evil.
• Jacob says “sorry im late for class” in Elvish.

It is 7 segments to cast Protection from Evil 10' radius.

These creatures are irratible sorts and are shocked by our arrival. They throw down the scroll and start hover charging in our direction with screeching noises. They have their feet claw things extended forward. They have good control floating around.

There are not subject to sweep attacks. Only those of us inside the room are the initial targets, the Door Openers. There are 6 attacks on Thorgard, 7 on Jacob, and 11 on Eomiaje. There are 24 of these creatures.

Those attack Eomiaje will be doing so at a -4 since he is Invisible. They have AC 4 when charging. Thorgard hits for 13 and Jacob hits for 5, Thorgard kills one.

Thorgard is attacked. The 24 creatures are swarming to the front line. Thorgard and Jacob both hit, Thorgard slices one through. Both creatures with a bang and pop and a slam and send guts and bone fragments like a grenade. We all take 4 damage and this takes out Eomiaje's Phantom Armor. There are 5 left to attack Thorgard. He has an AC -3. Thorgard takes 2 hits and claw him for 1 and 2 damage. There are two going without his shield, those are both misses. The globular creatures are now attached to Thorgard. Actually only one attaches to him. They are zipping around like crazy.

There are 11 attacks on Eomiaje. There will be 3 rear attacks. He is hit 4 times and takes 10 damage. They are still attached to him but he destroyed one. There are only 6 attacking Jacob.

Eomiaje is now clearly defined by the creatures attached to him.

Thorgard cuts one for 9 damage and it deals 2 damage to all of the creatures. It explodes and kills 4 of them. There are 17 left in the swirl, the other ones explode. Those others take 12 damage. This kills all but 3 of them and then they explode for 22 damage. They explode again for 6 points of damage. At the end of the chain, they have all exploded.

Jacob heals with his Ring of Regeneration. Other healing spells are cast on others.

There is nothing left of their corpses. The scroll that was being read has streaks of Gorbul blood on it. There are some parts that can still be read on it. They find no traps or any doors.

They point the scroll to Risten.

Jacob cuts off a paw from Eomiaje and puts it in a backpack. The scroll is covered in magic runes that Lucien cannot read. Risten cannot read it but he could with Read Magic.

They search the room but do not find anything.

Keys ID 66 (iron) chest, 12 ('cut') 77 (moss covered) cells, 113, 25, 30, key split down the middle.

They head through the corridor and go to the right side. They can hear the sound of water or something coming from the other side of the door. There is a pressure coming from the other side of the doorframe. There is a mouse hole about 2.5' tall, a hole at the bottom of the door which is where the hot and moist air is coming from.

Jacob is healed for 7 hit points.

They start to hear distant chanting but do not detect any traps. The sound is in a tribal guttarul language that they cannot understand, some of them are not far but are coming from up the staircase.

They open the door despite it being swollen. The staircase goes up and they decide to go fast and not map. The walls are rough hewn and Thalen continues to look for traps. They climb up a couple flights and the walls and ceiling are covered in moisture. They get to the top where it levels off. The chanting is coming from just around the corner. It is harmonizing scores of other voices. They are saying words that they cannot understand.

They see a bunch of these little creatures.

• Jacob charges.
• Kheskhor casts Sleep.
• Josalyn moves to engage.
• Lucien moves invisibly to the leader.
• Thalen uses the rod to detect evil.
• Thorgard moves to engage, Tatrin casts prayer.
• Risten holds back.
• Lyo moves to engage.

The array of 100 small humanoids arranged in a fan with their spears and slings facing them. The leader is humming along but then proclaims something loud and proud while waving his spear. When he finishes his proclomation, he slams his spear down and then looks at the front of the party with a defiant posture. It brings him to the height of Thorgard's normal height.

Thalen does not detect evil with the rod so Kheskhor wastes the Sleep spell. The Prayer spell finishes. This spring area is filled with several small sized pieces of furniture and the room is quite cramped as it is only 50' in diameter. This appears to be a religious site. There are 3 females here.

The Shaman does not comprehend what they are telling him but keeps his same posture. He says the same thing in 6 different languages. The leader sends a greeting in broken Kobold language. They greet Thorgard and he says that they are intruding on their religious gathering. Thorgard tells them that they are searching for a Red Magical Hat.

The Leader summons a warrior in impressive metals and comes along. He begins talking to the leader while all the others in the room are highly disciplined. They have lowered their humming to some degree. The leader says he has seen hats.

“A Red Hat?” “A red hat he has seen. In the dungeon to the south west is a chamber that contains this hat.”

Thorgard asks what god they worship. It is called == Tekhsuahytn ==. They call themselves == Kekaleko ==.

They are in a spring after they came up a tunnel with stairs, at a higher elevation. It is an enclosed cavern spring. There is only one small wooden door on the far side. There is only the sound of bubbling from the spring. They have been talking to this Leader in broken Kobold.

Thalen discreetly detects magic on the pool and nobody seems to notice him doing this.

The Leader says to Thorgard that you have intruded on an important religious thing and broken their rites. You seek the red hat which he does not need. He will tell us where it is but first the party must slay the Howling Ones in the pass up ahead. Many have fallen to the Howling one. You must slay it now and in return, will learn the location of the red hat.

Thorgard asks if the Howling One has electrical energy. It is NOT the Howling One. It has twice the arms of a normal man. They describe the one we killed recently and it is determined that this was the Howling One.

He tells them where the hat is but it is behind a locked door. They indicate the south west region on our map. It was the Chamber of the Red Hat.

Jacob discreetly asks Thalen about the Red Hat. Thalen asks Thorgard if he can ask them what the significance of the pool is and if he can drink from the pool. After that he motions to Jacob with his eyes, pointing out the pool…which he felt something from.

Thorgard says he was going to offer them 3x 100 gp gems that he would be willing to give them. Thalen would roll his reaction roll +30 with the gems. In exchange for the gems, they will allow someone to drink from the pool. However, they warn them that the pool is holy to them and it may reject him. Jacob says if they only let one person it should be Lucien. They also say that they should not drink too deep from the pool.

Thorgard asks what the pool does. Does their god grant them wisdom, intellect or strength? They explain that as part of their religion, they travel here and are able to produce a life giving elixer that cures ALL ailments. They can gain enough elixir in order to sustain their community without dying from disease or poisons. This was shown to them in a dream by their deity. They have a holy bond with the pool. It would cure all of their ailments. They do say it can bring someone back from death…

Thalen asks if they would allow 2 people to drink from their pool for 3 more gems. He would also like to understand more from their god as this is not a being he has heard of. The creatures do agree to Thalen's deal to be cured of his unnatural aging.

Thalen hands over the gems, with revence and respect, approaches the pool and attempts to drink from the pool. The water is hot but pleasing like tea. He fill like it is filled with power. He feels as though there is a great energy in the pool and then feels full of energy.

He must make two saving throws versus magic. He gets a success and a failure. The drink restores 10 unnatural years and this reduces him to Mature and this restores his ability scores.

Thalen looks visibly younger and thanks him for his genorisity and gives him the gems.

Lucien then drinks from the pool and they see the ripples as he drinks, he takes 12 damage. Nothing else happens. They go south to the door and then out the other door. Before they open the door, Tatrin casts Find Traps before they get there. It is cast.

Thalen casts Cure Light Wounds on Lucien. He gets 2 hitpoints of healing back. Lyo heals him for 3 hp.

The room they have entered was a guard house. The portcullis has now been closed on the other side. They try to open the north door. Beyond this is a T hallway and to the right is a dead end. Ahead of them is a featureless hallway and to their left they see a few things. There is a lever sticking out that is currently in the down position. Before they get to ta door on the far side, it has metal reinforcements on it and the lock is robust looking. Another door does not have upgraded features but is also made of wood.

Tatrin looks for traps but does not see any.

We are not surprised on a 6.

The characters are now standing in a hallway that they have mapped out. They hear something approaching from the north. The light does not reveal it but they hear something dragging across the stone and the rapid short movement of legs, like a skittering insectoid coming down the hallway.

• Lucien goes to the back and stays invisible.
• Thalen attempts to cast Sanctuary.
• Thorgard forms a front line to prepare a charge.
• Tatrin casts Light.
• Risten casts Magic Missile
• Lyo prepares for a charge.
• Jacob forms a front line.
• Josalyn casts Protection From Evil.
• Kheskhor hides in the passage.

Protection From Evil is 4 segments as is the Light spell. Sanctuary is also 4 segments. When their characters are alerted to the sound. The noise stops as they rearrange themselves…then the movement starts up again. Coming around the corner is a single Giant Scorpion. Just as it comes into view is just when the spells complete. He would not be able to target it with the spell so he puts the light at the end, which illuminates the Scorpion. It is charging forward.

It goes after Jacob but he attacks first against AC 4. Jacob hits for 14 damage and Thorgard does 9 damage. They do a total of 22 hit points of damage, cutting off its head before it can attack.

Huzzah!

They check the doors and there is a keyhole. Key ID 25 unlocks the door! They open the door.

The door is opened. Inside is an executive office style of arrangement. It has weathered the decay like the rest of the dungeon. At the long end of it is a desk. Behind the desk in a glass case is a Red Hat. specifically, it is an Atef. Like the hat worn by OSIRIS.

The glass case is sealed on all sides but the desk is in good shape, other than dust. On the other side is the hat but the other side is a mummified piece of taxidermy of a striking Lizard Head, like a Dragon, with two diamonds but the rest of the Lizard looks whole. It actually looks monstrous.

The Find Traps detects a magic trap on the area of the Lizards face where the gems are. They also detect radiation from the spell, coming from the case containing the red hat. They cannot detect whether its magical but it is not quite like a trap. This energy is highly concentrated within the case. There are normal detections coming off the Lizard head but there is a glowing cube that is highly powerful coming from the case.

The Fighters and the others will stay out of the room while the expendables go in the room. Everyone actually left while they go to pull the lever.

This sounds like they opened the portcullis. Meanwhile, Thalen goes in to search the room with Thorgard. They find two things:

• The case containing the Atef has two types of magical radiation. One and the other are pushing against each other. One from the hat and one from the case itself, pushing back on the hat.
• Thorgard notices that there is something on the ground that looks like a rock, but is an impossibly detailed statue of a cockroach. The thing does not have a base, it is just a figure made of stone laying on its

side. It is to scale, a stone figure of a cockroach. He does not believe it is attached to the ground.

Thorgard returns and explains it to everyone. There is a huge range to cockroach size but this one is 2.5 inches in length. Jacob hands Thalen two sacks who puts them over the Lizard head. He can get one large sack around it and it is now entirely covered. Thalen asks Jacob what his intention with the sack. The diamonds might try to petrify things so blocking sight might help.

It does look like there is a mechanism to open the glass case. They notice a platinum caulking around the rim where the glass case meets the wall, like a platinum border. There is a mechanism on either side like an unusual locking device. The case looks completely airtight and flush. The device does not have any markings on it, though there is an exposed tumbler. Or like the innards of a lock that are exposed on the sides. The mechanism appears more complicated than normal.

The party leaves to re-memorize spells.

They make it back to the surface and they have their Dispel Magic spells prepared. Thalen now has 4 Cure Light Wounds prepped and he fully heals Lucien. Jacob is also fully healed from his Ring of Regeneration.

With the sunset they descend back down the halls and find themselves with the cases.

Josalyn casts Protection from Evil and Endure Heat on Jacob and Kheskhor, Josalyn too. It takes about a turn to cast all of these spells. Tatrin will try cast Dispel Magic on the case itself, the one holding the hat. He will need to dispel a 7th level effect. He does not succeed and nothing is dispelled.

Josalyn casts Find Traps and sees the same traps as before. It appears to be on the air inside the case but she can see the same radiation of a pressure from the case pushing inward toward a force in the center. She can see the energy even with Find Traps. She also uses detect magic from the Rod of Alertness however she does not detect the school.

They do not try to dispel magic on the case anymore but perhaps on the air on the case. They would need to dispel magic against a 6th level Magic-User. Risten is able to dispel it the second time.

Josalyn can now see that there was a strong force coming off the hat but it has now been calmed and the energy has been reduced. It no longer detects as a trap. Thalen and Kheskhor remain in the room.

Kheskhor casts the spell and they hear the mechanisms unlock. The glass cube slightly shifts but does not fall. Thalen walks in and removes the glass case. Not viisble from the outside, there are slightly glowing magic sigils on the inside of the case. They could only be seen from within and look to be a high power. The hat is sitting freely on a shelf.

He takes the Atef Red Hat and nothing happens. Jacob throws him a sack but Thalen says he puts it into his backpack. He puts it into his backpack and then tries to leave the room. Thalen uses Find Traps on the hat but finds none. He rejoins the group as normal but Jacob stays away anyway. The glass case is totally free of trap energy.

Josalyn casts Dispel Magic on the taxidermied head and Thalen can see that there is no longer a trap on the head.

Thorgard grabs the diamonds. The mechanism to open the other case was not opened by the Knock spell. Tatrin casts Find Traps on the case to see if it is resonating with traps. Thorgard smashes the glass with his sword pommel. It smashes and he retrieves both diamonds.

They head back to the surface.

They make it back to the surface unscathed and decide to rest for the day. There are no encounters.

The next morning, Kheskhor casts Read Magic on the scroll. There are spells of levels 1 through 6, but not level 2.

Jacob is turned invisible as is his Hippogriff. He leaves behind his armor and will fly off to the Druid grove.

As Jacob flies back, there is an encounter at night. He is not awake. However, the night goes by without incident.

He travels for 3 more days and it is an uneventful travel. The Druid is not present at the Grove.

He gets to Riknettle on Day 1 and then heads to Wistari. Jacob makes it and is welcomed into the Wistari village. They know of the Druid and ask of what favor he can provide…

EOMIAJE IS REINCARNATED AS A PIXIE!

Pixie Stats -4 (??/14) +1 (3/18) – (3/18) +4 (14/20) -1 (3/18) – (3/18)

1st - Run 3rd - Suggestion 4th - Fire Trap 5th - Avoidance 6th - Eyebite