Session 84 Wealsun 1

It is the evening of the first day of Wealsun when we first met our newest adventuring companion.  She is a wood elf named Niki, trained as a druid/ranger, with a cat familiar named Jack.  Being middle rung-lower class, she fits in rather well with the rest of the group, although there is an almost immediate rivalry between Niki and Armaziti. I don't know if this is because of Cleric/Druid incompatibility or because Armatzi is upper class and a bit snobby with it.  Regardless, we made sure they were pretty much as far apart in the marching order as possible, with Armatzi in the front and Niki in the back with me (Tatania).  We are ready for dinner, so we head back to Orlane as soon as Armatzi heals Feno.  

We don't make it far into the barrow marsh before being set upon by four strange zombies emerging from the north. The ever-present fog in the marsh here makes it difficult to judge distances, and it shows during our battle. One zombie tries to claw Feno as he's in the lead, but it misses.  Gnorcia tries to take advantage of its distraction to backstab it, but also misses.  Two additional zombies also strike out at Feno and unfortunately both hit him.  I shoot one with my magic missiles, doing serious damage but not defeating it.  Meanwhile, Armatzi is attacked by the final zombie, and it missed as well.  Niki attacked the same zombie as I had hit, and she did a bit more damage to it.  Armatzi attempted to "Turn Undead" but his spell is not successful.  Feno bashes one of the zombies that are attacking him, although not the one that Niki and I damaged, and sends it reeling.  Lhoss uses Magic Missile to splatter the head of the zombie that Niki and I had beat on, leaving us down to three opponents.  The zombie that Feno had hit struck back at him, knocking Feno unconscious.  Gnorcia immediately moves to cover our fallen friend.  Lhoss uses a Magic Missile to attack the zombie that got Feno, leaving it in poor shape.  Armatzi moves to heal Feno and is attacked by the zombie that had missed him previously, so I fire my second Magic Missile at it and drive it back.  Niki backstabs the zombie that had taken down Feno, demolishing it completely.  Since I am out of Magic Missiles, I pull my magic silver dagger and slice at the zombie I'd blasted, almost killing it. Armatzi comes in with Melissa and pounds that zombie into paste.  Gnorcia goes after the final zombie with her short sword, Vengeance, and the feisty Niki is right there attacking as well.  It is Feno, still feeling woozy after being healed, that gets the final hit in on that last zombie, and his hit is so powerful that all of us (except for Lhoss, somehow) get splattered with zombie juices. It's gross and stinky! Feno notices that Lhoss is still mostly clean, so he flicks some of the ooze at her.  Niki heals Feno the rest of the way while Armatzi heals himself.  Then, our exhausted group trudges down the path through the dim forest and on to Orlane.  So as not to offend our hosts at the Foaming Mug, we all bathe before dinner.  The dinner is delicious, chicken pasties with steamed greens, although Armatzi spends extra so that he can have rotisserie chicken.  There's that snobbery I mentioned before.  I appreciated the dinner so much that I went and gave the cook an additional silver coin as a gratuity.  I think she appreciated it.

As a sign of just how tired everyone was, we all slept late and almost missed breakfast completely.  Fortunately, we just made it down in time to get food and got ready for the day.  Several of us had a bit of shopping to do before we set off again, with Armaizi buying holy water, Gnorcia buying an armor repair kit and some incense, and Lhoss and Feno also deciding to get repair kits.  As we travel through the dim forest, it becomes apparent that something has changed.  The feeling is very eerie with strange noises and unnatural sensations surrounding us.  Entering the barrow marsh is no better.  There, we encounter a large group of members of the Band of the Black Hand who threaten us. I can hear Lhoss growling even as Gnorcia casts Hypnotic Pattern, which can paralyze anyone it affects.  Of the 12 band members, four are ensnared.  I quickly hit one of the paralyzed men with a Magic Missile, killing him instantly.  Lhoss is attacked by two enemies but they both miss.  An additional two members attack me, but they also miss.  Lhoss uses her Magic Missiles to kill two more paralyzed members of the Black Hand. Two who are not ensorcelled try to hurt Feno, but they miss pitifully.  Then, Niki is also missed.  All these missed attacks have shaken up the Black Hand members and it is made much worse for them when all of our attacks are successful and deadly.  Armatzi bashes in one guy's head with Melissa and Feno decapitates another with his long sword.  One of the apparently smarter bandits turns and runs away as Niki kills one of his unfortunate comrades.  The remaining bandits blanch and want to flee but are headed off by further attacks.  I kill one and damage another with Magic Missile.  Lhoss kills the runner and Feno kills two more in an attack of opportunity.  Niki and Feno both fire their short bows but Niki misses (probably because of the annoying fog) while one of Feno's arrows hits and the second falls short. The last living member of this group of the Band of the Black Hand manages to escape because Armatzi doesn't want to run after him.  We loot the corpses and find 79 gold. This is surprising, considering how pathetically they fought against us, but we split up the money and move on.

Entering the Barrow Maze secondary entrance proves that the uncomfortable atmospheric changes we've been feeling since entering the dim forest are evident here too.  There is a distinct feeling of something watching us.  Armatzi spots something strange that he identifies as a "Wizard Eye", an advanced type of scrying spell.  The "eye" quickly retreats and is soon gone.  As we are walking past the stinking charnel pit, I remember that we have a foul chain and skull amulet in our bag of holding that nobody wants, so I toss it into the pit to be rid of it.  We go down the stairs to the area we'd been exploring yesterday and ate lunch in one of the cleared rooms followed by re-memorization of spells.  Armaziti is goofing off when he notices claw marks in the stone wall.  Niki immediately determines that the marks were not made by a natural creature and after some discussion, Lhoss and I conclude it was likely a Demonic Shambler that is causing the bad aura in the maze.  None of us has any desire to encounter a Demonic Shambler!  We check the closed door across the hall from us, looking for traps, but find nothing unusual.  Armaziti casts a blessing before Feno opens the door.  There are human-sized skeletons lying unmoving on the floor of the new room.  The walls are all decorated with frescos detailing myths of sea-going adventures.  Just to be sure, since the feeling of wrongness is still hanging heavy in the air, Armaziti breaks apart one of the ancient-looking skeletons with Melissa.  Nothing happens and nothing of interest is visible.  Suddenly, there is a sound of stone grinding against stone, but it is impossible to tell where the noise is coming from.  After only around 11 seconds, the sound stops, and the eerie silence returns to the barrow maze.

Session 83: Evening of Day 1 Wealsun - CY 576 In Person Session

As the group went down the staircase into darkness, Feno, Armatzi, Chalkboi, Myrtle Dixon, Lhoss, Gnorcia, Tatania, and Chiki gathered together, some by the uncanny magic of the world, where one moment someone is present, and another moment they pop into existence with the party. 

The group found themselves in a corridor stretching out into the west and darkness. There were frescos on both the southern and northern walls of various seaside myths, legends, and generals scenes. They were very well done, but old, and the remaining paint was flaking badly. 

There were two doors, one to the north, and another to the south. The group chose to examine the southern door, and then open it after it was deemed safe by Gnorica. Chiki opened the door successfully, revealing seven fearsome figures with baleful red eyes that turned their ire upon the party immediately. Chalkboi proved most useful, wielding Caliburn, which seemed to burn with fury as it fell into the undead bodies and brought them back to their dead status. 

After the group dispatched this nasty group, they spent sometime fruitlessly searching the room, resting, and some memorizing/praying for spells. Also, the group started eating. Chiki was behaving very strangely, and decided to go out of the room, and close the door, and examine the hallway, and then have a meal in there. This attracted several very hungry beetles, which quickly overcame Chiki. Fortunately for the willy gnome, the rest of the party heard the noise and came to the rescue. The beetles proved to be fire beetles, and mostly interested in the contents of Chiki's backpack (who always carries plenty of provisions). They devoured plenty before being sated but not in time to flee, and the party destroyed them, claiming their glowing stalks for light sources. 

Session 82: Paying our due, or not

We moved up into the room where the flies were and Myrtle Dixon noticed something written on the wall: “Not finished come back later” near a hidden latch. I checked for traps and opened it, finding a goblin picking his nose. Clearly he needs a new, heavy labor assignment.

We moved in further and opened a door up to the left. The door itself was kind of sticky gross, and when we opened it two blood spiders rushed at us. One immediately latched on to me and as soon as i started bleeding the other attacked me as well, but the group cut them down quite quickly. Tatiana explained to us that the blood spiders apparently aren’t poisonous but act more like spider sharks. Whatever that means.

We entered the spider room, following Arnd, who slashed through the webs toward a bricked-up wall/doorway to the west. As we got there, suddenly Lhoss appeared and got stuck in some webs for a moment. Arnd, Kyro, Armaziti, and I started bashing the brick wall and pretty soon had it broken down. Inside we could see an ornate fountain of blue water, with some words written on it. Lhoss and I snuck around the room checking the floors and walls.

The words on the fountain said “Pay your due”. A few of us threw in some coins and suddenly two enormous and angry-looking water elementals appeared. Maybe they should have been more specific about what the due was. They were very difficult to hit and appeared quite formidable. Arnd and I attacked but then I chose to back up, allowing Lhoss to get behind it and attack, finally doing some damage. Armaziti cast his “command” spell and said “Retreat!” and the one in front of him turned to retreat! Arnd smacked it just before I cast Mesmerize and they were both mesmerized, allowing Armaziti to blast through them both, destroying them and washing the floor as they fell. As we left the room, Tatania wrote “Band of the Black Hand, toss coins in the fountain” on the wall. It could work. They seem pretty dumb.

We moved back out and down to the room below. Pausing there and closing the doors, Tatania, Lhoss, Armziti, and I memorized spells. We then opened the door to the west and discovered a room full of burial alcoves, with a portcullis closed down on the north wall and a hallway behind it that we couldn’t see clearly in the dark. We searched the room and found a bunch of gold coins and a golden statuette. Then, working together, we lifted the portcullis and entered the hallway behind it, opening the first door we found on the right. Inside we found burial boxes which we searched and found a lot of electrum.

Back in the hallway, Armaziti discovered yet another hidden latch on the wall and used it to open a doorway with stairs behind it, going down. We all moved forward and down the stairs where we found ourselves in another hallway.

Session 81: An Education in Potions, Day 1 of Wealsun

The morning of the first day of Berrytime was warm and sunny. Feno, Aramaziti, Chalkboi, Gnorcia, Lhoss, and Tatania began their day in Orlane doing errands. Feno and Lhoss went to the shop and sold off some weapons (a throwing axe for Feno and a spiked long sword for Lhoss). Feno then bought a morningstar as to have a blunt weapon to use against skeletons (cue foreshadowing music). Wishing to replenish their poison antidote supplies, the group headed to the temple of Merikka.

At the temple, the team met up with Browning (a lesser acolyte). They were informed that he would be conducting all future commercial temple dealings. Browning listed the prices for healing potions and poison cures. The group decided to buy one poison antidote and place it in the bag of holding. Additionally, Feno and Gnorcia purchased a dose each to keep in their personal packs. Browning then told us that if we could obtain the valuable components of the potions (ogre mage blood or troll blood for healing potions and poison glands from spiders or scorpions for heal poison potions) we could receive a discount to purchase them. At this, Gnorcia's ears perked up. She produced several poison sacs that she had skillfully extracted from defeated spiders and was able to sell them for a hefty treasure. Looking at the vials for sale, Lhoss pulled out a few unidentified vials from the bag of holding. With a small gasp, Browning identified two as healing potions, with one being a super healing potion containing three doses. What a discovery! The group, stocked up, headed out toward the barrow marsh.

Even though this has become a well-trod path for our heroes, they were still struck by the business of the area with new builds and a few travelers passed on the way. Other than these merry sights, the journey was uneventful. As the party descended into the gloom of the barrow marsh, they were set upon by that familiar enemy: skeletons! (Repetition of foreshadowing music, now in a major key).

The undead monsters were quickly dispatched with and left in piles of burnt and broken bones. Lhoss turned to Tatania and said "Tatania, wanna see a new entrance?" and pointed out the new door that the party had discovered the previous day. It presented a significant shortcut to the part of the barrowmaze the group had been exploring. Being a quiet and relatively secured area, the party ate lunch and rememorized spells.

Moving on, the heroes found themselves in a familiar spot where they had encountered a melee between the cultists of Orcus and Set. Feno noticed a switch on the wall and, with encouragement from Lhoss, threw it. The wall disappeared to reveal several carnivorous flies. Disgusting as they were, the warriors slew them all quickly and skillfully.

Session 80: Cleaning up and going home Day 23 - 28 Flocktime and Day 1 Wealsun

Armatzi, Gnorcia, Arnd, Lhoss, Hilja, and Feno gathered together after the battle with the fearsome spiders in their den, and Armatzi healed a few groups with the chant of "Smile and wave boys". Lhoss and Armatzi went  into the previous area and memorized and prayed for new spells. 

The group then focused on where to go next, and there was renewed interest in the walled off end of the stairway. Armatzi and Feno used their strength, skills, and tools to make shortwork of the wall, revealing a tomb, with six alcoves, each containing a skeletal warrior in old chainmail, with shields and spears. They surrounded an altar with a brilliantly glinting broadsword there. 

Gnoria stealthily entered the room, looking for traps on the floor, and carefully examining the skeletons. The skeletons proved to be quite aged, with chain mail coifs and armor that were rusting, old metal shields, and dusty spears that were nevertheless sturdy. Another door on the opposite end was also walled in. There was some supposition that a greater treasure lay in the room beyond (discussions of legends of great treasures that were kept hidden by lesser treasures that were more apparent). 

Armatzi, Arnd, Feno, and Lhoss all worked on that wall and quickly took it down, revealing the evening light and the mists of the Barrowmarsh. This was apparently another entry to the Barrowmaze that they had discovered! The group then decicded to go back in and examine the sword. Lhoss went up to the sword, and found that it was brilliantly bejeweled with a rainbow of colors. There was some guess that a previously found jeweled scabbard was the match, but then it was recalled that the scabbard was only blue and green gems. Lhoss grabbed the sword, which caused the six skeletons to quickly animate and attack the party. Fortunately, despite being surprised, the group was able to handle the skeletons, particularly with the aid of St. Cuthbert directed by Armatzi. Lhoss claimed the sword, and found that it had some magical properties, and decided to keep it. 

The group then decided to head back to Orlane, but were ambushed by four more skeletons. The same result happened though, with the clerical power from Armatzi proving to be very useful. The group proceeded out of the Barrowmarsh (they found that the new entrance was to the north and west of the previously discovered entrance). 

As the group moved through the Dim Forest, a group of zombies attacked the group. However, Armatzi continued to prove his worth, and the zombies were routed. 

The group returned late to The Foaming Mug, and found a tasty dinner of chicken pasties, fried greens, and spring wine awaiting them (fortunately for them that The Foaming Mug keeps a late kitchen). 

The next morning, after a delicious breakfast, the group sold their wares. Lhoss asked about the value of the sword, and was offered 1800 gold pieces for it, but she decided to retain the sword. Gnorcia and Arnd then borrowed some wealth and went about training for the next week, becoming strong in their illusionist, thief, and fighter occupations. 

Session 79: Afternoon of Day 22 of Flocktime

The group moved north again up the hallway to where there were some stairs and a closed door. Lhoss, Feno, and Armaziti went up the stairs and found a wall at the top, which appeared to be well-made masonry. Thinking that there was either something really worth hiding behind it, or something really worth blocking off, Lhoss said she wanted to get through it at some point. I (Gnorcia) suggested that with our small numbers we shouldn’t be making a lot of noise and should consider the unopened door instead. Everyone agreed and after Lhoss, Feno, and I all checked the door for traps and found none, Lhoss opened the door.

Behind the door we discovered seven skeletons rattling toward us. The room had water dripping down the walls and it seemed to have calcified their bones, making them tougher. Feno and I ran in and attacked the first skeleton but both failed to hit it. Lhoss hit it with a magic missile, and then Hilja and Arnd both attacked another, damaging it. The other skeletons closed in on us and Feno took quite a bit of damage, and another hit Hilja. I managed to destroy the first one and Lhoss incinerated another with magic missiles, but one of the skeletons hit Hilja again and she fell. Lhoss bandaged her and Feno finished off another. We battled back and forth some more and eventually Arnd took out another one, though he and I both took some damage. We all then managed to get in some good hits on the remaining skeletons and they all finally fell.

Armaziti healed poor Hilja, who had to eat a double-portion of rations to get her strength and color back. He also partially healed Arnd, Feno, and I. Lhoss and Armaziti then prayed for spells while two of us guarded and the other two searched through the many alcoves in the walls all around the room. In the search we found a diamond ring and 58 gold pieces. Hilja was quietly disappointed that Ronan wasn't with us.

Armaziti healed Feno again and then Feno led the group into a small room behind some rubble. Armaziti then re-memorized his spells while the rest of us searched the room and carefully examined all the walls (though we found nothing of interest.

We then gathered outside another door and it opened to reveal three horrid blood spiders racing at us! One attacked Feno and another attacked Arnd. I ran and got behind one of them, backstabbing and pinning it to the ground. Hilja ran into the back of the room and attacked the third spider. Lhoss then hit that one with magic missiles, nearly killing it. The spider attacking Feno managed to do some damage and then seemed to go mad at either the sight or smell of blood, latching on to him! Lhoss and Hilja attacked the one in the back again, taking it out, and then Lhoss finished off the last one as well.

Session 78 Day 22 of Flocktime: More chaos, but also a strong burst of law

Feno, Armaziti, Gnorcia, Dwerom, Kryo, Arnd and I (Tatania) were in the Barrow Maze, on day 22 of Flocktime, after playing around with the magic pools we'd found. Mixing and drinking unknown potions is a very bad idea. You never know what might happen. Nevertheless, after Gnorcia had drunk a potion with a positive result, the lure of increased stats was too strong for me to resist, so I'd done so as well. It was after my intelligence increased to super-human levels that I noted that the "correct" combination of Red-Black-Purple depleted the pools more than would be expected for how much fluid was removed, even though the other combinations seemed to have no effect on the levels. Definitely mystical forces at work there. That should have clued me in enough to prevent Hilja from being pressured into drinking the combination that proved poisonous. I'll probably feel guilty about that for quite a while. What good is being intelligent if you don't have the wisdom to use said intelligence? I'm determined to find a way to increase my wisdom so I can hopefully prevent such tragic events in the future.

So, we were standing around and noticed that even though we'd emptied the pools completely, they were slowly refilling. In a completely unexpected move, Feno mentioned an interest in drinking a potion. Considering how Kyro had been physically prevented from drinking a vial (although not by Feno), I was surprised. I didn't think that anyone else would want to try. Still, I mixed up the correct combination and handed it over. Again, my lack of wisdom kept me from thinking things through completely, and Feno's lawful alignment reacted poorly with the chaotic potion. I should have known that would happen! I'm supposed to be smart! Fortunately, Feno's convulsions from the interaction only resulted in some bruising and nothing permanent. I hurried over to check him as best I'm able. When he declared that he'd be fine, I foolishly offered to give the potion to anyone else who wanted to try it. What was I thinking? I think I was still affected by the euphoria of having my intelligence increased like that. It was quite a rush!

After a bit of discussion, we figured that the ones who benefitted from the potion were of either chaotic or neutral alignment. Armaziti decided he wanted to try the potion but since he is lawful (just like Feno), I felt it wasn't a very good idea. He was wiser than I in that he mixed Holy Water in with the potion before he drank it. It turned a golden yellow and granted him a huge increase in his hit points as well as a bit to his wisdom. I admit I'm rather jealous of his now-level 18 wisdom and I could have really used some additional hit points.

Feno expressed a desire to break down a brick wall at the end of the passage, and Kyro volunteered to help. Together they used the sledge hammers to bring it down. Gnorcia pulled out some crackers from her rations and nibbled on them while she watched the destruction. Since there was so much noise, I kept an eye on the approaches, to guard against intruders. Gnorcia and Dwerom joined me in guard duty, although Gnorcia also continued to eat. Armaziti and Arnd plopped themselves onto the floor and ate lunch with admirable dedication, considering how unappetizing the rations are compared with the great food we've been having at the Foaming Mug.

Kyro entered into the passageway found behind the brick wall and carefully walked to the north. There was a skeleton in a decayed shroud, holding a small gold box. Kyro nudged the box with his sword and it fell from the skeleton's hand. There was an arrow attached to the top of the box that was wildly spinning. I determined that since it was spinning it was either clockwork in nature, or magical. Considering how long it had apparently been there, clockwork would have long ago wound down, so magic was most likely. Feno suggested that someone should cast "detect magic" and Dwerom said he could do so. Unfortunately, "detect magic" doesn't identify what kind of magic, or what its effects are. Still, his spell affirmed what I'd supposed. Dwerom does have an "identify" spell, but didn't have the necessary components to cast it.

I entered the new passageway and noted that there was a statue to the south. It didn't seem important enough to investigate immediately, but I heard Lhoss behind me. I like Lhoss, and was glad that she was with us. I was curious about the box Kyro had discovered, so I went up to see it. I picked it up, the arrow immediately stopped spinning, and pointed to the north-east. I placed the box in my pouch while I went over and inspected the wall it was pointing at. It was just a boring wall with nothing unusual I could spot, so I decided to eat my lunch right there.

Meanwhile, Feno and Lhoss went south to inspect the statue. Feno mentioned that Arnd liked to wander a bit, and someone compared Arnd to Hodour and how much more the dwarf was easily distracted. I commented that maybe explained Hodour's affinity to squirrels. Dwerom took time to examine the skeleton, hoping to find anything of note. All he discovered is that it was a standard human. Armaziti still seemed a bit dazed by his stat increase and was looking at the wall in the corner. The sword was a large granite likeness of a knight, holding a double-handed sword. Feno bowed in respect to the depicted warrior, while Kyro saluted it with his sword and pronounced, "Well met, fellow Warrior." I figure it must be some warrior thing, so whatever. The statue remained unmoving, just a statue.

Armaziti continued to inspect the walls, without finding anything of note. After I finished my lunch, I went over to the stone slab that the skeleton had been lying on. It's plain and quite normal, so I decided to arrange the skeleton's bones respectfully on it. Kyro decided to eat his lunch then and I pulled out the gold box again and walked down toward the statue, looking to see if the arrow changed at all. Somewhere on my journey, the arrow did a 180 turn and started pointing south south-west. I didn't really see where it changed, but had an idea. I concentrated on the box and tried to mentally instruct it to point me toward treasure. It doesn't respond at all. Since everyone else seemed busy eating or inspecting the wall, I verbally ask the box, "What are you pointing at, Box?" It continued to ignore me (assuming it has any sentience) and didn't change its direction again. I decided to retrace my steps back up to where I picked the box up originally, but the arrow stubbornly continued to point SSW. I don't know what caused it to change, and it's rather frustrating to me.

The walls continued to be unexceptional despite how many of the others were looking for anything interesting. Eventually, we grew bored with that and I thought that maybe it would be a good idea for Feno to take the holy water-enhanced potion. I assumed that the pools would have filled at the rate they had been, and I was shown to be accurate in that assumption. I made the correct blend and took it to Armaziti, wanting to minimize the variables in how the golden potion was made. Dwerom offered a vial of holy water that Armaziti mixed with the potion, resulting in the same golden potion he'd made before. Armaziti passed it over to Feno, who drank it and gained supernatural strength of 19 and +1 dexterity. Feno said that Dwerom ought to have some of the golden potion as well, since it had such a good effect on him. I wanted the wisdom boost, but feared that the holy water addition would be unlikely to help me, especially since I have no particular affiliation with any diety.

We discussed alignment for a while, and how the potion pulled people toward chaos if they weren't already so aligned. I am very much chaotic aligned, so it had pretty much no effect on me that way, and I understand that the same applies to Gnorcia. Lhoss was truly neutral before taking her potion, and now leans slightly chaotic without being actually chaotic. It was a bit confusing, but we worked toward a general understanding. Dwerom debated taking the potion himself, and eventually decided to try it. I mixed the potion for him but he mixed the holy water in himself, not waiting for Armaziti to do it for him, and luckily got the same result. He drank it down and had his strength and intelligence increase by a point each. Arnd followed with his own holy water-enhanced potion, gaining 4 hit points and a point of strength. Caught up in the excitement, I foolishly made me another potion and (eschewing the holy water add-in) chugged it. I wanted the wisdom increase so much, it made me incautious. Unfortunately, I didn't get it. I didn't get any increase with the second dose. I just began running in circles and ended up passing out, exhausted. When I came to after a few moments, I internally cursed myself and agreed with the others that we were done with the pools. At least I didn't do myself any permanent damage.

After a moment, we decided to see if we could follow the arrow on the box I still had. There was a passageway a bit to the east that went south that we took and at the end of it was a standard dungeon door. Lhoss graciously relinquished her door-opening duties to Feno. Feno easily opened it and found a room with a raised portcullis in it. There was a passageway beyond where the portcullis would drop that had a couple doors off of it. Feno and Armaziti went down to the first door and Gnorcia got worried that opening the second door might trigger the portcullis to drop. She felt a bit familiarity about the area but couldn't explain what or why. The box continued to point south-west, so Kyro and I joined Feno and Armaziti by the unopened door. Everyone else moved down past the portcullis area before Feno attempted to open that door. Once we were closer, we could see there were several doors and the sense of de ja vu grew stronger with the older members of the party. The first door opened to a room that had been recently explored, including footprints that match Gnorcia's, giving credence to the thought that at least some of us had been here before. Lhoss noted that there are footprints that match hers as well, assured that this is not a new area for her. Each of the rooms are opened in turn, proving empty and showing more of the tell-tale prints. It was rather anticlimactic.

Finally, the passageway turned toward the west, and the arrow on my box obligingly turned to point down that way. We gathered at a door that somehow is too tough for Feno or Armaziti to open. Lhoss gave it a try but was also unable to open the door. I gave it my all and amazingly the door opened for me. Inside were three huge green scorpions. EEEEWWWW! I hate scorpions. Fortunately, I hadn't relaxed enough for them to be a surprise but, unfortunately, I was up front and in range to be attacked. 

The scorpions were extremely fast and took advantage of that speed to attack both myself and Feno. Feno was hit by the stinger of one of the scorpions and fell, gagging from the poison. The one that attacked me hit me with a claw but didn't hit me with its stinger. Gnorcia did an amazing vault over Feno to be able to attack from behind, but her sword just skittered off the carapace of the scorpion. My magic missiles slammed into the face of the scorpion that was attacking me, doing some damage but not quite enough to kill it. Lhoss threw her own magic missiles at the foe attacking Feno and singed it. Feno was shaking from the effects of the poison and was unable to do anything in his own defense. Armaziti dug a "cure poison" vial from the bag of holding for Feno to take while the third scorpion crept up on Gnorcia and attacked. It hit her with its claw and also its stinger, poisoning her too. Dwerom advanced with his sword since firing his bow into the scrum would be too hazardous to the rest of us. Dwerom hit the scorpion, dropping it down to a single hit point. His attack gave Feno the clearance to escape from the foe and take the potion from Armaziti which he quickly drank. Kyro tried to hit the scorpion that had attacked me but his sword bounced off harmlessly. Let me say again, I HATE SCORPIONS!

The nasty thing attacked me again, knocking me unconscious but not poisoning me. Gnorcia was flailing from the poison and a scorpion managed to knock her unconscious as well. Lhoss hits that scorpion with her magic missiles, leaving all three scorpions near death but still extremely dangerous. Feno, having recovered from his poisoning, smashed into a scorpion with his sword, obliterating it completely. Gore splattered everywhere. Kyro used Big Stabby to flail about uselessly, unable to hit anything. Arnd attacked the weakest of the two remaining scorpions, splitting it lengthwise with ease. Armaziti poured the second "cure poison" potion down Gnorcia's throat and she immediately began to breathe easier and her color improved greatly.

Dwerom went after the final scorpion with his broadsword, dealing it some damage but not quite killing it. It struck back at Dwerom, hitting him repeatedly with its claws but missing with its stinger. Feno hit the scorpion viciously, turning it into paste. Lhoss came over and bandaged me up while Armaziti healed Gnorcia, although she ended up with a weakened left arm. Fortunately, she is right-handed, so her fighting shouldn't be affected. Armaziti then came over and healed me with no lasting effects. 

Back behind the dead scorpions there were three corpses of members of the Band of the Black Hand as well as a large pile of coins. Lhoss scurried over to the corpses to desecrate them as best she could, shredding their Black Hand badges and grinning wildly.  She REALLY dislikes the Band of the Black Hand, you know.  Kyro and I count up the treasure and divide it up amongst the group, making us all a lot richer.  We also find three unidentified potions (a dark grey with white speckles, a bright translucent green, and a dark opaque green) and two pearls. The potions went into the bag of holding along with the slightly smaller pearl, while Dwerom took the pearl that was slightly larger in the hopes that it will be adequate for his "Identify" spell. I wish him luck in getting that spell to work.  Also, I made a note that we need to be sure to buy more "cure poison" vials as soon as possible.  Without those, we would have been in a huge amount of trouble today.