| Session Date | February 8, 2020 |
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| Base XP Gained | 2857 |
Fully invisible, the party commenced their explorations of the dungeon. The secret tunnel let to a room filled with supplies, all of them relatively fresh and new and including food, barrels of ale, weapons, and the like. The party moved north from here, eventually coming to another room where Bel sensed the presence of a secret door. Beyond was stairs down and another secret door that entered into a prison area. A quick check revealed all five cells to be occupied. After some discussion and precautions, four prisoners were released. They included a Donal, the recently-captured huntsman from Tolit; Alcuin, a merchant from Gryrax to the north, being held for ransom; Leptos, a "Champion of the Dry Tree" and a haughty man; and the long-sought Girion of Manston. After verifying their stories and identities under ESP, the party decided that it made the most sense for this group to flee the dungeon immediately and make their way to where the lycanthropes abandoned Donal's boat. The merchant and Girion were in bad shape, but healing spells from ZZ and Mordecai helped them. Leptos seemed to be a sturdy warrior and promised he would protect them all get them to Tolit, while Donal said he was skilled at moving unseen in the woods (of note, there was some tension between the two: Donal accused Leptos of being a brigand while he considered the hunter to be a worthless peasant -- still, they both swore they would help the others to escape this place). The party then took them back to the storeroom, where they gathered arms (and a shield for Leptos who seemed most pleased to hold it). This done, the former prisoners took the secret passage. Watched by the party, they slipped away quietly and unobserved from the Hobgoblin tower.
The party now resumed their explorations, soon running into a Minotaur jailer (they'd been told of) and slaying him. After clearing out this lower sub-level (with a torture chamber with very old gear and a weird pit trap depository room) they decided to check a door to their rear. Opening it, they ran headlong into a huge demon! Bel and ZZ fled in abject fear, leaving the others to fight it. The thing was strong, powerful, and tough to hit. Floi broke his magical battleaxe in the fight, though he bravely fought on with a simple, non-magic dagger (later, ZZ said that Floi was "softer than sandstone, dryer than talc" -- unkind words for a Dwarf!). But, the demon was eventually slain after much trial. Meanwhile, the fleeing elf and dwarf ran headlong into four Werewolves. Their fear compelled them to keep fleeing, allowing the wolfmen to repeatedly strike them. However, as the two continued to flee, the wolfmen stopped -- and the elf and dwarf ran into a room with two huge statues of iron. Those two came to life and one crushed Bel, killing her with a mighty blow. ZZ rushed further on, but his fear fell from him and he recovered; fortunately for him, the two iron giants did not pursue.
The party now came in search of the two wayward companions and ran into the werewolves. A melee ensued (and ZZ circled back around a side way to rejoin them). Floi found that his non-magic dagger was useless in the fight; Amadin tossed him a magic one, but the Dwarf fumbled and dropped it. But, the wolfmen were soon killed, but the party was left with the conundrum of recovering Bel's body from the vicinity of the iron statues. Iban decided to simply run in and grab her, having just cast mirror image. BY fortune, he was able to drag her mauled body and escape without injury to himself (he was already in poor shape form the fight with the demon and werewolves). Since the iron statues did not pursue, the party returned to plunder the demon's lair (quite lucrative) and then use their Staff of Resurrection to raise Bel from the dead. This they did successfully, though it drained the staff to almost uselessness for them.
The party now explored onward, running into several rooms full of wererats. The fights were sharp but the party maintained the upper hand in each one, thanks to skill in melee, Iban's wand of magic missiles, and other advantages. By good fortune, Cadwaladyr detected for invisible persons and spotted a wererat running south around the second large wererat fight. A powerful lightning bolt did not stop him, much to the wizard's shock, but ZZ did. During the fighting, ZZ had given Floi a magic Footman's Pick to use, which he did to great effect; after, Floi gave ZZ a gem as a thank you, which the cleric promptly crushed and used as a toast to their victories.
After a quick plundering, the party decided they needed to rest, as most were injured and the spellcasters were thin on magic. ZZ cast Augury as to whether it would be safe to camp in the secret corridor they had discovered earlier, and it seemed to be safe. So, they moved in there and hunkered down. meanwhile, the sounds of movement and shouting were all around them as the enemy spread the alarm, too late to catch the party, who hoped that the enemy would figure out that a group had recently fled form the secret exit and out into the woods..