| Session Date | March 14, 2020 |
| Start Date | |
| End Date | |
| Starting Location | |
| Ending Location | |
| Player Characters | |
| Base XP Gained | 19000 |
The party continued their explorations of Castle Silver, coming now to a very long and wide north-south passageway. They proceeded south, eventually coming to the end where they found a statue of a comely female wizard. From here, they found multiple rooms left empty with the recent destruction of so many lycanthropes and their allies. One room appeared to have been used by the Fire Giant they'd seen and his entourage, though there was no sign of them (and they had not been at the battle at the river). What they did find were treasures. Big ones and small, largely unguarded and left behind by the now dead lycanthropes.
But all was not totally abandoned. Opening a door, Iban was suddenly jumped by several Ogres. A brief melee ensued, but the Ogres were no match for the party. The last one (of six) surrendered as it neared death. The party interrogated it in detail. It said that the Ogres served the Ogre Magi (now dead, though the Ogre was unaware of it) who in turn served the Wizard Silver. The dungeon area was largely empty since they marched out against Tolit, though it did say there still were Ettins to the northwest. As for the Giant, it was an emissary of the Giant King, sent to coordinate activities with Silver. It and its servants (hell hounds and other ogres) had left the same time as the army did, though apparently they took a different path (and jolly lucky for them or they'd have been chopped with the rest of the column). Not wishing to kill a vanquished foe, Iban cast sleep on the Ogre and the party bound him before they departed.
The party soon found the lair of the Ogre Magi and a sizable treasure hid therein. Nearby was a large hemispherical room sheathed in copper. Sensing danger, the party simply left it and continued on. They soon came to a chamber where the floor descended in one half down to a lower platform with a statue on it. ZZ detected magic at this point and the entire area seemed to radiate it. Iban went to investigate but, finding nothing of note, tried to climb back up. However, try as he might, he never seemed closer to the top. He simply levitated and escaped that way.
The party now entered a room and ran into a number of carnivorous apes. They proved very tough and managed to inflict some serious wounds on the party before being destroyed. Fortunately, the party had a goodly amount of healing available because they soon found the Ettins they'd been looking for. Though surprised (no mean feat against these two-headed monsters) the creatures were very tough. One slew Amadin with a terrible blow of its two great clubs (a perfect crit roll, alas). But, the Ettins were themselves finished off. Weary and in poor condition, the party decided to return to the secret corridor they'd rested in previously. They hoped that the now denuded stronghold meant they would not likely be detected. Still, ZZ cast augury to see if resting that night would be safe. His god said it was indeed safe, so they closed the secret door and settled in.
After a night's rest and much healing, the party decided to rest a second night, and spent a long boring day in the secret passage (sort of like coronavirus quarantine, I guess). The next day, as they prepared to head out, an undead figure suddenly materialized in their midst and tossed something like a marble into their midst. Though the party recovered quickly, the thing soon vanished. Sensing what was about to happen, some of the party threw open the secret doors and fled ( I think someone also went to pick it up). The "marble" exploded as a delayed blast fireball. Bel and Mordecai were killed in the fiery blast, and everyone in the party was seriously wounded. With three dead, the party simnply grabbed the bodies of the fallen and fled the dungeon, heading as rapidly as possible back to the village of Tolit (I assume Donal was still waiting to ferry them back).
Once back in Tolit, the party gathered the six Dwarf soldiers and their horses, and headed south, back to Far Andor and form thence to Manston. There, they were well received, but had to pay hefty fees (30,000 SP) to have their comrades resurrected (all successfully, as luck would have it). meanwhile, Cadwaladyr teleported to Kazakh to tell Nali of the gathering dangers to the north. The dwarf was very concerned at the news and would inform his father (who had apparently fought these wizards decades ago). Back in Manston, the restored party decided they would rest for an extended period of time and take care of sundry tasks until the next bout of danger confronted them.