The spider was unable to open the secret door so it would not be joining us on the ledge at the top of the stairs. We believe we have about 30 hours left before unknown, otherworldly powers break loose in our general area…

As we seemed to be following the underground river upstream Flint reminded us all of Hillgauntlet’s words at the end of Session 20: “The Elder Sign is below us. Follow the river in the direction opposite to its flow and it will lead you to a string of guardians which will lead to the Elder Sign.”

Kyril suggested he run around back where the evil swords are with a Detect Magic in action. He will be gone for a while. While he was gone Ulland knocked and arrow and the Cathal opened the secret door. The party decided, in the druid’s absence, to take out the spider. Cathal noticed a lot of movement in the web. Something had recently been caught. The door opened into the webs.

Gonchar, with the Ring of Free Action, stepped into the webs, determined to get the spider’s attention. It worked.

• initiative loss
• the party got attacked by an “absolutely giant spider”
• it attacked Gonchar and missed
• Gonchar missed as well
• Ulland tried to sneak an arrow and was successful, doing 22 points of damage with the first shot, and then again for 24 points
• giant spider, 34 hit points

The writhing forms in the web were large, leathery sacks. Gonchar mounted the carpet and Cathal levitated. Gonchar pulled at one of the leather sacks and a bunch of baby spiders erupted forth. Several attacked Gonchar. He was able to brush them off. One did sneak by and attack Cathal. He did manage to get bitten by one (down to 63 points). Gonchar got bitten again as well. Not much damage but he did need to make a save vs. poison. He failed. He failed the dice roll but his high constitution (and the fact that they were tiny spiders) allowed him to survive.

Kyril returned. He told us that we had missed something. He hadn’t found a door but he did detect magic behind one of the walls. We decided to wait on that investigation. Menka, Lycovyne and Gonchar decided to mount the carpet and head upstream with Cathal following along. We made it as far as Kyril did when we encountered a large waterfall. To the west side of the waterfall, we saw an opening in the rock - Kyril’s cavern. A 5’x5’ cavern with a landing.

There was enough room to debark, so Menka, Gonchar and Cathal stepped off onto the landing while Lycovyne went back to get everyone else. We could see that the entrance led into a dark cavern with carvings on some of the walls. The walls were painted with huge images of fanged mouths and tentacles. We saw 3 boxes on the floor. The north box was open while the other 2 were close. Cathal noted that, if anything, the pervasive sense of evil was fainter in here. The room also included a door in the east wall, built into the wall, though there was no obvious way to open it. The back of a secret door, perhaps. The floor was sand.

We noticed dark stains and discolorations in the sand leading from the open box back to the cavern entrance. Menka looked in the open box and saw bloodstains and a ring at the bottom. We presumed that the stains in the sand were blood as well.

The other boxes were shut and wax-sealed. Menka suggested the thieves search the boxes, even the open one, for traps. They found no traps on the empty box. The ring was silver with Celtic knotwork and an emerald shaped like an alcoholic potato. Cathal looked at it and knew at once that it was his uncle’s ring - it once belonged to Patrick O’Donovan. Cathal reached in and grabbed it. He put it on. It is a memento, not magical.

Flint checked the south box for traps. He didn’t find them. The lock was sealed in wax. Flint scraped the wax off the lock. He checked for traps again and didn’t find them. Ulland did not find the traps, either.

Flint moved to the larger chest in the middle and scraped the wax off that lock as well. He tried to pick the lock on the big chest and was successful. Cathal volunteered to open the chest and did so. There was a slight glow from inside the chest. A small tray in the lid held a bone egg. Beneath it he saw some items, folded items and on top of all of them he saw a shiny, silver Celtic sword. He had to make a save vs. magic and did so. He reached in and grabbed the sword. When he did so a set of teeth, like those we’d seen before, bit him, but missed. He tried again and got bitten for 3 points (down to 39). This time he pulled out the sword and it filled the room with light. Celtic symbols were inscribed up and down the blade.

Cathal knew that it had plusses to hit, larger plusses vs undead and even larger plusses against giants. It also has healing powers. 2 cure light wounds per day, 1 cure disease once per day, cure serious wounds 1 time per day, cure critical once per week and heal once per month. We will have to identify it to get the specific plusses.

Menka, looking over his shoulder, had to make a save vs magic and failed. He placed the Flail of the Desert Kings in the box and closed the lid. He had no idea that he had one such a thing. He was clueless. Tim told Menka what he had done. This time he made his save. He reached in to grab the flail (guided by Tim’s words). It slowly came back to him what was going on. He successfully retrieved the flail and stepped back.

Kyril divested himself of all of his gear and approached the box in the center. We would keep him from reaching for any of his gear should he attempt to do so by failing his saving throw. He was at 6 AC without his gear. He made his save. He took out the egg - as he did so, teeth appeared and bit him for 4 points of damage (47). The teeth seemed bigger than before, maybe half again as large. Kyril put the egg in the small box. He turned around and before he could shout a warning two giant tentacles appeared behind Lycovyne and Tim.

• surprised
• a giant tentacle covered in burrs and eyes wrapped around Tim, doing 8 points of damage to him ( 20) though he made his dex check so his arms are free - he was being dragged toward the water
• the other tentacle missed Lycovyne
• initiative loss
• the second tentacle wrapped around Menka, doing 9 points of damage (35) - he made his dex check so his arms are free but he was still getting dragged toward the water
• Tim cast magic missile (his arms were free) and hit it for 15 points
• Lycovyne attacked the tentacle holding Tim with the Sword of Sharpness for 6 points
• Gonchar attacked the tentacle holding Menka, hitting it for 16 points of damage
• Cathal nailed the same tentacle with a natural 20 with his new sword, but only hit for 5 points, greenish blood spatters everywhere and the tentacled dropped Menka
• initiative loss
• Lycovyne had called the spell and could get one magic missile off, hitting it for 9 points just as it was pulling Tim underwater - it spasmed and let Tim go, though he fell into the water.

Tim (with the Ring of Swimming) tried to make his way to the shore but the current pulled him away. Lycovyne made a check of some sort (17 on a d20) and was able to pull him to the shore.

• initiative tie
• the new tentacles attacked Menka and Lycovyne
• Tim rocked a 7-dice fireball for 35 points of damage and both tentacles receded into the water
• initiative tie
• two more appeared
• Lycovyne sashayed across the room and sang Mandy and used the Wand of Frost to lay down a 6" wall of ice - it blocked off the entire corridor - we were now locked in

Cathal healed the new wounds. Menka got one back to 46. Kyril got one back to 48 and Tim got 2 bringing him up to 22.

Kyril stayed stripped down and went back to emptying the central box. He reached in and the mouth had gotten even bigger. It snapped at him and missed. He saw a folded-up piece of clothing, bracers and a backpack. He grabbed them and pulled them out. This time he got bitten for 3 points of damage. Cathal healed him for 3 but he got bitten outside the box for another point. The mouths seem to " grow" for 3 rounds and then disappear for a while.

He reached back in and grabbed a quiver, a silver mirror with Celtic knotwork, a gold brooch with Celtic knotwork and an anklet of solid obsidian, inlaid with Celtic knotwork. Under that there were a bunch of bags. Kyril decided to enrobe again as he hadn’t had to save vs spells and the teeth had not appeared again.

Loot!

• The clothing was a cloak with 8 segments and a very nice backpack.

Kyril, now armored, reached back in and the mouth was even bigger. He assigned some points to his AC from the Staff of Defense and still got bitten for 5 more points. He grabbed a heavy bag, obviously filled with coins. The teeth hit him this time for 9 points. He went in one more time ( there was one more item left) - he grabbed the 3rd bag. The box now looked empty. Kyril closed the lid. As Kyril grabbed the last of the items out of the big box we heard a large thump on the other side of the wall of ice. In fact the thumps are occurring regularly.

Flint attempted to unlock the southernmost box and succeeded. The larger teeth got even larger and started biting at Kyril even with the box closed. The first attack missed.

• Kyril fought back but missed.
• Menka managed to hit it for 9 points.
• Tim swung and missed.
• Ulland hit with an arrow for 18 points
• initiative win (Cathal finally earned his pay)
• Kyril missed
• Tim missed
• Menka missed
• Ulland missed as well
• Tim’s second shot (18 dex with a dagger) missed
• Kyril got hit for 8 more points
• Ulland destroyed it with his last shots
• haunted teeth (8), 49 hit points

Kyril was down to 23 points. We heard another thump! against the wall of ice and it cracked. Lycovyne reinforced it with another wall of ice.

Cathal opened the small, southernmost box and found 5 glass vials within and smaller teeth struck out at him. He opted not to fight back with his sword to avoid breaking the vials. The teeth missed him all 3 times and he grabbed all 5 vials. Cathal reached around inside the box but found no hidden compartments.

Kyril decided to fire off a Detect Magic and check everything we just found and search around the room.

• 5 vials: all are magic. One is clear. One is greenish hue, different magic. Pink does not radiate magic. Purple does. Blue does and it’s quite powerful.
• backpack radiated magic, the pack itself
• bracers radiate magic
• anklet, brooch and silver mirror are not magical - quite nice, but not magical
• quiver - items within it radiate magic, or the quiver, can’t be sure - within it are a number of compartments - one has 6 arrows, all of which radiate magic, 3 more so than the other 3. Another compartment holds a stave and the stave does not radiate magic. The quiver itself radiates an aura of alteration. The first and smallest compartment is arrow sized. The second is javelin sized. The 3rd compartment would fit a stave or a bow, larger. The quiver seems to have a lot more room within than it should from examining it from the outside.
• the egg radiated magic
• the 8-flanged cloak radiates magic (alteration).
• the three coin bags: 2 do not radiate anything while the 3rd (middle) bag radiates very strong magic from the bottom of the bag that is so strong it nearly knocked the druid over

We dumped out the second bag. Lots of platinum pieces and a greenish stone in the shape of a 5- pointed star. Metal clasps on the end of each point indicate to the dwarves that the thing is designed to be attached to an emerald encrusted anus. We kept hearing the pounding on the ice wall.

We examined the door in the eastern wall again. No way to open it that we could see but it seemed to slide to the right into the wall. It’s been 3 rounds. The teeth re-appeared and attacked Cathal.

• initiative loss
• the teeth appeared randomly in front of Tim but missed
• Tim managed to hit back for 5 points of damage
• Ulland managed to hit the teeth for 24 points
• haunted teeth (4), 20 hit points

We wondered what exactly the magic backpack is. Kyril placed a large, heavy bag of coins into the backpack and it (the backpack) did not seem to weigh any more. Indeed, it was still refreshingly light weight.

We decided to rest for 8 hours and fire off all of our cure spells.

• Menka case cure serious wounds on Gonchar getting him 16 points getting him to 79.
• Kyril cast stone shape and created a stronger wall behind the walls of ice to secure us for the evening
• Menka CLW on himself (44)
• Menka CLW on Cathal for 8 points (47)
• Kyril cure serious for 16 (39)
• Kyril CLW on Cathal for 7 (54)
• Menka CLW on Flint for 7 (52)
• Kyril CLW on himself for 8 points (47)

Loot list since our last identify carousel:

• Luck Blade, pg. 185
• a locked cask filled with jewels, gems and MU scrolls, pg. 188, 191
  • Whirling Blade
  • Kheben’s Suspended Silence
• huge mace and shield (unidentified, Menka), pg. 188, 191
• unidentified armor (worn by Cathal), pg. 188, 191
• vampire’s coffin, pg. 196:
  • wizard’s spell book
• shelf on the wall, pg. 196
  • staff (unidentified) - Staff of the Woodlands +2
  • potion
  • dwarven hammer (unidentified)
  • elixir
• silverware and 4 crystal bowls, pg. 196
• 6 black pearls, pg. 196
• 3 amethysts, pg. 196
• an inverted halfling skull filled with jewels, pg. 196
• a tableware set marked with the seal of Phane, recognized by Cathal, pg. 196
• wizard’s gloves (Ephraim), pg. 202
• Egyptian Khopesh type sword, unidentified, pg. 202
• small pouch radiating magic, pg. 202
• a backpack that radiated magic, pg. 202
  • something wrapped in an oiled cloth
  • small pouch of coins (no total)
  • Ephraim’s spell book
• magic/unusual torch, pg. 202
• statues, Session 26
  • pink satyr, 2 gems - rubies set in diamonds
  • The Stone King, 3 violet gems, second only to the satyr’s eyes
  • sphinx eyes, 2 titanic quartz spheres
  • hydra, 16 amber gems
  • harpy, 2 very large emeralds
  • griffin, 2 fire opals
  • dryad, 2 citrine quartzes
  • minotaur, 2 jades
  • manticore, 2 red tourmalines
  • centaur, 2 aquamarine gems (we did not take?)
  • hippogriff, 2 small peridots (green gems)
• Elder Sign room, Session 27
  • magic bone egg (disposition undefined)
  • Patrick O’Donovan’s ring (non-magical), Cathal
  • Magic long sword (Patrick’s), Cathal
  • 5 vials: all are magic. One is clear. One is greenish hue, different magic. Pink does not radiate magic(?). Purple does. Blue does and it’s quite powerful (Elixir of Life).
  • backpack radiates magic, the pack itself
  • bracers radiate magic (Bracers of Archery)
  • anklet, brooch and silver mirror are not magical - quite nice, but not magical
  • quiver - items within it radiate magic, or the quiver, can’t be sure - within it are a number of compartments - one has 6 arrows, all of which radiate magic, 3 more so than the other 3. Another compartment holds a stave and the stave does not radiate magic. The quiver itself radiates an aura of alteration. The first and smallest compartment is arrow sized. The second is javelin sized. The 3rd compartment would fit a stave or a bow, larger. The quiver seems to have a lot more room within than it should from examining it from the outside. Almost certainly a Quiver of Ehlonna (UE III.E.7 pg. 102)
  • an 8-flanged cloak that radiated magic (Cloak of
  • 3 coin bags
    • 2 do not radiate magic but are heavy with coin
    • the 3rd bag, in addition to lots of platinum pieces, held what seems to be The Elder Sign