| Session Date | May 1, 2021 |
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| Base XP Gained | 4900 |
| Player Notes | ZZ's Notes |
The party returned to the dungeon once more after two days of rest among the Halflings. Passing through the large gallery and up over the battlemented balcony, they first ensured the three rooms beyond were still empty (they were). They returned to the area they'd last fought the creatures that named themselves (itself?) Zarabel. In one chamber they came to a statue of the same warrior general they'd seen before. This time, Iban glanced at its face (it looked south) and felt a twinge of fear emanate from it. A room further on was found to have graffiti painted onto a wall in red paint, which said:
There are wondrous things
There are magical things
There are dangerous things
We all get what we deserve
Turning back to the east of the scary statue chamber, the party came to a series of doors, two to the south at the bottom of short stairs. A northern door revealed a room with a large fiery pit in the center. The party opted to bypass this and try one of the lower doors to the south. Beyond, they came into a great temple, apparently to the goddess Tanit. It was lit by a number of large fire pits. The entirety of it was intricately carved with a hexagonal design, with many symbols of Tanit and other runes throughout. Six columns supported the ceiling, each carved to resemble a beehive. Six statues of warriors with drawn weapons flanked either side of the room while a statue of the same warlord they'd seen twice before sat at the southern end on a raised platform, his sword raised straight upward. Four statues of strange, insectoid creatures that resembled bipedal bees, armed with great curved blades adorned with wicked barbs flanked the dais.
A half-dozen Zarabels were there witnessing a seventh conduct some sort of ritual. Naturally, a melee ensued. Knar and Beldon slipped around to the eastern of the two doors while the others pushed in the one they were currently at. The Zarabels were not surprised, though, and the priest managed to trap both Thunderfist and Amadin with a hold person spell. ZZ used his haste ability to charge the priest. Worse, though, four insectoid statues animated and attacked, as did a 20' tall statue of Tanit herself. It was a bloody fight, especially when the giant Tanit statue began to fire beams at members of the party (some did damage, while Bel was blinded -- before being held!). At one point, the fire pits began to belch liquid flame. Indeed, many of the special abilities recently gained by the party were needed to keep from being overwhelmed by the various enemies. Fortunately, the party did have the upper hand, though several members were in rather bad shape by the end of the fight. But at last the great Tanit was toppled (hitting Bel on the way down) and the other statues and Zarabels slain.
The party found a goodly treasure in the temple sitting before the former Tanit statue. Additionally, they searched for secret doors and eventually found one at the opposite end of the temple. It was, however, blocked by the immobile statue of the warlord. They found a small carving at the base of it saying (once Knar used magic to read it) "peace brings its reward." After a lot of experimenting, they realized that taking the warlord's stone sword and sheathing it opened the secret door. Beyond was a small room with a very large, hexagonal stone chest. The thieves found and disabled a few traps on it and the party found a sizable treasure within, including a wand they'd never heard of, a frostbrand named Quencher in Ilmorian runes, a necklace of prayer beads (can't recall if I mentioned it had atonement x2, curing x2 and summoning), and and a heavy tome bound in red leather titled The True and Natural History of Glorious Tanit. The latter tome proved to be a long hagiography on the glories of the goddess Tanit who, after some consideration, was more a demon than goddess, and a really nasty one at that. She apparently dwells on the Plane of Tartarus in a place known as The Black Hive, where she revels in human sacrifices by fire and other such niceties.
Being in rough shape, the party took their loot and slipped out of the dungeon without further incident, camping two nights with the Halflings while they recovered. That completed they returned and followed the same pattern, though this time the three side rooms' doors were propped open. They did run into a lone mummy wandering about, but ZZ sent it packing and the party ignored it.
Moving back to the room with the fire pit, they carefully examined the space and found the ring to be carved with scenes of human sacrifice by fire by many quaint and curious means. Beyond it was what could only be described as a throne room. Seven carven pillars supported the ceiling 25’ above. In the center of the room was a low, octagonal dais with a chair of green soapstone, intricately carved with depictions of demonic bees in a strangely distorted hive-like structure all over it. Unlike the rest of the dungeon, this area lacked the hexagonal patterns, but was instead completely done in a smooth white stone like marble in square blocks. The symbol of Tanit was deeply engraved in the center of the north wall, inset with gold. Beldon thought he heard a slight buzzing, but could not figure out where from and he soon lost it. Bel, meanwhile, sensed a secret door on the west side of the room which opened to reveal a small space with six skeletons and a pile of ancient, crumbling armor and gear. A search revealed three more such secret rooms, and the party decided to drag the weapons away from the skeletons just in case, piling them in the center of the room. They found skeleton had a magic dagger, which they kept. ZZ now did what ZZ does and sat in the throne. He first heard a low buzzing in his ears, followed by a sense of dreaminess where his mind touched that of another person, somehow awakening them. The other mind quickly went from waking, to triumph, to a mixture of malice. A dread fell over ZZ as he was struck by some sort of electrical blast and thrown from the throne.
Moving on, the party cleared some other locations, including the lair of the former Zarabel. They now headed further south, coming to a natural cavern with a stone bridge carved with faces of Tanit at its four corners crossing a small but swift stream, almost certainly the one that exited the rock face to the west. They crossed over and followed the cavern as it turned west and narrowed (there was a brief discussion on if this was the "great road" the Kam warriors mentioned, but Iban pointed out it was going the opposite direction from what they'd been told). The cave eventually expanded into a much larger space, but the party now began to feel a strong dread as they went forward. In the center of the cave ahead was a female figure in rags, hunched over what appeared to be a cold fire pit. The old hag turned and revealed a hideous face with a single cyclops-like eye. She let out a great keening shriek, which caused half the party to flee in terror! Worse, ZZ decided to let the hag have it with a blast of chaos from his Jester Suit...and fireballed the other half of the party! Happily, no one was killed by it and the hag was eventually slain. She was found to have a nice treasure of her own, including a few heretofore unknown items and what was later determined to be an Efreet Bottle.
With the party sorely beaten up once again, they opted to withdraw again to the Halfling village to rest for two nights once more before returning to the dungeon, As yet, they'd found no clear sign of Lord Solen, but the pickings had been rather lucrative nonetheless.
NOTE: Forgot to mention, Beldon is feeling sick and feverish...