| Session Date | February 16, 2019 |
| Start Date | 8 Sunsback, 1272 |
| End Date | 8 Sunback, 1272 |
| Starting Location | Party quarters, Kazakh |
| Ending Location | Eburnean Vaults |
| Player Characters | |
| Base XP Gained | 1830 |
Before dawn, the party awoke and returned to the northern gate of Kazakh, where they found nearly 500 Dwarves preparing for battle. Nali was there and the party spoke with him again of their plan to go straight to the dungeon. Nali clearly wished the party would be present for the battle, as the enemy leader appeared to be a spellcaster of some power. However, the Dwarves had ten clerics assigned to their force and hoped that this would compensate for the lack of a good wizard or two. And, most of the enemy rank and file were Orcs, and the Dwarven infantry were confident they could handle them. Nali informed the party that the enemy had drawn up in the open area near the dungeon entrance, and Dwarf scouts and spies had seen nothing anywhere else. The enemy was clearly looking for a fight, though this fact in itself concerned Nali. It should be an easy battle, as the two sides were numerically similar, and the Dwarves far better equipped, trained, and disciplined. The party's thoughts paralleled their Dwarven patron's -- what if this was some sort of a diversion? Nali informed them that hundreds of militia had been called up in the city and would be posted throughout, backed by the local constabulary, watching for any sort of attack underground into the city. They would be ready. But, because of this thought, having the party enter the nearby dungeon to look for possible tunnels towards the city or other unknown dangers seemed like an excellent idea to Nali. They wished one another luck and parted.
The party slipped out an hour or more before dawn, after Iban had cast invisibility 10' radius on all of them. They took their usual route back towards the dungeon, seeing nothing untoward until they broke into the unwooded area not far from it. There they saw some 400 Orcs, two score Ogre, and a handful of trolls and a hill giant on a low rise in the center, clearly waiting to be attacked. A lone, hooded figure was in the center of the line, though the party was too far away to see much beyond this. They stayed well north of the enemy force and slipped into the woods behind them. Again, the woods seemed very quiet and there were no signs of skirmishers or spies about. The party soon climbed up to the clifftop above the northern end of the valley to make their way to the hidden entrance up there. Below, near the dungeon's main entrance, they did eventually hear some noise, but did not investigate.
The secret entrance was soon located and the dungeon entered. Below ground once more in the weird demesne of the Earth Dragon, the party mad their way around the eastern perimeter of the place, looking for anything unusual. They found nothing and the place seemed undisturbed since last they had visited some months before. Iban then noted that this area was probably above the valley floor, and that they should try the lower level. Thus, they took a nearby stairway down. Fortunately for them, they'd made an excellent map of the place.
The air of the lower level was weirdly sterile, free of all dust, smell, humidity, etc. and ZZ felt that the place was somehow "wrong." They continued to search the eastern and southern areas for anything unusual. At one location they came to a locked steel door. Though they knew there were armored Dwarf skeletons beyond, Cadwallider cast knock and opened the door. Sure enough, 11 skeletons attacked, though nine were turned by Rowan (they proved far tougher to turn than ordinary skeletons). The remaining two were soon destroyed. Keeping the others away, the party searched thoroughly for secret doors, but found nothing. they moved to a second such door, which Iban opened with a knock scroll, and found 16 armored Dwarven skeletons beyond. Unfortunately, ZZ only managed to turn 2 while Rowan only turned four. A long fight ensued with primarily Iban and Aldeberon fighting as Rowan and ZZ kept the six at bay. Finally, Cadwallider intervened and hit a number of them with a lightning bolt, destroying many. The rest were soon destroyed. However, another search revealed nothing.
Moving westwards, the party went over several previously explored areas. In one area, the passageway was shaped and carved to look like tremendous teeth, and the air was damp and warm like breath. Passing through without incident, they found a poorly made dagger lying on the floor. Further on, they found a crust of grey bread discarded on the ground, both certainly not here the last time they passed this way. Continuing west along the southern perimeter, they tried entering a room that seemed to open into a vast plain of grey dust and stone, a weirdly regular mountain in the distance that ZZ and Iban recognized as the abode of the Earth Dragon in Hades. There were no tracks in the dust.
Not wishing to chance this, the party continued westward and eventually found a pile of trash and debris dumped in a corner. After a few other minor explorations, they passed this and found that a huge block of stone that had once rested on the western wall of a room with stairs to the level above had been destroyed, revealing a passage angling downwards. This seemed to be most promising and the party descended, following a very straight corridor a quarter of a mile or more, descending perhaps a hundred feet or more. The weirdness of the dungeon was left behind and the stone changed from grey to an unusual creamy or ivory color. Also, the elaborateness of the Dwarven halls gave way to a very angular, squared-off construction, very un-dwarflike.
Eventually, the passage debouched into a very large room with many carved archways leading from it. Iban carefully entered to scout and found it safe enough. Each archway was carved differently, and each also had a chalked set of runes by it. They appeared Dwarvish, but ZZ declared that they were either a code or some sort of debased language, and he could not read it. The carvings, in clockwise order from the one the party entered were: the Earth Dragon, a Demonic humanoid maw, men in torment flanking, women in torment flanking flanking, hooded figures flanking, vines and flowers, arabesque designs, flaming devils, and an encircling snake. ZZ erased the chalked runes and the party first tried the opening with the demonic maw. Beyond was a door that opened to reveal a room with orangish-mustard colored mold. The party threw a bunch of oil in it and lit it, then shut the door and tried the opening of the flaming devils.
They passed through several rooms an corridors, seeing a huge open pit at one area blocking a 20' wide passage. And they soon entered a room with a pair of hostile Minotaurs. As a melee ensued, two more joined them from across the hall. These were eventually cut down, but not before battering the party (already somewhat battered from the skeletons). Their explorations continued, as they passed a large, 20' wide corridor and numerous other rooms. At one point Aldeberan and Iban fell into a pit trap (the latter saved from harm by his boots of levitation). They soon came into a large 20' wide and high passage meandering to the south. This they followed for a long way, without seeing any signs of an army having marched through, though many side corridors and rooms opened off it. They now took thought as to where to go and what to do next...