We seem to have found the chain of binding for Grastic’s gate. Apparently at the end of the last session we headed back up to the stream and the little outlet near the alarmed door.

Hypothetically: Menka with water walk (with Ulland, Gonchar), Kyril shape changed, Cathal levitates, carpet: Lycovyne, Tim, Flint.

We made it back to the underwater river area without incident. The area smelled more like the sea when we arrived. Not sure why, we were deep underground.

The idea was to head back across the bridge by Grastic, head west and then go back upstream.

We ran into Grastic again. M-O-O-N he said he could smell the fishmen. We noticed a building to the west that we hadn’t seen before. It was necessary to check it out carefully before continuing.

The beach to the west of the bridge eroded and we needed to cross a downward, wet slope on the carpet. The building had 2 arches in the western wall. Smelled fishier than ever. Kyril peered within then shape-changed to a raven to look around. He returned 10 minutes later.

He tried to tell us that something attacked him. He kept saying careful. He kept saying “south”. We got on the carpet and went south to check out 2 statues he had found. Landing, we found the stalagmites thick and hard to move around. 2 statues loomed along the southwestern wall.

The one to the south was on a 10’ dais with an open area in front of it. We walked forward and a stalactite fell upon Lycovyne for 14 points of damage. One hit Gonchar but he was able to deflect with his shield and it shattered among the rocks. Kyril (that ratbag of a crow) said “I said careful”. There were no stalactites around the statue. Menka cured him for 16 points (32) with the Staff and a cure wounds. Cathal gave him 3 points in palliative care, maxing him out at 45.

Tim leapt out of the way of a stalactite. The statue was covered in moss and lichen. 10’ tall. Doric pillars behind her. Regal woman, loose, Greek style clothing. Has a helm and an owl on her shoulder. And some words on the statue did not match the statue. At the foot of the statue is an alms bowl: moldy coins in the water in the bowl. It read, in dark brown smeared handwriting: touch not the fruits of death - if you must, know that warriors touch only black, priests only green, cut- purses touch butt metal, wizards touch but blue, and any and all others, none but purple. Here it was all soft sand for a 10’ x 15’ area. The other statue was the statue of a boy. No shown writing. There was more writing, as well. Some writing disappeared into the sand on the sides. The soft sand. Touch ye but once, only the strong survive. This place was completely missing the stink of evil that pervaded elsewhere. It seemed almost good. Kyril said that he had gotten attacked trying to go upstream around the bend.

Tim placed a gold piece in the alms bowl and felt better. A lot better. At full. Gonchar put a coin in and got back 13 points. Menka threw a coin in and gained 10 points. Ulland got 1 gold piece shorter. Menka threw in another gold piece but received no healing. It told Flint to fuck off. Cathal dumped all his gold and some silver into the alms bowl and left. He heard a female voice thank him in his brain.

Kyril said north, having healed, and we headed back to the shoreline. Cathal got hit for 11 points by a stalactite on the way (that, plus bind wounds, 47). Menka hit Ulland with a cure wounds for 18 points.

Menka cast water walk. Good for 80 minutes. Per the layout earlier. It was like walking on an irregular, grassy surface. The water walkers moved to the edge of the wall and walked along the that side. It got colder and wetter and turned sharply north. Where the water turned east it was an impenetrable mist. Nothing was visible beyond. We heard deafening, crashing water and walked to the threshold.

We tried to keep pace with the walkers, levitators and carpet baggers and walked through the threshold. 20’ north we rolled initiative.

• initiative loss
• a 3-tanged claw attacked the carpet riders
• 20’ tall looming figure with giant teeth
• from beyond the mist come 2 more claws
• Lycovyne got hit first (and gripped) for 3 points, and the second paw came in and hit him for 8 points (34) and plucked him up off the carpet - his right arm was free
• Lycovyne swung his sword, vs. a large creature, for 16 points
• Flint noted that the thing produced heat, but he couldn’t reach it to attack
• Lycovyne was controlling the carpet no longer
• Tim took over control of the carpet and tried to get within range
• Flint (once in range) attacked with knife and sword, hitting with the latter, for 13 points
• Kyril took off and flew around above
• Cathal jumped with the ring (boots?) and tried to attack the thing off the carpet - he attacked the “body” - as he got past the arms he saw a great sort of 20’ tall barrel shaped creature, 2 shining, pink eyes, shaded by bony protuberances, with gray hairs - it’s mouth was the entire top of its head, opening vertically, instead of horizontally - Cathal rolled a 19 and hit the body for 15 points
• Kyril attacked the thing as a giant raven for (with a 1 in 10 chance of hitting its eye, no luck)
• Menka, Ulland and Gonchar closed on it
• initiative tie
• 12 more points of damage to Lycovyne from the grip, plus it bit him for 18 more, ouch
• Lycovyne fought back, missing badly
• Tim hit it for 18 points of damage, it staggered
• Ulland hit it with a sword for 18 points of damage
• Gonchar attacked, hitting it twice for 30 points
• Cathal attacked, hitting it for 17 points of damage
• Chunks of meat, hands, and an elf fighter / magic user came spewing out and it kicked the bucket
• Lycovyne has 4 hit points left.
• gug, 126 hp

Cathal bound his wounds for 2 points. Menka hit him with a cure light wounds for 7, getting him to 17 points. Lycovyne quaffed his potion of healing getting 7 more points, up to 20. 7 more points from Flint’s periapt and he looked delightful in it (27).

The stalactites to the left stopped, leaving some beach area open. We debarked there. We found collapsed rubble walls with stairs going up to the west. To the east was a waterfall. The fighting men among us noted that the small area of ground we were on would have been tough to defend. The gug’s lair. Offal, dung, body bits, stunk like fuck, but someone made less so by the freeze. The stairs ended in collapsed rubble, impassable.

Flint found a section of the western wall that was covered in ice. He noticed with his dwarven senses (Gonchar did not) that the wall behind the ice was not a rock wall but a door sized alcove frozen over with ice. The air was too wet and cold to light a torch. A druid appeared among us, shaking off black feathers. He regained 7 points (44) in the process. Menka used 3 charges of the Ring of the Ram to shatter the ice. After that we were able to clear the rest of the ice quickly.

Flint checked the newly revealed alcove for traps. The alcove opened into a 20x20 room. Thickly coated in a layer of frost. Broken, long frozen furniture, scraps of frozen cloth. Large, empty vat on its side with a stain next to it, scent of old, spoiled wine. 2 bodies, a man and a woman, dressed as fighters. Frozen look of shock on the dead man. The woman had closed eyes but looked asleep. Their dress was archaic looking armor and clothes. The man was obviously dead, though the woman did not look dead.

Cathal did not sense evil in the room. He touched the female to see if she was alive. She did not appear to have sharp, pointy teeth. She was wearing plate mail, long sword. Kyril cast detect magic and scanned the room. The woman’s armor was magical, though not as strong as the elder sign or the chain.

We found a secret door, Flint and Ulland found no traps on it. Cathal opened the door. Stairs lead down into darkness. Room full of sealed wooden boxes. A hallway led south. We found a door north with some sort of magic behind it. Cathal entered the room. It was a very large room, indeed. With a huge lizard in it. A huge, frozen, 40’ lizard. Looked like it hadn’t moved for centuries. It saw Cathal, shook the dust and crust off and attacked.

• initative loss
• it attacked Cathal, hitting once (claw/claw/bite) for 13 points (34)
• Cathal attacked but missed
• Ulland got in the room and attacked as well, hitting it for 10 points
• Menka missed, badly
• Gonchar missed as badly, twice
• Kyril attacked, hitting it for 9 points
• Flint attacked twice, hitting once for 5 points
• initiative win
• Cathal missed, as did Menka
• Kyril hit it for 9 points
• Lycovyne missed, terrible rolls
• Gonchar attacked twice, hit once for 14 points of damage
• Flint attacked twice, hit once for 7 points
• Ulland missed, then hit for 12 points, sticking his long sword in its eye and killing it
• minotaur lizard

Just before Kyril’s detect magic ran out he saw some magic on the north wall. Cathal, looking past the door out, saw a ramp leading up. He jumped 20’ to check it out. It seemed to be the bottom of a trap door. It seemed to be piled high with rocks and it looked ready to buckle in at any time.

We checked the magenta magic spot. It was a door with a magical trap. Menka suggested Lycovyne apply a knock spell. We backed out of the room and Lycovyne cast it from the far doorway. He could see the door open, something magical happen, then dissipate (the trap). Success! Sort of. And the trap door above opened and released all the stone down the ramp.

Cathal looked through the doorway, into darkness. He pushed the door open and entered. A magic missile hit him in the chest for 23 points (13). Cathal “mended” himself for 3 points, then borrowed Flint’s periapt, getting 8 more (24). Beyond the door there was a downward sloped floor. We assumed marching order and headed down the slope. 40’ on it stopped sloping downward, leveled out and opened into a room. A semi-circular room that seemed to have suffered at least one good fireball. Everything in the room had been blasted. There was a double door in the eastern wall. A stout wooden and metal door which did not burn. Tightly locked.

Neither Flint nor Ulland found any traps. However the door could not be opened. Perhaps barred from the other side. Gonchar was able to open the door via main strength. Cathal and Flint entered the cone shaped room. Ornate, statues, paintings, wall coverings. 3 statues flanked the door in the eastern wall on both sides. Statues of gods, kings, some of which we had seen before. The statue on the north side closest to the door looked like the female we’d see above (Athena). It did not look like anyone had been here in a long time.

Flint noticed that some sort yellow powder outlined the door, as if powder was flowing through the cracks. Gonchar attempted to open it but did not succeed. Cathal tried, even though he only had 23 hit points. He opened it and Ulland, Cathal and Gonchar saved vs. poison to resist death. Looking through the doorway we see that the whole hallway was covered in yellow mold.

Menka looked into the room. Everything was covered with the mold. Hard to tell what was once in the room. No furniture or anything was visible. Another triangular room. Cathal threw a continual light coin into the room. The yellow mold started to go dormant in response to the light. Gonchar would float in on the carpet and check things out. Menka lent him his Periapt of Proof Against Poison. Tim used the Wand of detect magic. He did not detect any magic within the room. Gonchar crossed the room and went to the kitchen.

Nothing in the room, looked like an old laboratory. There might be a door straight across at the point. Gonchar probed the mold just inside the door with a staff and mold did not rise as usual. Dormant. It did appear to be slowly covering the light source (the continual light coin). Gonchar opened the door in the farther room and stepped into a room not covered in mold. 20x25 chamber with a bookshelf in the northern wall. A globe on a stone table glowed. Tim and Cathal walked through the room. Menka, Ulland, Lycovyne and Flint used the carpet.

We were all in the room. Tim’s detect magic was still in flight. Magic globe, 5 magic scroll cases ( red seal (not magic), black (not magic), green and blue seals (magic) and gold (not magic). Following instructions, Tim opened the case with the blue wax seal. 15 points of damage from an explosive rune. Tim got 8 points from Flint’s periapt and then Cathal got him 3 more for 24.

The globe gave off a golden light. We did find a secret door in the south wall. Neither Ulland nor Flint found any traps. A shaft lead down with heavy, bronze rungs. 333 rungs down. Cathal floated down using his Boots of Levitation. Gonchar and Tim followed, the old-fashioned way. Cathal searched around while the others descended. He walked south and came to a crossroads - north back to the ladder, corridors going east, south, west and another passage heading east and dimming, unsettling darkness everywhere, even from continual light, even from the sword. Tim, arriving at the bottom retraced Cathal’s footsteps. With his detect magic he sensed strong, strong magic to south and west, of a strength on par with The Elder Sign.

They came back up, the party was wary of descending so reduced in power. Menka put his hand on the globe, nothing happened. We lifted up the globe and heard a gonging from below. We backtracked and closed the doors behind us.

Returning south, we came to a door.

Featureless wall. Dead end? We headed back to the man and the woman and the box with magic emanations. Tim looked in the box: plate armor from an earlier time, fit for a very short person.

Cathal picked up the woman and started to carry her toward the dead end. She stirred in his arms and looked around, bewildered. We didn’t understand her language, nor her ours. Lycovyne and Menka did in fact understand, a bit. We talked with her. In halting conversation, we convinced her to walk south with us and check out the wall and the writing. She had recognized the boxes and said " this is the armory". Very, very old memories.

We walked with her back to the message written on the wall. She saw a door in the wall, though we could not. She said she would not enter but that she would open the door for us. Her name was Abecoste and she was a guard to King Agamemnon. They were guards for the sacred temple of Athena. We asked her to open the door and she did so. Cathal, through Menka, said thank you and offered to help her get out of here once we finished up our business.

The door opened. We entered the room. We observed heavy, bronze rungs that looked oddly familiar descending into the depths of the dark earth. Obviously, we need to go down.