DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Skeef Hawkridge (Half Elf Druid 7 / Thief 7)
Goro (Half Orc Cleric 7 / Fighter 6)
Solcha (Elf Fighter 5 / Magic User 7)
Chanee (Human Paladin 6)
[Baqua Irontoes (Halfling Fighter 4 / Thief 6)]
Date/Time
Goodmonth 11 (night) - Goodmonth 11 (later night)
Pushing aside the three carcases, the party continues along the wall. And almost immediately comes to a wrought iron staircase going up, and a mound of stone and earth nearby. The mound proves to be the sphinx's lair, and a pile of treasure is looted from there. Everyone then heads up the stairs, which leads them into well lit area full of trees and undergrowth. The growth is too thick for anyone but the druid to pass through, so they follow a winding pebbled path through the verdant vale. It proves to be a maze of branching paths, and at some intersections they are ambushed from above by strange monkey like creatures. The paths eventually lead to a small clearing. At the centre is a rose garden. Kneeling back on to the party is a brown robed figure, softly singing and tending the garden. Skeef immediately drops an entangle spell on the figure, and Goro follows with a silence. The figure rises and turns to face the party, pulling back it's hood. And revealing a feminine face with a writhing mass of snakes for hair! The medusa's gaze immediately turns Solcha to stone. The others shake off the effect, and averting eyes turn to attack. Goro eventually throws a bag over her head, allowing petrification-free attacks on her. Once the medusa is dead, they cut off the head and leave it in the bag for potential future use. And Goro uses a hoarded dispel magic scroll to bring the elf back to flesh-dom.
After looting a small coffer hidden in the rose garden, the party continues around the maze until they come to another wrought iron staircase. This leads up to a field of fire, with just a few safe paths and platforms. At the far end they can see another staircase; but standing next to it is a huge fire giant. The party (less Skeef) jumps on the carpet to loop around the outer wall towards the giant and stairs. At about the halfway point, the giant turns to pick up a stone from a nearby pile, and hurls it at the party. Which encourages the party to 'put on the gas' and zoom over to take the giant on face to face. Skeef transforms into a giant eagle so he can fly above the flames and straight across to room to join them. But when he gets halfway across, he is suddenly pushed upward with great force, getting smashed against the ceiling and partway into a shaft leading up.
As eagle-Skeef claws his way to safety, the rest of the party take on the giant. Solcha takes a boulder to the face, but otherwise the fight goes smoothly and the giant is soon dead. Once more they loot a pile of treasure and head to the stairs. But are annoyed to find the stairs are an illusion. And swiftly realize they are going to have to go up the reverse gravity shaft Skeef has discovered.
One by one, they pass below the shaft and "fall" up, going through the shaft and exiting into a water filled area. They 'fall' up to the ocean, splashing down into 15' of warm salt water. Having seen strange shapes swimming about during their fall, the party all swiftly swim to an adjacent sandy island. They all then jump once more on the carpet to scout from the air. They see a mass of coral fills part of the sea, and in it is a cleared space. Closer examination shows something on the bottom. As Baqua crawls along the walls to join them, Solcha and Goro (protected from drowning by amulet and potion) dive in. They find a round metallic hatch with a wheel-like device at the centre. Solcha starts to turn it, as Goro (now assisted by a dolphin-Skeef) holds of the manta rays that now converge on the trio. Once the hatch is open, Solcha swims "down" the revealed shaft. She breaks into an air filled shaft, and simultaneously gets a nauseous feeling as gravity twists back to normal. The elf swims back to let everyone know, and then one by one they descend/ascend the shaft to their next challenge ...
GAINS
Gems (8x50, 1x10, 500, 700, 5000, 10000)
3000gp
Be-gemmed platinum crown (8000gp)
Potion of Healing
Potion of Sweetwater
Footman's Mace +2
Bracers AC4
Ring of Feather Falling
KILLS/VICTORIES
5 Su-Monsters
1 Medusa
1 Fire Giant
1 Ixitxachitl
LOSSES
none
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