So...back for more. After a single week's hiatus due to DM commitments, the group reconvened for a second excursion into Jzadirune. When last we met...
Well, you can read the first post for that part. So after the half-orc was pulled out of the pit, and before the enlarge person spell wore off, he carted everyone across the tilt-a-pit, which had been jammed open. The rogue then began examining the two gear doors at the end of the corridor, while young Julian saw something odd about the wall. The map showed no wall, but there was a wall. "Maybe it's an illusion!' he said, and stuck his hand through it. Sure enough... So the party fond two more gear doors in the map room, both trapped, of course. Jack tried the eastern door, but although he knew there was a trap he found himself unable to disarm it. So instead he tried to disarm the western door, and was rewarded with jets of flame singing him. So he tried again, and learned that one of Jzadirune's charms is that the trapped doors always reset. After a second singing, he decided that discretion was the better part of survival.
Returning to the hallway, they tried the eastern door. This one dropped rats on them when he tried to open it, but the party was able to swiftly dispose of them. Finally Jack found some success with the western door, disarming the trap but finding the lock beyond his abilities.
Over Julian's objections, the party decided to return to the surface for two reasons: to rest up and regroup, and to try to figure out the runes on the doors. They also decided that they needed the help of the one person in Cauldron who might be able to help them figure out those locks: Keygan Ghelve. The problem now was the gaping pit, which afforded only a narrow walkway on either side for ten feet. Julian's first attempt to cross nearly saw him fall into the pit, catching himself on the pit's edge at the last second. So Jack crossed with a rope and tied it to one of the doors, while Rusk did the same at the other side. Using the rope as a guide, the party crossed safely and returned to the surface.
The party split up; Ulf and Jack went to the Pelorian temple to get the rogue fully healed, while Rusk and Julian went to Skie's Treasury, the only other gnome they knew of in Cauldron. Skie welcomed them and told them it was a simple alphabetical script, translating the runes they had and noting that all the letters in 'Jazdirune' were present except 'U,' which the party had not yet come across.
After relating the story to Skie, the paladin and his ward went to the town hall barracks to speak with Terseon Skellerang and try to convince him to release Keygan Ghelve into their custody. Despite Julian's heartfelt pleas for the sake of his sister, and Rusk's solemn word as a paladin, Terseon would not release the gnome without a condition: one of the city guards would accompany them, responsible for the safe return of Keygan Ghelve.
[OOC: This was an opportunity to introduce a new PC, as a new player was joining up.]
Over the strenuous objections of Keygan, the party, with the addition of Private Jester Reed, gathered again at Ghelve's Locks. Keygan was permitted to study his spellbook, the better to help ensure his survival. Now six strong, the group descended back into the gnome enclave. Keygan's first attempt was the door that Jack had successfully disarmed, which after much grumbling and muttering he was able to open. Entering the now-empty room, they saw two more of the new tunnels in the walls. They also found a secret door, which led to a long-abandoned and dust-filled closet. After an unfruitful search, the party elected to risk the tunnels. They took the northern tunnel, ending up in a short corridor ending in two more gear doors. Jack tried the western one, which nearly froze him as no fewer than six rays of frost shot out. He then let Keygan try to unlock the door, and once again everyone was informed that the Jzadirune traps reset. Keygan escaped harm, but both Rusk and Jester were struck by cold rays. Keygan then announced that Jack was a lousy trapfinder and wanted no more to do with any of the doors.
Meanwhile, Ulf had located a secret door in the northern wall, which led to a chamber with a tunnel and some chests. Searching the chests, they found a strange gray bag which Rusk took. Inside he found a small fuzzy ball, which, when thrown, turned into a rat. This impressed him enough that he kept the bag.
The party proceeded down the next tunnel, which led them to a room with an unfinished metal construct. As they approached, a strange creature that appeared to be a mummy ran off to the tunnel in the north wall. Jack got a crossbow bolt off, but no one else reacted quickly enough to stop the creature. They elected not to risk the tunnel in chasing it, and explored the room instead. Without any treasure to be found, they returned to the room with the three chests and tried the other tunnel there.
This tunnel took them far to the south, where they eventually came out in a gnomish theater. When the stage erupted into an illusionary show (which again Julian identified as illusory before anyone else did), Rusk began detecting evil, just in case. He was rewarded with the revelation of something evil underneath the stage. Forewarned, the party prepared for a fight. Rusk opened the trapdoor on the stage, and immediately had to fend off a very long arm that attempted to strangle him. Julian was quickest off the mark, firing a magic missile at the thing, forcing it back down. Jack threw a thunderstone into the crawlspace, then went down with his dagger drawn, enhanced by Ulf's magical prayer. The creature didn't hear him coming, and Jack killed it with a precise strike before it was aware of him.
Searching beneath the stage, Jack found some treasure, the first treasure the group had discovered so far. Keeping the cloak for himself, he returned with a locked book, a wand, and what appeared to be a key for some of the gear doors. Keygan confirmed that the book was a spellbook, and Jack claimed it for himself. Keygan also identified the wand as magical, and it was given to Julian for safekeeping, in hopes of finding its command word.
The party continued on, entering a hall with floating lights near the ceiling. They also found two more of the nearly-invisible kidnapping creatures, and after a brief battle slew them both, but not before Rusk took a nasty stab from a rapier.
Avoiding the gear doors (none of them matched the rune they had), they entered a tunnel to the north. This one led to the room with the open-gear door they had first encountered the day before. It also led to another part of the complex, where the tunnel suddenly turned straight up. Rusk climbed out first, but was met with yet another rapier. He suffered two blows before getting out, drew his sword and attacked. Julian followed, clambering up atop Jack's shoulders and pulling himself out of the whole. Spotting the creature despite its camouflage, he fired another bolt of magic into it. Jack stood on Jester's shoulders and fired a crossbow bolt right into the creature's skull, ending the battle.
While Ulf attended to Rusk's wounds, Jack found the catch to open the not-so-secret door on the eastern wall. Opening it, they found a chest with a cage on top of it containing a rat. Both the rat and Keygan became overly excited, and it was only Rusk's stern warning of silence that kept Keygan from shouting with joy as he was reunited with his companion. But then the chest suddenly grew a toothy grin and spoke to them. Keygan was fortunately able to translate, and the party learned that the creatures they had fought were called 'skulks.' They also learned that their goal was behind the door on the other side of the room: the elevator to the Malachite Fortress.
Unfortunately, it was a gear door, and they did not have the correct key. Jack recognized the door as the kind that summoned rats, and Keygan refused to try it without the proper key. At an impasse, the party decided to rest for the night. Using the key they had found, the entered the barracks room through the door in the mask room. Keygan wanted to return to the surface immediately now that he had Starbrow back, but the rest of the party refused, especially Julian.
In the morning, they awoke to a shock: Jack was somewhat transparent. Keygan went ballistic, screaming about the Vanishing. Plans to continue their explorations were abruptly altered, and they headed back up to the Church of St. Cuthbert. Jester took Keygan back to the town barracks, where Terseon ordered him to continue working with the adventurers, with Keygan in tow, until the children were safely returned and the kidnappers identified.
At the Church, Jenya was unfortunately unable to cure Jack of his condition, her power simply not strong enough to overcome the strange disease. She agreed to cover the expense of receiving treatment from the Cathedral of Wee Jas, with the money deducted from the promised reward. Jack agreed, and the party went to the Cathedral.
Here they met the high priestess Embril and her underling, Ike Iverson. Embril gravely assessed Jack's condition, and calling upon her divinely-granted powers, successfully removed the taint of the Vanishing. With a stern reminder that he owed his life to the Lady, she wished them the blessings of her deity in finding the missing children.
The group then went to Skie's once again, hoping to identify the items they had procured. Realizing that the items were from Jzadirune, Skie told them in no uncertain terms that she wanted nothing to do with them, especially after finding that Jack had contracted the Vanishing. Rusk attempted to demonstrate the bag's ability to summon a rat, but she ordered the entire party out, saying only that the bag was obviously a 'bag of tricks,' and that if they wanted any more information they could seek it elsewhere. So they took the wand to the Shrien of Pelor, leaving it in Kristof's hands to identify for them.
The party returned to Jzadirune, again with Keygan in tow (with Starbrow safely upstairs). They returned to the room with the dancing lights, then took the stairs. They found what appeared to be a bathing pool. Again Julian declared it to be an illusion. They saw a webbed husk on the ceiling, and in an attempt to cut it down they were attacked by a huge spider that was in the (illusory) water. After Rusk was poisoned, the spider was quickly killed by Jester and Jack. Then Jester attempted to cut down the webbed corpse, only to be attacked by two more spiders. Thinking quickly, Ulf threw a flask of oil at the webs, and Julian sent a spark of flame into them, frying the spiders and clearing the webs entirely.
The body was that of a skulk drained by the spiders. They found a bag of gems, which Rusk kept with him. The gear door in this room was opened by the key they had found, and they entered a long hallway with even more doors and a couple of archways. Through the southern archway they found still more doors. Jack disarmed one of them successfully, and with much prodding Keygan was able to open it.
Inside they discovered a long-dead carrion crawler and some discarded armor and shields. While the rest of the party left the stench-filled room, Rusk took it upon himself to search the rotting corpse, and was rewarded with two filth-encrusted wooden coffers. He took them out, and inside the party found a great deal of coin and some other treasures, including a pair of scrolls in a copper tube.
Heading north through the hallway again, they came to a room that was very outdoorsy, filled with trees and singing birds, etc. Julian sagely advised them that it was yet another illusion, to which Keygan replied, 'DUH!' Eschewing the northern staircase in favor of another tunnel, the party emerged in an abandoned kitchen. Here they fought two halfling-sized creatures that Keygan identified as the 'other' kidnappers. After the brief but intense battle, Rusk inspected the cabinet, which promptly fell on him. Amid the broken pottery within, they discovered a second key to the doors of Jzadirune.
At this point the session ended, ready to resume next Friday.
