| Session Date | October 06, 2018 |
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| Base XP Gained | 24000 |
The party finished their long rest/recovery near the swamp and prepared to return to the swampy temple where they'd battled the dragon several days past. Aldeberon asked the ranger Winfrith if he'd like to accompany them. He was a little hesitant, telling them that he had tasks he needed to be about, but the lure of loot (or information, as he told them) was enough to entice him, and he agreed.
The party poled their raft (built with the Ranger's aid) back to the temple without incident. Climbing back up to the open ruin, they advanced cautiously but were not attacked. They reached the shell curtain hanging before the underground portion (and from where the brigands attacked them previously) and entered the dimmer, underground area. There they saw a huge bas relief of a demon on the far wall, a large stone altar-like stone in the middle, and three pools of algae-slimed water before that. A detect magic by Cadwalider revealed that one pool contained something magic at the bottom. As the party approached the pool, a pseudopod of water erupted from it and attacked trying to drag Iban (I think?) into it. It proved hard to wound with weapons, but susceptible to magic missiles. Other water things erupted form the other two pools, but a fireball blasted them both easily.
These clear., the party tested the depths of the pool and eventually lowered ZZ into the mucky water, within each of which was discovered a rather sizable treasure (quite sizable, actually). Pleased, the party commenced a search for secret doors, eventually finding a very large one at the bas relief demon. Given the size, they assumed it was used by the black dragon that had attacked them, but they could not determine how to open it. After many tests, mostly coins dropped through the open mouth, they eventually dropped a potion vial in it, which opened the door. Inside was a natural cavern area and clearly the dragon's lair. In a side cave they found its hoard, and a second huge treasure was recovered.
Such was the size of the hoard that their bags of holding were stuffed to capacity and then some. Clearly, something would have to be done with this treasure prior to proceeding. After a brief discussion, and a lack of further ways to go easily located, the party decided to return to the dwarf city of Kazakh to offload their vast loot. Thus, they returned to their raft and the shoreline. Upon landing and setting up camp, the party talked broadly about what they might do with all the money they'd acquired. One popular suggestion was to look at eventually forming a hold or territory of some sort in this region. It seemed wide open and largely unruled, and Winfrith seemed enthusiastic about such an idea, offering his help if they ever decided to do so -- he sometimes stopped in Grilbie and a message could be left for him there. Iban added that the bandits in this region might be useful as a guard force, if they could be bought off and tamed. Grilbie was the largest settlement in the region, and might make a good starting place for this sort of endeavor.
At this point, Winfrith said he would be resuming his journey. The party said they would return at some point soon, but the Ranger stated that he had other business to attend to, and wished them well. He did request that they pass to the dwarf lords news of the bandit and lizardman activities in this area, which seemed to indicate he had some relationship with the dwarves (he never said who he worked for, I think). Taking his share of loot, he departed with a wave (NOTE: don't forget to give him a cut of that hoard you took!).
Next morning, the party set out for the Anchor Mountains, reaching the lower range by nightfall. That night, their camp was attacked on ZZ's watch by a flight of Stirges (AKA Church Turkeys) but these were mostly slain and the rest driven off. The rest of the journey passed uneventfully, as the party reached first the Dwarven settlement of Gorund and then a few days later Kazakh by way of the Dwarven underground highway.
Nali, who always seemed to know when the party was in the city or not, found them soon after their return and inquired as to their adventures. They gave him a full report of the activities they'd undertaken, the news of the bandits and lizardmen, and the like. In turn, he told them of unease in the Dwarven high leadership with troubles on their borders, mostly but not solely with the Giant King. When asked by the party, he reported that the dungeon they'd found and explored remained open for now, though there was debate among the Dwarven lords about collapsing the entire place to seal it off. It seemed that the chief clerics of the city were very much against this, saying the place was clearly holy to Abbathor, AKA the Earth Dragon, and did not wish to invoke his wrath. Instead, the Dwarves had placed a strong guard at the entrance to keep anyone out (or in). Nali admitted that he had entered the place with a small group of other ranking Dwarves, but they did not delve too long as they all felt the place to be extremely evil and foreboding to them. There was zero new information on their former employer or anything about his murder. Iban expressed concern that the temple or dungeon contained portals to other worlds and that these might be dangerous if left unchecked. Nali considered this and said he would raise it with the Dwarven leadership The party also reminded Nali that there was an extensive library inside still that detailed much of the cult of the Earth Dragon, and this ight be helpful to study.
Their news given, the party informed Nali of their intent to return to the swamp dungeon soon to finish their explorations. Although deep winter, the Dwarven underground roads made travel in the mountains quite easy, and the party saw no reason to wait until more seasonable weather. Nali thanked them for their information and departed. And the party now set about dividing and banking their new found wealth...