| Session Date | September 14, 2019 |
| Start Date | 21 Greenmonth, 1272 |
| End Date | 25 Greenmonth, 1272 |
| Starting Location | Eburnean Vaults |
| Ending Location | Eburnean Vaults |
| Player Characters | |
| Base XP Gained | 5150 |
Leaving the Skeksir trio, the party turned south towards an as-yet unexplored area, hoping to find the lair of the "spies" of the Serpentine Lord they Skeksir had told them about. They soon came to a door; Aldeberon clairvoyed beyond it and saw three Umber Hulks. Being invisible, the creatures did not see them; one came out a distance to investigate the opening of its door, one held back midway, and the third stayed in the room. The party had hoped to ambush them but decided to hold off, and the lead creature returned to the room and shut the door. Wishing to kill them, the party repeated the process with the same results. Cadwallider hit the two that came out with a Hold Monster spell, which held one and slowed another. A general melee ensued as the third now rushed out to join the fight. Mordecai became mesmerized by one's eyes and grew confused, attacking ZZ. But, it was to no avail as all three Umber Hulks were soon slain and a sizable treasure recovered.
But, the party had still not found the alleged spies that were said to be in this area. So, from this room, ZZ used his Earth Dragon ring to sense for metals and minerals, and located some to the east in an area with no apparent access. The party now did a thorough search for secret doors in the room but found nothing. They then moved to a long diagonal corridor where they soon found one. Bursting in, they found a warrior and a wizard in their quarters. The warrior was quickly held by a spell but the wizard hit much of the party with forked lightning from a wand, nearly killing Mordecai. Without his warrior guard, the wizard was soon overwhelmed and knocked unconscious. With both prisoners,the party searched their quarters. A chest was found to be magically trapped but a dispel magic cleared it and another goodly treasure was taken. The party also found a ream of paper with ink and a wax seal depicting a dragon, which was taken as evidence that these were indeed spies for the Serpentine Lord. Cadwallider used the Quill of Memory to learn of wall said in the room during the past hour, most of which concerned talk of going to the Dark market to get an update on the party's activities and some ideas on hiring the Umber Hulks as muscle for their protection.
When the wizard had recovered (both he and the warrior were bound), he was interrogated (with Cadwalldier monitoring via ESP). The party's line of questioning was to try to determine if the Serpentine Lord was the hooded one who had been causing such a bother, or perhaps the dragon that had blasted the Dwarves in the recent battle above. They (honestly) denied such a thing, saying that their master's interest in the party and the new exit to the surface was related to the safety of his own domain deeper in the dungeon. He also was aware of their (unlikely) friendship with the Duergar, who they admitted were the chief enemy of the Serpentine Lord. When it seemed clear that they were not an immediate threat to the party, the two men were unbound They gave them a message of neutrality to bring to their master, and even provided a few (lesser) items of gear to allow them to safely get back to their master; the party would keep their better gear and treasure for themselves. As Cadwallider had senses that the two were most concerned with their own survival, they did not protest much at this arrangement. Iban also offered to turn one invisible (the fighter, Mortigirn) to help them get back safely, as the wizard, Castigaus, said he could cast one invisibility spell on himself. Mordecai even healed the wizard a bit, to help them out, and the party allowed the wizard to keep his spellbook. After using the Quill of memory once more to transcribe the entire parley, the two invisible men were allowed to leave in peace.
The party now decided to return to their quarters to rest and recover. En route, they came to the great hall in the center of the level they'd crossed through before, and ran into a large party of Ogres. Uterog, their own Ogre, parleyed for them, and arranged free passage, though the Ogre party eyed them all warily.
Once back in their quarters, they had an audience with Astraharsis, who told them that she had made a breakthrough in her researches on their chaos-tainted curses. The party would have to enter into Chaos itself to remove the curses, but she was developing an idea of how they could do it. Meanwhile, the party told her of the Skeksir and that they'd traded the Talisman of Ultimate Evil to them for more useful things; she was not thrilled to hear that, but said what was done was done. After paying the Ogre Uterog a big bonus for his services, the party settled down to rest two nights. During this time, Iban scried briefly on Castigaus and Mortigirn and found them eating a meal and in good spirits; they had not been executed or otherwise punished by their master, it seemed. Later, the party scried and determined that the two were traveling once more, likely to meet up with them again at the tavern off the Dark Market.
The party made their way their themselves without incident. They took up a table where they could watch for the two erstwhile spies and settled down for a drink and a meal. The obsequious Dark Folk innkeeper soon came to them with a box, saying he had been told to deliver it to them. They opened it to reveal what they feared, the head of the Dark Folk they'd paid to spy on Vorlissa and her party. inside was a note that read "I have many more boxes. V" Lornalt, the rather sleazy captain of the market guard, was observing from nearby, disinterestedly. Iban joked that Vorlissa "wanted him." Lornalt responded, "I would play hard to get if I were you."
The party decided to use their recently acquired Spirit Vessel to speak with the dead head. ZZ asked the following questions: What did he tell Vorlissa? (Nothing. She seemed to know all I was thinking.) What did she say to you? (She told me to tell you [the party] to...Quick! Look behind you! Then she said to tell them I am laughing at them.) Where did she catch you? (She and her folk were heading down towards the Moaning Caves.) Where does the Vampire live? (Somewhere beyond the twisted, pit-filled passages.)
This all proved rather unsatisfactory, so Cadwallider decided to ESP the crowd at random. He picked out one woman who was clearly scared and wished to talk to the party. Noting this, he approached her. She was named Ilsar and had been trying to work up courage to speak with the party. She wished to escape the dungeon to the surface with her husband but they lacked the correct "transit papers" whatever those were. She hoped the party could help them. They said they would when the time was right, but in the meantime she should stay here where she was relatively safe. Just then Castigaus and Mortigirn arrived and found the party. Their master, the Serpentine Lord, sent his greetings and a promise of neutrality. He also offered to meet with the party personally and invited them to his presence. ZZ quietly slipped off to cast Augury about doing this and received an emphatic No! The party thus declined, saying they had business elsewhere (true enough,as they expected to hear from Astraharsis soon on their quest to remove their curse).