The party stows their treasure in the magic chest and head back to the temple.
When they arrive, they see a group of figures flying from the temple. Far off to the southeast fly a pride of four huge griffons carrying overflowing packs of treasure and well-armed orc mounts. They surround a fighter decked out in gleaming platemail riding a flying carpet. The are about 1000 feet off, moving at 30 miles an hour and do not appear to see the party.
Lansar recognizes the figure as that of Robilar, former uber-hero, former Mayor of Greyhawk, and the current right-hand man of Rary the Tyrant. Lansar tells what he knows to the party. They reconsider chasing Robilar. The realization of the combined might of Robilar, Rary, and their armies dissuades the idea of pursuit...
About this time, Raven finds a gleaming brass scroll case and some littered gems and coins near the side of the Temple entrance. Perhaps Robilar did not tighten all his packs…
They move inside the upper temple and carefully investigate the scroll tube. Inside they find three documents with two attached maps.
The first document instructs the reader to find the hidden Tower of Cray and obtain Cray's legendary Staff of Power. There is a crude map attached. The document bears signet ring stamp bearing the letter 'R'.
The second document (no map) refers to the 'Original' Temple of Elemental Evil. There are statements suggesting a powerful band has been cleaning it out for the Viscount of Verbobonc. The author suggests that the Orb of Silvery Death might still be deep in the dungeon. It is stamped with the signet ring bearing the letter 'R'.
The last document refers to an island temple in the southern Seas (One of the Olman Isles). The title, "Ra's Evil Grin" - with it is a map; the only other comments refer to an ancient artifact of power hidden within an underground complex. It too is bears the signet stamp, 'R'.
The party decides to investigate the fourth level and see what damage Robilar might have done. They find the fourth level main temple completely sacked. The massive curtain of violet fungi behind the main alter was sliced in half as if it were no concern. There are literally hundreds of freshly slaughtered trolls, hill giants, priests, and bugbears all over the place. Robilar rolled through here. Lansar scans for magic as they go; but it appears all the 'good stuff' was looted. The threat of Robilar returning prevents the party from investigating the many side hallways. They keep the brass scroll case and use teleport/windwalk to return to Verbobonc.
They update the Viscount with all the news (good and bad). There is no doubt that the 'Original' Temple of Elemental Evil south of Nulb is no more.
They spend the next day in town preparing for the trip to Cray's tower. The thought of Robilar pursuing haunts them. They leave the following morning.
The journey to the tower will take over three days. At their first camp, a pride of starving dire lions attacks the party. They concentrate they attack on the unarmored. The hungry beasts horribly maim Lansar. Lansar passes out; he is left for dead. The fighters finish the lions and Je'tal heals Lansar back to full strength.
The next night they pass a large Wolf Nomad town (Traft), but do not stop. A day later, they float over the infamous Cold Marshes. Evidence of volcanic and geyser activity is apparent all of the place. They fly as high as possible, so as not to attract attention. They stay well south of the Kingdom of Blackmoor and follow the coast to the east just as their maps indicates.
After some one hundred and fifty miles, they discover the Burning Cliffs. Inland some fifteen miles rise mammoth slabs of cracked and up heaved slate. Beneath the cliffs is burning molten lava; smoke and heat rise and fill the southern sky. North of the Burning Cliffs is the Icy Sea. Broken ice flows abound; the place is cold and forbidding.
Between the two extremes, there is rocky, grassy tundra. Somewhere between the coast and the Burning Cliffs, they find the Tower of Cray.
They find only one apparent entrance to the tower: A 180' long tunnel sloping down to the tower entrance. They find the tower and the area around the towers base impervious to passwall and other magics. Using windwalk, a strategic passwall some 50 feet from the tower on top of the tunnel, a curious dwarf, and Je'tal's 'Find the Path' spell they determine quite a bit about the entrance: The first 60' of the tunnel is filled with skeletons of men and animals. The tunnel dimensions are 5' wide and 8' high with a perfectly arched ceiling. There exists an invisible door of iron some thirty feet from the tower - in front of it are more corpses. Beyond the invisible door is normal door some thirty feet away. Je'tal's info suggests that they are not to touch any walls, floors, or ceilings in order to access the tower. The information about the invisible iron door is not clear, but it is clear that it is locked and will require lock picking or a key.
The group decides to camp for the evening before investigating further. They camp about one mile away to the northwest. Eight winter-wolf spiders attack the camp and interrupt their sleep about two hours in. The party has little trouble killing them. With the spiders dispatched, and the party rests on.
Sometime after noon on the next day they decide to sleep again so Lansar can prepare a different set of spells. They move their camp about one mile southeast of the tower and make their camp. About an hour later, another group of spiders attacks the group. This spider pack appears to be with its queen. She is some twenty feet in diameter. The battle continues…
D&D Travel Log #28-D&D[Reaping 24] "Into the Tower…"
They slay the rest of the spiders and the queen and head to the tower. Lansar prepares his spells while the others set up camp. They make their base right at the foot of the tower.
About an hour later, two berserk flesh golems come screaming from the west and mindlessly attack. After the group kills them, they find strange embedded broaches in each of their chests.
Later that afternoon, the party prepares to enter the tunnel. Lansar casts Fly for Raven and Je'tal casts True Sight. Raven flies down the tunnel toward the invisible door. He fails his first attempt to disarm a trap and a cloud kill spell fills the tunnel. Lansar dispels it; Raven tries again and is successful. He picks the highly complex lock and walks through. The party follows behind, windwalking. Raven easily picks the lock on the door at tower's base. He and the party enter the basement level.
They make their way up the spiral staircase to the next level; they find a furnished residence with everything covered in dust. Hoards of supplies fill the lower levels. The third level is an alchemical workshop with every imaginable piece of equipment. The walls are covered with locked storage cabinets.
When Raven opens the trap door to the next level up, a Vrock demon surprises him and pulls him up through the door. As the demon rips Raven apart, the rest of the party flood the room to save him.
Though ripped to shreds, Je'tal heals Raven in time. Meanwhile, the Vrock summons another. When the dust settles a few moments later, the party stands over two dead vrocks. With the battle over they see a dusty bedchamber with the typical furnishings. There are no spiral stairs leading up in this room. After a search of the room Raven spots a secret trapdoor in the ceiling.
Raven uses his rope of climbing to climb up and explore a pyramid-shaped room above. There are magic circles engraved into the floor - the place appears to be a summoning chamber. Raven looks around and finds a secret door on the far wall. He carefully searches for traps and then opens the door. An instant later, the air is sucked from the room and the trap door slams shut onto the floor, severing his magic rope. Raven is stuck in a vacuum trap - almost certain doom.
The next instant, Lansar casts a Ray of Disintegration on the trap door. With that the door is gone, the vacuum weakens and Raven escapes the room alive. The party avoids yet another death trap.
Raven heads back up to the top level and carefully disarms the vacuum trap and opens the secret door. With that the rest of the group makes their way up thinking that they might have found Cray's staff of power. Instead, they see a silvery shimmering gate.
Next, Kastrova steps into the gate and steps out, proving two-way travel. He tells everybody that the gate took him to an underground chamber that had a single door. With this, the group enters the gate and travels to the underground place.
Raven searches for traps and picks the only door leaving the room. Beyond that door is a long hallway leading to a room with two stone statues of panthers guarding two heavier dungeon doors.
The group expects the panthers to animate and attack if they make any false move. Even so, when Raven searches for traps on the western door, the panthers manage to surprise a few of the party. It is of no concern; the animated creatures are slain in less than ten seconds.
Raven picks the lock on western door and they open it to see a strange room beyond. Dangling from the ceiling by long strands of thread, are thousands of shards of glass - as though a mirror had been broken and its remnants hung in this matter. The shards hang to every level in the room, from the fifteen foot high ceiling to two feet off the ground.
With everybody under cover in the panther room, Lansar launches a fireball into the glass room. The fireball causes a chain reaction as each of the glass shards explode unto themselves. This quickly creates an acrid cloud of minute glass particles. With lack of a draft, this highly toxic cloud could last for days. The group closes the door and tries Door number two…
Behind the locked southern door Raven sees two things in a 10' x 10' room: First, an animated long sword hovering and waiting to attack. Second, he sees a well-hidden secret door immediately to its left.
D&D Travel Log #29-D&D[Reaping 24-25] "In the Dungeon of Cray…"
The party engages the animated sword. After they destroy it, they wonder if there might have been a way to 'beat' it without actually destroying it. No matter, it lies on the floor, shattered.
They take the secret door from the sword room and find it leads to a larger chamber with a pair of Minotaur statues. They investigate the entire room: there is a door to the south with has glowing runes and a hallway leading west. Je'tal's read magic shows that the south door reads: The Room of Pools.
They take the hallway to the west. They see a door about 70' feet off. At the 30' point Raven discovers a trap door in the floor. The trapped area is 10' across. Raven easily jumps it, but Kastrova isn't as lucky - he falls into the pit and fails to grab the edge. A split second later, Raven whips a rope directly at the falling dwarf. Even though Raven hits him in the chest, Kastrova fumbles his hands and fails to grab it. The rope and the dwarf continue to fall. At the 60' point Kastrova manages to grab the rope. At that instant, Moelinar leaps over the pit and braces Raven. If Moe didn't successfully make this maneuver (he did), Kastrova would surely have pulled Raven to his doom. Instead, they hoist Kastrova to safety.
Afterwards, at Je'tal's request, Raven throws a burning torch into the pit. In wind walk form, Je'tal follows it down to the depths. At about the 100' spot he sees the torch blink out as if it slipped into the astral plane. Je'tal returns to the group with the information.
The door at the end of the hallway is a false door made from the same impenetrable stone as the rest of the place. Between the pit and the false door, Raven finds a secret door on the south wall.
The secret door leads to a room with eight statues surrounding a raised center dais. On the dais is a piece of jewelry that appears to be a quarter of a circle. There is a passageway to the east. As the group moves into position, Lansar detects magic on one of the statues. Sure enough, when the party enters the room and attacks the statue, it animates and attacks back.
The party resists the iron golem's poisonous breath thanks to a 'Hero's Breakfast'. Lansar uses concentrated lightning bolts to Slow the golem. Only able to use a single attack, the golem continually touches the center of the dais - each time it does this a fireball engulfs the room. The fire also heals the golem. The party eventually slays with multiple attacks, but Moelinar's sword does the majority of the damage. Je'tal eventually succumbs to the flames and falls unconscious with third degree burns covering his body.
After they bring Je'tal back to consciousness they take the amulet piece and head through the passage to the east. They intersect a hall that leads north to the Minotaur room and south to a crooked red sponge hallway. The crooked hallway shoots microscopic red spores at the slightest movement or sound in the air. They find that even while wind walking it takes a test of constitution in order to resist the spores. Knowing this, Lansar does not pass through the hall and holds this position.
The others find a room of bluish-green glowing pools that seem to be made of some kind of pure essence substance. Je'tal warns that they are potentially dangerous. On the other end of this large room is a pair of odd double doors that do not have handles or any other obvious means with which to open them. The doors also have channels built in that flow the same bluish-green substance from the door into the nearest pool.
Kastrova spots a bejeweled scepter at the bottom of this pool. He uses his grappling hook to scoop it out on the first try. He carefully picks it up and inserts it in the open crescent hole in the wall. The effect of traces of the bluish-green substance that contact his hand instantly put him into a deep coma. As he passes out, he pulls the scepter down thereby opening the door.
The room beyond has another passageway that leads to another false door. In the middle of the room is a raised, covered pit. Raven carefully investigates and removes the preserved leather canopy. Inside he spots a secret door on the floor. Convinced there are no traps, he enters the pit and opens the secret stash. Inside he finds another piece of the amulet. It appears they now have two of the four pieces.
Je'tal awakens Kastrova and the group windwalk back to Lansar's location.
They return to the room with the acrid glass cloud and find that it has not subsided. It appears that the cloud is magically suspended, as if the suspended pieces of glass are still hanging, only vaporized. Kastrova windwalks through the room at floor level. Je'tal and Raven follow.
The room beyond is a large cavern with only one apparent exit, a hall with mirrors. Daggers, swords, and shards of metal lie piled in the room's center. The group can feel a slight breeze. As they enter the breeze stiffens and a whirlwind suddenly forms, lifting shards and weapons from the pile and sets them spinning through the air.
The three are forced to fight this monstrous construct and successfully slay it. The weapons that made up the monster are all worthless and rusted.
Mirrors line the walls, floor, and ceiling of the south hallway with a strangely distorted view. A large rune-etched door marks the hallway's far end some 75' away.
On the northwest cavern wall Raven finds a secret door. They investigate and find that it leads to another natural cavern. In this cavern there is a river of weird, shimmering blue-green liquid. Across the river towers a huge statue of a 20-armed man, a sword in each hand; inscribed in his chest is a rune symbolizing an unknown lawful-good earth god of battle. In front of the statue is a 20' diameter pool of red liquid.
The river of blue-green liquid gives off an anti-magic aura; Je'tal instinctively backs away. The others back off and regroup with those on the other side of the glass particle room.
Travel Log #30-D&D[Reaping 25-26] "The Staff Found…"
Raven and Kastrova explore the area beyond the 'anti-magic' river. They leave all their magic items with Je'tal and cross. They soon find the liquid not poisonous but is very anti-magical. They search the 20-armed statue and the exterior of the basin of red fluid in front of it. While in front of the statue the eyes glow blue and shoot electrical charges at transgressors. Kastrova and Raven are forced back and conduct most of their search outside of the statue's firing range. At one point, with Kastrova taking electrical shocks attacking as a decoy, Raven jumps into the dangerous pool of red liquid from on top the statue. , Raven is instantly severely poisoned and jumps out of the pool and runs around the bend to safety.
Meanwhile, Moelinar and Lansar are on the other side of the glass cloud. They explore some of the false doors found earlier. Lansar discovers invisible depressions engraved in one such door. The engraving is in the shape of a completed flaming sun medallion.
All this time, Je'tal serves as the go-between for the split party - windwalking underneath the glass cloud. Raven joins Je'tal this last time to update Lansar and Moelinar. Kastrova, ever the efficient investigator, explores the mirrored passageway. He does not make it halfway down the hallway before being captured in a surreptitiously placed Mirror of Life Trapping. Kastrova is magically trapped and cannot to communicate.
It does not take long for the group to notice the boisterous Kastrova missing. Raven tells the rest that he believes he was investigating the hallway of mirrors.
Lansar thinks that there may be a life-trapping mirror in the hallway. With a detect magic he sees a magic glow thirty feet ahead on the ceiling. He then takes aim with his repeating crossbow and fires at the magic mirror. He breaks the mirror in the first shot.
An instant later the hallway fills with men and monsters that were trapped in the mirror: two wizards, two wraiths, a cornugon devil, a black pudding, and, of course, Kastrova. A frantic melee ensues… Je'tal destroys one of the wraiths with his turning ability. One of the wizards throws his piece of the flaming sun medallion on the ground between the party and the devil. The devil subsequently kills that wizard and pockets the medallion piece. The black pudding moves into the open cavern and attacks anything in its way. In the hall on the other side of the pudding, Kastrova engages the 'crazy-looking' wizard. Overwhelmed, the 'crazed' wizard uses invisibility to momentarily escape. Moelinar and Je'tal succumb to an aura of fear radiation from the devil and take random paths away from the thing. The devil teleports to the far side of the cavern and attempts to summon more devils but fails. That is when the hero of the battle takes over; Raven's constant peppering of magic arrows finally kills the devil where the spells of Je'tal and Lansar failed. As if to top the devil slaying, Raven detects the fleeing invisible wizard and kills him by shooting two arrows in his back. To Lansar the arrows appeared to be coming directly for him, instead they hit the invisible target just as Raven planned. To close the battle, Lansar kills the black pudding with repeated fireballs.
The party finds the medallion piece on the floor where the devil died. They collect a bit of magical treasure from the dead wizards and then prepare to retrieve the forth and final piece.
First, the group rests and prepares spells. Je'tal communes and learns that Robilar is not pursuing. Among other things, they also learn that the fourth medallion piece is in the pool of red liquid.
Je'tal heads to the 20-armed statue and steps into the pool of poisonous liquid and emerges unharmed with the final medallion piece.
Next, they head to a false door near the astral pit trap. Lansar places the medallion and it knocked back with a massive shock. The entrance does not open…
After this, they go back to the mirrored hall and prepare to place the medallion into the door. With spells readied, Raven places the medallion.
The door ignites with searing blue light; its shape alters, forming a misty archway. The archway reeks of sulfur and brimstone. The room beyond is carved from living rock. Smoke and haze in the room obscures their vision. At the extent of visibility, they see a force cage holding a propped up gnarled staff.
The party sees three men in black robes present in the room. Immediately two disappear and the third moves toward the group and announces, "You are not my master!" He then transforms into a Cornugon devil and attacks.
Travel Log #31-D&D[Reaping 26 - Good Month 28] "Arden's Eye, Rappan Athuk, and The Well"
The three Cornugon devils summon a host of Hamatula and Barbazu devils and rain fireballs on the party's position. Lansar retreats down the mirrored hallway to avoid the fire, and as a result, lives. The others take the fight directly to the devils. Moelinar and Je'tal come close to dying by fire, but make it through the battle. At one point, Moelinar took the heads off of five lesser devils with one swing!
Ultimately, though, the battle is won because of Kastrova. He put his brand-new magic keen ax to good use by going into the middle of the heated and smoking room and finishing the Cornugons. With the devils destroyed, the force cage surrounding the staff falls.
The room is so hot that the armored members must catch their breath in the hallway. Kastrova and Lansar head for the staff's location while Raven surveys the room for traps and hidden areas.
Kastrova impatiently picks up the staff while Lansar inspects its aura and the nature of its power. After Lansar the staff, he immediately becomes aware of the staff's powers and method of operation. It is no longer Cray's...
The party spends the next seven days carefully inspecting the tower and dungeon for items/areas missed; they also work on their skills and spells. With the tower secure, they lock it up and windwalk to Verbobonc. Their intention is to empty their bank vault and head to The City of Greyhawk to equip for Rappan Athuk.
In Verbobonc they leave a fair amount of gold in the bank so as not to raise too much suspicion.
After an evening in 'harvest-time' active Verbobonc, they fly to Greyhawk the next morning. They arrive later in the day and then survey the city in wind form. They stay in an expensive hotel the first evening. The next day they buy a 30-day lease on an excellent second story flat in the college district.
The next thirty days they spend time recovering, learning, shopping/selling, and planning. They keep a low profile, but there is no doubt, when traveling with Lansar and his staff, they appear quite a formidable team. As a result, they are not threatened by the usual ruffians and thieves and command respect wherever they go. Still conscience of their presence, they spend the majority of their time in the 'safer' artisan and college districts.
Je'tal consumes much time at the Temple of Pelor and takes care of many cities downtrodden. He makes acquaintance with the head priest, High Matriarch Sarana, and learns some interesting facts about Rappan Athuk. One legend was that "The Well" supposedly leads to the lair of the arch-lich Zelkor. The story goes that no one has ever returned from the 'Well' alive. He also learns that the many dungeon levels do not neatly stack on top of one another. Instead, they spread out and a mixture of manmade rooms and natural caverns.
Travel Log #32-D&D[Good Month 9 - 29] "Prince Thrommel and to Rappan Athuk"
After another week in the City of Greyhawk with a jaunt to Verbobonc, the band travels to Veluna to visit King Thrommel. At the gates of Veluna, they present the medallion given to them by Thrommel. The Veluna guards escort to the party to the King's tower.
The King is happy to see the group and thanks them again for his rescue back at the Temple of Elemental Evil. Since then, Thrommel has done well. Veluna has thrived. The Knights of Veluna guard the borders with newfound inspiration. The time for Veluna is a peaceful and prosperous one.
The King invites the party to stay in his castle for the evening and attend a ball in their honor. At the ball, each member of the group is presented with a special item and given an ovation of cheers by the attending royalty.
· Moelinar receives a Necklace of Adaptation
· Kastrova receives a Robe of Dwarvenkind
· Je'tal receives a Necklace of Prayer Beads
· Lansar receives a Medallion of Detect Thoughts
· Raven receives a 100' Rope of Climbing
The next morning the party travels to Rappan Athuk. They make good use of their maps and reach the third level in a manner of 30 minutes. On the second level, they find an insane barbarian named Marthek. At first sight, the insane babbling Marthek crouches in the fetal position and appears quite frightened. Then, without warning, he throws a bottle of green slime and strikes Je'tal, burning him severely in the shoulder area.
The compassionate Je'tal begins preparations to cast a Heal spell for the poor, insane man. Before the others can stop him, Raven loses two arrows into Marthek's chest. Marthek drops to the ground, close to death. Motioning Raven to stop, Je'tal casts heal on Marthek instantly curing of his insanity and the arrow wounds.
With his wits, Marthek thanks the party and explains all he remembers of his condition and Rappan Athuk. He then offers to travel with and help them.
The gist of his story is that he was adventuring with a typical group. They made it through a gauntlet of traps on the third level and made it to the Upper Temple of Orcus on the fourth level. It was here that his group was completely sacked and he was made insane by priests and commanded to guard the second level. As time goes on, he remembers things, and communicates them to the party.
Marthek leads the adventurers down to the third level and warns them of the Purple Worms. The party finds an inscription that warns the same. Shortly after they enter the massive entry cavern, a massive purple worm attacks from the darkness...
D&D Travel Log #33-D&D[Good Month 29-30] "Purple Worms and The Oracle"
The purple worm attacks from the darkness of the massive cave. They battle and destroy it so that it rests across the underground stream running through the cavern. It should be noted that Marthek allowed himself to be swallowed completely while battle-raged. He did recover thanks to Je'tal's healing. They then use the dead worm as a land bridge and continue onward.Kastrova spots an unusual shimmer in the central massive stalactite that makes up the middle of the cavern. They all cautiously move forward to investigate. With the help of True Seeing, Raven finds that the subtle shimmering area is actually and illusion-covered, invisible stone stairway winding its way up. He carefully moves his way up with Kastrova blindly following his footsteps and Lansar floating just behind. At the top of a platform, Raven finds a secret door. They do not find traps and then easily open it - the door pushes in and then slides up out of the way. When Raven steps into the lead-walled small room within, he triggers a Symbol of Insanity that affects him and Marthek.
The party is forced to subdue Raven and Marthek now that they are completely useless and potentially dangerous. They then retreat to Marthek's rooms on the second level. Before Je'tal can pray for the spells to restore Raven and Marthek, the group must camp in the cleanest of the rooms. Later on, they hear a large pack of goblinoids move through the halls from the first to the third level. The party does not attack.
The next day, the insane ones restored, the complete group heads to the third level again. They cross the now gutted purple worm bridge; they then see cave trolls attacking for the darkness. They battle and kill a total of eighteen. The monsters faced too many fireballs, flamestrikes, flaming arrows, and two highly effective fighters. It was just too much.
After the trolls, they go back to the room in the central pillar. They continue their investigation of the hidden room. Raven finds that the Symbol of Insanity (still not reset) is engraved on the other side of the entrance door that slid up and out of the way. On the far wall, he sees another lead-sheathed door. Raven discovers a trap on the door that would trigger a flamejet trap within the room. After several tries, Raven finally disarms the trap; each time he fails he successfully dodges out to avoid being incinerated.
Inside is a smaller lead-lined room with a coffin inside. After more trap searching and investigation, they open the crypt and find a dead wizard with a variety of interesting items: several non-magical pieces of valuable jewelry, a magic ring with an unknown rune, and a very magical grey cloak. Lansar tries the cloak and senses both its power and its curse: a Robe of the Arch-Mage with the Curse of the Poor Man. Lansar disrobes and hopes that the curse does not stick - he rolls up the grey robe, packs it, and puts his robe of resistance back on. He cannot detect the nature of the ring's power, so he just pockets it.
The party then leaves this hidden place and moves counter-clockwise around the circumference of the cavern. They find that the goblin and trolls tracks lead to the western side passages. When they finally make it to the southeast part of the cave they are attacked by another purple worm. And, again, Marthek stands in front... This time, however, he is not swallowed whole as the party kills it first.
In the southeast area, they find a passageway leading to a door. Raven picks it and they enter a rectangular room with a door on each side. Marthek suddenly remembers that a Beholder has its lair is behind the east door. He thinks the way to the fourth level is through the south door. He also remembers that an 'oracle' popular with the Priests of Orcus exists in a room through the west door. Tracks lead to the northern, western, and southern doors but not the eastern.
They confer with each other and decide to investigate the oracle for now. After they move through the west door, they find a curving passage that leads to the southwest. They then find a series of seven-sided rooms with doors. They take the most direct route and enter a room that could only be the Oracles.
Inside this otherwise barren room is a small pentagram inscribed on the floor with a human skull in the center. When the party approaches, it rises and suspends in midair, its eye sockets aglow with red flames. It then says, "I am the Oracle, possessor of all knowledge. Ask what you wish, and you shall hear the answer you seek."
After some debate, the dwarf places Marthek's 400 G.P. gold bar into the pentagram and asks a hesitant question about the location of key that holds Arden's eye. The gold bar then vanishes and the skull giggles, "You'll have to do better than that if you seek an answer to a question as puzzling as this..."
Je'tal challenges the Oracle's patience and is attacked with its ray of wisdom draining. It strikes Je'tal and he suffers permanent loss.
Upon leaving the Oracle's lair, they are attacked by a Beholder and a band of evil priests of Orcus - A 9th and four 5th level. The party wins out - repeatedly resisting the beholder's rays. Kastrova single-handedly threw himself in the midst of the priests and came out covered in their blood.
They find a large amount of treasure in the nearby Beholder lair. They find a gem that holds an imprisioned pseudo-dragon; there is no mention of the releasing command word. They stuff all the best stuff and gold into their chest of holding.
They then take the iron-rung ladder down into the area where they previously heard the clatter of skeletons and undead. Continuing on, they find an ancient spiral banister staircase leading down over eighty feet. With the amount of skulls and bones in the architecture, this could only lead to a crypt.
In the huge catacombs below, they battle a large host of skeletons, ghasts, wights, spectres, and barrow-wights. Most are destroyed by Je'tal's divine turning, but the barrow-wights and a few others slip into the darkness.
D&D Travel Log #35-36-D&D[Fall 1- 10] “The Upper Temple of Orcus”
After resting in the beholder lair, they return to the crypts and clean them out. They search through each massive mortuary, killing anything that moves. Raven is destroyed by an undead demon from the unexplored southern area. Though the party destroys the demon, Raven exists no more.
After they hear the temple drums and chanting, they clear out, including Marthek, and windwalk to Greyhawk. Je’tal uses one of his prayer beads. Once in Greyhawk, the focus is to get Raven resurrected. They find a priest of Boccob who will do it for a price. With Raven among the living, the group promptly returns all his things.
After a week, they return to the 5th level crypts and plan to take out the Upper Temple of Orcus. Marthek stays behind in Greyhawk. He plans to journey to his homeland near Rary’s Brass Hills.
They find the stairway up to the temple with little trouble, as the undead have not returned. When they place their first foot on the stairs, an alarm gong is struck in the upper temple. The quickly party climbs the stairs and prepares for battle.
The battle is a large one, 12 acolytes, 6 priests, and a 13th level high priest. Also they kill 3 of 4 spectres and 2 Vrock demons. The battle ends with the high priest alone at the top of the alter, Moelinar carves his way to the top and severs his neck with one blow.
As the party begins looking around for remaining enemies, they notice the fire opals in the eyes of the Orcus statue look quite large and valuable.
The party cleans out the upper temple. Raven climbs the statue of Orcus and pries out its gigantic fire opal eyes with no trouble. The party finds a secret crypt with three holy-seeming coffins. With all the normal precautions the group discovers each contains a paladin corpse. Each contains excellent masterwork full plate and the usual accruements. Each also wields a magic sword: a +2 Holy Flaming Longsword, a +3 Lawful Two-Bladed Sword, and a +1 Keen Longsword. With no sign of the spectre that got away, likely through one of the rat tunnels that bisect this room, the group takes the items from the coffins.
The group goes through the other temple door and explores a chamber that could only be the bedroom of the priests. They sack this and move through the next door in succession. Shortly after moving down the hallway, they are engulfed in fog, crackling with electricity and plasma...
A moment later they find themselves in a maze, they have been teleported. The many hallways surrounding them lead to chasm crossings, intersections, elevator rooms, spinning rooms, and a variety of other magical and mechanical devices designed to make passage difficult if not impossible.
It doesn't take too long for them to discover a lair of a group of Mind Flayers. They pick and open a door that opens into a wide, cavernous room. A prepared group of six mind Flayers begin their attacks immediately. One uses telekinesis to pull the door open. The others beem their mind blasts into the group. Some of the party is left stunned and drooling. The quickest to react is Kastrova, he moves for the door, grabs the handle with all his strength and closes it. He braces it with all his weight and strength as the stunned ones recover. The mind flayers sound as they are scurrying off, perhaps coming to attack another way, or waiting for the door to be opened again.
After recovering, they head to the elevator room they previously tested. They enter the room and close the door. The room descends one level, the group exits and stays in the hallway just outside. The party hears all kinds of activity, movement all around them.
The party defends their position in the hallway and begins discussing arrangements to teleport out.
Week 38 - Travel Log – [9/11– 9/20] Return to the Maze"
Still in the maze, they quickly stow their weapons, armor, and other items in the trunk of holding. Now that they are within Lansar's teleportation weight limit, they are teleported away from the maze to the outskirts of the city of Verbobonc.
They spend time shopping and briefly visiting old friends for the day. The next day they windwalk to the City of Greyhawk. The usual shopping, identification, and other preparatory activities occur over the next week. When ready, the band windwalks back to Rappan Athuk.
Recovering the key spoke about in the RA'S EVIL GRIN treasure map seems to have fallen from focus. Instead, they seem bent on pure destruction and total loot recovery... not that there isn't anything wrong with that.
Upon returning to the dungeon, they stealthily windwalk to the abandoned Beholder lair. They make base, prepare spells and set out for the unexplored areas of the fifth level crypt. They discover two interesting places: an filthy dungeon full of waste, bones, broken statuary, and six insane feral medusas. In the ceiling there are chutes leading to this place from the levels above. The chute directly over the entrance passage drips animal waste and stink. The fighters avoid the stink as much as possible and blind-fight their way in and destroy the medusas. In the middle of the fight, Je'tal is turned to stone, but the fighters scarcely knew it as Raven applied a dose of stone to flesh almost immediately. Je'tal takes no permanent effects from the transformation.
On the other side of the medusa lair they discover a deep stairway that appears to lead to the sixth level. Before going down, they investigate a door they passed earlier. Raven picks the lock and they move into the antechamber. They find a startled gang of eight ogres in the room beyond that. Less they 20 seconds later, they are dead. Each ogre had a sack, they find some items of interest as well as a half-eaten group of adventures.
Raven discovers a secret door that leads to a hidden spiral staircase winding up to a secret door in the third level great cavern. This is the way the ogres must have used to access this room - they wouldn't have been much for dealing with Medusas or Barrow-Wights...
Next, they take the Medusa stairs down to the sixth level. Upon reaching the landing, Kastrova recognizes the depth and stone structure as the same as the maze they were earlier teleported to. They find several doors and passages that have mechanical construction similar to what they found earlier. This must be the entrance to the maze.
Week 39-40 - Travel Log – [9/20-21] Knee-deep in the maze and Mazlar the Sorcerer"
- Party walks into another one-way teleporter and finds themselves in the ancient underground kennel. The sulfurous dung littering the floor is harbinger of things to come... The group is attacked and ultimately kills a pack of 18 hell hounds. They do not pursue the hounds via their 'hound-sized' tunnel, instead they take a larger cavernous passage to the south that leads to a huge cavern split by a cliff of rats.
- They find a huge cavern split by a 70' cliff. The cliff is covered with small rats tunnels and is literally crawling with rats. On the west wall of the cavern is a pair of doors. Raven picks the lock and they take the door, avoiding the cliff.
- The passage splits in two directions, one leading to a locked door, the other blocked by a 50' chasm.
- They pick the locked door and find it leads to a lozenge shaped room surrounded by doors. They find two of the doors lead to oily slides that might be fire-trapped. The other doors lead to gate-like teleporters that are otherwise identical. As they are mapping, phase minotaurs pop in and attack the group. They make attempts to push the party down the slides but fail. The group kills six, but two escape (eight monsters total).
The other passage is split by a 50' wide chasm. Lansar create a wall of stone that creates a bridge along the side for 45' of it. They all jump the remaining length. They wisely use safety rope for the stumblers.
- After the chasm, the passageway splits in two directions: To the left they find a strange cavern with a deep pool. The pool radiates strong evil. They see an underwater tunnel leading south at the bottom of the pool. They do not investigate this further.
Taking the other passage, they come across a chasm spanned by a bridge. The bridge is covered with hundereds of evil carvings and faces. Their light shows a stream at the bottom of the chasm. At its banks are all sorts of exotic living mushrooms. With the usual precautions, they cross the bridge without any issues.
- Next they find a 10' round red rock in the middle of the passage. The rock is not indigenous to the area and is a mystery how it got here. Raven spots a small hole on the side and finds something glinting deep inside. Raven uses his rope of climbing to pull the shiny item out. With Raven's rare dexterity, he fishes out a ring with three rubies. Lansar identifies it as a fully charged ring of three wishes.
- Further down they come across another cavern. This one has a deep sinkhole. As the group explores, five will-o-wisps attack. The wisps attempt to push some of the party into the hole, but fail. After killing two of them, the others retreat down a cliff on the opposite side of the room. They are in a deep water-filled passage. They leave the remaining wisps and explore the upper-cavern in greater detail. They find some items off some corpses at the bottom of the sinkhole.
- Next, Lansar casts True Sight and the group starts back the way they came looking for secret passages. On the way back to the red rock, they find a secret door. They carefully brace themselves and open it. Even though the small cavern home appears empty, Lansar sees an invisible sorcerer huddled in the corner watching the group very closely. After Je'tal does not detect any evil, the party gives the sorcerer one chance to become visible and explain himself.
Mazlar appears and introduces himself. He tells that he is an adventurer and lost his party to the minotaurs over a month ago. He's been lost in this part of the maze ever since. He clues the party in on some of the things they missed in the above log entries... For example, the wisps hope to lure creatures into the water so that they can be easily electrocuted. Also, above the cliff of rats is a majestic white marbled passageway trapped with some form of magical poison. The construction of this hallway might predate the maze itself.
The party invites Mazlar to join their team and Mazlar accepts. They head back to the Minotaur room with plans on finding a way out of the maze. On the way, Mazlar completes Lansar's bridge of stone, making the return trip across the chasm very easy.
- Once in the maze room, they take the far teleporter in the "T' room. They find that it leads to a similar portalled room that, according to Kastrova, is deeper in the dungeon. Maybe say, level 7A...
After prepping, they crack open a door leading from this deeper 'T'-shaped room. Mazlar uses a wizard's eye to explore the room while they party remains safely hidden in the T room.
The room beyond is a massive cavern with a roof that rises 70' to 100' feet. Odd-shaped 12' diameter pillars fill the place making it seem very maze-like. A stream flows through the cavern running right to left. There are two bridges that cross the stream. There are four large passageways in the cavern's corners that lead to other unknown areas. Those same nondescript teleporters are positioned around the circumference of the great cavern. On the opposite side of the room is huge golden throne and on it sits what could only be the Phase Minotaur king. The cavern is full of phase minotaurs - at least 18 total.
Without going into great detail of the events in the battle... An invisible Raven makes for the king. He has his sights set on backstabbing with his new dagger. Lansar stays above ground flying and Mazlar uses his slippers of spider climbing and stays on the walls and ceiling. The group cuts its way through minotaurs and eventually to the bridge where the king and his boys make their last stand. When the team finally makes it there, they see the king and about eight other phase minotaurs surrounding an invisible target. There is lots of blood spurting for the invisible thing. Let it be said, there was also a lot of blood flowing from dagger-sized holes in the king's neck.
They see some 'bloody air' dart off and head for cover. Raven had escaped the melee.
With no time to spare, all the spell casters unload onto the king and his boys: Lansar uses a fireball, Mazlar, chain lightning, and the coup de grace comes from Je'tal's sun spear. The king falls with a thud. The remaining minotaurs fight briefly, but phase out and flee.
Now they are ready to search the cavern for treasure. The king was wearing a fancy looking bejeweled crown and an obviously magic great ax.
Week 41 - Travel Log – [9/21-22] From the maze to the bowels of Rappan Athuk and Lord Navarre's tomb"
The band searches the throne side of the Minotaur cave before a wandering goblin peers into the cavern interrupting their search. They all make chase for the creature. They head down the passageway leading to the northwest. Not far around the bend is a red portal that stands alone at the end of a dead end passage - no sign of the goblin.
They gather what treasure they found from the king, his huge magic ax and golden bejeweled crown and decide on a plan for the portal. Kastrova uses his cape of blending and takes on the appearance of a goblin. He then steps through the gate with plans on coming back through.
When he arrives at the other end, he finds himself is a massive cavern - he believes it to be the 9th level and that the cave is possibly over a mile across. The scent of sulfur and brimstone fill the air - mostly from the other side of cavern somewhere. Off to that direction the darkness is further obscured by thick steam... In his immediate area he sees gargoyles literally covering the cavernous walls - they see him as a goblin and therefore do not attack. Since he has no way of returning to the band, he sits against the wall and waits...
Meanwhile, the rest of the party has no idea what is happening with Kastrova. While waiting, Mazlor conjures another eye to investigate through the portal. As soon as it goes through, however, he loses contact with it.
Also, right near the portal, Raven finds a secret door. Behind it is a stairway going up that is covered with goblin tracks - maybe the goblin came or went this way?
In any case, the group decides to all move through the portal and meet up with the dwarf. After they arrive on the other end, the hoard of gargoyles attacks. They kill close to thirty before the beasts retreat back to their niches. The complete party moves ahead into the great cavern, towards the sound of water and leaves the gargoyles behind.
They see the trail of goblin tracks leads west along the bank of a river some 500 feet ahead. On the other side of the river is an unusual black mound. While investigating, Raven spots a doorway underneath the surface of the water. This doorway, more of a sealed vault door actually, bears the crossed sickle and skull symbol of the god of death, Nerull.
Kastrova and Raven, obtain water breathing magics from the rest of the group and then slip into the stream and begin investigating the doorway. After Raven is confident there are no traps, he and he dwarf open the passage (?)
As soon as the seal is breached, a wave of evil radiates through all of them. As Je'tal realizes some great evil has just been awakened, Lansar, his frog, and Snaggletooth all drop dead in their tracks. It appears a powerful symbol of death was triggered upon breaking the door's seal.
Beyond the open door is an underwater 5' x 5' tunnel leading into the mound. They party decides to confront whatever evil is inside. They all make the needed arrangements to breath underwater and proceed. Moelinar, crawling through the small tunnel like the rest, drags the corpse of Lansar with them. After they make it in, a wall of ice appears behind them, blocking their retreat. The party holds position and plans, gurgling commands to each other underwater. Mazlor conjures another invisible eye to explore the tomb.
At the end of the tunnel is a opening in the ceiling that leads out of the water and into the tomb. He flies the eye there and sees the following: A death knight in full platemail moving restlessly throughout the room, constantly pacing about and swinging his Great Sword around in the air. Also in the circular, domed 60' tomb is a four-armed 14' tall demon and a pack of lesser demonlings. All are waiting to pounce on whatever climbs through the entrance hole in the floor. In addition to the monsters, there is a sarcophagus and three large chests.
Before the party makes their attack, Je'tal casts a holy shout - this instantly banishes ALL the demons, leaving the death knight alone. Mazlor, casts fly on Raven, Moelinar, Kastrova, and himself. Then, using what he knows of the death knight's position from his invisible eye, teleports (Dimesion Door) the same folks high up into the room almost out of the reach of the death knight's blade. At this point, Kastrova and Moelinar fly down and engage the solitary monster.
Raven peppers the thing with arrows and the warriors chop it to bits. The death knight made several strong attacks, but thankfully was never able to connect with deadly force. Without much fanfare, the death knight is destroyed some 20 seconds later. According to the writing on the tomb, they have just destroyed Lord Navarre.
Je'tal, unable to climb the shaft (he did not have fly cast on him and can't swim), the party pulls him out of the water-filled passage and into the tomb. Everyone is drenching wet from their stay underwater.
In the tomb, they open the three locked chests. Each contain typical treasures, but the third chest had a secret compartment. Inside this, they find a Leomond's chest. Besides, the items in the chests, Lord Navarre has magic dark gray full plate, a magic great sword (which appears to be a vorpal blade) and a magic ring of fire protection.
Week 42 - Travel Log – [9/22] "Deserech released and destroyed"
The party sets out to discover a way to open the Navarre's Leomond's chest. They also repeatedly search the crypt for additional hidden loot and/or traps.
Lansar uses a limited wish to reveal the command word needed to open the chest. He discovers it is a complicated musical phrase. He hums this to the only musically inclined member of the party, Moelinar. Moelinar picks up the gold and silver harp found in the second chest and begins plucking away. Twelve hours later, he plays it correctly, and the Leomond's chest opens from it's 3" x3" x4" size to an open 3' x3' x4' sturdy chest.
In addition to the treasures and spell books contained therein, an animated skull flies out and begins attacking its releasers. The skull has 9 rubies for teeth and two huge glowing ruby eyes. It doesn't speak. It simply looks evil and party members start vanishing, first Moelinar, then Kastrova, and finally Raven. Weapons and most spells don't seem to affect it. Thankfully, Mazlor and Je'tal both resist being sucked in.
The demi-lich is affected by the mages magic missiles, but it is Je'tal's powerful holy spells spells that ultimately destroy it. Je'tal screams the coup de grace in the form of a Holy Shout. As the skull explodes, the bodies of Raven, Moelinar, and Kastrova fall to the floor. Kastrova coughs and clutches his weapon, and Raven and Moelinar lie dead.
Je'tal uses the last two charges in the rod of true resurrection and brings the two back to life.
They spend the next day in the tomb, itemizing and identifying treasure. (Read: Lansar studies all of Deserech's spell books).
Week 43 - Travel Log – [9/22-10/2] "A stroll in the great cavern"
They spend seven more days researching, resting, and identifying items in the death knight's tomb.
They then follow the trail west through great cavern. Two purple worms attack the party and die.
At a river entrance on the far western cavern wall are a pair of enchanted doors blocking passage. The doors are engraved with the following magical script:
Enchanted water to the goddess feed
Bring her the blessings to heal her pain
And pass ye through the mithril fane
Know ye the devout of the goddess the verse
Ever the faithful finds ever cursed
The party is not able to open the gates.
Further north, they find a recently exposed cavern with valuable gold vein. Gold-flaked quartz crystals lie everywhere. They fight off several umber hulks who recently have been doing much digging here.
Leaving the golden cavern, they stay south of the dark steam-filled northern cavern. When the trail branches north and east - they choose east
After severel hundered feet, a group of goblin archers attack from behind rock out-croppings north of the trail. To the south a group of trolls attack from a sinkhole complex. After a barrage of spells, the living goblins and trolls retreat. The goblins fleeing into the unknown misty area to the north, the trolls moving back into their sinkhole.
Week 44 - Travel Log – [10/2 - 10/3] "Escape from Rappan Athuk"
The party enters the troll sinkhole complex and clean house. Over twenty trolls have to die *convincingly* before the creatures learn that attacking the party is *bad*. In one of the interior caves the group finds a magic jug in a pile of refuse. They stow it away in their chest.
After a short period of reflection and rest, Mazlor finally is able to cast Teleport Without Error. The two wizards consult, use the rod of lordly might to verify depth and then perform some simple triangulation with the rod's directional indicator, and then teleport the entire party safely to the surface.
It is a bit past noon on the surface as they arrive at the edge of the sunken graveyard. The party takes another look at 'the well', before trudging off a mile to the west to camp.
The camp gets interrupted during their second run of spell preparation, after about twelve hours. They find themselves surrounded by eight *huge* dire cave bears. An instant later, a flame strike blasts their position and then a booming voice is heard from the woods, the voice seems to be coming from everywhere. It warns, "Leave the forest of die!' The bears then move in and form a semicircle around the party - leaving the way east, out of the forest, free for retreat. "Leave or Die!"
Week 45 - Travel Log – [10/3 - 10/10] "Back to Greyhawk"
The party follows the demand of the Druid and leaves the forest at once. After camping and powering up several miles to the East, Mazlor and Lansar teleport the entire band to the outskirts of Greyhawk.
In Greyhawk they find their apartment and spend the next week laying low and identifying the treasure sacked from Rappan Athuk.
And, with this, the campaign ends.
