| Session Date | February 13, 2015 |
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| Base XP Gained | 511 |
The party continued their exploration of the dungeons below the ruined fortress. They passed the stairs down they'd discovered and turned back to the east to verify some tunnel connections and to drop off some of their excess gear in the secret room previously discovered. Unfortunately, the party heard a yelp and a slam - Drogo, scouting ahead invisibly, had fallen into a hidden pit trap. He was not badly hurt, fortunately, and the party quickly dropped him a rope.
After dropping off extra armor and other supplies in the secret room, the party returned west to unexplored corridors, but immediately ran into a large pack of Giant Rats. These were quickly dispatched, though a few party members were bitten. A little further on they found a room with signs of fairly recent battle (blood and the like) and then came to two doors at either end of a common corridor. They opened the southern door to find a pack of Ghouls, which Havak quickly turned with his holy power. The Ghouls were cringing in the far end of the room and the party decided to rush them en masse while they were unready, as they could see glints of treasure. This they did. The ghouls fell fairly quickly, but not before one had clawed Havak badly, causing him to freeze with paralysis. As the last of this group were being dealt with, Piper as rear guard yelled that more were coming from the other door; she dropped the leader with magic missiles. Rowan stepped into the doorway to keep them at bay, supported by Brother Lune. The paladin's power kept the Ghouls from striking at him, but Lune was not so lucky, taking many wounds as the Ghouls tried to force their way into the room. With the first group now slain, Aldeberon began to pass oil forward to be hurled into the mass of ghouls, followed by a lit torch. This broke them at last, and the survivors fled back the way the party had come from. Both rooms were found to contain some treasure, including a magic-user scroll for Piper.
Nearby, the party found a very large room containing numerous statues - human, dwarf, elf, and even a Troll. At the center of the far wall was a semi-circle of curtain hanging from floor to ceiling. The statues seemed far too lifelike, and the party began to fear a basilisk or medusa might be present. Parker shot a single arrow into the curtain, which resulted in a clang. When nothing else happened, Drogo was sent with a small mirror to peak under the curtain. Behind it, he found a large metal mirror on a stand. The whole place seemed most uncanny, so the party quickly departed and continued exploring, now to the south.
A second pack of Giant Rats soon attacked them. Like the other group, these were quickly slaughtered except for mighty Iban who grabbed two, one in each hand. As the nasty things bit and clawed at him, he carried them back to the mirror room and threw them inside, shutting the door behind them. Hopefully, anything hostile in the room would encounter the rats.
Ironically, the next room they found, full of debris and little tunnels clearly was connected to a giant rat warren. However, the rat they saw did not attack, so Brother Lune tried speaking to it. The Giant Rat had little enough of interest to say except for two points. First, they feared the dangers "beyond the darkness" though it was impossible to ascertain what that meant. Second, they had seen a Dwarf recently (how long ago was not crystal clear, the Giant Rat not having a good sense of time). Still, it was a clear indicator that at least one Dwarf was down here somewhere. The party left the rat holes, not wishing to start a fight against an unknown number of Giant Rats.
The party next surprised a lone individual in a room not far away. Although human, the party immediately suspected him of being a Wererat, given the proximity of the giant vermin to his room; Rowan could sense his evil, as well. He claimed to be a lone adventurer, a thief who had gotten in far over his head. When asked, he claimed his gear had been lost when forced to flee from a "frog-like creature." He whined and cried for the party to spare him, and to help him escape from the dungeon altogether. The party was having none of it, however, and told him to stay clear of them or else. He agreed reluctantly and seemed genuinely interested in accompanying them, ostensibly to be shown the way out.
The party now returned to the corridors, where Drogo heard something large moving off to the west or north; fearing a Gorgon (or worse), the party turned east and soon came to a door beyond which Rowan sensed evil. As they were considering this, Drogo, who had been sent to follow the party and watch their back, signaled that the human they'd just spoken to was skulking after them. They quickly pulled back from the door and captured him, tying him up. A short time later, they released him, saying they'd kill him if he followed them again.
Near the door they'd just been at, an angled passage led into what was essentially a six-way intersection. Down one west passage was another door, also with evil beyond it. Not wishing to leave potential enemies behind, the party returned to the first evil door and burst in one a number of frog or toad-like creatures, all about four feet tall. The rabid things leapt at the party with small spears, but proved to be easily slain. These finished, they went to the second door, finding it led to a large room with two further doors, beyond which were more of the toad things, which attacked the party with marked fanaticism. Though numerous, they were quickly cut down (Iban cut one literally in half with the Dwarf battleaxe he'd found earlier). The creatures had some treasures, as well, which made the party most pleased.
But the party was getting tired. They'd used up most of their spells, and many of them were suffering from battle wounds from their various encounters. Rest was needed, and they discussed for a time where they should hole up. Most wished to remain below and not go above ground, despite the potential danger. Finally, they decided to stay right where they were, despite the lack of alternate escape routes. So, the party piled up the dead creatures at the outer door and made camp in one of the other rooms once the bodies were cleared from it. In this way, they'd at least have plenty of warning if anything came at them.