Previously, the Saviors of Orlane had pulled an ambush on a group of the Band of the Black Hand and were ambushed in turn by a group of undead. Things looked grim for our heroes for a time, but their might won out in the end. Gnorcia, always looking out for her pocket, decided to search the remains for treasure. Most of the group joined her, and some items were found. Usually, undead are a waste of time when it comes to loot, but this time, Zraith lucked out. One of the Juju (enhanced zombies) was wearing a pair of sandals that weren't the usual junk. In fact, they looked like exactly what the poor little penguin needed to protect her bare, recently burned, feet. Before she put them on, Niki cast a "detect magic" spell on the gathered treasures, and to everyone's surprise, the sandals were indeed magical in nature, as were a pile of arrows Feno found around the second Juju. Zraith put them on her feet and they (amazingly) fit her (decidedly non-humanoid) feet. She hopped up and started walking around in the magical sandals, proving one of their powers by confidently walking up the wall as if it were the floor. Someone remembered that the Juju had been likewise walking on the walls, and it was agreed that Zraith was blessed indeed to get such a useful item.
As the heroes were readying to leave the barrow maze, an eerie green eyeball appeared from the wall and glared at them menacingly, followed by a mouth. The grating voice that emitted from the mouth announced itself as belonging to Naynor, the main foe that they have been searching the maze for. The evil being taunts the heroes by name, referring to them specifically as "The Heroes of Orlane", calling their deeds unimpressive and claiming that they will soon fall to his warriors and join his army of undead against their will.
Lhoss and Gnorcia attack the apparition, but as it is some sort of illusion, they have no effect. Feno quickly turned and mooned the pseudo-face, which then faded away to the sound of echoing laughter. The strength of the magical spell was proven by the laughter lingering for some minutes.
Approaching the stairs chosen to exit the barrow maze, Lhoss is hit again by the wretched smell from a nearby room. "I want to try to get rid of that smell," she said. Her proposal was to gather the rotting remains from the room in the tarp that was in the bag of holding and then dump them in the charnel pit further into the maze that the adventurers had previously thrown bodies into, followed by a vial of green slime. The slime had effectively consumed the biologicals, neutralizing the smell of them. This sounded like a reasonable idea, since the smell of decomposition is truly horrible, so Kyro and Gnorcia agree to accompany Lhoss into the tainted room. Unfortunately, before even entering the room, Lhoss was overcome by the stench and began vomiting.
Gnorcia and Kyro felt a bit green, but persevered and started gathering the remains into a pile. Gnorcia changed the plan since she didn't want to damage the tarp. "I like this tarp," she said, "so how about we just burn the mess and be done with it?"
Kyro wasn't so sure, and asked, "What about noxious smoke?"
"It hasn't been a problem before," Gnorcia responded. "We've been tossing burning oil around in here all over the place." Kyro was still doubtful, remembering the time Tatania had set fire to some frescoes honoring Narul, and all the smoke from that, but didn't feel it was worth arguing about. Neither of the two noticed that the door to the room had closed behind them, so when Gnorcia tossed the lit oil onto the pile of rotting corpses, the room quickly filled with thick, dark smoke. That was enough to overcome Gnorcia, who collapsed and began vomiting as much as Lhoss had earlier. Kyro picked Gnorcia up by the back of her tunic, carrying her as he tried to find the door and get it open, but he passed out from smoke inhalation. Gnorcia crawled over and got the door open enough for her to drag Kyro from the room before they would both have perished. Feno suggested that Niki use her stone shaping spell to just completely seal that room off, but she was unable to because she didn't have the clay component available. The fresher air was enough to revive all three of the group that had been incapacitated, and everyone tromped back to Orlane under their own power.
Due to the time taken to deal with the stinky room, our adventurers arrive back to base too late for supper. The kitchen at the Foaming Mug had been closed down for the night and there was nothing available to eat. Zraith, perhaps feeling generous because of her good fortune in gaining magical sandals, offered to cook up some fish for the whole group instead of just Armatzi like she usually confined her largess to. Most of the group happily agreed, once Lhoss had convinced Zraith to demonstrate her fishing talents, thus ensuring the fish was fresh and not the day-old catch that Zraith had in her bag. Zraith had offered one of those fish to Niki, but even Jack turned up his nose at it. It seems that gaining the powers of the Lesser Ring of Jack has turned the cat into even more of a snob than cats are usually considered to be. Jack claimed that he just has better taste now. The sole abstainer to the meal was Feno, since he has a particular dislike for Zraith, even though she has been traveling with the group for a while now. Perhaps this is understandable, since the penguin can be rather brisk when talking to anyone except Armatzi, whom she idolizes, and elves are a proud race that don't forgive perceived slights particularly easily.
On the morning of day 14 of Good Month, the group sold the non-magical treasures collected on the journey. The magically enhanced small shield was identified as a +1 shield, so since Kyro was the only one who could carry a shield that didn't have one, he was allowed to claim it. It greatly enhanced his armor rating. The arrows Feno had gathered proved to be +1 as well, which says a lot about the skill of the Juju that lost them since he injured more of his own side than the heroes.
Chalkboi counted up his funds and decided that if he borrowed a bit from the bag of holding, he would be able to level up. This left the rest of the group without the paladin for a week, so it was decided that a short trip to Hochoch was in order. Armaziti needed to report in to the Temple of St. Cuthbert, several of the others wished to renew their adventurer's badges, and Lhoss wanted to revisit the grove within the city. These tasks were easily accomplished, with Armatzi being lectured about the undead and their strengths and weaknesses. The information he received may be of great benefit while clearing the barrow maze. The badges were renewed on day 18 of Good Month and will be valid for another 30 days.
Upon returning to Orlane on the 21st, the bounty on the killed Black Hand members was collected and the newly trained Chalkboi rejoined the group. The morning of the 22nd of Good Month saw the heroes returning to the barrow maze, grateful that the long heatwave had finally broken. Instead of being oppressive, the weather was comfortable, and the countryside was beautiful.
The good mood from travel was slightly dampened when the group entered the barrow maze and discovered that it appeared Naynor had been watching for them. Naynor's eye and mouth again manifested on the wall within the barrow maze, and he tried to intimidate and taunt the heroes. He wasn't anywhere near as scary as he believed himself to be, and Lhoss and Gnorcia followed Feno's example from last time and mooned the apparition. A black smoke flowed from the false mouth, carrying a mild curse, "essentially a reverse blessing," Armatzi said, that wore off before the group encountered anyone or anything. Returning to where the undead had ambushed them earlier, the rooms in that hallway were searched. Niki happened to spot a lever that opened a hidden door, that lead to a hallway with a second hidden door and then a third hidden door. This third door opened into the hallway that the Band of the Black Hand had approached the ambush from. All that remained from them was a burned out campfire in the room at the east end of the hall, but there were multiple burial alcoves around the room which were searched for treasure. A closed portcullis was discovered on the south wall of the room and the members of the group took turns attempting to raise it individually. None were successful. Before a group effort could be organized, Chalkboi raised the alarm from where he'd been guarding the hallway entrance. Giant rats were approaching, and the Rat King himself, Filth Fang, called out to have Jack surrendered to him. "No way," Niki called back. Feno then yelled back his own challenge, "You've got a date with my sword, Rat King!" One might get the feeling that Feno dislikes the Rat King, and who could blame him?
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