| Session Date | July 27, 2019 |
| Start Date | 14 Greenmonth, 1272 |
| End Date | 16 Greenmonth, 1272 |
| Starting Location | Astraharsis' quarters, Eburnean Vaults |
| Ending Location | Astraharsis' quarters, Eburnean Vaults |
| Player Characters | |
| Base XP Gained | 3133 |
The party rested a night in the quarters of Astraharsis. The following morning, Iban scried on the priestess of Roshim that had somehow escaped them and found her in a bare underground space, alone. He next scried the Drow adventuress Vorlissa, finding her in the same tavern he'd seen her in before. She apparently detected being scried, as she ran her finger across her throat in a menacing way.
Cadwallider now cast teleport to take himself and the corpse of Dimbul back to their quarters in the Dwarf city. As soon as he arrived, their majordomo began to berate him, saying that they had not paid their upkeep in some time and they were already behind by ten days. Cadwallider paid him off 100 gold coins (5 months worth of basic upkeep), then had their runner go summon Nali, who arrived quite rapidly. He was glad to hear the party was well (aside from Dimbul, who he did not seem overly concerned about), and listened carefully as Cadwallider gave a thorough account of their recent adventures. Nali then told him that he did intend to have them conduct a surface mission, to Manston. Several Dwarf emissaries and scouts had been sent thither but none had reported back. he felt the party would have no problem getting past the Giant King's forces, and that Dwarves were not well suited to such activity. he also questioned the wizard closely about four missing Dwarf soldiers, who he said had vanished during their watch on the dungeon entrance without a trace a few days before. This had reignited debate in the Dwarf council about sealing off the dungeon completely, he said. Nali did not favor doing this, as it would prevent the party's explorations and he wanted to know what, if any, danger the dungeon presented. Plus, if there were connections to other places they would never find them, and it was always possible an enemy could create a tunnel from the dungeon to someplace else. The Lord of the City had listened to Nali and prevailed in this debate for now, but he did not have the same strong convictions as the party's benefactor.
This audience complete, Cadwalldier took the body of Dimbul to the priests of Moradin. As a relatively unimportant nobody of a dwarf, there was little interest in raising Dimbul. Plus, the chief priest of Moradin explained that his severe wounds from the acid spray required the addition of a heal spell. Cadwalldier agreed to pay (5000 SP for the raise dead, 4000 for the heal). These spells were successful in bringing Dimbul back, albeit it now horribly scarred (which he found to be wonderful) but with his beard burned away (this horrified and shamed him mightily).
Cadwallider and Dimbul rested for a night in the city, and the next morning they teleported to Wellington, now known as Wellidar (Dimbul did not want to go, but Cadwallider did not give him much of a choice). Once in the city, they made their way to the Temple of Maladominus where Cadwallider paid the chief priest 19,000 SP to cast restoration on him to remove lingering effects of his lost power. After a night of rest in the city (now much gloomier than on his last visit), they teleported back to Astraharsis' quarters.
The party was now reunited and rested, ready for exploration. They started by slipping out through the nearby throne room and into the dusty hall, where Iban cast clairvoyance to spy on the serpentmen nearby. He found their leader in his quarters, though he apparently detected the scrying as he became quite agitated. Cadwallider meanwhile cast strength on Aldeberon, and then Iban scried on Vorlissa once more (still in the tavern). Both wizards cast detect invisibility and ZZ cast find traps, then they moved out.
They made their way back to the serpentman area to finish what they'd started before. Iban burst open the Serpentman's door to draw them out, which worked. Cadwallider cast minor globe of invulnerability and ZZ cast silence 15' radius on a coin. But the Serpentman had clearly prepared himself after the scrying and was ready. he hit most of the party with a cone of cold, though ZZ and Aldeberon's various items mitigated some of the damage. He also threw a weird black marble at the party that blasted Aldeberon and Mordecai (or was it ZZ?), encasing them in a force bubble and leaving Iban cut off from the party for a short time (fortunately Iban was able to cast mirror image to protect himself from a number of attacks, though the ice storm hit him). A rather complex magical battle ensued as the serpentman wizard threw spells at the party, apparently also protected by a minor globe; he also summoned a huge python to go after Iban. His minions that survived an early fireball (I think) by being close to the wizard did not fare as well with an ice storm that Cadwallider hit them with. Several dispel magics were also thrown, to eliminate the force bubble and two runes between the party and the serpentmen. once all the barriers were free, the fighters rushed the serpentmen, who died quickly as they were all severely wounded by the ice storm. Finally, the serpentman wizard was slain, and the party took a strange wand and staff off of his corpse.
There were two more runes to penetrate and so Cadwalldier summoned six giant rats to begin setting them off. One rat was blasted by green fire; the second was hit by a green glob from the rune then exploded, its body released a number of venomous snakes; these were quickly slain, though Mordecai was poisoned by one; he cast slow poison and later rested long enough to gain neutralize poison.
A sizable treasure was recovered from the serpentmen, including a lot of emeralds. Also, the party took the 4' high cauldron decorated with many serpents and snakes that seemed to simmer liquids without a fire. They thought it might work well for a fortress for boiling oil or molten lead defenses. Although huge, they were able to haul it back to Astraharsis' quarters, though she asked that they put it in the 10' square secret space adjacent, as her room was already crowded enough with all the guests she was hosting.