Westmist Session #11 - Messing About With Boats

While Riley, Erijay and Eazam recovered from their near death experience, discussion around the tavern table revolved around what to do next. General consensus was they could use a break from Stonehell. Then Riley recalled a rumor he and Turrick had heard earlier, about boats running under the bridge over the Valen River. They were running the bridge late at night, and not responding to the hails of the guards at the bridge gate. Interest piqued, Rylee, Kern, Lorek and Erijay headed down to the bridge to question the guards. The guards confirmed the tale, noting it usually happened around the new moon and had been going on for a few months. The guards noted that the Masked Council of Three was not pleased, as the town was losing the 10% tariff levied on goods passing the bridge.

Armed with this information, the four headed for the Black Nobel Nymph and Staff tavern to talk with the Council. They found the three councilmen, in black robes and masks, dealing with various civic and criminal matters. Done their duties, the three removed masks and sat down to their cups. Rylee had the serving wench bring the councilmen some fine dwarven brandy, and after a few moments one of the council beckoned them over. The four discussed the issue of the boats with the councilman Anfor, and worked out a deal with the politician. The four would try to track down the identity of the boats, recover any goods being smuggled past the town, keeping half the cargo for themselves in payment. For his part, Anfor would supply a river boat and crew.

Deal made, the band hastily hired a pair of men at arms (Largesh and Narmor), then headed for Anfor’s private dock and boathouse to meet the helmsman, Gundar, and crew.  After Gundar made clear who was in charge of the boat (Gundar) and what role beyond working the boat he and his men would play (none), they prepared to intercept the mystery boats, as tonight was the new moon. Soon, the guards on the bridge signaled that a boat was approaching, and once it passed the docks, Gundar put his crew in motion and moved into mid-stream to follow. Dawn found the mystery boat pulling into a small creek flowing from the Marsh of Whispering Mists, while Gundar put his boat into the rushes a few hundred feet behind. Kern now moved forward stealthy on the bank to see what was happening. He saw the crew, a mix of rowers and armed men, being directed by a red headed woman in stained travelling clothes towards a campsite away from the boat. After some time, most had moved off into the mist, leaving a handful of grumbling men to guard the boat and cargo.  The cargo remained under wraps, so Kern could see only that the boat was loaded to the gunnels and low in the water. Listening to the men, he also learned another boat was expected at some point, so he rushed back to the rest of the group to decide what to do next.

After much discussion, the four and the men at arms crept back to the edge of the creek. Erijay then cast her Sleep spell, dropping the guards into slumber.  Largesh was sent running back to fetch Gundar and the boat, while the rest crossed the creek and hog tied and gagged the sleeping guards. When Gundar arrived, they ran a line to the mystery boat, loaded the sleeping guards aboard, and started to pull her from shore. Unfortunately, they were not quiet enough, and as they began to pull away, the rest of the mystery boats crew began running out of the mist. The rowers tried to circle around to cut off the boats before they reached deep water. The rest fired a rain of arrows, and the red headed women started casting spells. While it was a close run thing, the band did escape with the boat, cargo and prisoners.

In short order they discovered the cargo consisted of scale mail and polearms. Separating one prisoner form the other, a mix of threat and promise was used to find out what was going on. The prisoner, Breen, told them the boat was running arms and armour down to the ruins of Nasper, where they were being turned over the a group of hobgoblins. He and the others had been hired for the job in the city of Kingsford by the red headed lady, Alia. Breen didn’t know exactly what the hobgoblins were up to or who was sending the supplies, but he was pretty sure his captors would be sorry for getting in the middle of it and that he wanted to get as far away from them as possible. That was arranged, as the four stuffed a bag of gold into Breen’s hands, and then proceeded to dump him overboard to swim for shore.

Back in Westmist, they split the cargo with Anfor, while the three prisoners were tried and executed by being turned to stone in the town square. The party was also sent to the March Baron, Lord Merdwyn, to tell their story. Much worried, the Baron asked that the party find out what they could in the ruins of Nasper, offering some supplies and men at arms to assist them. They also bargained a house and freedom of the town out of the distracted baron in the process.

Preparing for the journey into the Untamed Lands, they were surprised to find the river boat they had stolen was no ordinary boat. It was in fact magical, and could be changed from a river boat to row boat to box by using the appropriate command words engraved on the gunnels.  The four also found time to celebrate their success. In the process, Erijay had a bit too much lotus and brandy, and tried putting to moves on some mysterious stranger of uncertain gender and race. Whoever it was, the stranger was not impressed by the elf’s advances, and tired to turn Erijay into a pig. It must have been the booze, as the enchantment had no effect, and the elf maid awoke the next morning with nothing more than a bad hangover.

Westmist Session #10 - The Crypts

The day opened with Eazam, Rylee, Kern, Erijay (and newcomer cleric of Habuu, Kentra), clustered around a table at The Golden Drake. They were  examining the map of their explorations in Stonehell thus far, looking where next to seek their fortune. It soon was obvious the only substantial area left on the first level were the crypts to the east.  Confident their two clerics could handle any undead occupants, the band descended once more into the benighted halls, accompanied by the dogs Rufee and Fifi, and Sweet Jenny the mule.

 First step was to convince Sweet Jenny to go into the dark again, accomplished only with a healthy bribe of carrots. Stopping first to speak with the talking stone head to gather information about the crypts, the band was waylaid on their way by a pair of crab spiders, which were quickly dispatched. Passing through the stone doors emblazoned with the danse macabre, the first challenge was traversing the grand entrance hall. Where once fire beetles grazed, now a trio of giant shrews snuffled through the moss and lichen looking for food. An uncertain stand-off ended with the party attacking, only to find the lighting fast shrews were much more of a challenge than anticipated. In fact, Kentra's brief dungeon delving career was ended by the teeth of the vile rodents.

Finishing with the shrews, next stop was the exploration of a few crypts. When one proved to hold zombies, these were barred in the room by nailing in some iron spikes, and the party decided to explore elsewhere.  Passing into another large chamber, they encountered the skeleton of a huge serpent.  Harmless itself, it did hide a number of other skeletons which were quickly dispatched by axe and the power of the mighty god Habuu. Found cowering the corner was Lorek, another cleric of Habuu and the lone survivor of another adventuring band, who immediately joined his rescuers.

Passing south out of the serpent room, Erijay discovered another way to the second level by falling through a trap door and down a chute. Finding a room full of previous trap victims (now deceased) , bloodstains and broken equipment, she was soon pulled back to level one by the rest of the band. Continuing on, a room with a great statue of Baal, god of Death and Fire, was encountered. Sitting in the statues lap was a great furnace, and the room was marked with signs of fire or explosion. Cautiously, the party explored around the edges of the rooms, avoiding the scorch marks as they feared a trap. Interrupted once by a easily handled band of skeletons, the band hurled torches at the furnace to try setting off the trap, but to no avail. Puzzled, they moved on, only to be surprised when zombies began bursting out of walls and surrounding them in the corridor. Again there was a flurry of melee, missiles and turning before the danger was ended, but not before Fifi the wardog lay dead.

Now the party entered what was easily the largest chamber encounter so far in Stonehell. The vast hall had a ceiling where bats circled far beyond torchlight, massive bone-carved columns and a large brass gong at one end. A quick survey by Erijay with her infravision also showed an army of the undead approaching from all around the room to attack! Quickly vacating the room, the party gathered back in the serpent room, poured oil on the floor between them and the trapdoor discovered earlier, and waited. As the mindless army of undead approached, some fell to a second death below. Those who made it past the trap were then engulfed by flames as the oil was lit, the final few flaming zombies being dispatched by the front line fighters. 

Relived at having survived that onslaught, the party moved forward again, only to find behind the next door a trio of ghouls, hungry for new flesh. Things went downhill fast, Erijay, Eazam and Rylee all falling to their claws, near death and/or paralyzed. With what must have been divine help, Kern and Lorek managed to drive back the foul eaters of the dead, spiked the door shut and then quickly hauled their companions out of the dungeon and back to town for recovery.

    

Westmist Session #9 - Goblin Gotterdammerung

The next expedition into Stonehell featured an expanded party; Turrick was a little beat from slogging through the swamp, so he chose to sit out this trip. Erijay and Rylee were instead joined by Eazam, a fighter eager to show his daring and skill in the dungeon. Also coming along was Kern, a merchant with a flair for acquiring items, and his mule Sweet Jenny.   Rounding out the party were the dogs Fifi and Ruff.

After taking some time figuring out how to get the mule down the stairs, the party found itself back in the familiar entry hall.  Reviewing their previous explorations with the newcomers, the party chose to explore the area west of the old Open Sore tribe lair to fill in the blank areas on their map. Kern and Eazam both showed their worth by leading the investigation of the first halls, Kern sneaking ahead to scout and Eazam bolding taking the torch and lead when opening doors. A pair of giant toads were encountered and quickly dispatched.  A group of hungry fire beetles followed, who were dissuaded from attacking when Rylee threw the dead toads into their midst, which the beetles proceeded to rip apart.  Cautiously, the party exited opposite the beetles to continue exploring, but only after Eazam collected some mushrooms from one musty room, continuing a party fugal tradition.

The party next explored a serious of octagonal room, similar to those encountered before but with different themes.  In the desert chamber, they encounter a sphinx who challenged them with a series of riddles. Though at first unsuccessful, and suffering the sphinx’s dusty breath as a consequence, the party answered the second riddle easily and were rewarded with a treasure of coins, two Potions of Extra Healing, and a Wand of Metal Detection. In the chambers of the sea, a series of tunnels dug out of the wall were found but avoided, while in the chamber of the jungles  a pile of offal and junk was cleared of giant centipedes and Eazam recovered a quiver of 3 arrows +1.

Further exploration brought the party in contact with a goblin outpost. These proved to be members of the Wolf Gang tribe, who recognized and were overjoyed to see the “Elf Witch”. In the conversation that followed, the party learned that another goblin tribe had settled in the old Open Sore orc lair. Although the Spider Rider tribe was originally invited to help the Wolf Riders fight the orcs, they had taken over much of the area themselves and the Wolf Gang were not pleased. Kern, showing his wily merchant side, took the opportunity to bargain with the goblins, to see what they would offer the if they helped the goblins deal with the Spider Riders.  Taken to meet the Korag, the goblin chief, a bargain was struck where the Wolf Gang tribe would join forces with the party to eliminate the Spider Riders. In return, the party could have all the treasures recovered except for a single piece to be chosen by Korag.

Goblin squad in tow, the party set up an ambush at the four way intersection near the former orc lair. They then sent one of the goblins down the corridor to knock on doors and yell insults at the Spider Riders before running back. This brought four goblins, who were quickly dispatched by missile fire and melee.  Trying to repeat the tactic, the party found the goblins adamant that they weren't going deeper into the lair to act as bait. Kern, after learning a few goblin curses, played the bait instead. Quite successfully, as somewhere between 15-20 Spider Rider goblins chased him back to the intersection. Here, the party laid a barrage of oil, torches and Erijay`s Sleep spell. This took care of all but two, who fled back to the lair. Following, the party confronted the remaining goblins, three riding on giant spiders. Trapping them in a room, they pelted the area with oil. This not only made it all but impossible for the spiders to charge due to the slippery floor, it again resulted in a fiery inferno and a lot of charred goblins and spiders.  Only one goblin survived, the Spider Riders chief. He charged the massed group and went toe to toe with Erijay before falling to the fangs of Fifi. 

 Fetching Korag, the party broke into the goblin treasury and looted a load of silver coin and a number of gems, the largest of which was claimed by the Wolf Rider chief. Loaded with treasure, the group parted ways with the goblins and headed back to Westmist to rest and refit.

Westmist Session #8 - A Swampcrawl for Mushrooms

The latest excursion found Turrick alone and left to his own device;  Erijay was again deep in arcane mysteries and Rylee was putting in his shift at the Temple of the Three Virtues. Not being especially eager to face the dangers of Stonehell without his usual companions, Turrick instead rounded up some hired help to explore a little of the area surrounding Westmist.  While casting around town, Turrick met a fighter by the name of Chaz who had heard the bands tales of adventure in the taverns about town and wished to join Turrick. Turrick agreed, and meanwhile recruited an elvish man-at-arms by the name of Elineel as well. And of course, Hamburger the loyal guard dog was not about to leave his masters side.

While discussing what to do and where to go, Turrick received a message from Sythini the Alchemist, with an offer of further employment for the halfling. She this time needed a pile of curious mushrooms, the Findler’s Green Swamp Mushroom, for use in her alchemical studies. Turrick eagerly agreed to help, and Sythini gave him directions to a place known as “The Devil’s Cauldron”, a bowl shaped valley nestled on the edge of the foothills west of town, in the Marsh of Whispering Mists.

Collecting his compatriots, the party headed out of town and located the “Cauldron” easily after a few short hours, flanked by the hills to the north and two rock spires to east and west. Initially following a faint footpath, Turrick and friends soon wandered off the trail to explore and search. Exploring sloughs, hills and copses of wood, they did find a number of the strange green mushrooms. They also encountered some odd sights; a perfectly round rock half buried in the swamp; an old corral of unknown providence; and both a dead mule and the skeleton of a huge snake. They also encounter a strange standing stone inscribed with “Here Lies Greatness” in archaic Common. Curious, Turrick and Chaz dug for hours only to find the base of the stone and nothing more, which they then toppled into the marsh with a thud and a splash.  

While wandering, they also encountered one of the giant marsh snakes, which they were able to pepper with arrows and javelins before it closed within striking range. It did, however, grab Turrick and was ready to squeeze the life out of the little halfling. Turrick’s phenomenal luck held, however, and the band dispatched the monster before it turned Turrick into jelly. They also encountered a nest of giant toads, sitting in the middle of a huge patch of mushrooms. A flurry of missile fire killed one and drove the others away, and the band wiped away the toad poop and filled their sacks with fungal goodness.  

Next stop was a large pond, in the centre of which stood a wooded island obviously loaded with more mushrooms. Climbing a nearby hill, the three cut some trees and built a narrow bridge so they could cross to the island. Bridge in place, Turrick sent Elineel across first, but the clumsy elf promptly fell in the water.  While Turrick was helping the elf out of the pond, a huge catfish head-butted the bridge. Quickly, Turrick put an arrow in the beast, only to be shocked and surprised when “Old Whiskers” the catfish yelled out “Wha did ya do dat for? I just wanted to talk!”. The talking catfish had apparently lived here for many long years, and didn’t get many visitors. Turrick was able to negotiable with the fish, trading free passage across to the mushrooms for a meal of diced snake. To which “Old Whiskers” agreed, although he did indicate elf would make a fine supper as well.  

The interlude with “Old Whiskers” was interrupted by another giant swamp snake approaching to attack Chaz, who had remained ashore to hold the bridge in place. Turrick decided to head to the island for safely first, while Chaz and Elineel held off the snake and then followed once the halfling was across. Elineel had other ideas, and pushed Turrick off the bridge and raced across himself. Luckily, Chaz and Turrick were able to fend off the snake, with some magical assistance from the now safe elf, and aided by the teeth and claws of Hamburger.  

The snake defeated, they chopped it up to give “Old Whiskers” another meal, and then withdrew the bridge. This stranded the cursing Elineel in the middle of the lake, unable to cross without risking becoming part of the big catfish’s menu. Leaving the elf to cool off and learn a lesson about abandoning companions in need, Turrick, Chaz and Hamburger explored some more.  They found an old campfire, and old lean-to with a skeleton lying on the cot inside, and noted a ruined tower on the western spire of the Cauldron. Already loaded down with mushrooms and not wishing to push their luck, they decided they had explored enough for one day. Having collected and placated the elf, they headed back to Westmist to collect their mushroom fee.

Westmist / Stonehell Session #7

Descending into the dungeon once more, our band again met with misfortune before penetrating too far toward their objective of exploring the southern part of the dungeon. Twice they were intercepted by giant crab spiders. The first encounter saw Erijay fall, but thankfully she eluded the hand of death and recovered after several weeks’ rest back in Westmist. The second encounter saw both Chanee and Warrick fall to the wicked venom of the arachnids, but alas, they were unable to cheat death and did not rise again.

After returning the bodies to town, Erijay, Turrick, and Rylee (a newly minted cleric of Habuu from the Temple of the Three Virtues), accompanied by a trio of war dogs, returned to Stonehell and successfully ran the spider gauntlet. Heading south and east, they were intercepted by a band of kobold and bugbear guards, who would not let them pass into the “Kobold Korners Marketplace” beyond until they forfeited their weapons. After much discussion, they decided to take their chances, and the band found themselves unarmed in an open bazaar of kobold merchants and craftsmen in the middle of the dungeon. Of note was the variety of creatures (gnolls, humans, bugbears) who rubbed shoulders with one another with no sign of conflict. Choosing to pass on the rat kebobs and foul ale, Rylee did have his fortune told by an old kobold soothsayer. From the old scaly one, they also learned that most of this section of the dungeon was occupied by the kobolds and little else. A little more window shopping, and a search of the junk merchants stall for the “Fickle Beaker”, then the adventurers chose to recover their weapons and see what was to be discovered to the west. 

They almost immediately ran into a band of orcs digging a new tunnel towards the old orc lair. More surprising, they were guarded by a handful of tall, grey skinned humanoids in fine armor, advancing in a tight military formation. Battle quickly ensured with these orcs and hobgoblins, who were quickly reinforced by more warriors. Although one of the war dogs fell to the deadly polearms of the hobgoblins, the tried and true combination of melee and magic felled the rest.  Looting the bodies and exploring the surrounding rooms gave a few coins but no clues as to the creature’s motives. 

Choosing to explore further unmapped areas, the band first headed back to the kobold area. Having been warned by the guards to not enter certain areas, Turrick satisfied his curiosity by poking around the kobold’s midden pit. Heading west again, a series of new rooms were explored including a throne room, burnt out temple and a few storerooms. Turrick stirred up a nest of giant centipedes in the throne room, and then proceeded to tempt fate by sitting on the throne (to no ill effect). In the temple, a band of berserkers and their fetid larder were encountered, and the crazed men added to the body count in the room.

Returning to town, the three settled down to planning their next expedition to the night haunted halls.

Westmist / Stonehell Session #6

Suitably rested and re-equip after a few days in Westmist, Ranthor the Dwarf, Erijay the Elf, Turrick the Halfling, and Warrick the Cleric, accompanied by Rothus the man-at-arms , once more entered the depths of Stonehell in search of the ‘red ooze’ requested by Sythini the Alchemist.  Based on intelligence previously received from the kobolds, they decided to head south into the largely unexplored area of the dungeon occupied by the “Open Sore” orc tribe. However, disaster soon struck, as they were caught in an orcish ambush before pressing too far into the dungeon. A rain of arrows, followed by a furious melee saw the dwarf Ranthor fall to the blows of the orcs and the others badly mauled. After slaying and beheading the orcs, the band retreated back to town to mourn their fallen comrade (whose body they forgot to recover) and heal up before heading back for vengeance and profit. While in town, they were able to recruit a lady magic user by the name Chanee to join the party.

Entering the dungeon again, the band had an uneventful journey to the area of the Open Sore lair. Exploring the first room, they encountered and eliminated an orcish guardpost. This seemed to have raised alarms, for while searching the room, they were quickly attacked by another band of orcs. Another furious melee ensued, which this time cost the man-at arms Rothus his life. Warily, the band began to advance deeper into the lair, only to encounter yet another band of orcs rushing to confront them. In a flurry of missile fire and hand to hand combat, Warrick fell, but had his wounds quickly bound such that he survived, weak but alive.  At this point, Erijay cast her characteristic orc-eliminating sleep spell to keep from being overwhelmed. Now short two men and spells, they wisely choose to return to Westmist to nurse Warrick back to health and hire more men at arms.

After waiting two weeks for Warrick to recover, the band hired three new men at arms (Buris, Dermore, and Corgos) and made yet another foray into the darkness.   Reaching the orc lair again, they now found all the rooms eerily empty, showing signs of having recently been hastily vacated. With nothing obvious to keep them there, the adventurers choose to continue the search for the ooze, this time heading south. Entering a hexagonal chamber decorated with woodland scenes, they encountered a young girl sitting on the floor, her head down and long hair covering her face. Turrick approached and attempted to engage her in conversation. The girl did not speak, write or otherwise communicate except to shake her head. Then suddenly, before Turrick could react, she jumped up and ran to the south.  Hastily, the band headed in pursuit, which was interrupted when Dermore triggered a pit trap and fell to his death.  Stopping only momentarily to ensure Dermore was beyond help, they pressed forward into two successive octagonal chambers, one with a mountain motif and the other with a pastoral theme. Here they halted, found no sign of the girl who had easily outdistanced them, but likewise no sign of where she had gone. All exits from the room were blocked by heavy iron portcullis. While searching the room for another exit, sounds of fighting were heard beyond the east portcullis, which gradually died off as they looked for some mechanism to open it. Finally, Erijay relied on brute elven strength to open the gate, which was then barred open with iron spikes. Beyond was a large room, occupied by a number of mauled kobold bodies. Further east was another room with signs of heavy traffic and smells of cooking. 

Rather than go too far off track, the band backtracked to the mountain-themed octagonal room and once again Erijay opened the eastern portcullis. Finding more rooms, they encountered a band of goblins, the first such creatures meet in Stonehell.  Choosing diplomacy over force this time, Erijay engaged them in conversation. While wary at first, the goblins quickly realized Erijay was the great “Elf Witch” who had been instrumental in eliminating their hated orcish foes! The goblins and orcs had been in a turf war in this part of the dungeon, and the band of adventurers had more or less eliminated to orcs, letting the goblins come out on top in the contest.  The few remaining orcs had vacated the area some days before. On Channee’s request and in gratitude, the goblins  led them to the cave with the red ooze. 

Turrick, Chanee and Erijay began to collect the valuable fluid, while Warrick and the remaining men-at-arms stood watch over the cave entrances. The collection process was quite slow, and minutes dragged to hours as they worked. The band was thrice interrupted, once by a harmless flock of bats, and once by a band of bezerkers who were easily dispatched but with the loss of one more man-at-arms, this time Corgos.  The third encounter was most dire of all, as a flock of stirges attacked and the creatures were able to latch on and start to drink the blood of almost everyone. The situation was grim and a total party kill likely, but Erijay had luckily been unharmed in the attack, and used her sleep scroll to save the day. Contemptuous of the danger and determined to finish their task, the band filled all their collection vials and headed out of the dungeon as quickly as possible. They made it as far as the spiral staircase leading to the surface, only to have their way blocked again by bezerkers. A quick fight ensured, and the bezerkers slain, but not before the final man-at-arms Buris fell to their clubs. 

Back in town, the band sold the collected ooze to Sythini for the princely sum of 1200gp. Finally flush with cash, most upgraded amour, weapons and supplies in anticipation of another expedition into Stonehell.

Westmist / Stonehell Session #5

After a few days rest, Turrick and Ranthor returned to explore Stonehell once more, this time without the elf Erijay who was too deep in study of arcane lore to be disturbed at this time. Warrick, however, choose to again join the band. Ranthor, meanwhile, put some of his recently plundered gold to use by hiring a pair of men at arms, Ulog and Rothus. Thus fully assembled, the group trekked to the dungeon entrance and headed below.

First stop was the pair of carved stone doors noted during their last visit. They were locked, and several attempts by Turrick and Ranthor to break them down proved unsuccessful. The group then headed  to the west to search beyond the room in which they fought the centipedes and orcs last time. To nobody's surprise, the orc's bodies were no longer  to be seen. Turning left, they first encountered a room with the statue of a large bipedal lizard with 4 arms and a horn on his snout. In front sat a large bowl holding hundreds of silver coins.  Sensing a trap, Ranthor carefully scouted around the statute. Turrick instead choose to boldly begin scooping the coins into a sack. This brought on a loud rumble and part of the roof caved in on the unfortunate halfling, who none the less emerged, battered and dusty, but several hundred silver pieces richer.

Leaving the lizard statue behind, they quickly checked out a room with a small cistern, and then headed back through the centipede room and along the long corridor that lead in the opposite direction.  Finding a small storeroom, they rifled around for a bit and uncovered a usable 10' ladder and a hammer with spikes. While the other searched, Ulog (who had been left on guard at the door) whispered a warning that footsteps were approaching. The band quietly prepared an ambush in the room. Crossbows were at the ready, and only a timely call of "Warrick, my brother in Habuu!" saved the newcomers from the bolts. They proved to be another band exploring the dungeon, lead by a pair of clerics from the Temple in town, who had been spurred to explore by the tales told by Warrick.  Comparing notes, our band learned that the area to the far east was a vast collection of crypts with more than a few undead.

After the newcomers had left, the band decided to try the locked doors again. Calling on the power of his god (and using  a good crowbar), Warrick this time broke the lock and pushed the door open. On the other side was a short corridor with doors every ten feet. Checking the first door uncovered a burial crypt with tiers of bodies wrapped in grave clothes. Feeling brave,  Ranthor kept checking doors until his luck ran out. Opening a door, several of the corpses came to life and attacked.  A flurry of crossbow bolts from Ranthor and Ulog, and Warrick channeling the power of Habuu to turn the vile zombies, and in short order the dead fell dead again. In other rooms,  skeletons and then a ghoul were dealt with in the same manner, with assistance from Turrick and his spears,  and a small amount of treasure recovered (a potion vial and a gold armband). A particular surprise was the performance of Ulog, who proved a deadly shot with the crossbow and accounted for a large proportion of the kills. However, the last room checked contained a much larger group of skeletons, and the band choose to not stand toe to toe with them. While Warrick used the power of Habuu to hold the skeletons back, the rest used their newly acquired hammer and spikes to wedge the door shut and bar the skeletons back in this tomb.

Speaking of Turrick, while Ranthor and the others had started exploring the crypts, he had headed straight for the door at the end of the hall. Opening it, he uncovered a room with an alter made of human bones on which sat a huge grinning stone skull. Even the impetuous halfling knew better than to disturb this, and hearing his fellow explorers locked in combat, he wisely turned and left the room after only a rudimentary examination.

Finished with the crypts, the band backtracked past the storage room again, following a long straight corridor. As they stared to wonder where they were headed, disaster struck. The floor gave way below Ulog, and the man-at-arms plunged to his death below. The party briefly grieved for their lost comrade, and then Turrick was quickly lowered on a rope to recover Ulog's deadly crossbow to see how it worked in the hands of Rothus.

Finally reaching the end of the corridor, the group encountered a room carved with large human heads with gaping mouths around the walls. Ranthor, once more cautious, dropped to the floor and crawled over to one mouth to make sure it was not a trap. Finding nothing but carved stone, he stood and motioned the rest into the room. They then noted a pool of muddy water and a corridor to the south. The water proved shallow, and following the corridor the band found themselves back in the "Dragons Den" which they had explored on their last trip. However, no one recalled this corridor being here before.  Encountering a band of kobolds in the room , they questioned the creatures about the corridor. The kobolds could say only that strange things can happen in Stonehell, that corridors and rooms sometimes appear and disappear for no reason.

Still puzzled, they retraced their steps and continued exploring, entering another room with stone faces. Boldly striding in this time, Ranthor stepped on a pressure plate in the floor, which released a hail of darts from the carved mouths. Ranthor luckily escaped injury, so the group moved on and found themselves back in  an area of the dungeon already explored, near the corpse room. Deciding to visit that room, it was again noted a new corridor had appear, this time connecting the corpse room  with the room holding the talking stone head. Turrick and Ranthor, having heard Erijay's story of the talking head, but having never seen it, entered and proceeded converse with the strange cranium. Once again, three questions were asked and answered. Turrick first asked the head why it spoke, and it replied it had been enchanted by "The Plated Mage". Ranthor then took over questioning, and in answer to his inquiries was told the potion he had found was poison and the Fickle Beaker was nowhere to be found in Stonehell. At that, the head settled back into silence.

The day now getting late, the band recovered Ulog's body and headed back to Westmist. First leaving the man-at-arms remains with his grieving fiancé,  Ranthor then visited Sythini the Alchemist to have her identify his potion, which proved to be a Potion of Mammal Control.  Turrick meanwhile cashed in the armband and updated his kit, then got rid of some excess gear he couldn't sell by giving a backpack and miners pick to a beggar.

One last item of note. While relaxing at the inn after their expedition, Ranthor and Turrick heard stories from the town watchmen about boats slipping under the bridge over the Valen River at night. These boats have not been responding to the hailing of the guards, all of which seemed very strange to the men on watch.