| Session Date | April 28, 2023 |
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| Base XP Gained | Carry Over |
The party decided to rest two nights in order to fully be recovered before hazarding the stairs up. During the day off, Hans took the drooling ZZ and teleported to the city of Wellidar where, after some inquiries and discussion, ended up paying the chief cleric of Maladominus there 10,000 SP to heal him of his mental malady. This was a success and the teleport back was accomplished safely. Meanwhile, Sirius did the same thing, taking the Petty Dwarf (Zomulus) to Kazakh, where he turned him over to the temple of Moradin for safekeeping. The Dwarf was none too pleased with this but did not resist; it was clear he’d never set foot in a city before.
After an otherwise uneventful rest, the party returned to the room with the ice pillars where Deaglan passively checked for secret doors and ZZ used his Ring of the Earth Dragon to sense for treasure, detecting none. After a brief discussion the party decided to delay their exploration up the stairs and instead made their way to the great rift. There, Sirius used the flying carpet to ferry the others across in waves to the landing across the way with the bronze door and spider-headed statues.
Beyond the door they came to an antechamber that opened into a much larger space to the north. However, it was completely choked with ice webs except for two winding paths proceeding inward. What followed was a bit convoluted so the details here will be sketchy (as is typical for complex actions). First, the party called up a wall of fire. Inside this, they proceeded north, melting out the webs as they went. However, not too far into the room, a number of ice spiders dropped from above into the mix, beginning a melee and breaking concentration on the wall of fire. The spiders were slowed which helped and they were soon dispatched, though not before the party came under magical attack (ZZ was held) from something further north. A second wall of fire was now brought up, though it was apparently dispelled by the enemy priest. (There might’ve been a third, I forget).
Moving further in, the party found a spider-headed, vaguely humanoid creature casting spells at them. Behind him was a huge statue of a similar creature. The priest was casting spells and the statue firing beams of cold. The party was having none of that and shot three fireballs at them, themselves protected by a minor globe of invulnerability. It was mass destruction like they’d seldom seen. Both priest and statue were demolished and much of the remaining ice web vaporized. In place of the statue they found eight slightly glowing blue diamonds. They were identified and proved to be Eyes of the Ice Spider which gave some limited but uncomfortable protection from cold or could be used as shrapnel grenades. A search revealed no other treasure.
After wizard locking the bronze door, the party decided to rest to recover spells. The next morning they departed, intending to try the stairs up. After ferrying across the rift once more, they turned south and ran into the sketchy Dwarf they’d seen before. He signaled for a parley and the party acquiesced. He wanted to make a deal with them…