Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 4), with henchman Corvus (Fighter 2)
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 4), with familiar Hermes and henchman Jaz (Elf 1)
Chaff (Vivimancer 5), familiar PrettyBird, riding dog PuppyWhuppy & henchman"No 7" (Halfling 2)
Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 4)
Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 4)
Aug Wahmn (Calmonari 2)
Torak (Cleric 4) [NPC]
As Chaff, No 7 and the menagerie ran in to join them, the party moved through the ruined east wall , finding a chamber with an empty pool at the centre. Looking around, they observed a mosaic on the wall they'd through which they'd come, showing what appeared to be the gatehouse with the city in the background. Abdul el Abdul looked really hard and squinted, and realized that scattered throughout the background were half hidden images of room walls opening and revealing hidden rooms or passages. But the mosaic was such a ruined jumble it wasn't really clear, so Kwinsea cast her reversed erosion spell to restore the crumbled artwork. It was then clear that the secret doors/walls were linked by faint red lines to the well and the palace, although the exact terminus of the lines was not clear.
Having learned all their fooling around in the well might have had some effect after all, the party moved on to loot some more. In the surrounding corridors, they found a pair of circular stairwells going down, and a pair of straight stairs going up. They checked one stairwell and determined it descended deeper than the first level of the dungeon. Before descending, however, the consensus was to finish exploring above ground first. Climbing up, the party emerged onto the ruined balcony, they searched through destroyed furniture and stirge nests , finding a few coins and lapis lazuli gems for their efforts. Moving on, they entered the northern side of another balcony, which overlooked the large entry chamber on the first floor. On the far side of the balcony was an open doorway which appeared to lead into some chambers. The party headed that way, and when they reach the opening and looked in, found a room covered in large, thick webs. And then heard the scurrying of many feet approaching from the inside. Abdul el Abdul and No 7 took up position in the doorway, the fighter wielding the mighty Terminaxe and the halfling a brace of laser pistols. They never had the opportunity to use them, however, as the spiders scurried out of the webs and sank a poisoned bite into each. Both fell to the floor, foaming at the mouth and twitching before finally stopping stone dead. A flurry of flighting from the rest of the party took out a few spiders, but others could be heard approaching. Kwinsea hauled out her wand of fear and sent the arachnids scurrying out through a hole in the wall and into the ruined city below.
Sadly putting their fallen aside for now, they remaining party members looted a trio of web-filled rooms. One was a ruined bedchamber with nothing of interest but some inlaid gems in the rotting bed frame. In the other room were six tall wardrobes, containing a mix of giant spider eggs (quickly destroyed), a larder of dead animals wrapped in webs, and the body of a dead warrior treated the same. They relieved the dead warrior of his few coins, then opened the last wardrobe to find a massive mirror of magnificent workmanship. They laid this alongside their fallen for later collection before heading west to explore the rest of this floor.
First encountered was a long narrow chamber with a lapis lazuli decorated bronze throne at each end. On each sat a skeletal form, clad only in tattered rags. Kwinsea entered the room with the intent of prying out the gems. As she did so, the aquamancer was barely able to resist the urge to sit on one of the thrones herself. She was also finding it increasingly difficult to breath, so Torak cast a delay poison on her so she could get on with the looting. While she was doing so, Awg Wahmn went to check one of the other hallways leading beyond the room of thrones. In it he found an odd sight; a series of stones floating in mid air with similar stones scattered on the floor. Chaff came up and poked at one, which wobbled back and forth a bit before coming to rest in it's original place. Meanwhile Rodrigo and Corvus explored another hallway, which led to a large bronze door carved with the image of a woman lying in repose. On either side was a large censor out of which billowed a thick, yellow, acrid smoke. They went back to get the poison-poof Kwinsea to have a closer look. The door was solid and had no obvious handle; it looked like it needed some battering or other brute force to get it open. So the censors were covered with sacks to keep down the smoke level, and Corvus came up to help her get the door open. After much hacking for little effect (and some inhalation damage fro Corvus), the aquamancer attached a rope to the door, and the collective strength of the party was able to haul in down, with a resounding 'thud' as it hit the floor.
Beyond the door was a tiny 10' chamber. A fire pit sat in the centre, a tiny barred window opened the outside at the far end, and a low stone bench lay to each side. Under each bench was a small stone coffer. These the party hauled away from the area of yellow smoke, and then broke them open. In one was a beautiful gold and tourmaline scarab broach, and a plain and smooth black stone. In the other was a demonic bronze mask and a small, sealed ceramic jar. All these items were scooped up, and the party headed for the circular stairs, to check out what further treasure lay down below.
After a few twists and turns, the party found themselves in a large room lined with bas-reliefs of what appeared to be warrior kings of Mandaro-Shanti. In front of each, carved in the floor, was a hieroglyphic. Kwinsea consulted her language notes and determined the glyphs were names, probably of the kings depicted. She stood in front of one, then another, and spoke the name as best she could. But nothing seemed to happen. Meanwhile, Chaff and a few others moved off to check another corridor, which led to a room with a massive press. Stacked against the walls were ingots of metal; gold, silver, copper and bronze. After a closer look, Chaff discovered the press was for minting coins. He called over the burly Corvus, and with his help placed an ingot of copper on the plates, which the fighter then transformed into monkey-embossed coinage with a hard turn of the press. Impressed, Chaff decided he wanted all the cold and silver turned into monkey coinage before the party moved on.
When done, the party did indeed move along. Following a twisting corridor, they next came to a room with a blazing pit of fire in the centre. The heat was intense, and the party had to run quickly through to the opposite exit to avoid getting too crisped. Continuing on, they next emerged into a room which Torak immediately recognized. This was one of the rooms he'd explored before, with the five statues;
Stopping just long enough to collect Abdul el Abdul and No 7, the party trekked back through the jungle to rendezvous with the "Purple Haze". Unfortunately, when they arrived, their ship was gone. A small collection of barrels and crates lay on the strand. Chaff sent Pretty Bird aloft to look about, but the bird could see nothing of the ship or anything else of import in the immediate area. Kwinsea dove into the cove and tracked down an octopus. She cast charm aquatic animal on the tentacled beast, and it revealed that a second 'man-shell' had arrived and driven off the first, just a day or so ago. Well, now what. At least Chaff found the missing "death" hachimaki which he used to bring Abdul el Abdul back one more time ...
TOTAL XP
As Chaff, No 7 and the menagerie ran in to join them, the party moved through the ruined east wall , finding a chamber with an empty pool at the centre. Looking around, they observed a mosaic on the wall they'd through which they'd come, showing what appeared to be the gatehouse with the city in the background. Abdul el Abdul looked really hard and squinted, and realized that scattered throughout the background were half hidden images of room walls opening and revealing hidden rooms or passages. But the mosaic was such a ruined jumble it wasn't really clear, so Kwinsea cast her reversed erosion spell to restore the crumbled artwork. It was then clear that the secret doors/walls were linked by faint red lines to the well and the palace, although the exact terminus of the lines was not clear.
 |
| Spider Attack! |
Sadly putting their fallen aside for now, they remaining party members looted a trio of web-filled rooms. One was a ruined bedchamber with nothing of interest but some inlaid gems in the rotting bed frame. In the other room were six tall wardrobes, containing a mix of giant spider eggs (quickly destroyed), a larder of dead animals wrapped in webs, and the body of a dead warrior treated the same. They relieved the dead warrior of his few coins, then opened the last wardrobe to find a massive mirror of magnificent workmanship. They laid this alongside their fallen for later collection before heading west to explore the rest of this floor.
First encountered was a long narrow chamber with a lapis lazuli decorated bronze throne at each end. On each sat a skeletal form, clad only in tattered rags. Kwinsea entered the room with the intent of prying out the gems. As she did so, the aquamancer was barely able to resist the urge to sit on one of the thrones herself. She was also finding it increasingly difficult to breath, so Torak cast a delay poison on her so she could get on with the looting. While she was doing so, Awg Wahmn went to check one of the other hallways leading beyond the room of thrones. In it he found an odd sight; a series of stones floating in mid air with similar stones scattered on the floor. Chaff came up and poked at one, which wobbled back and forth a bit before coming to rest in it's original place. Meanwhile Rodrigo and Corvus explored another hallway, which led to a large bronze door carved with the image of a woman lying in repose. On either side was a large censor out of which billowed a thick, yellow, acrid smoke. They went back to get the poison-poof Kwinsea to have a closer look. The door was solid and had no obvious handle; it looked like it needed some battering or other brute force to get it open. So the censors were covered with sacks to keep down the smoke level, and Corvus came up to help her get the door open. After much hacking for little effect (and some inhalation damage fro Corvus), the aquamancer attached a rope to the door, and the collective strength of the party was able to haul in down, with a resounding 'thud' as it hit the floor.
 |
| Scarab Broach |
After a few twists and turns, the party found themselves in a large room lined with bas-reliefs of what appeared to be warrior kings of Mandaro-Shanti. In front of each, carved in the floor, was a hieroglyphic. Kwinsea consulted her language notes and determined the glyphs were names, probably of the kings depicted. She stood in front of one, then another, and spoke the name as best she could. But nothing seemed to happen. Meanwhile, Chaff and a few others moved off to check another corridor, which led to a room with a massive press. Stacked against the walls were ingots of metal; gold, silver, copper and bronze. After a closer look, Chaff discovered the press was for minting coins. He called over the burly Corvus, and with his help placed an ingot of copper on the plates, which the fighter then transformed into monkey-embossed coinage with a hard turn of the press. Impressed, Chaff decided he wanted all the cold and silver turned into monkey coinage before the party moved on.
When done, the party did indeed move along. Following a twisting corridor, they next came to a room with a blazing pit of fire in the centre. The heat was intense, and the party had to run quickly through to the opposite exit to avoid getting too crisped. Continuing on, they next emerged into a room which Torak immediately recognized. This was one of the rooms he'd explored before, with the five statues;
- One of black volcanic rock depicting an evil looking human-like creature with six arms with tusked mouth. It held a skeleton in two of its arms, a corpse in two of its arms, and its last two hands were empty;
- Bronze statue of a seated humanoid creature with four arms. It held a baby in two arms, and a cow in each of the other two hands;
- Clay statue of a fat sitting human with the head of a crocodile, holding an axe;
- Wooden statue of a standing woman with the head of a long-beaked bird, very long fingers and hair that reached to her bare feet; and
- Grey stone statue of a four armed human figure with the head of a gazelle. In one hand wass a bolt of lightning in one hand, a cloud in another, and a large ornate black basin in its lap.
Stopping just long enough to collect Abdul el Abdul and No 7, the party trekked back through the jungle to rendezvous with the "Purple Haze". Unfortunately, when they arrived, their ship was gone. A small collection of barrels and crates lay on the strand. Chaff sent Pretty Bird aloft to look about, but the bird could see nothing of the ship or anything else of import in the immediate area. Kwinsea dove into the cove and tracked down an octopus. She cast charm aquatic animal on the tentacled beast, and it revealed that a second 'man-shell' had arrived and driven off the first, just a day or so ago. Well, now what. At least Chaff found the missing "death" hachimaki which he used to bring Abdul el Abdul back one more time ...
TOTAL XP
5671
GAINS
30gp
5sp
5 lapis lazuli gems (5x 10gp)
Collection of lapis lazuli furniture decoration (550gp)
Collection of gold and lapis lazuli bits and bobs (320gp)
Gems pried from cursed thrones (110gp)
Gold and gem scarab (2000gp)
Small ceramic jar, sealed
1200gp & 2100sp of newly minted coins
Fancy mirror (1000gp)
Bronze demon mask
Luckstone +1
KILLS
KILLS
4 Giant Spiders
LOSSES
Abdul el Abdul
No. 7
No. 7
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