We arrived at this place while hunting the Twin Ettin. Now, THE TWIN ETTIN HAS BEEN DEFEATED! The party is now standing over its body…

• Iona
• Randimir
• Iskandar
• Kana
• Dan
• Fenric
• Sabina

The Ranger, Sabina, can make out the tracks in the grass. We follow the tracks over the hills and find that they lead to a dry area where the grass has been tamped down. There is also a cave mouth that is 25' tall and 20' wide.

All magical daggers, swords, short swords and other variations of weapons will all glow with a magic light. However, magical maces and axes do not glow and the magical scorpion Assassin's dagger does NOT glow, which is unusual.

Iona takes a type A poison to her spear from Fenric, the so called “Blessing”. Fenric annoints his blade with a type B poison.

We head into the cave and are overpowered by the stench of a Giant Ettin lair. It is thick with the terrible body odor of a monster. Near the rear of the cave, we find some furs and stinking rolls of material. The area is covered in a bed of rotting and dried grass. In the area beyond we see some stone steps leading up into the wall, which goes deeper into the face of the hill.

We are looking in here for a type of mineral, it could be a gem or an ore but is a deep purple mineral. A chunk of it should suffice.

We search the limestone cave for a while. Iona uses her spear to move the furs around but we find nothing of interest. The group climbs up the weathered steps through an elevated cavern where we find a pool filled with a bleak, cloudy water. A small stream of water slowly trickles into the pool which comes from different directions in the wall. Immediately to our left is a passageway that has been intentionally barricaded by boulders that are 1/2' to 1' in diameter. The go all the way up to the ceiling, leaving only about 1/2' of space from the top of the wall to the ceiling.

There is an ppening in the cave with that is covered in a white-green vegetation that is formed like a curtain. It looks like dried algae. Up ahead is another corridor and on the other side of the pool is another one to the right.

It is still EARLY MORNING or no later than noon. The stacked boulders look like something we could lift but we would not move more than 1' per round. There is also a long iron coffer here, in the corner near the shallow water. Inside the coffer is a pile of COPPER COINS and a sack.

Kana knows that this moss is an unnatural growth. It is a magical vegetation that is only found in the dark places of the earth. It is able to defend itself but we wonder, does it have any magical properties? Yes, there could be. It can easily kill a man. How does it react to fire? It is flammable. We stand back because it attacks by releasing a sharp projectile.

Dan heads over to the sack and enters the pool. He starts splashing toward the sack, which is an Ettin sized sack. Inside, the sack is filled with more copper pieces. Randimir pulls out the sack, and we add more copper coins to the ones in the pile.

Kana casts Produce Flame on the plant and it quickly goes up, sparking and crackling. Some things fly off it as it burns. We find something below the curtain, a small object on the ground that is a bit bigger than a human fist. It looks like a morningstar head.

The corridor beyond where the algae curtain once stretched opens up to a room.

Iona checks out the small object, which is almost black or dark gray in color. It looks like a caricature of a briar. Iona slides the seed into a sack and now has a spiky thing at the bottom of a sack.

Find Traps is cast and we see that the coffer does not have any traps nor are there any in 30' radius. There is a stone in the room and tons of metal scrap, twisted metal of iron and steel. It is found mostly along the back wall of the room, which is a natural cave. Dan opens up the chest and it flips opens:

• 6,400 cp
• 2,400 ep
• Potion vial (Clear, smoky, like oil).

Dan applies some of the oil to his dagger. The dagger takes well to the oil and shines in the lantern light. Dan takes the oil vial.

The cave eventually becomes a worked corridor with a plaque on the wall. Written upon it are the words:

AUXILIARY TEST 3

Visiting magic users must allow hands to be bound. 

The cleric leads the way looking for traps. We do not find anything hollow as we tap around. We find a door leading up to the stairs. The door is made of steel upon which is another plaque:

Identification required past this point, enter slowly. 

A horizontal handle rotates up or down and there is a keyhole. Dan tries to open the door but it seems locked. Iona attempt to pick the lock and succeeds. She opens the lock at the top of the stairs, which took about 3 minutes. There is a heavy thunk as something depresses.

We have 5 rounds left on the Find Traps spell.

Randimir slowly opens the door and it budges open, swinging on its hinges.

We are not surprised.

We step into an alcove which opens up to a hall. There is a matching alcove with some metal scrap and a vial. A corridor extends to the right and there is a column there. On the left side is another alcove.

We check out the column to the left and startle 5 HUGE BEETLES! They are 10' in length.

The spellcasters begin to cast and Iona shoots her crossbow. Faerie Fire is cast but the Beetles are not affected by it.

The Beetles move on the ground toward us, all 5 of them. Iona missed with her bolt.

There is a 4-in-6 chance to walk through the Stinking Cloud spell and 3 of them pass through the cloud while the other 2 maneuver past it. There are 2 Beetles near us now.

Iona throws her spear and misses. A Web spell goes off this time which targets the area behind the Beetles. They now have nowhere to go. Spiritual Hammer is also cast.

The next round a second Stinking Cloud spell is cast on the Beetles. They try to go through the Web and become trapped. 2 of the Beetles are now helpless while one of the Beetles is going to the right.

Kana, Iona and Sabina all failed to open the door.

There is a 35% chance of killing the trapped Beetles with an assassination roll. This chance is applied per shot. We kill the one affected by Faerie Fire and deal 6 damage to another one. It is still alive. The Cleric attacks with their Spiritual Hammer and can also use the assassination table with the spell. There is a 50% chance or less for him but he only deals 6 damage.

We assassinate all of the Beetles and they become slain by our weapons. We see the skittering movements of another Beetle and yet another Beetle disappears through the wall.

In this area we find another flask that is not unlike the one we found inside the chest. In fact, it is identical to the one Dan found. We also find a handle in the wall while aligns horizontally in the wall. It can be pulled down and we find another at the door on the right side of the wall.

Dan pulls the handle. The room is illuminated by globes of red light, one here and another at the one at end of hallway. A low droning noise begins to manifest causing our weapons to vibrate.

We see a glow of blue to our right and we are taken aback in SURPRISE!

Two stone humanoid figures that phase through the wall suddenly appear. On their chest glows a blue gem. The Golem creatures move forward to attack and they charge into our party.

They charge at Kana and Iona. Kana has AC 7 and is struck on an 8. A huge arm comes down from the form that is about man sized in height. There is the form of a Human face on its chest from which the arms come out of.

Iona Drops!

Sabina grabs Iona and pulls her back. The Golem is now targeting Sabina and Kana, who are trying to fall back, out of melee. Sabine easily defends the attack against her but Kana is struck for 9 damage and now Kana is DOWN!

Dan grabs Kana and the Golems get a +4 to hit. They deal 7 damage to Fenric, who is also dropped. Kana is no longer bleeding out but the rest of us have until -10 hp then we die. Iona is still lying unconscious inside the room.

Fenric is inside the hallway and the Stone Creatures continue standing there, expressionless, at the edge of the door. They have huge bodies that are blocking the entryway.

Fenric is healed for 1 damage. Dan hits one of the Golems for 2 damage. As he strikes the creature, a chip of stone comes off. The Golems then walk into the walls.

Someone grabs Iona and casts a Cure Light Wounds. Fenric is also healed for 1 hit point.

We are still in a coma and will have to be on bedrest for one week.

The group heads out and makes camp to rest.

Nothing comes for us in this 5 hour period that we rested. With a 5 hour rest, we can get back 1st and 2nd level spells. However, we are still one day away for the village…

It will take us a day of travel and the group can avoid Ape Fang Maw and still get back to Great Hill in one day.

There are rocks around the entrance to the cave and trees near the entrance. The area is full of pine trees. They set up a hammock made from a cloak to sleep in the tree using a rope.

Dan casts Leomunds Tiny Hut which lasts for 5 hours and the night passes without incident.

We cannot cast spells or fight while on bedrest and travel time does not count toward the required week of bed rest.

We spend an entire day traveling through the hills.

The party arrives in Great Hill.

As Dan ascertained, the people of Great Hill grant us huts to rest in. Great Hill is the name of the village where we passed into when we first came to this area.

In the morning, we can take in the settlement. We judge that there are close to between 60 and 90 Men of fighting age. There are also a disproportionate number of Cleric or Witch Doctor types. It is a full settlement with people doing their daily tasks, a pallisade and some people that appear to be slaves.

A week passes uneventfully in Great Hill. The locals provide us with food as long as we provide them with small chores. As we stay over the course of a week, we learn that these people are formidable Warriors and skilled Witch Doctors. They can hold their own against Dragon territory.

Dan provides another 5 gp gem to the Witch Doctor. He hands the gem to NOTO the QUICK! He is the Witch Doctor that is in charge of all the other Witch Doctors. He accepts the gift and adds the gem to their horde of treasure.

After the week we are fully healed, in all ways.

We will head back to Ettin Cave.

To go between the cave and the village takes one day. We have an uneventful day of travel and are camped over the hill from the Twin Ettins lair.

The night passes without issue.

We are back inside the cave…

Ever since we spent time in Great Hill, our hirelings habitually look at the sky nervously.

We head through the north passage, beyond the pool of water. There, we find an empty cave with some loose rocks around the edges of the walls and a staircase of weathered limestone. We tap along the walls for one round but find no secret doors.

Iona falls back about 10' as the party takes a few more steps closer. We can see the outline of a square on the wall, like a panel, with about a 2“ sides. The square is about chest height from the ground and they glows blue.

Find Traps is cast once again but there are no traps in this room. Chiseled into the rock is an engraved portion that is also glowing blue.

Fenric tries to push on the square but it does not move. The surface is very smooth and has perfect angles. It is a different blue color than the glow coming from the Golem's chest. After tapping on the wall around it, it sounds like the area has a hollow portion behind it.

Without finding a way to activate or bypass the square panel, we head back and start clearing out the rubble to the south.

Kana's dog is outside guarding the area. It will probably take us 20 minutes to clear out the rocks. After we clear them out, we find a staircase going up.

At the top of the staircase is a steel door that has been broken inward as if it had taken a heavy amount of damage. The door is hanging off by one hinge and behind it is an open area. The Find Traps spell is no longer active but we move past the broken door anyway and head to the left. There are 6 things that look like small machines. They are toothy and made of metal and about 8” tall with short cylinders or thick disks in their center, like gears. They do look damaged but there is no rust. However, we do find some burn damage on them. At the bottom of a box are a whole ring of 30 metallic legs. One has a rod coming out of it that has a telescoping design. It is broken at the end and only about 1.5 feet long. The broken rod is piled on top of a thick pile of scrap.

Dan grabs the telescoping rod but finds no purple mineral ore but only a thin hollow tube in the center. The rod itself is made of some kind of hard clear thing that looks cloudier than glass. It seems to go into the disk itself.

Try to break open the telescoping rod and finds that there is burn damage around it. Dan is able to pull off the worn metal and finds inside are two shattered glass tubes set onto little racks. They are connected to the thin tube on the rod and there is some kind of residue on the glass tubes. Dan does not know what it is but one is gray and one is blackish.

Are these some kind of automoton?

We head south and shine a light into the new chamber. To the right, we see 3 latches on the wall, near the doors in the other area. There is a big stone table with 3 stools, 2 are knocked over. On top of the table, there are pieces of scrap metal and 4 of the circular disks. 2 appear to be in a state of half-formed with glass cylinders inside. 2 of them appear to be complete.

The circular disks stand up but then stumble forward. A yellow bar appears and glows gently across the disk.

We unleash a volley of burning oil flasks and they all burst into flame near the mechanical creatures!

This destroys them.

We can see a door on the south wall beyond the table and some pullable latches on the NORTH wall. There are 3 drawers built into a table. After a cursory inspection, we open the drawers. The third drawer has a piece of parchment with some writing that says

“WATER - River and Sea. Foam, Flow and Run.”

On closer inspection, we see a crease on the wall on either side. It forms into a long rectangle, some 3.5' wide and 7' tall.

The group listens at the door but we hear nothing.

Randimir, Dan, and Fenric are opening the door. Dan rolls with a 1-3. We open the door.

The door openers push their way into another staircase that goes down to another staircase.

We are at the bottom of the stairs and we step into the room. It is dimly lit by orbs like the ones we saw with the Beetles, it is about 1/3 of the light from a Continual Light spell, so not super bright. The hall has alcoves on the left and on the right. We can spot a desk that is illuminated but we also spot movements of darkness from either side of the party. It attacks!

Kana is not hit. Fenric is hit for 3 damage and loses 1 STR. Sabina takes 2 damage and also loses 1 STR.

The movements were coming from 3 shadowy forms. These are SHADOWS!

Iona tries to hit and the turning attempt from our Cleric happens instantly. Iona's spear has no effect on the Shadow.

Kana takes 2 damage and loses 1 STR. Then, Kana takes 2 more damage and again, loses another 1 STR. Fenric takes 3 damage and loses 1 STR. He Drops and goes Unconscious!

The Turn Undead works and the Shadows are turned! We hit them for 5 damage at they try to flee (Kana). They move vver some forms that we just noticed. There is a sudden flutter around the corner.

Fenric is healed for 5 damage.

We find 3 Skeletal corpses. Their clothes have rotted away with time but they still have cloaks on their back. Their corpses were strewn about in here as if they were cast down. We also find a desk with 2 chairs.

There are some alcoves and some tables made of stone on the south wall. On the tables are some objects including some rectangular metal pieces and fasteners on the first table. We also find a small statue in the form of a lotus with a white gold and blue luster to it. The 3rd alcove has a couple gold pieces on it.

• 6 gp.

The entire alcove could be taken up by a large sized man that is standing. We also find a safe with a handle on it. It has one of the 3 square line sigils such as a red glowing, a blue and a yellow glowing square.

We run through and pilfer the desk. The lotus statue is very heavy but Dan grabs it. Iona pulls open the long drawer.

• Lotus statue.
• A black case or small box with the inside lined with velvet. It is supposed to hold something round and curved.
• A rectangular card that has a silver with yellow luster to it. It is featureless.
• A steel tablet that is thin and robust. It has small writing in a language we do not recognize. None are able to read the steel tablet.

We decide to head out and back. It taks us 1 turn to get out.

Our MULE can carry a maximum of 6000 coins and 4000 coins without being slowed but an Ox can carry up to 10x a mule!

We leave all the copper behind and head to Great Hill. Just as dusk falls, we make it back to Great Hill.

We are going to head back all the way to Mombafra after resting in Great Hill. It will take us several days of travel across wilderness hexes.

The 1st day passes without any event.

On the 3rd day of travel, our Ox and Horses must graze since they are not carrying their own feed. It takes a full day for them to graze.

It is early in the morning.

Off in the distance in the sky, something winged is noticed flying in our direction.

We all gather around Dan as the creature gets closer. Iona helps Fenric off his horse.

As it gets closer, the visage of a Sphinx comes into view, flying upon feathered wings. It is approaching us directly and is now about 16“ away.

The group is standing together inside of Dan's spell, Leomunds Tiny Hut. It is then that we see the visage of a woman on the Sphinx. She has great feathered wings and begins speaking to us in the tongue of man. The Sphinx greets us…

The Sphinx introduces herself as ATAISS. Kana and Dan step forward to talk.

They tell her, “We are on our way to Mombafra”. However, the Sphinx responds that she is unfamiliar with these lands. It is known that the Androsphinx and Gynosphinx can speak the tongue of man.

We ask Ataiss if she is capable of removing curses, and she confirms though she is not capable of healing. She is also able to find knowledge and can cast Legend Lore.

Following our conversation, Ataiss takes off in the same direction we are going.

The rest of the day passes without incident and we will head out on Day 4.

It is in the morning when…

We roll a 1 and are surprised…

About 150 yards away we spot 50 Men armed with spears. Some are clad with robes and some with armor.

They have taken notice of us and stopped in their tracks. They seem to wear the colors of Great Hill. Dan will hail them and the party makes its way over to us.

This group says they are a Hunting Party looking for lion meat. We can tell that they are all Witch Doctors and Fighters. We recognize some faces and they know us as friends.

The group says they are fairing well and our parties go on our way.

We continue on our way toward Mombafra.

Sabina is up in her tree, on night watch, and it is near the hours of dawn. Suddenly, she spots some shapes appearing and disappearing on the hillside. She then notices some Dogs in our camp sniffing at bags.

There is a rustling of branches near Sabina and a panting sound. Sabina pets the Dog's head and feels a strange sensation and the Dog dematerializes after. It just blinks away.

These are Blink Dogs and they are typically friendly.

We we continue, eventually we hear the faint whisps of music on the air. It is unintellagble music. We do not see where it is coming from because the foliage is higher than the trees in this area. The music sounds like it is coming from a grove to the left of us.

As we get closer it becomes very clear music. Dan pokes his head into the bushes and then strides boldly into the bush. As he passes through, we can see his resplendent robes. Dan walks into a small clearing with boulders which is the source of the music.

It is actually coming from a crevice in the earth, an area where the ground has split open and descends deeper into the earth. Around a nearby boulder, Dan spots 10 Armadillos.

Dan immediately casts Sleep and most of the Armadillos are put to sleep. The ones that are not sleeping begin sniffing at the others, of which only 3 of them remain conscious. The Armadillos skitter back into the brush and watch their sleeping compatriots.

Inside the crevice, which is about 5'-6' deep is a disk about 7” in diameter. The disk is crystalline in appearance and no more than an inch thick. He can tell that it is slightly vibrating and that music comes from the disk itself. The crevasse goes down about 3'.

Dan's Cat Familiar goes down to get the disk and it pauses after touching the disk. There is a buzzing noise when the Cat grabs the disk but then Dan picks it up. It hums softly.

The Sleep spell lasts for 2 turns and the 3 Armadillos that were not slept continue to follow him. Kana, our Druid, identifies them as real Armadillos and not something else. The Armadillos don't react to being pet.

After casting Detect Magic on the Disk, we confirm that it is magic. Even after heavily wrapping the disk to muffle the sound, the same song is played endlessly and the creatures continue to follow. Eventually, the Armadillos climb into the cart. The other 10 Armadillos come of out of the grove and begin looking around.

Dan wraps up the disk in a bundle of cloth and we continue on our journey.

We camp through the night our animals graze and the Armadillos hang out. Kana casts Speak with Animals on one of the Armadillos.

The Armadillo says, “This is the most lovely song and we can't get enough of it, we have been listening for many moons.” “We sleep and eat but try not to stray from the song”

We ask the Armadillos if there is there food in the village. Yes, but they will still follow whereever the music goes. It believes that everybody from their village is here.

Randimir detects magic on the creatures and sees like a lighter whisper of magic aura.

We pass by the next evening and removed the bundles from around the disk. 5 of the Armadillos begin to dance in the moonlight. Most of us are getting sick of the song, though perhaps not really.

Randimir casts Silence on the disk but the Armadillos just continue to sit near the disk, as if enraptured by it. They do not hear the song so it must be the disk itself.

We make it back to Mombafra and divide up treasure.

The statue is worth 1200 gp.

We take the disk to the Cleric of Aneara in Mombafra and the Cleric is enchanted by this disk we have. She will take the disk and custody of the Armadillos from us but knowledge of this device does not leave this Temple. They eventually become the MASCOTS of the temple of Aneara. She thinks its a strange curio and will pay us 2,000 gp for it.

We sell both of the vials containing a magic oil for 2,000 gp.

The XP from coin: 1026 xp.

Each PC gets 826 gold, 400 electrum, 13 silver, 3 copper

We all get 1367 xp each.