• There are trails of smoke coming from the north east of DELBO. A rumor is that Brigands discovered an old shrine there, built by Dwarves. The Brigands are camped out in the area which is about 10-20 outside of the ruined city. There is a stream that goes up to the shrine which is also near an orchard of apples. Since the Brigands have taken over, there is said to be old Dwarven treasure within this place, which may be a shrine dedicated to the god Mote.

THE LINEUP

• Brother Norris - 200 gp upkeep - CLR 2 - gained 2499 xp last time, 7 hp, AC 3/3, large shield, MV 9“
• Maervahr - AC 10/10
• Wine - Human CLR1 3/3 shield, MV 9”, Doors 1-2, Keen Eared, 6'3“, Black Hair Silver Eyes, Worships NEFER
• Sonny the Shadow - Thief 1 AC 7/8, MV 12”, Doors 1-2

We check for Mercenaries in the area:

• 5 Medium Horsemen 4 gp / day - 20
• 2 Longbow Archers 4 gp / day - 16
• 2 Porters 1 sp / day

There were Manes Demons seen at the bottom of Marble Keep some months ago.

We hired some Longbow Archers who would go inside with us as long as they have some protection. Our group also looks to hire some Porters.

Brother Norris has memorized 1 cure light wounds, 2 bless, and 1 command spell.

Wine has memorized 1 protection from evil and 2 cure light wounds spells.

We are heading back to the Marble Keep.

We travel south for some miles and do not encounter any water beasts or land beasts. Eventually, the Marble Keep comes into view.

Maervahr uses Clairaudience. He can hear loose gravel and loose sticks, leaves along with some chewing noises, they sound quick and lighter like that of a small dog or rat.

The party approaches the opening of the keep and we can see some large evil Rats here and there, dotting the ruins. It is a comittee of Giant Rats to warn us away!

There are 20 Giant Rats.

They all drop onto their 4 legs to join us in melee. Some of them had old bones in their mouth. We are now completely surrounded.

Maervahr casts SHIELD on himself and Wine casts Protection from Evil on Sonny.

The Horsemen attack with flails against the Giant Rats. 3 of them hit doing 2, 1, and 1 damage which killed 3 of the Rats. The Archers begin pulling out short blades.

Maervahr is attacked? Nope, there is an attack against Wine. None of the Rats hit Brother Norris and there are 4 on Wine, none hit for the first batch but then one hits. Wine takes 3 damage. None of them hit Sonny.

There is another hit against Wine for 2 damage and some more attacks against Sonny, who goes down! Sonny is Unconscious!

The Archers killed 1 of the Rats and now there are 16 left.

Wine casts Cure Light Wounds while Maervahr is trying to cast Burning Hands.

The Rats attack first and swarm one of the Horseman who is wearing chainmail and a shield (AC 4). The Horseman takes 7 damage and the Horse is pulled down by the Giant Rats. Wine targeted by 1 of the Giant Rats but is missed. An Archer is hit twice and is killed. We have one Horseman and one Archer down.

All 3 of the remaining Giant Rats attack the one final Horseman, he takes 3 damage.

Maervahr incinerates 7 Rats, doing 5 damage and then kills another rat, leaving 7 left.

The Giant Rats begin to flee in terror. They scatter out beyond the keep.

Sonny comes back from unconsciousness and nobody has died. We discover that the Giant Rats had been eating on human bones.

As we recover, Brother Norris says that he has heard of a large group of travelers from High Dell that has lost a number of traveling companions. They were taken prisoner by brigands.

Wine finds 3 freshly killed corpses in the keep grounds and we believe they were regular herders from the area. One of them has a pouch of purple velvet, inside are 3 gems. Maervahr can identify gems relatively decently as a jeweler background:

• A large blue quartz worth 20 gp.
• A huge fire opal, finely cut worth 2,800 gp.
• And an orange carnelian worth 50 gp.

We take the gems and Sonny, then head back to Gren.

Back in Gren we divide up the value of the gems, which are worth a total of 2870 gp.

All the gems are sold for a total of 2296 gp. We get 574 gp each.

Sonny will be replaced by Rhinock. Rhinock has a Warhorse and Brother Norris has a Mule. There are Riding Horses available here along with Draft Horses and most types of Warhorses.

Maervahr uses his Clairaudience to listen the area back at the Marble Keep but does not hear anything.

We still have some Mercenaries with us, 4 Horsemen and 1 Archer. Cure Light Wounds is cast on the Archer who was still injured by the Rats.

Rhinock is joining us now, a sturdy Half-Orc Fighter.

Wine tips each of the Mercenaries 1 gp each, which heartens their resolve somewhat.

We head back to the Marble Keep and stand, once again, outside the entrance to that dungeon. There is a mostly caved in area that we can use to enter. As we go inside, we head through the dungeon toward the secret door we found some time ago.

It is stuck for 1 round but we eventually get through. Maervahr is watching our backs. We are now inside the pentagonal room we found with the trapdoor and the arms jutting from the walls.

There is a surprise roll.

However, the room seems unoccupied. The rope is still hanging from the ceiling where Zenobia was hanging.

Protection from Evil is cast upon Maervahr and he casts KNOCK on the secret door. It reveals a secret passageway that goes east before turning a corner.

Rhinock leads the way down to the end. Brother Norirs takes out his hammer and looks for a loose wall. It seems thinner than the rest of the walls.

We search the dead end carefully and find a featureless hallway. It is a 10' tall passage. Wine finds a loose stone on the ground that looks like piece of rock. It is intended to look like gravel and is about the size of a gold piece. Wine depresses it…

The east wall grinds open into a room, which looks pretty small. We find 4 iron trunks in here, 2 are stacked on the other 2. There is also a stone candle with an arm and a door in the south east wall.

We begin spiking open the door when suddenly a huge bipedal form leaps out from behind the table.

The form looks like an enormous brain with legs. It immediately crashes into Maervahr and starts rending him apart with its 4 leg claws! IT IS AN INTELLECT DEVOURER!

• Brother Norris charges to grapple the creature.
• Rhinock Attacks.
• Wine Attacks.

They all move 9' per segment and it will take them 2 segments. The charge will attack first.

Meanwhile…

Maervahr and the Intellect Devourer are engaged in Psionic vs Psionic combat which happens at the speed of thought, so each segment we must each choose an Attack and Defense Mode.

Maervahr vs Intellect Devourer

Thought Shield (2) | Ego Whip

Maervahr has 51 total strength points. -18 = 33-2 = 31 (from Defense)

Intellect Devourer is down to 100 = 82. Attack / Defense = 41 / 41

Psychic Crush (10) | Tower of Iron Will (10)

Intellect Devourer is down to 62.

Id Insinuation (14) | Thought Shield (2)

At this point the Intellect Devourer takes 9 damage and it takes 15 Psionic Damage from Maervahr.

Intellect Devourer now has 33 total strength.

Rhinock hits for 7 damage. Brother Norris gets it into an armlock and smashes it for 1 point of damage.

Maervahr uses his Mind Thrust, which hits 7 times vs the Intellect Devourer's Mind Blank.

5 points is now its total strength.

The Intellect Devourer remains locked in a grapple with Brother Norris.

Burning Hands is cast dealing 5 damage to Brother Noris and to the Intellect Devourer.

Meanwhile, Cure Light Wounds is cast on Maervahr for 8 hp while Brother Norris maintains his grapple hold.

The Intellect Devourer tries to grapple Brother Norris and flips over Brother Norris but he also deals 3 damage to it. The creature is now broken Free from the grapple.

We all get a free attack at +4 against it but we do not kill it.

The Intellect Devourer throws open the trap door and disappears into the darkness and scampers down the tunnel.

A turn passes in post combat. Maervahr is in a meditative trance.

It is discussed how things from “other places” can be summoned and then they can exist on the material plane.

We check the chests very carefully. It looks like this was a storage area.

We are listening at the door but hear nothing. Rhinock attempts to lift up one of the chests. All 4 chests are now on the floor. They have two metal buckles or clasps.

Rhinock opens the first one and finds inside, gold and silver coins. Nested in the coins of copper and gold is a crystalline decanter. It is long with a flat base and appears to be filled with dust.

The chest on the right side has more copper and platinum while the final one is filled with silver.

We take the chests with us and head back the way we came.

On the way out we come face to face with two Ogres!

Maervahr casts Lightning Bolt on both of them using a forking bolt. One of the Ogres dies and the other one takes 8 damage.

Rhinock charges the surviving Ogre, which takes 6 damage. Wine also attacks and does 4 damage.

The Ogre hits Wine dealing 4 damage and then another 4 damage.

Rhinock kills the Ogre!

But suddenly, 3 more Ogres show up!

Maervahr casts Web and one of the Ogres is now webbed. Another Ogre attacks Rhinock while the third is an OGRE MAGE!

Rhinock hits the Ogre for 4 more damage. However, the Ogre Mage is blocked by the Web spell. Rhinock manages to kill the Ogre he is attacking and there are noises of rage coming from the hallway. Rhinock grabs a coin pouch off the dead Ogre.

Before the rest of the Ogres can escape and get to us, we flee with the chests.

We make it back to Gren.

The pouch contains 53 gp.

Detect Magic is cast and the powder inside the decanter is magical. Wine is going to claim the magical dust.

We earn a total of 574 xp for the first half.

The division of coins is as follows:

700 cp

• 175 cp, 5 cp
• 528 sp, 2 sp
• 88 gp, 13 gp
• 32 pp

XP REWARDS

• Sonny gets 592 xp.
• Rhinock gets 863 xp.
• Wine 1454 xp.
• Brother Norris 1454 xp.
• Maervahr 1,454 xp.

END OF SESSION

Sonny is back in play on 12-9-494.