Back to Stonehell, the party's (consisting of Turrick,
Erijay, Darnorth, Riley, Eazam and Kern) first task was to convince Kern's new
mule, Sweet Jenny II, to go down the stairs. It was discovered that carrots worked,
but sweet talking by the dwarf did not. Heading back to the second level, they first
encountered a lone berserker wandering
the corridors. Riley boldly waved his companions aside and dealt with the
deranged fellow alone, thereby fulfilling his quest and regaining Habuu's favor.
Exploring new rooms. the party encounter one door with an
ominous sign: "Do Not Disturb the Slumber of It". They of course entered the room, to find a
coffin, nailed shut and draped with dried garlic cloves. While Turrick made a necklace of the cloves, the other argued over
the pros and cons of opening the coffin. In the end, they elected to heed the
sign and explore elsewhere. They continued to encounter odd sites, including
ball of brightly coloured string sitting in front of one door, which Darnorth claimed
for his own.
Entering a room where faint, ghostly whispers could be
heard, Kern listened carefully and received great insight from the voices,
determining their best bet for treasure lay to the south. Heading that way, they
entered a vast pillared hall. While cautiously moving around the perimeter of
the room, they were attacked by 3 giant spiders, which were soon dispatched.
Encountering a pile of rubble from which a skeletal hand protruded, they
decided to dig to see who or what lay beneath. They discovered the crushed body
of a dwarf, of which the most notable
feature were a pair of pink boots on her feet. These were claimed by Darnorth.
At this point, the party was interrupted by a band of ghouls entering the far
side of the room. While at first dismayed by the presence of the foul undead (due
to their previous, deadly encounters), the ghouls were dealt with rather easily a combination of
missiles and burning oil. All the same, both Kern and Turrick were paralyzed by
their diseased touch. Unsure of how long
the paralysis would last, the party threw Kern and Turick over Sweet Jenny's
back and headed north to a secure location to res. However, they were pleasantly
surprised to find the two had recovered before camp was made.
Heading south again, they entered a room with eight white circles
painted on the floor, each with six dead rats tied together by their tails. Being
careful to not disturb the circles, they
next found a band of small human like figures, with vaguely simian features. These
were unfazed by the party's presence, and uncommunicative, but instead were intent
on painting the walls with a strange, repeating whorled pattern. Leaving these creatures behind, the party
entered an old lounge full of rotted furniture (from which Riley recovered a handful
of coins), old cloaks and a smashed harpsichord. And two large bats, who descended on poor
Sweet Jenny as the torch had been placed on her harness. The bats were slain,
but not before Jenny suffered a number of bites.
In the next room the party found a shaft, hidden under a
threadbare carpet, leading down to the next level. Turrick was lowered down to
find the smashed remains of some sort of lift, as well as a corridor covered in
a foot of dirt, overgrown with plant life, all lit by a strange dim light. Not
willing to risk a lower level right now, the halfling was pulled back up to
continue exploring the second level. Pushing on, Kern luckily heard sounds ahead. Gliding
forward, he found a room that looked like an abattoir, occupied by three
ghoulish shapes having a meal. Sneaking back to tell the others, a plan was
formulated that involved lots of oil and missile weapons. However, the party
was too quick to light the oil. For when they got the ghouls attention, the
foul creatures were clever enough to not go through it, but instead left by a another
corridor to try taking the party from the rear. One stayed behind and did rush
the party when the flames died down, but
fell quickly to the combined efforts of the party. The majority of the party then
entered the abattoir to muck around in the offal and look for treasure, for
which efforts they were rewarded with many coins and gems. However, the other
two ghouls now appeared and fell on those left to guard the corridor. A furious
melee ensued, in which Riley was paralyzed and the two ghouls attempted to
carry him away. Eazam used his magic rope
of climbing to latch onto the cleric, and with help for Kern , pulled Riley
from the creatures grasp. The ghouls then turned on Eazam, paralyzing both he
and Turrick, who happened to be standing in front of the fighter. A fusillade
of blows, however, ended the undead threat before further harm came to the
helpless trio, Waiting for the three to recover, the rest of the party loaded
Sweet Jenny with the treasure , and then once again emerged from the depths of Stonehell.
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