| Session Date | February 25, 2023 |
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| Base XP Gained | Carry Over |
| Player Notes | ZZ's Notes |
The party complete their rest and prepared to continue their explorations. Hans cast invisibility on the entire party first, and Deaglan moved forward to scout. They moved north along the large river cavern where the ceiling soon disappeared into the darkness above. So, Hans levitated upwards about 30’ and someone threw a light coin up to illuminate what they could. The ceiling was still out of sight, however, so the party continued on, eventually coming to a smaller side passage. They took this and found a door, beyond which was the first finished stone passage they’d seen (ZZ noted that previously the whole place was of finished stone; he could not account for the differences).
The passage led to a room with four passages leading from it and a painted, life-like statue of a blue skinned man with a long white beard, presumably the Ice Wizard himself. Deaglan searched for traps and then Dane entered the room. He could feel the eyes of the statue watching him, even though they did not move. The statue then spoke, saying “speakest thou the password.” Dane did not and, a short time later, the room (and Dane) were pummeled by an ice storm. The mouth of the statue began to open. Fearing attack, the party tried to flee to the south, off the axis of the mouth. They were too late and a cone of cold blasted the party, killing the already seriously wounded Dane. The party, warned by Sirius, grabbed the iced paladin and fled south, taking a side passage as the statue pivoted to face their going. But, there was no further attacks and soon the statue reoriented to face west.
The party had come to a long gallery filled with dozens of nicely carved ice sculptures, depicting men and monsters, a palace, a globe, a great chariot pulled by four bears, and other things. Across the way was a door that the party opened, discovering a sumptuously decorated room that had apparently been empty for quite some time, judging from decayed food an dust. Here Deaglan discovered a secret door that led to a small room containing three demolished coffins and a broken open chest. This ZZ surmised was the remnants of the three vampiresses the party slew their previous visit. Of note, the layout and location of these made no sense to what he recalled. The place was well and truly plundered. Sirius decided to cast detect magic at this point, using it to check this room (nothing), the ice sculptures (nothing), the statue (magic), and then proceeding further south. As they came to a door, he sensed strange magic ahead as the spell expired.
They opened the door and came to an octagonal room with three statues. The ones to east and west each depicted a person with two faces quite dissimilar to one another, as if two different statues were melded together (east was a human warrior to the left and an Orc to the right; west was an Elf sage to the left and a demonic face to the right). The statue to the south was a Jester. Before it sat a box with a slot and a metal sign that said, “pay your silver, take your chance.” As ZZ entered the room, a triumphal fanfare played from nowhere and the Jester statue did a brief jig. ZZ explained that this was where his jester suit came from. Deaglan sensed a secret door and went to open it, as the statue said “one per party only.” Beyond was a full red and yellow jester suit just like ZZ’s. The party heeded the statue and did not touch it.
Now, some party members opted to drop a coin in the box. ZZ lost some intelligence, which he wisely decided did not matter to him. Deaglan ended up with a potion of superheroism. Burt’s Plant got a rat phobia. The party, thinking Dane would enjoy this (or to snub his lawful nature) dropped a coin and he ended up being showered with 6000 silver coins (and corresponding XP). Helga gained a great deal of skill (12k XP). ZZ, perhaps reflecting his newer, dumber self decided to invoke Chaos, which resulted in laughter from the statue and the loss of skill (10k XP) and all of his coin wealth. The others opted not to take their chances.
The party now needed to get by the statue as there were not further ways out of here. They considered various plans and finally decided that ZZ would rush around it to draw its fire so the party could slip around it. Putting a resist cold on himself, they executed the plan without any ill effects. They turned north and soon came to a huge hall filled with various rotting boxes and crates with a red demon presiding over as if this were an ancient demon temple given over to storage or trash – the statues expression was a mix of horror and disgust. Mordecai cast find traps and located a pair of pit traps in a corridor with a false door at the end. The party examined this passage carefully and found a secret door with a small treasure beyond it. Another room contained a quartet of Wights, which Mordecai blasted to the next world.
They now came down another corridor and found themselves into what appeared to be a temple to Demogorgon, with a large statue of the two-headed demon at one end behind a line of tentacle-carved columns. Demonic artwork graced the walls. As the party advanced, the statue animated and began to throw spells of various sorts at the party. Meanwhile, eight demons (4 Chasme, 4 green-skinned humanoid things) rushed from secret doors to attack. Sirius managed to web the statue and a few of the demons, but a long and complex melee occurred nonetheless. The party threw every spell they had at the demons and statue, while the fighters took on the onrushing demons. It was an ugly, vicious affair. But, over time, the party slowly began to overcome the enemy, even though Burt and Sirius succumbed to the droning of the Chasme Demons for a time. But, then disaster struck. One of the Chasme managed to overcome Deaglan, killing him in a most horrific manner. This was followed by another slaying Burt’s Plant in a similar manner. It was bad, but not enough to turn the tide for the demons, and soon they and the statue were destroyed. The latter, upon being destroyed, shattered into fragments leaving behind a staff and a pile of rubies of great value.
The party, much battered, considered their next action…