The EARTH story - October 12, 1372

On October 12th Vardui returns with the trainees. There is 4" of snow on the ground and the temperature is 38F.

"Enough said then, let's go," Al says as he holds Claw out in front of him, illuminating the area with the glow of his enchanted blade as he descends into the darkness of the dungeon.

Equinox casts Protection from Fire and Protection from Lightning on himself and then follows Al down the steps.

Tully says, "Interesting. If these towers were the gates of Asgard, then the bridge might have terminated here. That means that the bridge was above us. This is probably close enough. The sword could be in the dungeon below if that is the case and the bridge in the prophecy is the bifrost bridge."

He watches Al and Equinox go ahead. He follows, keeping an eye on Al for an suspicious behavior.

"I'm not too familiar with this area, so if you guys are going dungeoneering I think I'll stay up top and explore a bit," says Jo-owrn.

"Same here," says Leslie.

"I think I would like to return to my temple and begin my training," says Laurie. "Does anyone need anything taken back there? Jon?"

Jon says, "Yes Laurie; there are all these bits of the white dragons I've been lugging about. The brains, some of the undamaged dragon skin, blood in a couple of vials and two claws...also I was wondering if you know someone that can put a gem on Geerzo?"

"I am afraid I do not," she answers, taking the dragon parts.

Equinox stops following Al down the steps and speaks to Jo-owrn. "Before we part, there is a question I wanted to ask you. I understand that the Great Druid of Thor resides somewhere in the Great North. Do you know where he is and, because we may not see each other again, can you tell me how to find him?"

Jo-owrn stops and rubs his chin.

"I have heard said that a very powerful druid lives near the shores of Lake Ringdoom," he says after a bit. "That is to the east, and I've never been there. My forte is the Mountains. But if you follow the McKenzie River you should find it. It flows into that lake."

So, Rameen, Tracy, Goodgulf, Vardui, Leslie, Jo-owrn, Grim and Laurie do not accompany you as you descend into the dungeon.

The staircase descends to the north. The walls are painted white, and on each wall are painted bas reliefs of many creatures. You see enormous giants, towering ogres, sturdy dwarves and maidens mounted on flying horses.

At last you reach the bottom of the stairs. You are now about 50' underground. The stairs end at a chamber (30' X 30': 10' east, 10' west, 30' north; 10' wide passages exiting out the centres of the north, east and west walls). The walls of this chamber are also painted, with murals depicting mountains of impossible height with towering forests on their lower flanks.

Chiselled into the floor are a series of runes, forming words you suspect. Equinox and Sharone recognise the runes as being of the type used in Asgard, but are unable to understand the words.

A further search finds you 10sp, in a corner.

You look down each passage.

To the east, the passage runs for 20', then it opens up into another chamber.

The same is true for the western passage.

To the north, the passage runs for 50', then opens up into a chamber. In the 40' - 50' section on the left side runs a passage.

Sharone takes out one of her 'continually lite' coins. "Just to help us see."

She wedges it in her helm so as to free her hands, then notes the runes down on a piece of paper.

Having completed her task she takes up her usual position in the middle of the group. "Ready when you guys are."

Her helm is still glowing with continual light.

Tully uses his bardic/thief ability to try and read the Asgardian language.

'THE GATES OF ASGARD - THE KEY TO THE BRIDGE'

Jon looks for Sharone and begins to pray, saying softly, "I have a bad feeling about this...but hey, let's go, fighters..."

Op Code looks for signs of recent tracks.

Op Code spots tracks heading off down each passage. To the west they seem to be tracks by barefooted human-type creatures; in the other directions they seem to be shuffling slimy type markings.

Jon listens for any sound coming from the corridors.

He hears nothing.

"Perhaps a find traps would be good, Sharone."

Equinox draws MC Hammer: "I forget what you told me you could do, MC. Can you find traps?"

"No!"

Al takes point and moves north.

You head up the north passage.

At the intersection you look west and see that this new passage runs for 30' and ends at a door.

However, you are more concerned with what stands withing the chamber before you to the north. The chamber is circular (20' diameter; 10' wide passage running north out of opposite side). In here are two enormous piles of stinking trash. However, when they start to walk towards you know that there is more to these stinking garbage heaps than meets the eye.

"Yuck, Oytughs," Al says, having battled the gross creatures before. "DO NOT USE FIRE! It hurts them, but they stink to high heaven for days afterwards."

Ayazin gives the monsters a nice mindblast.

Nothing appears to happen.

Drinor strides into melee, swinging his flaming sword.

Op Code jumps into the battle, his sword looking for a target.

Kithus holds his breath, and takes a new one only when necessary, while charging into the rank of Oytughs, so that he won't have to smell those creatures more than necessary.

Equinox uses MC Hammer to attack the Otyugh that Al is not about to "Claw" to pieces.

Aldarin, realising that he will not have time for a lightning bolt, moves in with flaming sword to attack.

Beth hangs back and see how the fighters do.

During the battle, Tully goes over to Jon and has a quiet word with him.

Then he takes out his bow and stands ready to plant some arrows in the walking trash heaps once the conversation is complete.

Al, Op Code and Aldarin attack one otyugh; Drinor, Kithus and Equinox have a go at the other.

As usual, Al connects with Claw, sending a cloud of rubbish and maggots into the air. The monster lashes out with its pseudopods and beak but misses. Op Code swings wildly from the flank, missing the otyugh completely but giving Al a nice close shave. Aldarin, though, drives his flame tongue into the creature, and as Al feared the stench makes you gag. Al swings Claw one more time and the monster collapses.

Nearby, the other otyugh is being dealt with. Drinor, not at all skilled with his flaming broadsword, misses, but is able to turn the monster's attacks aside with his shield. Kithus fares little better with his attack, and the same goes for Equinox. Kithus attacks again and still fans.

Drinor gets whapped for 1 hit point but the slime and maggots roll off of his paladin hide as if he were made of teflon. He swings again but misses. The otyugh slobbers him again for 8 hit points. Kithus connects at last, hurting the monster. Equinox misses. Drinor finally digs his blade into the monster but Kithus misses.

Drinor swings again and the monster drops in a smouldering pile.

Searching the chamber, you find nothing of interest or value.

You look up the north passage.

It runs for 60' and on.

"That was gross," Al says, and then with Claw out, he walks up the corridor to explore.

Kithus says, "I totally agree."

He wipes off the area his sword connected with the creatures so that nothing of the creature remains.

Sharone dons rubber gloves and has a rummage through the debris before leaving, cutting open any lump of garbage to check inside.

She finds nothing of interest.

She then washes off any slime.

Jon says, "Sharone while you have the rubber gloves on would you mind taking a sample of material for later analysis please, in this specimen potion bottle? Thanks."

Sharone slops some of the goop in the jar for Jon. "I can confirm this is garbage, it shouldn't take too much analysis to sort that out. "

Jon says, "Well I was hoping for a disease...you never know when one might come in handy!"

"Seems like a waste of effort, Jon. Any cleric or druid can create disease."

"You were hoping for a disease?" Mikodin says with an arched brow. "Why on earth would you want a disease?"

"Thanks a lot," Equinox scolds MC Hammer playfully, "I finally give you a shot at something, even if it was only a pile of walking garbage, and you miss!"

Equinox smiles in anticipation of the smart aleck retort sure to follow.

"I missed???" retorts the weapon. "Stick to huggin' trees, man, an' give me to someone who can use me!"

"Not a chance am I going to give you away, MC, I like you. But since we all now know that you can't hit Otyughs," says Equinox, laughing, "tell me again what it is you can do."

"I can find metals an' I can tell if someone's bad or BAD!!"

On that note you set off down the passage after Al.

In all the passage runs north for 70', turning east after 60'. Looking east, it continues (from the corner) for 60' and on. in the 40' - 50' section of the south wall is a passage running south.

Al marches down there. The rest of you follow.

As the cavalier nears the intersection suddenly a spear shoots out of the wall at him! It bounces off of his armour but leaves him unhurt.

At the intersection you look both ways.

To the east, the passage runs from the intersection 60' in all, turning south after 50'.

To the south it runs for 60' and on.

The cavalier heads east and follows the passageway. The rest of you troop after him.

Looking south when you reach the corner, you see that the passage runs a further 30', then opens up into a chamber. There is a door in the last 10' section of the east wall.

You head down to the chamber and look in without entering. It measures 20' X 40' (10' west, 20' east, 20' south; door in west wall north section; door in south wall 20' - 30' section as measured from the west; door in east wall south section; door in north wall east corner). Apart from some vertical streaks on the walls of the chamber there is nothing of interest to be seen.

Jon puts his ear to the door in the east wall of the passage - beside you - but hears nothing.

"Hey MC," Equinox talks to his hammer, "can you detect any metal or evil around here?"

"No bad, no metal an' no rap, either!"

"Geerzo any magic or other interesting stuff that you can see?"

"No!" says the sword, sound somewhat happier these days, now that there is a large gem embedded in his scabbard.

Mikodin also tries his hand, or, rather, his ear at hearing anything behind the door.

He hears nothing.

At any rate, the monk says, "I think we need to open this door. I hate to leave any potential enemies at my back."

"Good idea," the cavalier replies to Mikodin as he kicks the door open.

Beth watches and remains alert.

Jon gets a bad feeling about this and flies to the roof looking at the roof design in detail.

Al puts his boot to the door and it flies open, revealing a 10' square room which is totally bare.

Relieved that it is not full of horrible monsters, you enter the chamber to the south.

As you start to poke about, the door in the north wall of the chamber suddenly bursts open, and an enormous giant slug thunders out!

This time you do not have Farad to bail you out of a fight.

Simultaneously, you hear a rumble from somewhere above.

Tully hangs back and fires arrows into the slug.

Mikodin first looks up to see what is making the rumbling noise from above, and, if not immediately threatened by it, puts a crossbow bolt into the slug.

Jon flies back into the passage to the north.

"Ew!" the cavalier utters, grossed out by the giant slug, but such a gruesome sight does not deter his sword arm as he slashes the slug with all of his attacks.

Kithus just draws his sword without much comment. He tries to be aware of everyone's position, especially the archers, so that he is not in the way. Then he bashes the slug with his sword.

Ayazin does his best Farad imitation and mindblasts the slug.

The slug is unaffected.

Drinor draws and ignites his broadsword, then frowns upward at the rumble.

"Where did Jon go? Is he in trouble again?"

Sharone finds herself a spot out of spitting range and begins to fire stones at the beast.

Op Code jumps into the fray, his sword ready for action.

Equinox casts Hold Animal on the slug, not sure if the spell will affect the creature or not.

Beth looks up.

There is plenty of room for everyone to attack the slug without worrying about getting hit by missiles.

Tully's first arrow slams into the monster. He reloads.

Mikodin's bolt does likewise.

Al chops into the slug and it spits back, missing everyone. Nearby, Kithus connects with his glowing sword, opening a massive wound in its rubbery hide.

Sharone bounces a stone off of the slug without effect.

Op Code also slices into the slug, as suddenly it freezes up solid as Equinox's spell takes effect.

There is a second rumble from above, and suddenly the ceiling starts descending towards you with a horrible grinding noise!

It looks like it will crush anyone in the room within three minutes.

"Going forward could see us trapped in that room!" yells Sharone as she hastily exits the room.

"I doubt that," says Equinox, "I am sure that I could use the Stone Shape spell to escape the area even if we were somehow trapped inside."

Op Code gets back into the hallway, away from the room.

Equinox follows Op Code out of the room.

Tully follows as well.

"GO, GO, GO!" Al yells at everyone, forcing them into the hallway. He is the last one through.

Aron runs into the room where the slug came from.

Drinor follows Op Code back out the door, and Ayazin herds his animals that way as well, following close on their heels.

Kithus runs out of the room before he gets crushed by the ceiling.

Beth backs out the way we came-- or the way that most of the party is going. She stays right at the entrance to the door and casts "Polymorph Other" on the slug, trying to turn it into a jellyfish-- i.e. something which can't move on land, and which will subsequently be crushed by the ceiling.

The slug becomes a jellyfish, as all of you exit the chamber.

The ceiling slowly descends. When it touches the floor it stops for a moment, then begins rising again, leaving the polymorphed monster a flattened, bloody and very deceased mess.

Meanwhile, Aron has been inspecting the 10' square room that it came out of. He finds nothing of interest, but for a lot of slug-slime.

Soon, the chamber appears as it did before. The other doors beckon.

Tully says, "If there are monsters on the other side of the doors, we may be able to use this little trap to kill them. We just need to seal the door on the other side and then beat a hasty retreat. They will be crushed."

He shrugs. "Or we can kill them the old fashioned way."

"Bah, takes too much time. Slice and dice them, so then we can get to Asgard!" Al replies.

He then ponders the four doors in the chamber.

While Al is learning to count, Devlin says, "It seems to me that we have a choice. We can make the thief pull his weight for once, finding the trigger to the ceiling trap and disabling it. Or, we can go back and explore one of the other passages that we passed earlier."

Jon, invisible, flexes his fingers and says, "I will have a go at disarming it."

Jon cautiously enters the chamber again and begins looking for the trigger to the trap. He finds it quickly: a stone slab that shifts slightly when someone steps on it, setting the ceiling in motion.

"Well, Jon, have you been able to disable the trap?" Al asks.

Jon answers, "No, but don't step on this stone...with the copper piece."

"Hey, Al," says Equinox randomly pointing at the south door, "how about we go through that one first?"

"Let's go," Al remarks as he kicks open the South door and with Claw in hand, looks in.

Tully rolls his eyes. "See, he is trying to get us killed!"

"If I was trying, you would be already," he replies with a wide smile.

The south door opens to reveal a 10' wide passage running south. After 60' it seems to open up into another chamber, but it is hard to say as that is as far as your lights will illuminate.

Jon checks for traps and listens at the doors.

Claw and shield in hand, Al goes down the corridor to explore.

While Jon presses his ear to the doors in turn, Al enters the chamber down the passage. It measures 40' X 60' (30' east, 60' south); three passages exiting out of the west wall: in the 10' - 15' section, 30' - 40' section and 40' - 60' section...all running west). The chamber seems to be deserted, so Al takes a look down the corridors.

The 5' wide passage runs west for 60' and ends at a door.

Continuing south, the cavalier goes down to the 10' wide passage for a look down it, then cries out in surprise as the floor opens up beneath his feet and he drops into a 10' deep pit filled with spikes before the very entrance...taking a grand total of 16 hit points of damage.

"The fool," snorts Devlin, hearing Al cry out. "A fitting reward for his rashness, I am sure."

Meanwhile, Jon reports that he hears nothing through either of the two doors in the ceiling-trap chamber, where the rest of you stand.

"Jon, after Al gets out of that trap and we continue on, you had better be in the lead to try to find the other traps in this dungeon. Let us go rescue Al so we can check out the passageway protected by that pit trap."

Jon replies to Equinox, "Doesn't someone have a trap locator? Otherwise I suggest we keep using Al. He appears to be very successful at finding traps. Perhaps the clerics have a spell or such!!"

"While using Al may be expedient," says Mikodin calmly, "I doubt if he would like such an arrangement for long. Why don't you and I search ahead for traps, Jon?"

"OUCH ! Mother F**KER, SONAFA B*ITCH, BASTARD!" you hear swearing as Al floats up from the trap all bloodied.

He lands gently on the other side and intones, "Great Thor, pardon the stupidity of your servant and please heal me."

He is healed for 13 hit points.

The rest of you join him and look down the middle passage.

It runs west for 50' and then opens up into a chamber.

While you're there, you take a look down the 20' wide passage as well. It runs west for 50', then does funny stuff. Op Code groans, as he tries to map. A 10' wide passage runs off to the south, apparently, while there is an opening into what is presumably the same chamber that the previous passage enters, to the northwest.

In addition, there is a fourth passage running out of the chamber you are currently in: this one is in the south wall, 10' - 20' section as measured from the west. Looking down this passage, you see that it runs south for 60' and on.

The cavalier scratches his head.

"I am so confused," he says as he slowly follows the passageway and enters the chamber. He has the words of the ring of air on his lips so if a pit opens again, he will utter it and fly up.

Op Code motions down the 20' wide passage. "Thief in front!"

Jon invisibly frowns. "Ummmh, okay."

The scout goes forward searching for traps and unusual things.

The balance of the party follows.

You all end up in much the same place a moment later: a 30' square chamber. From the right side of the passage that Al took, a wall runs north for 10', west for 30' (door in centre), south for 30' (10' wide passage in centre) and east for 20' (10' wide passage in westernmost section). The remaining gap in the southeast corner is where the 20' wide passage comes into things. As previously mentioned, a 10' wide passage runs south at the end of the 20' wide passage.

This chamber is bare, so you look down passages.

The 10' wide passage that runs south form the end of the 20' wide passage goes for 20', then turns southeast.

The passage out of the west wall runs west for 20', then there is another chamber.

The passage out of the south wall west corner runs south for 60' and on.

Jon whispers, "I will listen at the door."

Jon listens at the door.

Jon whispers, "There's something in there and it sounds big. I will try and look for traps etcetera and then open the lock...get ready."

Jon looks for traps but finds none.

Once Jon whispers again, "Over to the fighters."

He moves out of the way and to the back of the group.

Tully readies an arrow and says, "It is probably an orc or something."

Kithus readies himself by half drawing his sword.

Op Code is ready for whatever is behind the door.

The two rangers open the door.

Behind it is a 10' square room (door in west wall, door in north wall, narrow door in east wall north half). This place is filled with filth and garbage, so it comes as no surprise to you when you see two more otyughs trundling towards you!

They lash out at Op Code and Kithus...missing the former but striking the latter for 4 hit points.

"AGAIN?" Al asks, as he steps forward.

"Damn!" curses Kithus, as he fully draws his sword and slashes toward the otyughs.

"I wonder if otyugh burgers are as good as orc burgers," Op Code chuckles as he swings away at one.

Drinor charges towards the battle with the otyughs.

Aldarin tries to move in with flaming sword to attack.

However, since the fight is taking place in a doorway, only the rangers can get in on the fun.

Ayazin draws his scimitar and watches the rear of the party.

With longsword #2, Op Code slashes into one of the otyughs while sidestepping further attacks. Kithus easily connects with the other one, opening a massive wound. His second swing finishes off the monster.

Op Code fans on his next two attacks, then is nipped for 2 hit points. Kithus attacks, connecting once.

Suddenly the west door in the 10' square room opens, and in scurry seven large scorpions, apparently attracted by the sound of the battle! Their stinger-equipped tails drip venom.

Op Code continues fighting the otyugh, leaving the others to fight off the scorpions.

The ranger nicks the monster, as he avoids its raspy suckers and bite.

Kithus thinks that Op Code could easily finish the remaining otyugh. So, he tries to pick up the dead otyugh and throw it on top of the oncoming scorpions.

Straining to pick up the body of the dead creature, which is considerably larger, heavier and bulkier than himself, he tries to avoid a scorpion. He drops the otyugh on the nearest one, partially crushing it.

Waiting for an opening, Al looks to the back part of the room and yells, "Blade barrier!"

He intones the words to it and sets it down in the middle of the room, to strike the scorpions and oytughs.

Mikodin, who was about to leap courageously into the nearest scorpion, thanks his lucky stars that he waited for all the magic to go down range before attacking. He readyies his crossbow instead, and fires at any scorpion visible.

The monk's quarrel kills a scorpion.

Ayazin mindblasts the scorpions, then readies a neutralize poison spell in case someone gets stung.

Drinor pulls out his crossbow and fires at a scorpion.

The paladin misses.

Al's spell goes off, and the entrance that the scorpions came through is filled with swirling blades. However, by then, all of them are attacking the rest of you.

Kithus, Op Code, Mikodin, Drinor, Ayazin and Beth find themselves being attacked by scorpions.

"I hope I don't get stung in the ass!" Op Code remarks as he concentrates on killing the otyugh first.

The ranger connects again and the otyugh dies.

Behind him, the scorpion attacks with its stinger and claws, but misses.

Sharone keeps her distance from the bugs, and prepares a neutralise poison should someone get stung.

Mikodin engages in hand-to-claw combat with the scorpion. The monk dances away from its dripping stinger, but misses with his hand attack. he is then nipped for 3 hit points.

Jon in a moment of insanity takes Geerzo in one hand and the powerful magical long sword in the other and attacks the back of the scorpion attacking Mikodin. A single swipe and Geerzo kills the scorpion.

"Get rid of that other sword!" says Geerzo.

Ayazin sidesteps a stinger, then fans with his scimitar. Then, he avoids a claw which looked like a certain hit.

Al rushes to aid Ayazin. A single stab and another scorpion is down.

Drinor takes a hit from a claw for 2 hit points, then kills his assailant.

Aldarin unloads a magic missile spell into the scorpion attacking Beth.

The monster dies.

Aron attempts to crack the shell of the scorpion going after Op Code, but misses.

Tully, of course, sings a happy ballad about killing bugs.

Kithus first tries to finish the scorpion that was hit by the corpse he threw at it. The scorpion dies.

Devlin steps up and with a single swing kills the last scorpion...the one on Op Code.

It is a peaceful day in the dungeon again.

Searching the 10' square room that had been the abode of the otyughs, you find nothing of interest but garbage.

You inspect the west room, whence came the scorpions.

It measures 30' X 40' (20' north, 40' west; door in north wall 10' - 20' section as measured from the east; door in middle of west wall). In here you find an enormous pile of coins...unfortunately all copper pieces (93,330 of them). Underneath them all, though, you also find a nice looking bejeweled ivory horn, worth 9000gp.

"Will someone detect magic on that horn before we move on?"

Tully casts detect magic on the horn. "I have an affinity for instruments...maybe this is magical."

"It is not magical. Too bad."

Jon puts away his other sword, "Sorry Geerzo. I will put the other sword away. Would you mind detecting magic on this beautiful horn??"

"No magic!"

"Where now?" asks Devlin.

"Let's check out the door in the north wall!" Tully says.

Of course, he stands back and lets someone else open it.

There are two doors in two north doors, so you do both.

Opening the door in the north wall of the otyugh room, you see a 10' wide passage running north  for 60' and on. In the 50' - 60' section of the left wall is a door.

Opening the door in the north wall of the scorpion room, you see another 10' wide passage running north, for 30'. After that it opens up into a chamber.

From that chamber you hear a series of hisses, and then you see a half a dozen giant toads sailing through the air down the passage at you!

"Croak croak!" they say.

Tully fires arrows, striking one of them.

Aldarin pulls his flaming sword and prepares for melee.

The toads seems to take a long time with their leap and all, but at last they land in your midst. Equinox, Drinor, Mikodin, Beth, Al and Ayazin find themselves under attack.

Equinox avoids the first attack of the toad.

"Frogs legs for supper!" Op Code screams as he slashes at the toad on the druid, killing it without effort.

The toad attacking Drinor misses. Aldarin tries to help out, but fans.

"Never a chance to rest!" the cavalier says with a frown as he steps up and slashes with Claw twice at the toad. He connects easily and kills the toad.

Mikodin finds himself bitten for 5 hit points, Beth jumps aside, as does Ayazin.

Four toads remain.

Tully puts his bow away since the battle is thick with people. He gets out his lute and plays, "Froggy went a courting".

Jon looks around and keeps out of the way of the toads.

The paladin connects with his flaming tongue and kills the offending toad.

Mikodin kicks savagely at the toad that bit him, stunning the toad.

"Die, foul creatures!" the monk exclaims as he connects.

The cavalier leans in and slashes twice with Claw at Mikodin's toad, killing the hapless creature off.

Ayazin connects with his scimitar, hurting his toad.

Op Code slashes at the toad on Ayazin, and kills it.

Aron tries to help Beth out, chopping the toad in the neck and stunning it. He then kills it.

All of the toads are dead.

You head up the passage north to the chamber whence the toads came, discovering that it measures 20' square (20' north, 10' east; door in east wall south section. Searching, you find nothing of value.

Opening the east door, you see a passage running north - south. To the north it runs for 60' and on. To the south, it runs for 50' and ends at a door, which is open. Through it, you see a 10' square room with three other doors and two dead otyughs in it.

"North works for me," Al says with a smile, "Unless someone has been mapping. I am thoroughly lost."

You trot north. After 60' it ends at a "T" intersection with a 10' wide passage running east - west. You realise that you have been this way before: to the east is the chamber with the lowering ceiling where you fought the slug.

You head back to the scorpion room and open that west door...to see a passage running north - south. To the north is a circular chamber with two more dead otyughs in it; to the south is a chamber with a flight of stairs going up. Once again you realise that you have been this way before: the stairs lead outside. Op Code is mystified as to how you missed this door when you first went up the passage, then concludes that it must be one of those pesky one way doors that drive dungeon mappers to distraction.

You wonder where to head next. There are passages to the south of the second otyugh room (the 10' square one) which are unexplored; as well, you see to the north a passage running west just before the circular chamber that needs to be investigated. Also, you recall several passages running off of the chamber with the exit stairs that have yet to be inspected as well.

"I wonder what is in the chamber to the west," Op Code scratches his head.

Jon asks, "Has anybody gotta map...me confused!!!"

Op Code tells Jon that he will be done the map shortly.

Drinor frowns as he extinguishes his flaming sword and wipes the toad ichor from the blade. "Odd that we're not finding much down here. I had hoped to find out how the gates of Asgard were torn down, but there's nothing down here but mindless beasts. I can't believe that the mighty gates were broken by a giant slug and a few toads."

"I agree, we must not have found the root cause yet!" Al replies as he decides to go south past the oytugh's room.

"Let's go," he says as he takes point.

"Thieves first, remember, Al?" says Equinox nodding toward Jon and Mikodin.

"Oh yes, heh," he says with a sheepish smile as he waits for the two to move ahead of him.

Jon speaks, "Equinox I am a scout....otherwise I would have...ummm well...Ohhhh I did...but I didn't mean to....perhaps it was an oversight...they were in the 'to be investigated' pocket...not the apparently lost pocket or the misplaced pocket or the found in the dungeon pocket....let me put these in the...the other pocket...'the being the carried for the group pocket'....it's so large a group...I wonder if the
pocket is big enough..?" He takes a breath. "An unusual event...this must have been something significant."

"I see..." says Devlin in an even deeper voice than usual.

Jon tries to looks down at his invisible feet. He sways from side to side, definitely uncomfortable, "Ummm whoever is keeping the list...don't forget the saucer thingie and the vial. Does anyone want to sell a bag of holding or lend me a ring of invisibility if I'm doing the scouting?"

Mikodin, only mildly upset at being called a 'thief', smiles and nods toward Equinox as he says, "Thank-you for remembering my abilities, Equinox," and then takes up point with Jon.

Equinox, realizing his gaffe, winces and apologizes to Mikodin: "Sorry, Mikodin. I meant only to refer to your abilities, not your profession."

Jon says, "Us scouts and monks have to stay together. I accept your apology as well."

Mikodin visibly grimaces at Jon's farfetched dissembling, but smiles widely at Jon's singular view of his thieving actions.

Jon leads the way with Mikodin, searching carefully for traps and unusual things.

Through the 10' square otyugh room you go and back into the 30' square chamber south of it. There are effectively five passages leading out of it. Two run east, back to the chamber where Al fell into the pit. One runs west, back to (you now realise) the chamber with the stairs leading out. The two south passages are unexplored.

You head down the westernmost south passage. After 40' Jon makes a noise which indicates you should stop, for he has detected something. You hear him making small noises, then suddenly a previously undisclosed trap door opens up in the floor, revealing a 10' deep pit. You see the bones of some unfortunate victim lying down there.

You rig up the usual spikes and ropes, and get across the pit.

In all, the passage runs for 150' (right wall)/140' (left wall) before ending at another 10' wide passage running southwest - northeast. In the 100' - 110' section of the west wall is a door. In the 130' - 140' section of the east wall is a 10' wide passage running southeast.

You pause by the door and ponder your next move. Jon and Mikodin listen at the door but hear nothing.

Jon inspects the door and discovers that it is unlocked.

Opening the door, you see a 10' wide passage running northwest for 60' (right wall). At the limit of your vision it appears to open up to the west. Also, in the 25' - 35' section of the left wall is a passage running southwest.

"Northwest," intones Devlin, giving Jon a shove in that general direction, though how he found the invisible elf remains a mystery.

You go northwest, pausing at the intersection before continuing. To the southwest the new passage runs for about 55' before ending at another door.

To the northwest this passage ends at a small triangular shaped chamber (left wall goes southwest for 10', north for 30', then southeast to close up). It is bare and uninteresting.

You head back to the door that you spotted a few moments ago.

After it is thoroughly inspected by Mikodin and Jon, you open it. On the other side you see a 10' wide passage running northwest - southeast.

To the northwest the passage runs for 50' (right wall); after which it turns northeast. 10' before it ends, another passage runs southwest out of it.

To the southeast the passage runs for about 45' (left wall...darned Pythagoras)...then ends at a flight of stairs going down.

"Down works! Gentlemen?" Al says,  Claw in hand, ready to proceed.

Jon goes down the stairs and asks the monk to lead.

You set off down the stairs, Devlin bringing up the rear, grumbling to himself about chaotic followers of Thor who do not explore dungeons in a predictable and  methodical manner but instead go running around helter-skelter leaving sections of entire levels of dungeons uninspected and probably seething with monsters.

At the bottom of the stairs, some 50' down, is a 10' wide passage running southeast. After 30' (right wall) is a four way intersection with a 10' wide passage running north - south.

You head down to the intersection and take a look.

To the north the passage runs for 50' (left wall) and ends.

To the southeast, the passage goes for 50' (right wall), after which it turns southwest.

To the south the passage runs for 60' (right wall), after which there is another four way intersection with a 10' wide passage running east - west.

"Do you suppose there might be a secret door at the end of that north passage?" Op Code wonders.

You head down there to take a look.

However, an extensive search locates no secret doors.

You go south to the four way intersection and take a look each way.

To the west the passage runs for 50' and ends at a door.

To the south the passage continues for 40', then doglegs back to the northeast. There is also a 10' wide passage running west out of the 20' - 30' section.

To the east, the passage runs for 50' (left wall). At that point it ends at a 10' wide  passage running southwest - northwest (it bends at the northern edge of the intersection, if you follow me, Frank). From this direction you detect movement, as you spot four giant scorpions - big brothers of the ones you killed upstairs - scuttling towards you, their stingers dripping venom!

Sharone shudders again. "More venomous problems."

She prepares a neutralise poison spell, just in case.

"Mmm, fun time!" Al says as he steps forward, shield in hand to block the stingers. He swings Claw twice, hoping to kill at least one of the
scorpions.

Ayazin tries his psionic blast once again and prepares a neutralize poison spell, while Drinor ignites his flaming broadsword and strides into melee.

Mikodin launches himself at the nearest scorpion, kicking viciously at the giant insect.

Op Code forgets about mapping for awhile and charges at one of the scorpions.

Aldarin points a hand in the direction of the scorpions and blasts them with a color spray before drawing his flaming sword and finishing them off.

The scorpion that Al was closing on drops, and the cavalier polishes him off handily.

Tully fires arrows at one of the scorpions until they are too close for him to get a clear shot.

He gets off one shot, which connects.

The battle is joined...

Drinor bounces his flame tongue off of the carapace of a scorpion without effect. It snaps at him with its pincers, connecting twice for 17 hit points of damage.

Mikodin, meanwhile, is nipped for 3 hit points, as his kicks miss. Then the stinger catches him on the leg for 4 hit points. He screams but does not drop.

Op Code avoids a pincer from the last scorpion as he lands a solid hit on the monster.

Aldarin helps out Mikodin, landing a glancing blow with his flaming tongue.

Jon is surprised, takes evasive action and moves to the rear of the group, expecting an attack from there as well, given the way things normally
work.

Jon is exactly right, as the door to the west opens and two monsters emerge.

The abhorrent creatures are each about 9' tall, resembling a cross between a vulture and a human. They have large black wings.

"Ah, demons!" exclaims Devlin from the back of the party. "Things get interesting."

He moves to attack.

Drinor's eyes flash as he hears Devlin's words, and his face is filled with righteous rage.

"Demons here? Sacrilege!" However, knowing better than to turn his back on the scorpions, he fights on with his current opponents.

Ayazin pales before the demons, suspecting that his non-magical scimitar won't affect them at all, but he guards the rear as best he can nonetheless, ordering his animal companions away from the fight.

"Hellspawn. I can't hurt them, but I might be able to slow them down so that you with magic might." says the monk as he leaps at the nearest demon's legs and does his best to bring it down, or at least slow it down.

Aldarin continues to help Mikodin dispatch the one that attacked him.  If the monk happens to finish it off before his next action, Aldarin will turn and blast the nearest demon-thing with 3 magic missile spells.

Mikodin, thankful for the aid, continues to kick and punch at the scorpion that stung him.

"Uh oh," says Equinox, "Hey Al, we've got company back here!"

Equinox throws his rope of entanglement at one of the scorpions and moves up to bash another with MC Hammer. "I will keep these things busy so you are free deal with the Demons."

The rope snakes through the air, wrapping up the scorpion attacking Mikodin...and also trussing the monk and Aldarin as well.

"YEAH!" the cavalier barks as he commands his ring to lift him off the ground and he hurls himself at the winged demons with Claw in hand,
ready to strike once he is in range.

"Let's rap 'em!" says MC.

"Very funny, MC," Equinox says with a grin. "Try not to miss this time, OK?"

"Me?" the weapon replies indignantly.

Jon, invisible,  not exactly sure what these are demons...but as there are only two and Devlin has one, he sneakingly moves to the side to allow others the opportunity to engage these large thingies, while looking for an opportunity to back stab one with Geerzo.

Op Code continues to battle the scorpion.

Kithus draws his sword, and before the creatures with wings can take off, he tries to bash one of them.

Drinor is caught for 9 more hit points as he connects with his broadsword. The scorpion misses with its second pincer attack as the paladin's second swing goes wide. Then, he feels the bite of the stinger as it pumps poison into his abdomen for 1 hit point.

Drinor screams and drops, writhing, to the floor.

Op Code, with his disgustingly high armour class is almost impossible for the poor monster to hit. He takes his time and smashes into the scorpion again with longsword #2.

Meanwhile, Devlin swings at a demon with his non-magical bastard sword and misses. He does not get a second chance as the demon suddenly vanishes and appears behind an easier target: the invisible Jon.

The elf is surprised for an instant and the demon takes advantage of that fact, clawing and biting him for 6 hit points of damage.

The other demon confronts Aron, clawing him for 1 hit point. Aron lands a solid kick in the gut of the demon, and it looks surprised. It then nails him for 8 more hit points.

Kithus is there to help, though, and with his new magic sword connects easily. This is getting to be a habit with him. The demon howls as the blade bites deep, then drops as the ranger cuts him in two with his second swing.

Suddenly you become aware of a bat fluttering about overhead. It lands next to Sharone, and transforms into a young woman of ghastly, pale, dark eyed beauty. She wears clerical robes, and about her neck hangs the symbol of the setting moon.

"Be with me and be mine for all eternity," she says to the high priestess, gazing into her eyes, "And we shall be lovers."

Sharone suddenly thinks that this is a pretty good idea.

Meanwhile, Equinox has crunched the entwined scorpion. The rope drops to the floor, freeing Mikodin and Aldarin.

"Sorry guys," Equinox apologizes to Mikodin and Aldarin as he snatches up the rope.

Pointing towards the young woman's neck, Aron tells all, "The last time I saw that symbol was fighting a vampire in the Rift of the Dead. She's a follower of Hectate and obviously a vampire too."

Tully begins firing arrows at the vampire as fast as he can. He starts with his two +4 arrows and move to his +3 arrows.

Tully says, "Die she-bitch!"

"Equinox, stake the fanged bitch, I will deal with the last demon," Al says as he steps up to the demon on Jon and swings at it with Claw.

"I will do what I can, Al," says Equinox doubtfully.

Equinox uses the Rope on Sharone to prevent her from attacking the party or assisting the Vampire or the Demon.

Then he draws MC Hammer and wades into the battle against the Vampire while also keeping an eye on Sharone to try to make sure that the Demon does not simply teleport over to Sharone and take her away while she is immobilized.

Aldarin charges the Vampiress with his flaming long sword, attempting to behead her.

Mikodin draws his magical axe and charges the vampiress also, hoping to reduce her to a mist quickly.

Ayazin rushes to Drinor's side and applies a neutralize poison spell to his scorpion sting.

Drinor stops writhing and sits up, rubbing the wound.

Aron draws out his dagger and cuts his left palm (enough to let some blood flow), wiggles his fingers at the vampire and says "This is not the priestess you're looking for," and gets ready for it to attack.

Beth, muttering a quick apology to anybody listening for having just sat back and done nothing for so long, sees a number of her companions going after the vampire, and decides to direct her attention to the demon. She fires off two magic missile spells at it.

Forgotten in the shuffle, it seems, is the scorpion who dropped Drinor. Seeing Ayazin kneeling over his recovering comrade, it attacks. Missing with both claws (though one pincer seemed destined to hit but did not, for some reason), it buries its stinger in his shirt and fails to connect with that as well.

Op Code, meanwhile, keeps pounding away at the last scorpion. The Ranger's armour continues to prove its worth, as does longsword #2, as his final thrust kills the scorpion.

Jon tries to get away from the demon as Devlin and Al close in.

Suddenly the demon vanishes again...to reappear right in front of the fleeing elf and out of range of the warriors! It claws Jon for 2 hit points. Forced to fight, Jon attacks with Geerzo saying, "Come on Geerzo, let's party...Die again demon!"

"Whoa!" says the blade, as Jon plunges him into the demon's belly, causing foul smelling ichor to spew out. The vrock squawks and attacks the now visible elf again, only managing to nick him for 1 hit point.

Tully gets one arrow off before it gets too crowded around the vampiress, but it flies wide, hits a wall and snaps.

Equinox's rope ensnares Sharone.

With three people converging on her the vampiress suddenly becomes invisible. Aldarin, Mikodin and Equinox flail about where she had stood but she is not there anymore.

Jon fights a demon and Ayazin confronts a scorpion.

Neither of Beth's magic missile spells affected the demon.

Equinox stops flailing away at nothing with MC Hammer.

"MC, tell me where you detect evil, other than that demon over there."

"There's bad up near th' ceilin'!"

He stays near Sharone to try to prevent the demon from stealing her while she is trussed up with his rope.

He points MC Hammer at the ceiling.

He shouts: "There is something evil right up over there! Can a mage send a blast of cold up there or something? Dispel magic on Sharone wouldn't be a bad idea either."

Drinor shakes his head and wields his flaming sword, hauling himself to his feet.

"Rally to me, stay within my reach and you will be protected from evil. The vampiress will be hindered within my influence."

Drinor moves near Sharone to place her within the area of effect, and uses his ability to detect evil in order to pinpoint the location of the vampire, pointing with his sword at the ceiling.

Jon retreats again towards Sharone and the paladin Drinor, while pulling out a continual light coin and holding it in his one hand, Geerzo in the other.

Jon intends to stand right next to the paladin.

"I'm heading for Drinor. Geerzo great strike! If it follows hit again!"

"Right-o!"

The demon follows, and Jon/Geerzo lash out again, landing another hit. The demon slashes with his talons but misses. By this time Jon is within five feet of Drinor, and the demon turns to find other fish to fry. He does not have to look far.

Aldarin, fustrated at the disappearance of the vampiress, immediately turns toward the remaining demon and charges it with his flaming sword.

The elf's charge impales the vrock, who shrieks, badly wounded. The demon claws at Aldarin for 6 hit points.

Kithus tries to reach Aldarin and aids him in taking down the demon, while being wary of the now invisible vampiress.

With one powerful swing, the ranger finishes off the demon.

Meanwhile, the scorpion catches Ayazin in a pincer for 3 hit points.

Ayazin attacks the scorpion as best he can with scimitar and shield, wary of the arthropod's stinger.

He connects with his scimitar, nicking the monster.

The scorpion catches him again with a pincer for 1 hit point, then Ayazin feels the bite of the sting for 1 hit point. He doubles up in agony but stays on his feet.

Closer to the scorpion, Al launches himself at the beast and swings with his blade, hoping to slay it.

He lands a fast, devastating hit on it.

Op Code takes note of where the vampire might be. He then turns his attention to the scorpion.

The ranger's first swing kills the scorpion.

Beth curses as her two magic missiles disappear, foiled by the demon's magic resistance.

"Time for a little mojo myself," she mutters.  She casts two spells in quick succession.  First, she casts detect invisibility upon herself,
and then protection from evil upon herself.

The spells cast, Beth scans the area, looking for the invisible vampiress, and draws out her wand of paralyzation while she's looking around.

She spots the vampiress in gaseous form, up near the ceiling, heading for the west doorway.

"Vampire, gaseous, ceiling, heading for west doorway!"

All of the immediate threats seem to have been taken care of, as the vampire, in gaseous form, wafts back through the west doorway.

Muttering, "I don't know if this sort of thing works," Beth aims her wand of paralyzation at the gas cloud she sees near the ceiling, and fires it at the gaseous vampire, attempting to paralyze it.

The ray does not affect it.

The cavalier takes to the air again and follows the mist.

"Let's follow, so when she regains her form, we can kill her the right way!" he says with a wide grin.

Op Code agrees. "Let's find out where her coffin is."

"Guys! This might be a trap. Be careful," offers Kithus as he runs to catch up with Op Code and the cavalier.

Jon looks around and makes sure that nothing else is coming.

"Hey, great strikes, Geerzo. You really gave him a pain in the stomach. Let's get some of these demon parts to take back to town. How do we get rid of the charm on Sharone? Anybody?"

Jon looks closely over the demons for any special or unusual items while cutting up some parts for the mages shops back in Sandas.

The rest of you follow the gaseous vampire through the west door. This is a 20' X 30' room (10' north, 10' south, 20' west; doors in both sections of the south wall). Apparently this is the lair of the now deceased demons, for the place is littered with bones, bits of gristle and coins.

You take no time to count the booty as you follow the cloud through the west door - which is open a crack - and into a 10' wide passage which runs southwest. It runs for 60'...then there is a flight of stairs going down to the south. In the 40' - 50' section of the left wall is a passage running east, and the vampire goes this way.

The east passage runs for 50' (north wall) and ends. In the first 10' section of the north wall is a passage running northeast. The vampire floats northeast.

This last passage runs for only 10', and ends at a door facing north.

The wispy vampiress drops down suddenly from the ceiling and slips through the keyhole in the door.

Al tries to follow but his head is too fat to fit through the keyhole.

Jon, who has been busy somewhere, hurries up and joins the party, trying to stay close to the paladin. With his continual light coin held in his hand and Geerzo in the other, Jon is ready to evade or dodge at the slightest unusual event.

"Al, open the door!"  Beth says.

The cavalier kicks at the door.

The door does not give.

"Somebody knock that door!" Beth adds, as a quick application of Murphy's Law leads her to expect that the door is locked.

She is indeed correct.

Equinox casts Protection from Fire and Protection from Lightning on himself, in that order.

Devlin pushes a random lock picking type forward, who happens to be Mikodin.

The monk tries to pick the lock.

The rest of you watch.

After a few moments there is a click, and the door pops open.

You find yourself confronting a...pudding!

It is an enormous gloopy creature which all but fills the doorway, preventing you from seeing the dimensions of the room. It is jet black.

With a slithery slimy sound it advances at you.

Mikodin quickly dances backwards away from the pudding, and begins firing crossbow bolts at it.

His bolt flies wide.

Still in the air, Al moves backwards about 5 feet and sheathes Claw. He pulls out his wand of magic missiles and fires off a missile.

His missile blasts into the pudding.

Equinox casts hold plant, hoping that it will work on a pudding.

Aldarin steps quickly forward and points his hands at the creature, releasing a burning hands spell into it. "I hope this beast is affected by fire."

The flames sear the pudding.

It lashes out at Aldarin, who jumps aside.

Drinor sees Al sheath his sword and says, "No swords? Very well..."

He pulls out his heavy crossbow and begins firing quarrels at the beast.

A bolt buries itself into the monster, and dissolves.

Ayazin casts a barkskin on himself, then a flame blade spell with which to attack the creature.

Op Code replaces his long sword with his rod of flailing. To his surprise he discovers that he does not have the weapon. He does have a crystalline rod, though.

"Does anyone have a create water spell, or something similar? If it is a pudding, when water is added it should loose its structure and... melt for the lacking of a better word," suggests Kithus helpfully.

"I don't think that will work, Kithus," replies Equinox, "But my hold plant spell might."

Beth takes a few steps back, muttering under her breath about how she really ought to study up on Pudding and Slime Lore sometimes, so she can remember which sorts of these things like and hate which sorts of attacks.

However, she doesn't attack the pudding; while retreating from it, she looks past it, with her detect invisibility still going, to see if she can see the gaseous vampire.

The vampire is not to be seen.

Equinox completes his spell, and is dismayed to see that the monster is unaffected.

After casting his spell, Equinox asks MC Hammer: "Where do you sense the evil now?"

"Can't sense anything bad in there, brother!"

Ayazin attacks the pudding with his flame blade, however his swing is wide.

The pudding has pretty well emerged through the door, now, as Aldarin and Ayazin face it on the ground.

From his vantage point up in the air Al can see over and past it into a small, triangular-shaped room. What he sees in there is a second black pudding, waiting to slither out after the first one!

"OH SHIT!" Op Code yells. He grabs the crystalline rod and is about to use it when he realizes that, being in a confined hallway, it may have disasterous consequences. He puts it away and backs away. He will watch the back of the party for anything that may come from that direction.

"Blackie has a brother right behind him. Spells would be good about now," the cavalier says as he fires another magic missile at the
creature.

Aldarin swings his flaming blade at the first pudding, "Hit the beast with fire and magic missiles, they seem to work well enough.  NO electricity though; I seem to remember something about lightning having a BAD effect on them."

His blade slashes into the monster, cutting it in two.

Both puddings attack him, the second one connecting for 13 hit points of damage.

Aldarin's chain mail disintegrates, leaving the elf standing there in his knickers.

Beside him, Ayazin connects with his flame blade, and one monster is starting to look hurt.

"I usually rely on the mages to supply the firepower, so I did not pray for wall of fire," Equinox says to the party. "If no mages have any fire based spells, let us go back and camp so I can pray for druidic wall of fire. With a druidic wall of fire we could literally walk right through these puddings."

Beth says, "I don't see the vamp!" so the others will know.

She aims her wand of paralyzation at the closer pudding and fires, attempting to paralyze the slimy thing.

"Beth, do you have any fire magic?" Equinox asks.

"Not on me," the sorceress responds, without losing focus on the pudding.

The ray from her wand strikes the pudding but it is unaffected.

"Then let us get out of here," says Equinox. "I don't think that Ayazin's flame blade is going to last long enough to destroy even one of those puddings.  I can get rid of them quickly after I have prayed for my spells."

Equinox talks to MC Hammer:  "You said no evil 'in there', what about evil behind or around us?"

"Nothin', man, but that big blob's in ma way!"

Aron looks for hidden doors, trying to find where the vampire may have gone and avoiding the pudding.

Jon moves away from the pudding to give the others more room  and detects magic in the room/corridor you are in.

Jon looks around for Sharone to be sure she did actually come along with the group and was not left behind.

She was left out in the passage.

Jon pulls out his wand that he doesn't know anything about and sees if it has changed in any way.

It has not.

Jon tries feeling for indentations or scratches on the wand.

He feels nothing.

Jon feels it. It has not changed temperature.

Jon will tries quietly talking to the wand, "Now wand you are being difficult can I help you in any way?"

He gets no reply.

Aldarin is currently under attack by two puddings. Ayazin aids him against one. The third pudding is through the door, now, and closing on Kithus.

Suddenly a bat flies through the doorway and between Al's legs, then back down the passage whence you came. However, she then makes a left at the intersection and makes for the stairs.

Al does a somersault in the air.

"FOLLOW THAT BAT!" he screams as he flies after the bat, firing another magic missile, this time at the bat.

The missile strikes the bat, who keeps on flying.

Mikodin begins running after the bat at full speed while slinging his crossbow and drawing his magic axe.  If able to close with it, he will attack it with the axe.

The bat stays up near the ceiling and out of Mikodin's reach.

The bat zooms down the stairs, with the monk and the cavalier in hot pursuit.

Seeing that he is armorless and that his flame tongue seemingly has little effect on the creatures, Aldarin promptly turns and begins moving hastily in the opposite direction of the puddings, "I agree, let us retreat and return with magic to dispatch these beasts more easily."

The puddings lash out at him as he turns away, one connecting for 18 hit points of damage.

The last pudding attacks Kithus, burning him for 11 hit points.

Ayazin burns one of the puddings with his flame blade. It is starting to look very hurt.

You retreat up the passage, the puddings in hot pursuit.

Devlin, meanwhile, has taken out a vial of oil and is making a molotov cocktail.

"Anyone got a light?"

Equinox asks MC Hammer: "Anything evil around here besides that bat?"

"No!"

Jon suddenly realises, "Ooops we forgot Sharone. I will keep her safe until the spell wears off. You all go after the bat evil thingie, then meet us outside."

Jon sticks his hands inside his cloak. "Come forth and party DJINNI OF FUNK."

There is swirling motion from around the ring, an a great djinni takes shape before the elf.

"I AM THE DJINNI OF FUNK! EVERYBODY GET DOWN!"

The djinni then starts gyrating around, dancing to some form of music that only he can hear.

"We need to go and get one of our party members, Sharone and take both her and I outside until the spell effects wear off. Once outside this dungeon we can dance and get down until the others return. Will you help me in this task, please?"

"GET DOWN WITH THE DJINNI!" he replies, and keeps on dancing.

"What?" asks Equinox incredulously, "that's the best request you can think to ask of a Djinn?"

He shakes his head. "I don't think that you need a Djinn in this situation at all, but if you are going to call it now, why not make him bring an unhypnotized Sharone to us instead of heading out of doors?"

"ABRACADABRA!" says the djinn, still dancing.

You have retreated back up the passage, but the puddings are right behind you.

The puddings seem to be able initially to keep up with the slowest warriors, namely Devlin and Drinor, clanking along in their heavy armour, though as you hurry up the passage you begin to open up a bit of a gap.

"Sorry, I don't smoke," Equinox replies to Devlin. "How much oil do you have?"

"Four."

Jon says, "Use the flaming sword someone had."

Devlin looks embarrassed, and draws his broadsword. The blade obligingly bursts into flames.

As he runs up the passage he lights a molotov and tosses it over his shoulder. A blind throw, it strikes one of the puddings and it starts to burn.

You reach the door at the end of the passage and hurry through it, slamming it before the puddings can get through it. You are back in the room whence the demons came.

Once all of the party is out of range of the puddings, Aldarin turns and begins to cast a spell. Beth recognises the incantation, and places herself by the door. At the last instant she opens it a crack and Aldarin tosses a fireball through the opening, strategically placing it so as not to catch any of the party or himself with the backlash, and Beth slams the door again.

There is a dull roar from the passage beyond the door. It smokes, and collapses in flames.

Meanwhile, Equinox has cast a cure light wounds spell on Kithus, healing him for 3 hit points.

As the smoke clears two puddings come slithering through the doorway. Both are burned, one severely, and both are madder than hornets. There is no sign of the third pudding.

Kithus says to Aron, Drinor and Op Code, "Ahhhh... should we mention this to Jon and the others? I don't want to ruin Jon's good humor..."

"That worked well.  Any more tricks up your sleeve, Aldarin?"

Aldarin shakes his head, "That was the last of my spells that will be effective against these beasts."

He retreats further into the room, pulling a flask of oil from his backpack and prepares to light it with his flameblade to toss at the worst looking pudding, "But I DO have one flask of oil left."

Op Code takes the hint and pulls out a flask of oil. "Can you light this one too, Aldarin?"

Aldarin replies, "Absolutely, my friend."

He then lights Op Code's flask also with his flaming sword.

Equinox awaits an opportunity to cure Aldarin.

You retreat to the east doorway as you are about to throw your oil...

Sharone, who was left trussed up by Equinox at the four-way intersection while everyone went chasing after the vampire/bat, sees everyone but Al and Mikodin retreating through the doorway whence the demons came.

Sharone feels fine and quite normal, except that she thinks the vampire is her best friend...and maybe more...

Meanwhile, the rest of you see Al and Mikodin arrive at the south doorway out of the room. In between, though, are the two surviving black puddings.

The puddings slither forward towards the bulk of the party as Devlin, Aldarin and Op Code throw their molotov cocktails.

Aldarin's oil lights up one of the puddings as it attacks him, burning him with its acidic saliva for 18 hit points.

Op Code's oil also lands on the same pudding, immolating it. Still it lives.

Close by, the other pudding connects with Devlin for 17 hit points. The warrior laughs it off as he lands a molotov on his assailant.

Then, Sharone hears an evil hiss from up the north passage. Turning to look as best she can, she sees five ghouls moving down the passage towards her helpless self, and their intentions do not look benign.

Sharone, feeling no love for the ghouls begins to call for... "HELP!"

At this time, realizing that he is all out of options, Aldarin makes a hastily retreat from the puddings, wielding his flaming sword again, as he heads toward the ghouls to melee.  "I'm afraid that that is all that I have that will affect these creatures, I suggest a strategic retreat is in order."

Jon looks around for the DJINNI OF FUNK and is a bit perplexed by Sharone's current state.

Jon says, "Hey Djinni, I think Sharone would dance with you if she was cured of the charm that affects her...then we could all GET DOWN TOGETHER."

"OPEN SESAME!" says the djinn, still gyrating around Jon's head. However, nothing else seems to happen.

Beth rushes over near Sharone.  She starts to cast a web spell into the northern passage, trying to catch all of the ghouls in the web, and filling as much of the passage between them and us with the webs as she can without trapping any of the party in the webs.

Drinor stops shooting bolts at the puddings, and attempts to turn the ghouls advancing on Sharone. "Back into the grave with you foul creatures, by the severed hand of Tyr!"

The ghouls laugh at the paladin.

"HA HA HA!" they say.

The cavalier flies over the puddings and lands with Sharone and the ghouls in sight. He invokes a power of the ring to erect a wall of force to block the undead from her path. Once done, he will swap weapons yet again and when he gets a chance, he will fire a magic missile at the nearest pudding.

The web and the wall go up together, entangling the monsters and holding them fast.

The ghouls stop laughing.

Op Code inquires, "Can you position another wall of force to the north of where the ghouls are? That way, they are trapped and we can go east, around the corner to the north and end up to the north of the ghouls and beat a hasty retreat out of here."

"Sorry, once a day for the wall," he replies with a shrug. "After the puddings get slimed, it will be my pleasure to smash some ghoul head!"

The flames of the oil that Aldarin and Op Code doused on the one pudding continue to burn, finally killing the monster.

Ayazin continues a fighting retreat, using his flame blade against the remaining pudding.

The druid connects, killing the last pudding.

"Al, how did you do with the vampire?"

"Bitch got away; she'll be back, I need to get this ring to make me move faster than snail pace," he says with a  chuckle. "The fleet footed monk over there had no problem keeping up, though, perhaps you could have shifted into a bat or bird and given chase, but she outpaced me. I hope she comes back, I want to finish her off!"

The puddings are dead, the ghouls are webbed, and Sharone is still trussed up.

Jon checks on Sharone. "Hey that was a really nice female vampire don't you think, Sharone? Really pretty and nice to cuddle..."

Jon expectantly waits for the response from Sharone.

Sharone looks at Jon. "I don't understand the way you are all trying to kill her. Please release me that I might visit with her."

"I'm sorry, she's a liability to us at this time," Aron pronounces.

The monk approaches her from behind and applies the fabled Spock Pinch to her neck.

Sharone collapses, stunned.

"Perhaps we should continue the vampire hunting. She's got to be around here somewhere."

Drinor harrumphs, a bit annoyed at being laughed at by ghouls. "Burn that web with the ghouls inside it. Then we should explore the vampire's crypt. There could be more vampires sleeping inside, and we should destroy her coffin to prevent her from sleeping in it. It may not destroy her, but it will diminish her powers. If anyone can dispel magic, do so on Sharone and that should free her from the charm."

"Come ta daddy!" Al says with a grin as he dispels the wall of force.

He sheathes Claw and arms himself with his flame tongue. He activates the flaming sword and ignites the webs.

The web goes up in flames, engulfing the ghouls, who howl in agony. However, the fire is not enough to kill them, and they quickly emerge from the flames, converging on Al, screaming for his blood!

"Here we go again," mutters Devlin, as he moves to help out.

Jon positions himself about Sharone and thinks aloud of the potential opportunity that presents itself. "Now what does Sharone wear under her armour..?"

Jon then tries to refocus. "Probably black..."

Refocuses again."Ghouls wearing black..."

And again, drawing his sword and taking a defensive position close to the rising and falling.

Again."It's going to be a long night..."

Again. "Just like the night in Sandas...with the silk sheets and the..."

Again. "Hoping the black stocking wearing ghouls get here quickly..."

Jon starts to sweat, not at all sure he can control himself.

Al says, "I got 'em!"

He tears into them with his flaming sword, cutting and slashing them.

Al takes on one while Devlin stands at his side and attacks another. The rest of you, except for the strangely distracted Jon and the stunned Sharone, go scrabbling for treasure in the former demon's room.

Al chews into the ghoul with his flame tongue as it rakes his armour with its claws.

Devlin, meanwhile, cuts down his adversary with a single swing of his flaming broadsword. Another ghoul jumps forward to take the place of the fallen one.

Al connects a second time and his ghoul drops. Another jumps at him.

Devlin calmly takes care of a third ghoul.

Al chops down the forth ghoul as Devlin finishes off the last one.

Meanwhile, you have collected a grand total of 3330cp, 13,330ep and one gem (100gp) from the demon's lair.

You pause to catch your breath and take stock of the situation. Then, in the silence which follows you hear a faint, evil giggle from up the passage to the north, followed by a sudden -

"Shhhh!"

"No, man!"

Aldarin, still brandishing his flaming sword, turns to the north passage and speaks, "I believe we know the location of our demoness prey, let us destroy her while we have the chance."

Turning back to the rest of the group he adds, "By the way, does anyone have any healing to offer?  I seem to be a little worse for wear from my encounter with the puddings."

Op Code turns around and casts a faerie fire in the direction of the giggle, hoping to catch anything that is in that direction. He will then move with Aldarin.

His spell illuminates no targets.

The cavalier extinguishes the flame brand. Once it is cool, he sheathes it and arms himself with Claw.

"Seems we have some more company," he says with a wide grin and he activates his ring, taking to the air. He flies down the north passage to see what he can find!

This time Equinox does not forget about Sharone.

While Al and the others move to attack, he stays near her to make sure nothing sneaks up on her while she is immobilized and stunned.

Mikodin does the same, sensing that the vampiress will return to fetch Sharone.

"MC, keep checking for evil around here please. I really do not want an invisible vampire to sneak up on us."

Aldarin, Op Code, Devlin and Al head north up the passage to search for the location of the noises.

After 50' (right wall) they reach a four way intersection with a passage running northwest - southeast. To the northwest the passage runs for 30' (left wall), then there is a flight of stairs heading up. This the way you came in, you recall. To the north, the passage dead ends after 60' (right wall). To the southeast the passage runs for 50' (right wall), then turns southwest.

There is no sign of the source of the giggle.

Tully readies his bow and looks around scanning for anything that is beginning to form. He scans front, top, sides and back of the group.

The cavalier looks on the ground to see if there are any tracks leading in any of the directions.

He sees none.

Op Code looks for tracks as well.

The ranger spots a plethora of tracks...mostly from his own party as they came down the stairs from the northwest. He also sees the tracks of the ghouls, who also seem to have come from the level above.

Jon says, "Well, DJINNI OF FUNK, let's get down and party, while we wait for Sharone to be fixed by someone."

Jon starts to dance around the unconscious form of Sharone with Geerzo in hand. "It's a great day if you want to rock, rock, rock and ROLL. Come on Sharone get up and boogie, the nights are warm...let's party underground and see what comes around the corner! Do you like to dance Geerzo? Can you see anything unusual at the moment other than me??"

"No to both, you manic depressive!" answers the sword.

Jon starts to jump from side to side swinging his hips.

"Give me five DJINNI!"

Jon tries a full sommersault with half twist followed by a complete leg spread.

Amazingly, he succeeds without breaking or spraining anything important. John Travolta would be impressed.

"GROOVE WITH THE DJINNI!" says the djin.

"Well, Op Code, which way?" Al, up at the intersection, asks.

"Let's leave," says Devlin. "It's late and a lot of people are beat up. Maybe Laurie can remove Sharone's charm."

He turns northwest and starts walking towards the stairs.

"Is that it for the day then?" Al asks.

Jon says, "Well I hope so. We need to get ready for the Wedding of Sharone to the Vampire. It's going to be a lesb...affair..."

"In any event," Beth says, "I'm all spelled out.  We could certainly use a night - or day - of rest at this point, but we might want to retreat to somewhere secure before doing so what with the vampire still loose somewhere.  At this point, I'm inclined to think it might be best to pull out of the dungeon altogether for a rest.  We'll also have to be very careful to set a good watch, wherever we are."

Tully says, "I agree. We should head out so we can rest safely."

So, you head upstairs, Devlin leading, followed by Al, Op Code, Aldarin and the rest of you. Equinox carries Sharone.

At the top of the stairs, though, someone is waiting for you.

"KILL KILL KILL!!!" shout six ogres, as they leap at the people at the head of the party.

"Oh, bother," Beth mutters, as she starts to zap Ogres with her wand of paralyzation.  So long as there still is an ambulatory Ogre, she will continue to attempt to zap them with the wand.

An ogre freezes up in mid swing.

Mikodin launches himself at the ogres, kicking and punching fiercely, glad to have an opponent that can't drain levels from him.

The monk sidesteps a swing, then misses with his foot.

Tully fires arrows into one ogre until it is dead. Then another and so forth.

His first arrow misses.

Aldarin immediately goes into casting mode and blasts as many ogres with a hypnotic pattern, even if it means catching some of the party in the area of
effect, knowing that it will effect lesser beings 1st.

As the elf casts, the closest ogre conks him over the head for 2 hit points, sufficient to spoil his spell. Aldarin sees lots of stars, but no rainbows of clashing colours.

Op Code gladly leaps into attack, bashing the nearest ogre. The ranger barely nicks the ogre, but because of his extensive experience with ogrish anatomy, nicks the fellow in a critical spot, severely injuring him.

"Bring it on, baby!" Al says as he flies up and meets the closest ogre with a few swipes of Claw.

Claw connects, and there is another injured ogre. Struggling to hold in his entrails, the monster misses with his club. Al swings again, and the monster drops.

Aron will not attack unless the ogres go after any who are injured.

Devlin laughs at an ogre's unsuccessful attempt at striking him, then closes in for the kill. One swing with his bastard sword is all it takes, and the ogre drops with a thud.

Tully's second arrow also misses.

Beth fires her wand at the ogre on Aldarin, but misses.

Mikodin kicks again at his ogre, but the monster dodges him. The monk fares little better with a punch.

Tully's next arrow whizzes past Mikodin's ear and buries itself in the ogre's left arm.

Aldarin takes out his flame tongue and attacks his attacker the old fashioned way, connecting easily. The ogre misses.

Op Code's second swing polishes off another ogre. Three remain.

Al hurries over to help Aldarin, and that ogre drops as well.

In similar fashion, Devlin kills the ogre on Mikodin.

You then kill the paralysed ogre.

Searching the bodies, you find nothing of interest or value.

You head out of the dungeon. On the surface, in Kelar's magical tent, Rameen, Tracy, Goodgulf, Vardui, Leslie, Jo-owrn, Grim and Laurie await you with a late dinner. Outside, it is night.

"Hello all," says Equinox, "I did not expect to see you here again. How are you and what brings you back?"

"We've been exploring the area," replies Leslie, "How did it go in the dungeon?"

"And what has happened to Sharone?" asks Laurie.

"Good evening," Al says with a smile. "Wild time down there, some rest and relaxation is definitely in order. Any news here up on the surface?"

Jon asks, "Anybody have a dispel magic for Sharone? She currently likes a vampire...better than us!!"

"Hmm," Beth muses.  "When you add that qualifier, her condition no longer seems so abnormal."

To those waiting outside, Beth says, "Busy dungeon.  Lots of critters. Still a lot to explore.  We're a bit beat up and all magiced out, and thought we'd pull out to rest for a night.  And, yeah, find out if one of you might be able to do something for Sharone here."

"Wait a bit," says Equinox, "I want to make sure no one casts Dispel Magic on my Rope by accident."

Equinox removes his rope. Sharone stands there blinking.

"Sounds like a charm," says Laurie, "I can fix that, I think."

She casts dispel magic on Sharone...and suddenly the cleric does not think the vampire girl is so hot after all.

Jon says, "Ohh well Geerzo and I fought a demon and lots of other stuff this fighting thing it becoming easier. About Sharone, not really sure. Some
female vampire liked her and then Sharone thought the vampire was her friend. I think someone suggested a lesb...ummm...or maybe it was a marriage
of sorts....guess she just fell for the lady of the night, sort of...hope shes better now."

Sharone feels like her old self.

After dinner you turn in for the night.

Sometime before midnight, Leslie, who has been keeping watch, awakens you and leads you over to the magical window which provides a panoramic view of the surroundings of the tent, as viewed from above.

Walking around outside the tent, apparently contemplating, is the vampiress. She seems to be far away in thought, and holds her holy symbol in her right hand.

"What is she doing, Leslie? Is she communing with her evil God?" Equinox asks Leslie, "What do you think would happen if we interrupted a Vampiress during Commune to her evil God?"

Tully says, "Probably nothing. Worse case, her god or goddess could become irked at us."

"If we are going to do anything, do you think we could catch her in a cube of a Wall of Force, and talk to her as we wait for the sun to rise? I think that it would be very interesting to speak with her, as she would be aware that her continued existence would depend on her behavior and cooperation."

Jon comments, "I have a bad feeling about this...but wouldn't torturing the Vampire be considered an evil act?"

Equinox shrugs: "I don't think so."

Mikodin, getting up and watching the proceedings so far, interrupts to say, "I'm afraid I have to agree with Jon in this instance, Equinox.  Torture is evil, no matter what the reason.  The end does not justify the means."

Tully says, "How is this really torture? If she is trapped, the sun will come up and she will die."

"Yes, torturing it for no valid reason would be wrong.  We have nothing to gain by letting this creature exist another moment.  If we don't act now it may get away and harm someone. I say we attack now."

Drinor harrumphs. "Its very existence is a torture to itself. Nothing we can do to it makes any difference, because its soul is already condemned, it is undead! The only way to be merciful is to slay it. It might scream and beg and cry for mercy if we inflict pain on it, or threaten it, but vampires are not living creatures and its displays would be nothing more than clever ploys for escape, not real feelings. It would be like torturing a rock."

"Relax everyone!" Equinox exclaims, "it is not torture to talk to the darn thing.  If after she talks to us, or to me, or refuses to talk, and people want to let her go, it is fine with me.  As soon as we let her go Al is going to kill her anyway.  I personally see no difference between leaving her in the sunlight,
bashing her head in with a sword or blowing her up with a fireball."

"It got away from us once before, what's to prevent it from doing it again?"

Equinox shrugs: "I think that we deal with her in a manner that will satisfy both of us. I want to talk to her and you want to kill her. After we are done
talking we could simply let her cook in the sunlight or we could just attack."

Drinor stands up and draws his sword. "I have a better idea. Let's destroy this evil creature right now before she has another chance to flee. We can disrupt her with force of arms and pursue her soul back to its resting place, then stake her. As for talking to her, I think it would be more interesting to hear her screams as her soul heads for eternal damnation. The undead are not to be trusted, nor bargained with."

"Let's go," Al says with a smile.

"Al, wait a minute, will you?"

The cavalier disappears from view as he turns invisible.

You feel a blast of cold air as he opens the exit from the magical tent. The Vampiress looks over, then turns into a bat and flies away into the darkness, before Al can bring his hemisphere of force into effect.

"Well, there goes that idea," says Equinox with a sigh, "What should we do now?  Should we try to follow her or go back to sleep?  I think that standing around here is not a good plan."

"We're safe in here, I am sure," replies Laurie. "Come back in Al, it's cold outside."

"As you wish," he says, as he re-enters the tent. "Would you like me to warm you up?"

Laurie steps back, blushing.

Leslie turns away.

Tully shakes his head and says, "Al, you must learn to be less aggressive with the women. Alternatively, you should set your sights on a simpler sort
of woman who will see only your heroic qualities."

"What???" he asks with a shrug of his shoulders.

Tully laughs as he strums a little ditty. "I am assuming your question is rhetorical and that you DO know that you need to alter your technique OR adjust your sights. Alternatively, you could join a band and play an instrument. That always works. Of course, I am not talking quality, just opportunity."

He smiles again and chuckles at the thought.

Tully plays a tune and unwinds after a long adventure. He starts composing a new ballad about this group and then turns in for the evening.

The rest of the night passes quietly. The vampiress does not return.

Next day

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