| Session Date | June 01, 2019 |
| Start Date | 5 Greenmonth, 1272 |
| End Date | 7 Greenmonth, 1272 |
| Starting Location | Eburnean Vaults |
| Ending Location | Party quarters, Kazakh |
| Player Characters | |
| Base XP Gained | 6720 |
As the party prepared to cross the arches room, they first stopped and had a longish discussion. They now believed the cryptic clues from the two commune sessions probably meant there was a second treasure hidden in this area. Where was the real question, and the party tended to think it might lie to the west. At one point, one of the strangely articulate ghouls came by. He merely glared at them and stated that they'd made many enemies before saying good day and moving off to the south.
The party headed west to the 20' wide corridor, where ZZ used his Ring of the Earth Dragon to detect for minerals in several locations, all without success. The party now headed to some possible areas where they thought could be a secret door. While searching one such area, they were accosted by a trio of Hobgoblins, supported by a temple cleric. There was no thought of any truce and a brief fight ensued. The party was silenced by the cleric, preventing him from being suppressed by magic. Two Hobgoblins were slain before the party opted to retreat around a corner, out of the silenced area. Unexpectedly, the enemy also withdrew and vanished. Cadwallider suspected that the cultists were now using hit and run tactics against them.
A few minutes later, the party was attacked from behind by a pair of giant ticks. They were slain fairly quickly (but not before both ZZ and Aldeberon were afflicted by disease). The party was concerned that the torture cultists were on their heels, so they decided to retreat form the dungeon to regroup. They moved to the edge of the arch room and Cadwallider, invisible himself, detected invisible, noting one figure to the southeast, surveilling the room. He fired a lightning bolt at the figure but it stopped short, blocked by magic. The figure then returned fire with a fireball, engulfing the party. Dimbul and ZZ were nearly slain; the former simply ran for the exit without pausing. Aldeberon rushed the figure to engage in melee, but the figure, revealed to be a male drow elf, cast another spell and vanished. Fortunately, the party was able to regroup and rush for the exit; Cadwallider dropped an explosive scroll as he left, and they made it back to the dwarf city without incident.
They rested for two nights, during which time Sir Rowan healed the tick diseases of both Aldeberon and ZZ. Iban also used the time to inquire with the local Dwarven clerics about lifting his chaos curse of bad luck, but they called that "human magic" and beyond their skill.
Returning to the dungeon, with the party all invisible, they quietly checked for glyphs or other traps during the last portion of the long entry hall and into the arch room, finding none. They made their way back west without seeing anyone, and ZZ now used all five charges of his Ring to detect for minerals along the western 20' wide corridor, again without success. Iban tried a detect magic and noted something on one wall nearby. This he negated with a scroll of dispel magic, though he did not determine what it had been. Minutes later, the party saw a group of Hobgoblins approaching, clearly sweeping the 20' hall. The party ducked aside and doused their lights to allow them to pass. The Hobgoblins seemed tense and expectant, but did not detect the party.
When they were clear, Iban scried for the priestess once more, finding her relaxing in her quarters and clearly not preparing for battle. They took this as a good sign that their return was undetected, though clearly the enemy was being watchful. Iban next scried on the Drow that had fireballed them and found him seemingly meditating in what appeared to be a prison cell. Cadwallider speculated that he might be a cultist, or someone hired by them. They also noted another ghoul, this one passing down the stairs to the level below.
The party now entered a side passage of the 20' wide main passage. It T-ed with one branch sloping down to the north and one opening up to the south into a weirdly glowing room. Cadwallider used his wand of conjuration to summon five Kobolds and sent one into the glowing room. Inside were a number of runes glowing dimly green. The Kobold hit the first one and it suddenly enveloped him with green goo; he dropped to the floor with a howl of anguish and died. The party decided to go the other way, the Kobolds leading. They soon came to a door that opened to the lair of 11 Wererats. A general melee ensued (the Kobolds were gone very fast). The fight went fairly well until Dimbul, the rearguard, suddenly became visible as he shouted and backstabbed three more Wererats sneaking in behind the party. One, a female and clearly their captain, plus one of the large ones turned on Dimbul and hacked him badly; the very short Dwarf prepared to fight to the end. But, Cadwallider cast Hold Monster and paralyzed both of them, saving the nearly dead Dwarf. This seemed to turn the tide of battle, until another door opened and a pair of Mind Flayers emerged. They ordered their Wererats to cease fighting and wished to parley with the party, who were having none of that and took advantage of the confusion to press their attack. The Mind Flayers responded with psionic blasts which confused Iban, taking him out of the fight, while they made Dimbul become madly enraged and attack the Mind Flayers. One wrapped its tentacles around the Dwarf's head and began to suck out his brains, but the second was cut down with sword and spells. The surviving Mind Flayer then offered a parley once more in exchange for saving the Dwarf. The party acquiesced, as it was clear Dimbul was near death.
The Mind Flayer offered the party all its treasure in exchange for its survival, but it would not release the Dwarf until it was safely away. It further told them, when asked, that they had come here to look for trade opportunities, but the cultists had nothing and wanted nothing. The party agreed to its terms and escorted it, still attached to Dimbul, to the nearby stairs down, where it then released the Dwarf and fled downwards rapidly. The party let it go and returned to the rooms to plunder them. The Mind Flayers had two chests which contained a good quantity of gold and platinum, as well as a staff later identified as a Staff of Power, among other items. The Wererat captain and her consorts had come form a secret room with two secret doors, and Iban thought they would make a good bolt hole should they ever need to camp in the dungeon or simply hunker down.
The party now decided to retreat with the severely wounded Dimbul, and Iban recast invisibility 10 radius. While departing on a roundabout course, they ran into a party of Bugbears, sweeping the 20' wide hall like the Hobgoblins they'd previously seen. They followed them briefly, and Cadwallider (who spoke Bugbear) noted they had been hired from the Troll Kings by the cult as additional muscle. They were not terribly alert or disciplined and were easily avoided. The party soon slipped form the dungeon and returned to the Dwarf city to rest and recover (well, mostly for Dimbul to recover).