Having let Legola return to his repose, we decided to rest in the unique Dionysian bar, heal and regain some spells. We head skittering rocks to the north and a low, indistinct moaning to the south. Not all of us heard it.

As we settled into discussing future plans, several members of the party bellied up to the bar. It seemed to be designed to adjust itself to the number of people present.

• Flint had a whiskey and healed up to full (55/55).
• Keith poured himself an ale, it was lovely.
• Seamus poured himself an ale as well and healed up to full (64/64)
• Lycovyne and Gonchar each had an ale.
• Kyril said aloud that he would love a mead and the cup in his hand filled, magically. It was lovely stuff and he gained 4 points (53/61).
• Cathal drank some ale and felt much better (64/67).

Lycovyne walked behind the statue of Dionysus and its wild, green eyes followed him as he moved. We settled in and rested for 5 quiet hours in the bar. Gonchar kept watch throughout and head maniacal, cackling laughter in the distance. Why can’t we ever stay someplace nice?

We discussed what Legola and Finn had told us and initially mis-read our notes on the topic. We believed that an Elder Sign lay buried with a defrocked priest below a temple somewhere in the Vinewood. Working on this interpretation, we decided to make our way to the surface and try to get back to the Vinewood, probably via the portal on the Road of Lanterns. The only way to do that was through the grimlock village and its resident medusa. This being the case, we prepared a variety of AoE spells and formed a marching order, heading north toward the grimlock village.

The Ring Of Fire#

As we marched along the dry creek bed north of the area with the slime creatures we heard incoherent gibbering all around. We were already being followed. Within minutes we needed to save vs. spells. Menka, Seamus and Lycovyne failed and stopped in their tracks, confused. We were attacked by a gibbering mouther!

• initiative loss
• Seamus got bitten for 1 and it attached itself to his leg
• Tim zapped it with some magic missiles for 9 points
• Flint hit it for 7 points
• Gonchar hit it for 12 points
• Cathal whacked it twice, killing it with the first shot
• gibbering mouther, 32 hp

Confused party members came to their senses, and Cathal bound Seamus’ wounds.

We resumed our march to the northeast. 100 yards ahead we saw two figures across a gulley. They were two highly detailed dwarves. So highly detailed that they were almost certainly real dwarves who had been turned to stone. Gilgomesh and Gimlus of Celia’s party, no doubt.

Kyril pondered quaffing a potion of clairvoyance but changed his mind. Not suitable for such a large space.

100 yards further on, we saw terraced gardens of mushrooms and mosses. Gardening for underground dwellers. A forest of stalagmites stodd across from it. A large cavern lead downward off the main corridor, probably warrens. Cathal detected evil down there. The main cavern continued, past the warrens.

As we marched past the warrens, a very large grimlock appeared ahead. He was beating his chest, banging his weapon against pieces of armor - clearly trying to communicate with us. None of us understood the language, so we lapsed into the oldest form of communication and attacked!

• initiative loss
• they all missed
• Tim cast a fireball at the champion, creating carnage in their ranks
  • something invisible was briefly made visible by the conflagration, behind the grimlocks. We could see that it was on fire, but we could not see what it was.
• Gonchar killed a grimlock
• Menka nailed one for 9 points
• Flint slashed one wide open, killing it
• Lycovyne magic missiled the large, flaming creature, doing 31 points of damage - it once again flickered into visibility, though we could not identify it.
• Seamus mugged one for 6 points
• Kyril cast a wall of fire in a ring around us - assuming the invisible creature was some species of medusa, we would not be able to see her through the green wall of flame. We started moving northwest, and the wall of fire moved with us.
• initiative win
• We slew two more of the creatures
• The champeen burst through the Wall of fire, taking damage, and attacked Cathal
• Cathal hit the big guy for 9 points
• Tim nailed missiled him for 12 more points
• Menka smashed a grimlock skull, praise Thoth!
• Seamus nailed one twice, killing it
• Flint and Lycovyne missed
• The champeen missed Cathal
• Cathal hit him again for 9 points
• The champeen then hit Cathal back for 9 points (54/67)
• Gonchar missed, as did the rest of the grimlocks
• initiative tie
• Seamus mugged a grimlock for 6 points
• The champeen nailed Cathal for 19 points of damage! (35/67)
• Flint hit one for 8 points, as did Menka
• Cathal hacked the champion’s head off!
• initiative win
• Seamus nailed a grimlock
• everyone and everything else missed
• initiative loss
• Lycovyne got hit for 5 points (42/47)
• Menka crushed another grimlock skull!
• everyone else missed
• initiative win
• Seamus got whacked with a rusty blade for 4 points (60/64)
• Cathal killed a grimlock
• Lycovyne sliced the last grimlock wide open
• 20 grimlocks, 13 hp
• 2 leaders, 23 hp
• 1 champeen, 75 hp

4 melee rounds later, the wall of fire dissipated. Fearing an encounter with the medusa, we did not bother to loot the corpses and pressed on. The invisible creature beyond the wall of fire may have been her. She may even be dead. We were not interested in taking the chance.

The ground began to slope upward, and Kyril smelled water. The tunnel crested in a small grotto of standing water, where water pooled from the incoming stream before continuing downward. Mist rose from the water and stalagtites hung from the high ceiling, almost reaching the surface. A thin, wet path threaded its way along the western shore, while to the east a passage ran upwards and out of sight into the ceiling. No natural light was visible; we were still deep underground, though Gonchar said we had risen considerably since leaving the underground bar. We could even be within a mountain.

Kyril looked in the water and saw nothing but a bright green seaweed that he had never seen before. Cathal sensed evil in the water. The paladin laid hands on himself while we averted our eyes, and also used a cure light wounds from his sword to heal himself (56/67).

The Long Climb#

We formed a single file marching order and climbed the passage on the eastern bank. A series dexterity checks were required to reach the top. Flint slipped and fell but was caught by Menka, praise Thoth! The ascent otherwise passed without incident and we reached the top.

The ground leveled out and we found ourselves in a wider tunnel with pockmarked walls. Flint said it looked natural. We heard a waterfall off somewhere to the right. As we were breaking out the carpet Flint and Menka got hit with what looked like filaments. These fibers attached to the cleric and the thief and started dragging them up the wall! The rest of the party saw what seemed to be anteater-like creatures in a couple of the pockmarks, attacking the party.

• initiative loss
• Menka took 7 points of damage (47/54) while Flint took 3 (51/55)
• 2 more of the creatures attacked the party but both missed
• Cathal jumped, then levitated and stuck his sword into the creature attacking Menka, killing it.
  • It let go of the cleric and Menka dropped 8’, taking 5 more points of damage (42/54). Menka made his dex check and did not fall over the cliff.
• Tim stuff a flaming sphere into one of the pockmarks, broiling the creature within and doing 6 points of damage
• initiative loss
• Cathal killed the creature attacking Flint while he was in the neighborhood - the the thief’s ring of feather falling saved him from taking any damage in the fall.
• 3 cave fishers, 23, 22, 21 hp

Father Uther Macgowan#

Given a chance to look around, we found ourselves on a level underground plateau. A large pool collected water pouring in through the steep entrance tunnel to the north before cascading over a waterfall into the larger body of water, below. We saw something glinting at the bottom of the pool but, once again failing our partywide wisdom check, chose not to investigate.

As we stood there failing our wisdom check, a very well-dressed man stepped out of the entrance to the north. Carrying a staff capped with a pine cone and wrapped in ivy, wearing a gaudy purple sash, carrying a wine skin and thoroughly inebriated, he introduced himself as Uther.

He asked us to cut open the cave fisher corpses just behind their heads. Apparently fluid contained therein had great healing properties. We cut open the cave fishers and he instructed us to mix the fluid with water in a bucket, or it would kill us. He pushed all of us to drink some. Flint did so and was healed up to full (55/55). Lycovyne drank some and gained 3 points (45/47). Gonchar tried some as well (no details on any effects).

Menka, repulsed, walked over to the entrance and looked up the tunnel. It was a steep, wet path with a streaming running down it. Seeing this, the cleric noted that Uther’s feet were indeed dry.

Apparently Uther was looking for the underground bar we had just left. Hardly surprising, that. What was surprising was that he was also looking for the medusa, claiming she was wonderful in the sack. He also mentioned that the temple in the Vinewood was run by a priest named Melampos. Taking his leave of us, he picked up the bucket and headed back the way we had come, toward the underground bar, apparently bringing the healing ichor to his doxy, the medusa.

The notes mention here that Cathal and Lycovyne are at full hit points, apparently from drinking the priest’s ichor. At this point, the entire party with the exception of Menka, Kyril and Seamus is thoroughly hammered, with -3 dex penalties.

Turning our backs on whatever was glinting at the bottom of the 6’-8’ deep pool between the cavern entrance and the waterfall, we entered the passage from which Uther had entered. It was a small tunnel, 6’-8’ high, with difficult to navigate staired paths. Tim and Seamus took point and looked ahead, threading out a rope and ssecuring it with a grappling hook as they progressed. The party used this rope to safely climb. 50’ up the tunnel turned sharply to the right. At this point we were knee-deep in water.

A rough bridge lead to a dry spot and the tunnel continued upward. We all made our dex checks and crossed the bridge without incident. We repeated the rope and grappling hook several times. Around a hairpin turn we found ourselves at the bottom of a short waterfall. Where the water hit the floor and collected, a pile of bones was plainly visible. Among the debris, something metallic glinted. The path continued past. Tim and Seamus secured the rope and grappling hook ahead and then returned.

Lysios’ letter to Melampos#

Kyril detected no magic in the pile of debris. Menka prodded at the glinting steel item and it let loose, flowing downstream with the water. Several party members failed to grab it, though Gonchar finally pushed all of us aside, reached into the water and grabbed it. It was a metallic scroll case. We removed the scroll encased therein and, while we read it, Tim and Seamus heard the flapping of wings ahead.

end