• Iona - MNK3
• Oswald - CLR5
• Jacob - FTR3
• Cliff - RGR1, AC 4/4, MV 9“, Doors 1-3, Listen 1-2, hp 6, AL NG.
• Rhinock - FTR7
• Kek - FTR6

The Monastery of the Red Sun Continued.

It is one day of travel west from Starling. The party had traveled to the Monastery but had to camp for the night, We look for a large tree somewhere within the swamp.

We set out for the west. Kek flies around with his Wings of Flying and he can see the Monastery and to the north is the great volcano. Tower behind him. No signs of danger or movement. Iona is sleeping in the tree.

The next morning we continue to the Monastery. Kek and Iona ready their ranged weapons. Kek will activate his Wings of Flying to scout around. On approach, the Monastery is a great blocky structure with 25' tall walls and apparent siege damage from ages past. We have found a crude hiding place where we can see a single obvious entrance with a door.

There is a great stone statue outside with tribal qualities to it. It has pupil-less eyes and a blocky form. We see nothing on the roof and the courtyard is empty. All of the corpses are gone now and there is nothing outside.

Ranger Cliff checks for tracks and does find quite a lot, tracks of boots and bestial feet. On the left side is the flowerbed but it is surrounded by purple and black flowers with sparkling white centers. There is lots of signs of activity from a week ago but fewer tracks from the recent days. It looks like one or two people passed through a couple of hours ago along with some bestial tracks, perhaps like a Werewolf.

Iona collects some of the flowers and finds that they are quite a robust quality for flowers. Kek steps on the stone and the wall grinds open, revealing a 10' long passageway. Cliff sees that the tracks go inside, down the passage.

Iona holds the bullseye lantern as we enter the corridor and find a stepping stone on the base of the wall. It looked like a garden made of stone. The wall grinds open and we are greeted by numerous flickering candles. We illuminate a study revealing a man in a pointy hat, holding a quill. He is hunched over a massive amount of papers, made of vellum. He squints over some half moon glasses.

We speak to the man and say, “We come for the Pericose Gem. Do you know of which we speak?”

The man responds telling us that “He is with the Werewolves and fancies himself as their leader. They look up to him because his intelligence is vast even though he rarely takes on the Werewolf form.”

Kek hits him for 2 damage using a silver arrow. He throws the chair back, roaring about “His books! They are after his books!”

They have an AC 5 for the Werewolf. The Werewolf charges into the front line but Kek dodges the blow! Everyone is in melee except Iona. Jacob hits for 5 damage with silver dagger and Rhinock hits for 9 damage.

Iona moves to engage at this point. There is an attack on Cliff who has AC 4. Cliff takes 7 damage and is immediately inflicted by lycanthropy!

Rhinock hits for 11 damage and Jacob hits for 5 damage. We cut him down this round!

Cliff is healed for 1 point and we are going to feed him some Belladonna. There is a 25% chance to remove lycanthropy and a 1% chance to kill him.

A turn passes after combat and Jacob searches the room. The tables are overlaid with thin fraying cloth. Jacob finds papers on martial arts that are decently old. There are inscribed on two rolled up scrolls. Outside of the cases, there is a thickness of scrolls wrapped in a cord of leather. The dead Werewolf has a coin pouch.

• 16 gp
• 1 divine scroll with the spells ceremony, know alignment.
• 1 arcane scroll.
• The papers on martial arts all weigh 12 pounds.

The desks have no drawers and there were only some very thin books on top. We do notice some markings on the ground that look like blood. They seem to be a couple days old. Jacob looks around for hidden compartments.

The north door bursts open and there are now two Werewolves at the entrance to the room.

• Jacob moves to engage.
• Rhinock attacks.
• Kek runs back in.
• Iona goes to open the south door.

The Werewolves need to save at -1 but they attack Rhinock. He has an AC -1 and fights off the Werewolves. Then, the Fighters roll to attack. Rhinock misses.

A Hold Person spell is cast and works against one of the Werewolves that failed its saving throw.

Kek hits for 6 damage and Rhinock hits for 9 damage. Kek hits again for another 8 and Rhinock also hits for 8, Jacob hits for 5 damage.

We can see that the door beyond leads to another room. Kek executes the final blow on the held Werewolf.

THE BELLADONNA WORKS ON CLIFF! He no longer has Lycanthropy…

We put the unconscious body of Cliff up against one of the desks which creaks loudly. He is set down as comfortable as he can be. We then loot the Werewolves:

• Slings
• Pouches with sling stones, 29 stones.
• 17 gold
• 23 gp

We also begin searching through the bedrolls and will take Cliff back to town soon.

Iona checks the papers and the quill. One of the dead Werewolves is wearing a cloak, a gray one. The cloak does not rip as we remove it but falling off his head is a pointy gray wizard hat.

Kek, Rhinock and Jacob go north. The corridor to the north connects with door to the courtyard.

Iona quickly scans through the treatises and finds that these are things that are familiar to her. They are extrapolations on the martial arts and she also finds notes about the construction and defense of a monastery. A monastery is constructed to be difficult to assault from the front and there is the mention of a Golem construction that has been used to defend the monastery against enemies. There is also a mention of some traps found throughout the monastery but they should not inconvenience those that are supposed to be here. The stone fists we found in another area are mentioned. It says that any Monk within the halls should have no trouble with that hallway but those that break in and use the hall as a way to infiltrate the place, the Stone Fists will choke out the attackers. It may also be difficult for them to get through the other traps.

Oswald searches through the 4 bedrolls as Iona opens the door.

We open the east door and find a thin hall. In our vision are four sets of hands and each set has a fist and a palm that are at about waist height and head height. We rotate our positions to engage. One set moves to engage Iona and the lower fists move to strike,

Iona moves to strike the open palm and she hits with her fist, doing 3 damage. She also takes 4 damage from the stone fist. The other fists also move to engage. Iona does 2 damage again to one of the stone fists. They react to strike as though engaging with a real person. Kek hits and chipped some stone off as Oswald also moves into combat.

The Fists all move to engage as 3 join in the melee. Suddenly, coming out of the darkness come 13 more and 10 are just out of reach as if they are challengers, waiting for a fight.

Kek hits for 3 with a silver dagger. Iona steps in and holds aloft a bullseye lantern as she breaks out. Meanwhile, Oswald and Kek are still in melee. Kek hits for 8 and 1 damage and Kek destroyed one. Oswald destroyed another one. Oswald dodges the stone fist. The Stone Fists shatter as they hit the ground.

Jacob has the south door open and Rhinock moves to engage. Iona charges back into melee and shatters the palm with her fist. One of the Fists misses Iona.

The party withdraws from the combat and exits the hall.

We open the east door…

We are surprised.

We stand in a field of overgrown grass. The same purple and black flowers grow here too and there are some stacked stones that was once an attractive pond and it still holds water. There are some stairs to the right. We spot something moving toward us in the grass.

A white, milky Blob with strange fungal growths on it attacks and has engaged us in melee. It appears to be a big mass of fibrous decomposed matter, with mushrooms. We also notice a tube on the mushrooms that elongates suddenly and emits a “globule” at RHINOCK.

Rhinock is at AC -1 and the globule hits on a 12. IT HITS. Rhinock takes 4 damage as the globule splashes on him. It is an extremely alkaline substance and it begins burning his armor, generating smoke from the attack. A second globule is fired and comes at him as well, This time, Rhinock dodges. He must also save versus poison. He made it!

We spot a second Blob moving across the courtyard. Iona makes a fighting withdrawal. Iona and Jacob are now outside of melee. The creature has AC 5.

Kek hits it for 1 damage, Rhinock hits for 9 and Oswald does 3. The creature is only 2' in diameter but it also attacks. Oswald dodges, Rhinock dodges but the other creature does 5 damage to Rhinock.

They Blobs each fire more globules and each are attacking Rhinock. He is struck again and must make a poison save. This time he has FAILED his save. The other ones all miss Kek.

Rhinock hits a Blob for 10 damage and Oswald hits one for 8 damage. Rhinock can feel a great pain in his skin as mushrooms begin to form on his arm. Something is spreading throughout his body.

Another round of globules are fired at KEK and misses! Iona charged in but missed. Oswald casts Slow Poison on Rhinock as Iona keeps fighting.

Rhinock hits for 10 damage, Oswald hits for 5 and Jacob hits for 5 damage as well. They cut deep wounds into the Blob as they fire two globules at all 5 of us. Rhinock is targeted but dodges this time.

The Blob creature is destroyed!

The fungus seems to be steadily growing mushrooms on the surface of the destroyed Blob creature and Rhinock's poisoned state has slowed.

Rhinock takes 1 damage from a torch fire as we try to burn it off but the fungus seems fire-retardant. The mushrooms bubble and pop as we burn away the surface mushrooms. Iona pours holy water on his wound.

We will have to get back to treat his wound. Rhinock has a Light Mount. At full speed, he could make it back to Starling in 3 or 4 hours. Rhinock rides away at MAX Speed on his Light Warhorse.

Meanwhile, Kek finds a heavily decomposed corpse of a Werewolf as if something decomposed it. Most of its body is a fleshy organic bowl that is full of tiny mushrooms. The Werewolf had a coin pouch.

Beside the pond is a 4' tall statue of a Monk that is mirrored down center, facing in two directions, with a figure on each side.

• 20 gp

Rhinock makes it all the way back to Starling where a Cleric can cast Cure Disease. Just as he arrives, the thing begins to spread throughout his body. He almost feels it throughout his body and he feels sick both mentally and physically. It is hard for Rhinock to move and operate. The local Cleric of Zo casts a CURE DISEASE off of a scroll.

The feeling is now entirely gone from Rhinock though he does still feel “off”. The Cleric of Zo is knowledgable about these types of fungi and says that Rhinock was the victim of a Phyconid infestation. He was mere minutes away from becoming a Phyconid.

We had previously restored the protective statue in the town of Trawis some weeks ago. Based off these observations, this action seems to have had a positive effect on the land. The Cleric declares that the Cure Disease spell is on the house! The members of the Temple say that they, along with the citizens of Starling, thank us.

Back at the Monastery of the Red Sun…

Investigating the statue of the mirrored Monk, it could be an aspect of Venha. These type of statues are placed in sites where people are laid to rest. Iona inspects the statue but sees no obvious graves, no mausoleum drawers and no unusual markings on the statue.

Oswald looks in the pond, its brackish. Then, Kek jumps in the water and begins looking for a gem, but he only finds dirt and foliage.

We head back to Starling.

Once we arrive back in Starling, we discover that RHINOCK is still alive! He tells us how the statue with the gem we recovered in Trawis helped things in the Valley overall and how the Cure Disease was on the house.

Cliff is on bed rest and will be back by 1/18/496.

It is one day of travel from here to Mombafra and 10 miles off the road for 2 days of travel to the Sanctum of the Yew.

We cast Detect Magic on the recovered items which reveals that the Hat is magical. It is gray and pointed in shape.

Iona heads back to Mombafra.

• Cleric scroll 900 gp
• Arcane scroll 1,800 gp
• Magical Hat 1,000 gp

We sell all the items.

For treasure, we get 626 gp EACH.

• 948 xp (none to Iona since she is XP capped still).

• 748 xp for Cliff.

Iona has left the group so we have a new lineup.

• Ardruin Foehammer - Dwarf FTR2 / THF 2.
• Arig - Human FTR1, 1 hp.
• Galador - Human FTR2.
• Hinkledink Honeyberry - Gnome FTR1 / ILL1
• Oswald - CLR
• Jacob - FTR

Arduin pays 200 gp for upkeep.

• East of Starling is a cave that is sealed by a portcullis that is built into the surrounding stone. It has been known for a couple of generations and the cave is believed to be some kind of complex used in the past for something but the people do not remember. The ancestors of Starling built the portcullis in order to block monsters from escaping. However, a couple months ago, it was reported that the portcullis had been filed away. Jacob's trainer has tasked him with making it free of dangers, The location is 10 miles away to the west, close to Starling.

It is determined that like Elves, a Gnome can cast in armor.

The party departs and heads for the cave.

We come to the portcullis cave after a short climb up, which is an opening into the side of an escarpment. A file was used to cut through the portcullis, which must have taken a long time to cut through, possibly days.

We can see rocks and broken boulders inside along with two passageways. Stalagmites and stalagtites are visible within.

The party decides to enter the cave and to go left.

Ardruin is being attacked. He has no shield so he has AC 3. He is hit on an 18! Jacob is attacked but not hit. Hinkledink is also hit!

Three of the stalagmites fall from the ceiling and descend into our party. Ardruin takes 12 damage and DIES OUTRIGHT!

Hinkledink also dies immediately when struck as he is at -5 hp.

Following the two characters being killing, the party replaces them.

• Jek joins the group.
• Delemir, the Half-Elf, joins the group.

Re-entering the cave, we go to the right this time.

We hear the sound of Goblins or Kobolds to the north.

Goblins come from around the corner and see our party. They have short swords.

• Delemir casts Bless.
• Jek gets +1 to hit and +1 to saves as he attacks but ranged fire cannot hit any goblins since it is only a 3' wide tunnel. Instead, Jek hangs back, unable to act.
• Oswald casts Hold Person.

The Hold Person spell goes off as 2 are now dead from our front line.

We check their coin pouches and see that they have:

• 4 gp
• 8 ep

We head north….

We hear movement coming from down the corridor.

• Jek moves into the room with his sling.
• Jacob moves to block them in the corridor.

We hear an Orcish voice shout out, “Hurry up and get in there!”

Suddenly, coming around the corner, are 2 more Goblins. Delemir kills one until evenutally, all of the Goblins are killed.

Next, two Orcs show up in the hallway and round the ends. Jacob is engaged in melee. He hits for 7 damage. The first Orc is heavily wounded as the other one dies. Jacob is not hit.

In the next round, Jacob kills it. Combat is over!

Jek searches the room but does not find anything of value. All of these dead creatures have:

• 19 ep
• 3 gp
• 37 ep
• 7 gp

We find a room separated with prison bars and there is an old, rusted lever in the forward position. The bars are close together but a Halfling could fit through. There also appears to be some sizable metal spikes, the size of railroad spikes, and a thick rope that drops into the void below.

We find another series of spikes and a rope that drops down. We notice a dim light beyond which illuminates a cavern wall. We are on the edge of a cliff that drops off.

From the edge of the area, we looks over the ledge and see that there are guard rails. Jek inspects the lever and realizes it is a raising mechanism on a nearby cage.

Jek pulls the lever and pulls with some great difficulty. There is a loud rattling noise as the cage grinds up into the ceiling. The rattle noise echoes loudly over the pit.

As we look down, using Infravision, Jek and Delemir see something…

Jek pulls out his sling and says “cut the rope!” Jek is being attacked but both ranged shots against him miss.

Delemir has AC 2/3 and a magic shield id 60. There are four more attacks on Jek but they all missed as well.

Delemir is hit and takes 4 damage from a sling. Delemir hits back against one for 6 damage. One of the creatures dies!

Oswald lights a torch and throws it down into the void as Galador moves up to the edge. Arig moves to climb down the rope.

Delemir shoots again as Jek fires. Jek is also being targeted again and the 4 shots miss. There are 5 more shots on Jek and this time he is struck. However, his own sling does 5 damage to one Goblin as Jek takes 2 damage. One Orc dies.

Oswald's torch drops down past the second level and the torch lands at the bottom of a pit, As wooden building is illuminated at the bottom of the pit. We can see ropes descending down to the building.

Jacob descends down the rope and goes into the darkness. He lands on the platform at the bottom of the pit. Meanwhile, Delemir casts Spiritual Hammer and Jek fires his sling bullet. Jacob lights a torch and readies his sword while Arig goes down the northern rope.

As Jacob is descending down the rope all of the Orcs target Jacob, but none hit! Jacob lands 4” from 6 Goblins. Oswald splashes 2 Goblins with a burning oil flask dealing 2 and 1 damage each, one Goblin is killed! Jek kills one for 5 damage and hit another for 2 damage. Galador did 2 damage and the Spiritual Hammer of Delemir gets SWEEP ATTACKS!

All of the Goblin's bodies are now bleeding out.

The party heads out and quickly makes for Starling.

WE HEAD BACK SAFELY.

• 16 ep
• 15 ep
• 7 ep
• 5 ep
• 7 gp
• 5 gp
• 4 longswords
• 2 longbows
• 4 gp
• 17 ep,

Jacob gets 2 gp 5 ep, and an extra 10 gp for each of us.

We each get 34 gp total.

• Jek 131 xp

The END DATE is 1/11/496