Session 138: In the Eye of the Beholder

 Day 24 of Harvester:

The usual group of Feno, Kyro, Lhoss, Armatzi, Niki, and Arnd head quickly head back to town in order to try to get back to the Foaming Mug for a late dinner. With a hurried pace through the creepy maze, marsh and forest, the group makes it just in time for dinner. Following dinner and the evening rest, the group gets up and heads back towards the Barrow Maze. When they arrive at the Barrow Marsh, the smells, and the general atmosphere makes the groups' stomach churn. With their collective nausea, they enter the Barrow Maze early afternoon. Entering in and heading towards the area they were last in; the group hears the unmistakable sounds of scratching nearby. It is coming from the pit the group had discovered in a previous adventure. Not feeling the bit curious, Feno trudges onward and forward, avoiding whatever is making the noise. Arnd and Niki following him into the next room. Lhoss, decides to look into the pit, and in that instant realizes the folly of that decision. The moment she peered down into it to look into it, the smell of rotten flesh hits her nostrils. This rotten flesh smell causes her to expel her partially digested breakfast along the floor of the Barrow Maze, and the edge of the pit. At nearly the same moment, Armatzi decides to investigate the noises coming from the pit as well. The sights and sounds from the pit overcome his stomach, and he lurches out his breakfast as well. While they are vomiting near the pit, the rest of the party are blissfully unaware and enjoying their ration lunch in the next room. Lhoss and Armatzi make their way slowly towards the next room and eventually rejoin the party, with Lhoss slowly sipping water in respite for the recent actions. After some time, both Armatzi and Lhoss are able to eventually eat lunch and the party moves forward to the area with the steel porta coulis. 

When they arrive in that area, they discover that the porta coulis is down, and in a locked position. This surprises the group, as they had left it open when they passed through it last. After some discussion on what to do, they decided to back track and head towards an area Feno remembered they forgot about in a previous visit. As they were traveling in that direction, Lhoss noticed a hidden latch along the wall, and upon lifting it, found a secret passage to the hallway that connected to area near the porta coulis. This hallway was just past the room that had the lever that controlled the metallic gate, thereby circumventing the obstruction. The group follows this hallway and Lhoss discovers more hidden doors along the way, thanks to more discoveries of hidden latches and switches. Feno, in a moment of clarity, grabs a few fist-sized rocks and places them strategically in front of the hidden doors. He does this in order to see if there is any movement, one way or the other, from them. The group then continues to follow the passageway, which opens up to an area that goes up to the north, and down to the south. The Fount is glowing very brightly now. The group opt to try going south, and immediately notice the Fount slight dim its light, and lessen its intensity. Armatzi immediately says they should proceed north instead. The group then turn about face, and marches northward. As they do so they notice large piles of refuse and rubble from the collapsed ceilings nearby. The group leaves the piles alone and proceeds north ward, entering the northern door. 

Upon entering this new room, the group's eyes are greeted to a large antechamber filled with four large demonic statures. The stench of death emanates throughout this new antechamber. As they march forward, they view each statue, and upon closer inspection, the statues eerily glow and leer with unholy light. With each step forward, the stench of death becomes more and more pronounced, almost overpowering. The Fount of Law glows brightly and pulsates. As the group nears two open double doors, a large army of undead creatures comes into view. The familiar skeletons, zombies, are among the creatures, as well as a new formidable creature lurking in the shadows. This large creature, full of eye stalks, often causes terror to those that behold it. As the group attempts to quickly formulate a battle plan, the monsters move forward. Feno moves forward in order to throw oil, but Armatzi quickly gives him holy oil to throw instead. When Feno moves forward, the large Beholder states:

“Foolish mortals! You dare to trespass upon my domain, wielding your feeble holy relic as if it were a weapon against me! Know this: I am Ibixibildo, master of this realm. Your presence fills me with nothing but disgust and contempt. You come seeking to vanquish me to rid the world of my glorious presence? You are nothing more than insignificant insects compared to my might. Your precious holy object may cause me pain, and may fill me with fear, but know that I am not so easily defeated. I am a creature of darkness and power and shall not be cowed by the likes of you.”

And with that, Feno throws the vial of holy water at few skeletons that were bunched together. The vial shatters, destroying one skeleton in the process, and damaging several others with the holy water spray. Lhoss steps up and fires her ever reliable magic missile at the Beholder. The magical creature swats it away effortlessly. Her jaw drops, as she had never seen that happen before. Kyro notches an arrow in his bow and fires at the Beholder. It finds its mark and the Beholder screams in anger, "You will pay for that treachery!" Kyro fires again but fails to connect on the second arrow. The skeletons, zombies, and the Beholder advance to attack the party. The Beholder focuses its magical eye stalks and makes magical attacks on Arnd and Kyro. It first tries to attack Arnd, but the spell fails, as the stout little dwarf's blood gives him immunity to that particular attack. Kyro is next to be targeted, but thanks to being favored by the gods, is able to shrug off the spell. The Beholder once again focuses on Arnd, and this time is successful in its attack, causing Arnd to fall asleep. The creature launches once more spell at Kyro, but Kyro is able to resist once more. The skeletons come charging in and attack Kyro. While most miss in their attacks, one particular skeleton is able to get a grazing wound on the ranger. Some skeletons attack Feno, but naturally they all miss. Some skeletons attack Lhoss, causing some minor damage. Feno opts to try to clear a path, attacks and destroys a skeleton first, then a zombie shortly afterwards. The Beholder, sensing that Feno is currently the biggest threat, focuses its magical attacks on him. The first spell, a charm spell has no effect thanks to his elven blood. Unfortunately, the second spell, hits Feno full force. The second spell, a fear spell, causes him to look at the creature, quake in terror, and turn to flee from battle. Lhoss readies another magic missile spell, but a skeleton disrupts it with a successful strike on her. When Armatzi moves into the room to take action, the skeletons quake as if in pain and the Beholder speaks:

“You speak of righteousness and virtue, of light and purity. Your words are hollow and meaningless in my wrath. Your so-called holy relic may be a thorn in my side, but it is nothing compared to the fury that burns within me. I shall crush you beneath my gaze and tear you limb from limb with my disintegrating rays! I revel in the agony of your demise. Know this: you’ve invoked the wrath of Ibixibildo, and you shall pay dearly for your decisions. Your holy relic may give you strength, but it is nothing to the power that I wield. Prepare yourselves for annihilation! For your end is nigh, and there is no escape from the wrath of the beholder!”

Armatzi attempts to turn some of the undead army, but they resist due to the power of the beholder. Niki attempts to strike a nearby skeleton, but unfortunately misses on her attack. The beholder attacks Armatzi, causing him to writhe in pain. It then lifts him into the air and drops him to the ground causing him further damage. At this moment some forgotten knowledge is jogged back into his brain, forgotten after given from Sir Guy:

“Sir Guy urged Armatzi to do what he could not do and finish his task. And what was his task? Long ago, before he was usurped by his children, this temple was used by evil cultists to worship Narule, the god of the dead. The temple was built on a spacial weakening in the layers between other planes of this realm. Evil rites took place here and the bodies of sacrifices were thrown into the pit. Through these sacrifices the cultists called forth all manner of demons and unsavory creatures through the gate. The lawful order saw this temple as a great threat, and a small group of knights, and priests led by Sir Guy entered and battled the cultists and their undead minions. Sir Guy carried a powerful, gleaming white orb called the Fount of Law, created specifically to close the gate. Sadly, Sir Guy and his henchmen were betrayed, captured, and killed. The Fount of Law was hidden. The Fount of Law must be found and thrown into the pit to seal the gate!”

As Feno runs away into the next room full of demon statues terrified of the beholder, the group attempts the to attack and destroy some of the horde of skeletons, but instead causes minimal damage to them. Meanwhile, the portal in the back opens up, and three more undead appear...

Session 137 Afternoon of day 23 of Harvester

 Day 23 of Harvester, afternoon in the Barrow Maze

Jack the cat is a troll.  OK, not literally, but he's maybe possessed by one?  Ever since he got that Lesser Ring of Jack, he's become really snarky and kind of mean.  I don't know, maybe he was like that before and we didn't know because he couldn't speak common.  He certainly doesn't treat Niki with the respect she deserves.  I'm quite tempted to try to take the ring from him and re-bury it deep in the barrow maze again.  Sure, it gives him some great power, but he doesn't use that power responsibly.  I'm sure glad he's not my cat. Then again, I'm more of a dog person anyway.

Anyway, after that strange cat magically appeared, caused mayhem, and then disappeared again, we continued to explore this latest area of the Barrow Maze.  Moving north from the pit we'd found (things that fell in disappeared at about 10 feet down, so we don't know how deep it actually is, and have no interest in finding out), there was a midden pile in the corner of the room. Thankfully, the smell isn't much different from the rest of the Barrow Maze, although nowhere down here smells pleasant.  Arnd was checking the rest of the floor for stability when he heard a somewhat familiar growl from behind a half-closed door. As one might expect, it is more of the ravenous (un)dead like we'd fought off earlier.  Nasty critters!  There were only two this time, so I wasn't worried. First, they swung at Arnd since he was in the front of our group, but they missed him completely.  Armatzi attempted to use his gauntlet to "Turn Undead" but it didn't have any apparent effect.  Lhoss used her "spider climb" ability, gaining a back-stab advantage that allowed her to destroy one of the attackers.  Arnd tried to hit the one that attacked him, but he missed, so Feno stepped up and slaughtered it before it could do anything else.

Upon looking into the room the monsters had come from, we found the bodies of two unfortunate adventurers that the undead had been devouring.  It was obviously much too late for us to do anything to help them since they are both mangled and one is completely missing his face.  Despite not being able to identify the (probably) human men, Armatzi was moved to perform funeral rites on them.  He first asked Niki for proper herbs, but she didn't have anything fresh so I offered to let him use my sage that I always carry.  It was sufficient for his needs, so I helped him to arrange the bodies while the others searched the backpacks we found with the deceased men.  They found a fairly large amount of stuff and Niki cast "Detect Magic" on it, finding that only a crossbow was magical.  Unfortunately, nobody in our group uses a crossbow, but I ended up with a nice footman's mace, Armatzi added to his supply of writing materials, and Lhoss packed up the unused bandages they'd had. Everything else was packed up to be sold in Orlane at loot.  Once Armatzi cast his blessing spell on the bodies to consign them to the grace of St. Cuthbert, we placed them in a pair of empty burial alcoves out in the hallway and continued down the passageway to the west.

There was a door in the passageway that seemed to have been warped by moisture, and when Arnd tried to open it, he accidentally smashed it in. The room revealed was full of alcoves which most of us decided to search while Feno guarded the damaged doorway and Armatzi tried to concentrate enough to regain his spells, but he ended up feeling too frazzled for it to work. We did find a bit of treasure in the alcoves but before we could complete our search, Feno let the rest of us know that he heard voices approaching. As is to be expected, we quickly determined that the newcomers were not friendlies since they were talking about gaining a source of power and about undead servants. We extinguished our light sources to avoid letting our presence be known too soon and Lhoss considered using her spider climb ability to crawl out and spy on them but changed her mind since it was too likely that she'd be spotted and then be at a disadvantage.  Niki used her "Stone Shaping" spell to open a passageway between the room we were in and the previous room that we'd found the dead men in since our hope was that we could then send half our group behind the bad guys in a pincer move and have them surrounded. Feno held the damaged door in place so they couldn't get in while Lhoss, Arnd and I tried to sneak out the other door. 

I don't know if we weren't quiet enough or if they were just that aware of their surroundings, but what turned out to be a group of zombies under the thrall of four Necromancers of Set were not surprised by our attempted ambush.  My arrow, which should have pierced the chest of one of the Necromancers, was deflected harmlessly by a spell and then Arnd, Niki and Lhoss all missed hitting the zombies they were attacking.  Fortunately, of their return attack, only Arnd was hit while Niki and Lhoss were both unharmed. Armatzi tried to cast "Turn Undead" but was unsuccessful, possibly because the Necromancers were right there to reinforce their control. 

Admittedly, there was rather a lot of ineffectual fighting between us and the zombies until Feno stepped out and obliterated a zombie with a single blow, which shocked the Necromancers because of his strength and speed. They decided to enter the fight then, to their ultimate destruction. One attacked Niki and one attacked me, but both of them missed, followed by Feno expressing his contempt by smashing to paste the one that had attacked Niki.  I managed to kill the one that had attacked me, and the third one committed suicide, calling out, "My life for Set," as he died.  Feno finished off the final Necromancer with little effort and we focused on cleaning up the zombies that were left.  

It wasn't as quick and easy as I would have liked and Armatzi for some crazy reason tried to attack with a water creation spell (which was completely ineffective in doing any damage, although it may have helped with the smell a tiny bit) before we finally eliminated the scourge. One bright spot was when Armatzi cast "Cure light wounds" on Lhoss and managed to fully restore her health. Best casting ever!

The zombies were typical zombies and had no valuables on them but the Necromancer corpses had platinum, daggers and a staff on them. As we finished looting, a disembodied voice proclaimed pride in the dead Necromancers, which absolutely disgusted me since they'd been pretty pathetic and the one even had killed himself rather than fight for his standards! My goddess, Merikka, would never find pride in such a thing. Sympathy for a damaged mind maybe, but never pride.

We finally finished going through all the alcoves we'd been searching before Set's wimps interrupted us and decided to head back to town. That is when we remembered a slight problem.  In that room we'd gone through that had all the holes in the floor, the portcullis had been triggered and dropped down, blocking our exit. We tried to lift it, since we'd done that successfully before, but it seemed to be locked in place somehow. Even my companions using their superior elven eyesight couldn't see any way to release it.

Suddenly, Feno remembered that there was a piece of paper in the bottom of one of the floor holes and decided he wanted to see what it said.  Lhoss looked in the hole that had appeared green and discovered that was because it had a quantity of green slime at the bottom of it, so she quickly backed away from that hole. Feno found the correct hole but didn't want to risk putting his hand down inside it.  Using a bit of ingenuity, we put a blob of sap from my kindling onto the end of a piece of rope and were able to snare the paper without endangering anyone.  The paper read, "First Up, then Down" which Lhoss interpreted as instructions for opening the portcullis.  She bravely reached into the hole that held the lever that had triggered the portcullis dropping in the first place, grabbed the lever and followed the directions.  She pulled the lever upward and then when it made a clanking noise, she pushed it back down.  To everyone's relief and joy, the portcullis noisily raised itself back up and we were free to go on our way. Thinking about it now, I know we were extremely lucky that it worked, but I kind of think that there is some sort of diety or power of the dungeon, a master perhaps, that is watching over us as we bumble along and helping to keep us going, even against great odds.

Session 136: Puzzles and Traps

It is day 23 of Harvester and we (Feno, Arnd, Armatzi, Niki, Kyro and Lhoss {me}) find ourselves presented with ten holes containing various things and a wriggling thought that this must be a puzzle to be solved. Armatzi has some wild theories about what each hole must mean, but Feno is a man with a plan! As the rest of us cower in a doorway, Feno uses an unlit torch to flip the lever set down in the northwesternmost cavity. Immediately, holes open in the eastern wall and shoot out black and yellow darts. One hits Feno and he slumps down to the ground, paralyzed. I spring into action to rescue my fellow Elf by pulling out the dart. I feel a numb tingling start to spread from my hand up my arm and drop the dart, which disappears. Feno regains consciousness pretty quickly and I examine the wall to see the holes where the darts had originated. Once I spot the holes, I begin to search the room to see if there is another wall that might also be concealing darts. Feno offers to join, so I point out the holes and he nods and starts searching. Armatzi wants to help as well, so I point out the holes, but he can't see them. Jack poofs into existence on Armatzi's shoulder, cuffs him on his ear, then disappears. Niki joins and with a little time and squinting is able to find them. Armatzi squints and strains, but is still unable to see what is plain to all us Elves. I turn to Feno and huff in Elvish "If I woke up tomorrow with human eyes, I would pluck them out and trade with a pig." He nodded with a wry grin (clearly he thought it was the most humorous thing he'd ever heard). It's a very good joke, even better in Elvish. And it rhymes.

At any rate, we do not find any other dart holes in the room; they seem to only come from the east wall. Armatzi decides he wants to flip the other switch in a hole. This time, all of us but Kyro surround Armatzi with shields as he triggers the second lever. With a loud *clunk* the portcullis drops. It does not rise with a reverse flip. Shoot, we've just trapped ourselves. I check the door to the east for traps and don't find any, so we can at least move on from this room. As Armatzi opens the door, we look back to see Kyro attempting to fish the metal circle out of one of the holes. With a bit of finagling, and some help from Armatzi, they lift the circlet out. To their horror, there is an unholy symbol of Nerull engraved upon it. A putrid smell fills their nostrils as the rotting skull appears to animate, frightening Kyro into dropping it back into the hole. Armatzi brandishes his holy symbol and sprinkles holy water on the artifact, but this is not enough! He breaks out a sacred incantation and douses the thing in more holy water. This seems to be sufficient as a cloud of gray smoke rises and then turns white. It seems the evil has bin dispelled. After such unlucky encounters, we all agree to move on from this room.

Arnd is the first through the door and begins to probe with his ten-foot pole. He calls out that he has found more burial alcoves and a pile of rubble. While the rest of us get to work looting the alcoves, Arnd and Feno examine the rubble piles. A swarm of giant rats emerges and scurries away. We don't pursue them. Arnd explores further north in the room and discovers a bottomless (question mark?) pit. Meanwhile, our noisy efforts have attracted a group of ravenous dead. We destroy them with little fanfare and push them into the pit. Curiously, they just disappear into an inky darkness about ten feet down and make no sound of hitting the bottom. This may be more than simply a bottomless pit; regardless, it is a danger to be avoided.

Session 135: Dim Light, Bright Light

 Day 22 of Harvester

The party spent the day shopping and exchanging gold for various gemstones, jewelry, and other valuable trinkets with Pascal the merchant of Orlane. They did this in preparation for their trip back to the Barrow Maze the following day.  

Day 23 of Harvester

After a day of shopping and inventory management, the group awoke extra early to get a jump on the day's activities. They had an enjoyable breakfast at the Foaming Mug before heading out towards the Barrow Maze in the early hours of the morning. The farmlands and the dim forest were especially quiet during this morning commute. They arrived in the Barrow Marsh later that morning, the familiar smells of the swamplands hitting each of their nostrils. They opt to go inside the second entrance to the Barrow Maze so that they can continue their Fount of Law quest. Upon entering the familiar stone labyrinth, the group begins to notice that the Fount acts as a directional compass of sorts: it grows brighter in some directions, and dimmer in others. They begin to head east first and are shortly attacked by a small group of Huecava. They dispatch this group of undead with a combination of arrows, spells, and sword strikes. Following this battle, the group heads in a north-northeast part of the Barrow Maze. Armatzi notices that the Fount has dimmed a little, indicating that they are proceeding seemingly in the wrong direction. The group then turns around and backtracks to the where then came in from, then travel in a northwestern direction. They proceed to travel into a passage that they haven't been in quite some time. The passageway led to the area where they encountered the undead king and his ship. In the area of the ship, Armatzi notices that the Fount is somewhat dimmed, so group decides to eat lunch prior to heading back to the entrance yet again. Before they got there however, the group notices the Fount acting curiously in the hallway. The Fount pulsates and grows brighter when near one of the hallway's rooms. The group searches the nearby rooms but are unable to find anything. They proceed to the entrance area again and head towards a door to the north. This door, the group believed they had traveled through once upon time, they had not. This door led to area not yet explored by the party. It opens up to a larger room with a porta coulis on the right and door to the north. Lhoss first tries to unlock the northern door, but it apparently is beyond her skill set as it remains locked. Feno decides to try to bash it down, and shockingly it remains on its hinges. After the failure at unlocking the door to the north, the group instead heads down the passageway towards the porta coulis, it being precariously balanced above them. The group follows the small footsteps of Arnd into a room filled with small holes, with each one being roughly two to four feet deep. Armatzi is the first to look inside a hole and discovers an unknown green substance. Lhoss, being near a hole herself, looks inside a different one, and discovers a lever inside. Feno discovers a lever in the hole near him. Kyro makes a more disturbing discovery and finds a severed hand in his hole. Feno moves to another hole and sees a metal circle about 4 to 5 inches across on the bottom of the hole. When Lhoss moves to another hole, she sees something odd: a straight stick roughly 12 inches across. She then moves to yet another hole and discovers a scrap of paper or piece of vellum on the bottom. Armatzi and Kyro both search different ones near them, but both come up empty. The group also discover in one of the holes a small golden object glinting at the bottom of the hole. Having visually searched all of the holes in this new room, the group decided what to do next. This room has three doors to the north. Lhoss decides to search each door to see what if any traps lay in wait for the party. The first door, she discovers, has a gas-trap installed into it. The second and third doors are found to be trap-free. Armatzi opts to open the second door, only to discover a room with a rusty cauldron filled with yellowed teeth. They head back into the hole room after being creeped out by the teeth. Feno, feeling both brave, and a little impatient with the group, volunteers to press one of the hole levers to see what happens. Arnd loudly objects, stately this is a terrible idea, but Feno doesn't care. Armatzi tries to cast bless, but apparently lacks the required components for his clerical spell. He instead moves to the doorway and starts chanting, hoping that he can help Feno in this task. The groups anxiety rises as Feno gets ready to pull the lever...

The Fount of Law has its first use

Day 14 of Patchwall.

Rough notes from Arnd's scratches:

We stopped to eat lunch and it was relatively peaceful, for the Barrowmaze.

We moved into the next room, with the large obelisk. As Armatzi came in, we could see that he was holding the Fount of Law tightly and it seemed to be shaking in his grip—and the obelisk shook as well. After a few minutes of this, the obelisk suddenly crumbled to dust!

We decided to go south into the hallway, and as we moved down the hallway the Fount of Law became slightly dimmer, so we decided to turn back and go north.

We marched along the hallway, watching the walls and floors. Going through the double doors at the end of this hallway, we turned right and entered a room which previously had a statue. Armatzi noted that it is an ancient avatar of St. Cuthbert that has been defaced and beheaded, and the fingers partially broken off one hand.

To the south side of this room were two doors that we couldn’t remember if we had explored or not. Lhoss investigated and couldn’t determine if they were trapped or not. They were different than the usual dungeon doors and had some ancient runes on them so we investigated and tried to read them, but could not. We decided to open the left door and Armatzi opened it, revealing a group of terrifying Huecuva crawling from burial alcoves.

One came straight at Armatzi. Feno went running in and immediately destroyed one. I (Arnd) decided to go in after Feno and attack the one that was engaged with Armatzi. Armatzi then cast “turn undead” and affected some of the huecuvas. Two of them then attacked me and another attacked Feno. Kyro then attacked the huecuva that Feno was facing off with. None of us or the huecuvas made effective swings and there was no damaged to anyone or anything until Lhoss took aim with some magic missiles and took out two of the creatures. Niki came into the room and attacked one, damaging it with Mister Paws. Each time the Huecuvas attacked Feno, their large claws made horrible scratching sounds down his armor. Feno then swatted two of them down to dust. Armatzi stepped in and destroyed the last huecuva. Lhoss noticed that one of them had been wearing a pouch. Opening it, she discovered three gems, and obsidian, oriental emerald, and oriental amethyst. For a moment, Jack suddenly appeared on Niki’s shoulder, looked around, and let out a quick “Meow meow!” before taking the grape-shaped amethyst and vanishing. Niki blinked and looked around in confusion.

Armatzi decided to pray for some spells. While he did that, the rest of us searched through the burial alcoves, finding some silver earrings and a bag that felt weightless, but which contained 120 gold pieces. We immediately named it the baby bag of holding and poured in all of our gold, electrum, and silver pieces, plus 16 copper from the bag of holding. Altogether that meant it holds 500 coins or 50 pounds and 30 cubic feet.

Moving back out to the larger room, we approached the other closed door. Just as we opened it, we heard a low, growling noise from the west, down the hall. We then moved into the room, which contained 69 more burial alcoves, and began yet another search for treasure. We found 51 electrum pieces and a whole lot of gnawed bones.

We left the room and headed east, finding a room with an arrow made of ugly yellow teeth, pointing west. We searched around that room, which contained burial alcoves, and found a bunch of platinum. Jack also reappeared, exclaimed, “These grapes can’t be eaten!” and handed them back—slightly damp—to Niki before vanishing again.

Heading north, we found another room with a pyramid-shaped pile of stones and graffiti on the wall saying, “Something is following us. Beware the eyes in the walls!” We could hear something from behind a door to the east, which sounded like an old lady saying “Help!”

Lhoss checked the door for traps and didn’t see any.

Armatzi decided to open the door, since he was holding the protective Fount of Law. Inside was a creature that appeared to be part tiger, part louse, and part ant. Also on the floor was a lot of treasure! Another mongrel-man was a mixture of a lobster and a mouse, and another was a mixture of different breeds of dogs. They quizzed us to see if we were necromancers of Set, and Armatzi convinced them that we were not. We entered the room and noted that it was filled with coins on the floor. They told us that they had escaped from the necromancers. We gave them all some rations and they took them eagerly. They then said they wanted to escape to the west and we moved aside so they could leave. They ran out the door and down the hallway toward the south. We then picked up the coins on the floor—also discovering 4 emeralds—and pocketed them all carefully. It was a lot of coins! We went north, “Star chamber room” and the elves wanted us to move out. We then investigated the eastern wall and Lhoss discovered a latch on the wall. Another star chamber room. The two elves, Lhoss and Feno, went in and closed the door behind them. After a few minutes the door opened again and they invited us in. They had found another door! We went through that and out into another hallway, Heading north we sorted through some rubble in the hallway and west into another dirty room. Moving north a bit more, we found ourselves in a section of the Barrowmaze that we had recently visited, where we battled the Band of the Black Hand. We decided to go back to Orlane from here for the evening, and headed out west through the rooms we had previously visited, finding that we had finally linked our way through the Barrowmaze from one entrance to the other.

We left the marsh, went through the dim forest, and as we entered the farmlands found a large bull staring us down. We cautiously moved down the trail, avoiding looking at the bull, and passed it without instigating its territorial instincts. Returning to Orlane at dusk, we found a delicious hamhock, rice and bean dish being served, and hungrily ate our dinner. Jack had two servings and ignored Niki while he ate. She interrupted him to ask about the teleporting and he said that he had discovered he had the ability to teleport to his favorite pets. He then teleported over to Armatzi and then back to Niki, then went back to his food as Niki exclaimed about how he was her pet and not she his. The bantering continued and the rest of us calmly polished our armor and chuckled quietly as Jack ordered Niki and Armatzi to eat some dinner, saying it would put hair on their chests. He then snapped his paw and a bespectacled little man came up and explained that Sir Jack was paying him from a wealthy account to write his memoirs. As Niki became more excited, Jack turned her over to Lhoss with the instruction to get some sleep, then sauntered out, saying he had a date waiting.

Session 133: At last, the Font of Law

It is well into Day 20 of Harvester when we find that an old friend has decided to join us once again. As Feno, Arnd, Niki, Kyro, and I (Lhoss) contemplate whether we are full sick of trudging out to the barrowmaze, Armatzi strides up full of vigor to complete his long-assigned task of finding the Font of Law. It's an assignment that has buzzed in the back of our minds for weeks and months, but we have faltered, as of late, with any genuine motivation to get it done. Niki had a burst of inspiration from her deity just yesterday, but is already easily swayed by Feno's tantalizing description of a personal quest to find and defeat a displacer beast. Frankly, we all are interested in something new. There is also the pull to bring the temple some troll blood and a few tasks to be done in Hochoch. Arnd reasons, impressively so for a dwarf, that the guidance of Armatzi may be what we have been missing and we should utilize his righteous skills to locate the artifact while he is with us. We all decide this is wise and plan to set out early the next morning. Meanwhile, Zach returns to the inn and informs us that he has chosen to become an acolyte of Merikka and will perform two weeks of penance at the temple. He then expresses a strong desire to wipe out The Band of the Black Hand and liberate the underlings who had been enslaved like himself. The party agrees that this is a noble quest and adds it to the "to do" pile. The remainder of the night is spent eating a hearty dinner and listening to a bard sing about brave adventurers. I am awash in feelings of goodwill (and ale) as I nod along to the lyrics that mirror my own life and am joined by Feno, Dorian, and Llewelyn. Is there anything as glorious as the company of elves?

Early the next morning, we all set off. The weather is gorgeous and the first leg is pleasant enough, with greetings from the farmers in their fields. The mood is quashed as we enter the Dim Forest, though. It's always a gloomy place, but something feels off. More that usual, even. But we press on and emerge into the stinking barrow marsh. The main entrance, as we have come to call it, displays no oddities. There is no fragrant meal; in fact, even the mysterious table is gone. The chalk writing on the wall has been smeared with a hand  (or paw?). This place is wild. All the more reason to find the Font and be done with it.

Armatzi says a prayer to St. Cuthbert and indicates the Font is in some natural caverns. Luckily, we know just where to head to start searching. On the way we see some grayish-white powder trailed on the ground. The archway that had been emitting hot air has gone cool again, but is now covered with a mass of multi-colored mold. Niki shivers. Some teeth are seen scattered along a set of stairs, including humanoid teeth and one six-inch canine cuspid. A low moaning groan is heard in the distance and dies off. The obelisk covered in evil runes that we had destroyed is now intact. The rest of us had seen this, but Armatzi is stunned. He approaches it to investigate, and it... tracks him. He does not engage with it any further! Any one of these oddities might make a more cowardly soul turn back, but we all press on.

Entering the natural caverns, Armatzi declares the Font is near. Down a corridor, we see an amorphous golden blob trickling down a wall. It is quickly defeated and as Feno delivers the killing blow, the ochre jelly separates to reveal the partially digested remains of the cave fisher. I shiver.

We soon come upon a new room we haven't seen before. There are three stone statues of male warriors around a rough-hewn sarcophagus marked with dark runes. Armatzi is immediately on edge and casts detect magic, but the spell is unable to penetrate the stone. Suddenly, two of the barrow guardian statues animate and attack the party. They are quickly dispatched with and our attention is pulled to the sarcophagus. Armatzi pushes the lid aside and casts protection from evil on himself. Inside there is a glowing white orb. He hesitates; is this some trick? But as he approaches the orb, the air sweetens and he is filled with hope because he has finally found it. He has found the Font of Law! A strange alien noise sounds out twice but then dissipates. Armatzi grips the orb tightly and holds it slightly in front of him. It glows brighter as if it is guiding him. The mission is not yet complete.

Session 132: An Evolving Viewpoint and New Ally

Days 19 of Harvester

The Orlanian Heroes gathered around the unconscious body of the surviving member of the Black Hand party. Niki cast a healing spell on him to assist in binding his wounds, but his unconsciousness remained. Due to his unconsciousness, he was unaware of the charitable acts that some members of the party had taken, in response to the harsh actions that some had done when he was in a defenseless state.  He did feel the healing spell, nor was aware of the cleaner clothes being provided. The magically inclined members opted to use this time to memorize the spells they had used, while Arnd watched over the prisoner, ensuring that Chiki steered clear from him. Those that were not magical casters, or who had completed their memorizations quickly, went to work in the search of the nearby burial alcoves. The party finds a large, finely cut sapphire, an ivory demon idol, and decent amount of gold pieces that they split amongst themselves. Shortly after the searching and the memorizing, the body of unconscious prisoner begins to stir, and he awakens. After some brief questions, the party finds out his name: Zach Stone. He hears various options from Lhoss, and Arnd, but initially doubts their intentions. Through intense discussion that nearly broke down a few times, the group learns that most members join the Black Hand through kidnapping and intimidation. Chiki, the group member who initially caused Zach to fall unconscious, continued to antagonize the prisoner through hostile questions and actions. Feno, grown frustrated by Chiki chaotic escalation of the situation they found themselves in, struck him hard in the back of his Gnomish head with his palm. Because of Feno's excessive strength, this blow caused Chiki to wince in pain. Lhoss, hearing how Zach was forcibly pressed into the service of the Black Hand, is moved into offering him a position as a torch bearer for the party at a rate of 2 GP a day, new clothes to change into, and offers him a ration to eat as well. Seeing this charitable act causes Zach's eyes to swell with tears, and he tentatively agrees to the arrangement.  The group decides to head back to Orlane, and to put him in the back with Kyro, in order to put as much distance between him and Chiki as possible. Kyro, seeing his recent struggles, offers to untie him, and says that if he were walk next to him the whole time, he can remain untied the remainder of the trip according to his word. Zach of course agrees and Kyro removes his rope bindings. The group makes their way through the dusty passages of the barrow-maze with their new companion Zach in tow.  

As the party approaches the Dim Forest, they notice that Zach has been shielding his eyes from time to time from the sunlight. Lhoss begins gently asking why that it is, and he informs the party that he has been in the barrow-maze for a while, and he is having a hard time adjusting to outside light and freedom the group has given him. Lhoss continues to gently probe him about his previous life. He tells the group that shortly before being pressed into service into the Black Hand, he went into the Dim Forest and saw a glimpse of a white deer. Kyro is amazed by this, but others are unaffected by this, unaware of its significance. Zach furthers mentions he was once a follower of Merikka, but has fallen out of favor since joining the Black Hand. 

The group arrives in Orlane in the late evening, but still early enough for dinner. They arrive at the Foaming Mug for a delicious dinner being served. Lhoss and Kyro split the cost and ensure their new friend is taken care of, both with food, as well as bed and bath for the evening. They all gather around the tables of the tavern and enjoy the delicious food, especially Zach. He relaxes a bit and relays the troubles of his past and the inner workings of the Black Hand. He reveals that many members are charmed into service, while others are threatened into it. He also reveals that while the few upper leaders are truly evil, most of the members are pressed into service. The leaders send the members into the barrow-maze to look for and collect treasure for them, and if unsuccessful, the members lose their fingers. Lhoss, further moved by Zach's story, offers a heartfelt apology for those things that has befallen him. Chiki, on the other hand, in his usual chaotic fashion interupts and asks where he can go to further train his magical abilities. Arnd off-handedly mentions that Rainn, who lives here in Orlane usually trains the other magic users but is unsure if he will be willing to train Chiki. Following dinner, the group clean themselves up, and Zach really enjoys his bath, this being one of the first time his was given an opportunity in recent days to do so. Once scrubbed clean, and clean clothes put upon him, and with a large smile he gave Lhoss and Kyro each a large, warm hug of gratitude. Lhoss and Kyro both notice that Zach is quite a young man, barely reaching adulthood. Following dinner and conversations, the party head to their respective rooms for the evening. 

Day 20 of Harvester:

The group awakens to the usual amazing smells of breakfast, and Chiki decides to ask the owner of the Foaming Mug, Florian if he can cook breakfast for Zach with some eggs that were from his inventory. Florian agrees and says that the cook is more than willing to cook it if Chiki wants to provide the egg. Chiki looks into his backpack and discovers that it is overflowing with eggs. It appears that he hasn't been paying attention when his chicken has been laying eggs, and now his backpack is overflowing with eggs. Meanwhile, Niki, seeing her self-aware cat Jack, begins to argue with him. Jack, sniffs the clutch of eggs, determines which are good eggs, and which are spoiled. Feno, who had gotten up to get a start on the day, decides to sit down to watch this interesting show that is developing right in front of him.  Chiki starts talking to Florian about a business deal that doesn't make sense to the party, or to the owner, to donate eggs in exchange for storing them. Florian asks: "What exactly is being offered?"
Chiki responds with: "Let me paint you a picture..." Feno immediately tunes out and rolls his eyes. Chiki apparently wants the tavern to hold his good eggs, and he will collect an egg a day, (or so this is what the group thinks Chiki is talking about). Florian agrees to store the eggs. 

Following the breakfast drama, the group splits in a couple groups and heads in different directions in town. Feno, Lhoss and Niki head towards Dorian and Llewlyn (the resident elves of Orlane), while Gnorcia, hearing Chiki needed guidance took him to Rainn. Meanwhile, Kyro took Zach to meet the priests at the temple of Merikka. 

After a warm greeting, Dorian greeted Feno, Lhoss, and Niki and welcomed them inside. After exchanging pleasantries, Feno asked the elves about information a personal quest he is on locating displacer beasts. The elves tell them what they know, including where to find them, and what to expect, and they bid the party good luck with a traditional drink of elven spring wine.  Following this, the party members head towards store to meet up with the rest of the party.

Kyro, upon bringing Zach to the temple, speaks to lay members to help bring Zach back to the faithful. Zach is asked to follow an acolyte to a prayer room, where he is discussing his vision of the white deer and his feeling of Merikka, so he can assist in helping in what to do. 

After introducing Chiki to Rainn, Gnorcia leads him back to the group, and then goes back to her training.