March 25, 1370

And so it goes...

Five days pass...while Scryte completes his training under the careful tutilage of Who Knows, you settle into your new base camp, and the rangers scout out the area thoroughly. The area seems to be largely clear of monsters...and they note a dearth of game animals as well. These are the very earliest days of spring, when animal populations are at their lowest...and if other folk are hunting them as well... As for those other folk, namely the orcs, you see nothing of them. Keeping watch on the road turns up no sign of them. Woody and Op Code follow the orc-trail a short distance north of the road, and determine that it has not been used since the day that the party was attacked. Nevertheless, it is easy to follow.

Valdar returned on the 24th...teleporting into the middle of the hollow...appearing 10' in the air and crashing to the ground. He looks a little the worse for wear...these elf-festivals can be hard on a fellow.

The weather, in the meantime, reamined sunny but cold until March 22nd...when it began to pour freezing rain. This lasted all day, then turned to light snow overnight. This continued through the 23rd...until ther was 3" on the ground by nightfall. A little more snow fell on the 24th. This morning, though, is clear but cold, and there is 4 1/2" of snow on the ground.

The party which heads down to the ambush site on the road is as follows: Occa, Gilstrock, Jesse, Op Code, Pharian, Scryte, Salaam, Caterina, Valdar, Gonzo and Stiff. A powerful group by any standards.

Woody and Herman plan to keep watch on the road from this point.

Op Code leads you down the orc-trail.

The trail winds roughly northwards through the forest for roughly seven miles. The woods are quiet...the path easy to follow.

At long last, in late morning, you come to a stream...flowing down the hill, whose summit now lies east-northeast of you, and blocking your path. It is not deep, though, and can be easily forded.

Across the stream is a cliff...some 70' high in total...rising directly out of the water. A narrow trail has been cut into the face of the cliff...it ascends steeply for about 40', where it ends at a broad, semicircular-shaped ledge, some 30' deep at its deepest. The rest of the cliff overhangs this ledge, rising a further 30' above it.

The area is overgrown with unhealthy looking bushes and low plants. Even at this time of year the underbrush is dense. Scattered about here and there on both sides of the stream are piles of bones, garbage, heaps of ashes and broken tools and weapons.

"Thoth, grant me sight," Salaam intones as he casts a true sight spell and looks around the area.

After looking around for a moment...

"They know we're here.." he says to the group in an onimous tone.

Occa casts wizard eye and sends it up to look about.

Stiff chants some arcane words and phrases...and then flies up into the air.

Gonzo will keep his eyes out for any sign of danger.

"Hey whut makes you dink dey knows we is coming? I canna see nothing up der."

"Gonzo, my friend, my god Thoth grants me the ability to see past illusions, read magical auras, and see the unseen that is hidden from mortal eyes. I saw an orc off in the bushes and when he saw me notice him, ran and probably alerted his foul kin."

Scryte stands tall with his chest thrust out. Obvioulsy feeling mighty high about himself, being so experienced and powerful these days. The little halfling pats the Wand of Wonder strapped to his belt and says to no one in particular,"Just give me the word and I'll go in and take care of buisness."

Valdar says nothing...but watches Occa and Stiff.

Sensing the air of tension about, Gilstrock takes his bow from its customary place over his shoulder and holds it in his hand, ready to pull some arrows out of his quiver and fire them at moment's notice. He doesn't just yet drop his spear, however.

Occa speaks words of power and abruptly winks out of sight...to instantly reappear atop the ledge, about 10' in from the edge.

You hear a startled grunt from the bushes before him, as he gestures...then the form of an orc falls forward out of the bushes...topples over the edge of the cliff...and falls into the stream below.

All else seems quiet.

Occa says from the ledge, "Don't kill him...if the fall didn't, that is. I want to question him."

Gilstrock and Pharian wade across the stream to where the orc body lies in the shallows and the fighter prods it a couple times with his spear. The orc is definitely dead...his body smashed to a pulp by the impact. Satisfying himself that all is well, Gilstrock searches the orc body for anything on him, looking for messages or badges. All he finds of interest on the corpse is his crude wooden shield...emblazoned with the insignia of a snorting red dragon.

That done, he gets his short bow back into his hand.

"OOooooo DRAT! I hate it when dey do that!" exclaims Gonzo... obviously very agitated and ready to get down to work before too much more of the operation is compromised.

"Well... let's see what dis hat does for my complextion... He dons his new hat and squints his eyes, obviously in great concentration.

Before your eyes, Gonzo seems to transform himself into an orc... big pig nose, a few more scars on his face, a few less whiskers, warty ears, a bit too big for his head, sticking out and nicked in various places. His skin takes on an unhealthy green tint. His hands have long green nails and warts on the backs and be green as well. His apparel he will adjust to give it a more tattered look.

He looks at the rest of the party for a reaction.

"You fellas be on dee lookout fer me armor when we gits into a fight now hear!" he says rather criptically.

Scryte wades across the stream and walks up the trail towards his friend and mentor Occa. He scans the trail for any traps that may cause an avalanche of rocks to come tumbling down on his head or any weak spots in the trail itself. Three-quarters of the way up, he stops.

Op Code motions to Stiff to check out the area where the orc came from...even though there is no sign of the arch-mage at the moment.

Scryte turns to the group down below him,"Hey, I've found a trap on the path. It is a trip wire conected to a bunch of stones. I'm not going to try disarm it, because I'm not real good at that. So...I gues I'll just mark it. Ummm....I'll carve two sets of parallel line on the path on both sides of it. That should be easy to see."

Occa sighs and says, "Damn orc...dying like that...what a waste of spells." He then says, "Careful of the trap! There is also a hidden door up here."

Scryte takes out one of his daggers and using the back side, carves the two parallel lines on both sides of the trip wire.

Scryte pauses in his work and glances up at Occa. "Gee, and I was just about to pull on the wire to see what would happen." Scryte goes back to carving the lines in the dirt path, mumbling quit loudly,"Talk about stating the obvious. Next its going to be,' Watch out for that sword coming at your neck. It looks sharp.' Some people."

Obviously the little halfling is a little more on edge than he would have let on.

The halfling continues up the trail scanning for any more traps.

He finds none.

Occa chuckles and says, "Have you ever been magic missiled?" He smiles at the halfling and says, "Maybe you can check this door for traps."

He then seems to remember something and says, "But hold on...in case there are poison needle traps." He walks over to Scryte and casts a spell. "There, that should help with poison needles and sharp swords.." he chuckles again.

Scryte checks the concealed door in the bushes at the back of the ledge for traps, but finds none.

Listening, he reports to Occa that he hears orc-voices on the other side...

Jesse is waiting near Cat, prepared to do what becomes necessary, be it sing, spell cast or fight.

Cat starts to cast a spell...then thinks better of it.

Salaam goes splashing over to the orc's dead body and kneels by it. "Can someone please watch me in case something goes awry ?" he asks the group.

"Oh Thoth," he intones, "Let me speak to this wretched creature so that my companions and I may gain the upper hand on these foul creatures."

After a moment comes a ghastly whisper...from far away...

"Yesss..?"

He asks the creature about forces are in the area...

"My kind....my kind..."

..What traps are around...

"The trail..."

..And who the leader is...

"Roget..."

Scryte cracks a smile,,"Cool, I'm a stone golem now. Nothing can hurt me now......knock on Gonzo's head."

Occa says, "Nothing can harm you?" he laughs and says, "Energy and gas can still kill you."

He casts a spell...Unseen Servant.

He then says, "Some of you fighter types want to get up here and help take care of these orcs?"

The party moves across the stream and up the trail.

Gonzo takes the dead orc's shield.

Then Gonzo will quickly scale the hill to the position of the secret door, carefully avoiding any traps the Scryte has marked.

Arriving there, he pulls the flamesword from his belt and prepare for the inevitable slaughter to follow.... orc stew that is.

Scryte shuffles back into the bushes, kneels down and grabs one of his dagger handles.

Gilstrock gets up there. He steps aside to let Occa do whatever his damn wizard-thing is to the door, ready to take a cautious look in and then rush in to kill orcs as rapidly as possible.He has his sword out, and his shield in his left hand.

Op Code draws his longsword and readies for any orcs that may appear after the door is opened.

Soon, you are all up on the ledge, save Stiff, who is not to be seen.

Occa has the unseen servant open the door.

It does not budge...despite repeated attempts by the servant to open it.

"They must have it barred...or held," says Valdar.

Occa chants again and casts knock upon the door.

There is a crash from the far side...then you can all hear muffled curses in orcish.

The servant opens the door.

Beyond is an odd-shaped cave. It extends off to the left and right...out of your sight. 20' in is the back wall...there is a door directly across from the entrance.

Between you and the door, though, are about 20 orcs...squinting at you...weapons bared.

Suddenly an orc goes running from the OUTside of the entrance, through the doorway and into the cave, shouting "Leeeemmeee in quick! GUYS! LEEMME GET BY! THEY'RE GONNA KILL ME!" in Orcish.

It is Gonzo.

The orcs...perhaps a little confused, admit him...closing ranks again as he passes.

Salaam leaves the dead orc in the water, and heads up the path to the ledge above as the battle begins.

Occa, near the east end of the ledge, gets out a recent edition of Playboy magazine and sits down while the fighters hack the orcs to pieces.

Gilstrock begins to lay into the orcs with his sword. He'll shout, "Let us at him! Let us at him!" after the direction of Gonzo.

Gilstrock cannot miss. It's like shooting fish in a barrel. An orc goes flying...blood spewing from its mortal wound.

Gonzo. meanwhile, finds a convenient shadow to lurk in while he assesses the situation.

Using all the commotion as cover, Scryte slips from the concealment of the bushes, into the cave. An orcs spots him , though, and swings his scimitar at the halfling. Scryte dodges the rusty blade, but, his surprise ruined, decides to beat a hasty retreat.

Op Code attacks the nearest orc, Gonzo excluded. Like Gilstrock, the ranger cannot miss. Barely pricking an orc with the tip of his longsword causes it to explode, it seems.

At the same time as all this happens, a previously unnoticed secret door over near Occa pops open and another dozen or so orcs pour out, screaming for your blood.

And, simultaneously, a lightning bolt strikes Salaam as he reaches the top of the trail, for 18 hit points of damage. For now, you see, a second secret door - at the west end of the ledge - has opened. By it is the magic user who you battled earlier when you were ambushed...accompanied by at least another score of orcs...who are rushing out to encircle you.

"Ouch, now I'm pissed," Salaam says as his lightning bolt spell is ruined. He shakes off the effects of the lightning strike and waits for a group of orcs to gather and then he intones," Thoth, help me out and slice and dice these foul creatures !" He says as he cast a blade barrier spell WHEN there is a mass of orcs and no party members nearby.

Occa sets down his Playboy and says, "Now that is more like it!"

He goes to cast cone of cold at the mage before realizing that he will not have a clear shot at him. So, he casts magic missile at the mage if he doesn't have a shimmering field around him. There is no shimmering field around the magic user but the spell fails to penetrate anyway.

The magic user, meanwhile, pays Occa no heed...instead opting to pump Salaam full of magic missiles and ruining his blade barrier. Only one gets through, though, hitting the cleric for 19 hit points, before Stiff pops into view overhead...uttering a single word of great power at the mage. In a split second the magic user is dead...reduced to dust...which the wind then scatters.

Pharian casts web on the dozen orcs that have come out from the secret door near Occa. The orcs suddenly find themselves held fast.

Not wanting to be anywhere near the wizard wars, Scryte hides in the shadows. He is crouched next to the cave, behind the line of fighters...his hand inching toward the Wand of Wonder.

Jesse casts fireball, towards the group of orcs which had been with the magic user. A ball of flames blossoms near the second secret door...catching 19 orcs and vapourizing them. The remaining 9 move to attack the fighters at the main door from the rear.

More orcs appear in the secret doorway to the west...but seeing the situation outside, think better of it and slam the door closed.

Gilstrock is suspicious of the ease with which he and Op Code are killing these orcs. Recalling an incident from his past, he calls out loudly while pressing his attack, "Pharian, are these buggers real?"

Pharian shrugs, and tries to disbelieve the orcs. Try as he might, they refuse to go away.

In the cave, Gonzo seeks out leader types for his initial attack. Gonzo leaps, igniting his flame tongue as he does so and taking the largest orc by surprise. The leader drops without a word in a shower of blood and smoke. Several orcs notice him, though, and turn on him.

Outside in the doorway, Op Code kills another orc as Gilstrock does likewise.

"Yes!" says Jesse. as he draws his sword and moves into a protective/supportive position, watching the secret door that just slammed.

Pharian stands ready to knife any orcs that are close to breaking out of the web, or to magic missle any orcs that are overbearing the fighters.

"Ouch again," Salaam says, as he backs up a little out of harm's way. "Please heal your foolish servant, oh great Thoth" I intone as I cast a heal on myself. Salaam is healed for all save 2 hit points. He grasps his hammer and carefully wades into combat.

Valdar steps out from behind Cat's skirts and blasts off a pair of sleep spells.

16 orcs - all nine who were moving to attack from the rear as well as seven more in the main doorway - collapse, snoring loudly.

Ten orcs remain...inside the doorway...ganging up on Gonzo.

Feeling a little more secure about his immediate health, Scryte takes a moment to view the cave from where he is cowering. He looks up at the ceiling, checking for any more suprises that might be waiting. There are none.

He reaches into one of his belt pouches and pull out his leather sling and a few bullets. Placing a bullet into the leather pouch, he steps away from the wall. With a quick twirl of the wrist, he lets one rip....."Oh pardon me, boy thats going to smell", says the chubby cheeked halfling and then sends the bullet flying at an orcs head.

He misses.

"Nerf phregal gobliz snrflgingin ghoalsabbat!" shouts Gonzo, stepping into the fray...

ORCISH TRANSLATION ("FIGHT YOU FOOLS... THE ENEMY IS THE OTHER WAY!")... he's hoping to take advantage of the orcish leader incompetence in the treatment of his own forces.

He kills another orc.

Gilstrock leaps over the sleeping orcs and hurries to help Gonzo.

He kills another orc.

Op Code will also continue attacking orcs, helping out Gonzo at the earliest possible moment.

He kills another orc.

And so it goes...

Three minutes later, all of the orcs are either dead, asleep, or webbed. The warriors in your party are covered in blood...but none of it is your own.

The sound of snoring orcs is deafening.

Occa says, "I suggest we start slitting throats." He casts detect magic and examines the area...especially around the dead mage.

In the dirt where the magic user expired, he picks up a scroll, a wand, and a travelling spell book. Otherwise, he detects nothing else in the area.

Gilstrock looks around at the dead orcs, trying to find one whose clothing isn't too blood splattered. His goal is to find somewhere to clean the blood off of his precious Frost Brand before he sheathes it. To Occa, he'll say, "Hmm, that seems rather unsporting, doesn't it? Though I guess the buggers will just attack us again when they wake up."

This done, Gilstrock with go down to take a brief look around. He'll also recover his spear, and come back to the others.

Op Code calls out "Let's do away with all of them. That way they won't come back to haunt us later."

Gonzo, pumped up from the fight will continue the blood letting, stepping quickly from one orc to the next and quickly dispatching them so that they will not be any bother to the party again.

"Pray ta yer god dat he can take der souls where dey kin learn some manners wouldja Salaam. Dey don't seem to have many in dis werld worth keeping dem here!" Gonzo says as he goes about his grisley task.

Next, he strips the bodies of any weapons or valubles that they carried. In all, though, the pickings are slim...consisting of rusted scimitars, battered shields, and only 280ep on the lot of them.

Once all of the orcs - including the webbed ones - are dead, you take a look through the open doorways. The main door opens directly into a rough-hewn cave (right wall goes 10' northeast, 10' east, 10' north, 40' west, 10' south, 10' southeast to close up; door in north wall directly across from the south door). This cave is unfurnished.

The secret door to the east is about 40' away from the main entrance, in the cliff face which curves southeast. Looking through it, you see a rough passage which runs northeast for 10', before curving around to the left and out of your sight.

The second secret door - to the west - is closed.

While Stiff turns invisible again, Occa casts knock on the closed secret door and then has his servant open it.

Revealed is a rough, 10' wide passage that runs dead north.

Blocking your view, though, is a horde of orcs...about 16 in total...led by a big ugly sucker in gleaming field plate armour.

As soon as you get the door open, he and a companion move to close it again.

Having just seen his companions deal with worse odds, Scryte calls out, "Oh Gilstrock, Pharian, Gonzo you'd better get here quick before these magic casters have all the fun."

Op Code casts a magic missile at the big goon in the armor, and then tries to prevent the door from being shut. Two missiles spring from the ranger's outstretched middle finger, striking the captain on his hairy snout.

Occa casts magic missle...2 on the guy not in plate...the rest on the guy in plate mail. The first two missiles blow the smaller orc's ears off, which gets him mad; while the last three reduce the captain's already sore snout to a bloody, smoking pulp.

"Let me at 'em!" Gilstrock says. "Scryte, you can pick locks, can't you? Can you open that door again? If not, somebody enchant it open again!"

The door is almost shut, though, when Op Code manages to stick his booted foot between it and the jamb. With the door prevented from closing, he tries to push it open again.

The orcs curse...calling him a door-to-door insurance salesman, and worse. The two big ones keep pushing, while several more rush forward, brandishing their scimitars, to hack at Op Code's foot.

Gilstrock puts down his spear and draws his frost band again. Gilstrock positions himself to be able to quickly attack when the door gets properly open again. He will direct his attention first at the big sucker in field plate.

Stiff positions himself to the back of the party and gestures. The big, ugly orc seems to slip on something and then sits down abruptly, grunting in surprise and releasing his grip on the door.

Op Code thrusts it open, and with a single swing of his sword decapitates the sitting orc.

Gilstrock leaps at the other orc as the rest of them cry out in dismay, and chops him down where he stands.

The rest of the orcs surge forward to attack, all worries about getting the door closed again, gone.

"Die, you foul spawn of a troll's lower digestive system!" Gilstrock cries, as he presses the attack.

"How'd you know my mother?" the orc facing him asks, as he swings and bounces his scimitar off of the fighter's fancy new plate mail. Gilstrock does not answer, preferring to kill him instead.

Jesse uses his darts on the orcs. His first one hits an orc between the eyes and sticks there...his next two miss.

Op Code goes to work with a smile on his face and song in his heart. Another orc seems to explode immediately.

Gonzo, momentarily distracted from the new onslaught of orcs in need of soul saving, jumps up from his pile of rusty scimitars and with a loud "KAAAAAAAAAAARUMBA!" charges into the fray.

"WEHSH GIMESH GORD SAHG GIE" he shouts in orcish (TRANSLATION: "Come meet your maker foul scum")

He forgoes the swords and wades in slugging orcs into oblivion, specifically trying upper cuts to pop their heads off and sledghammer pounds on the tops of their heads to make them shorter.

His first two swings connect with one unfortunate orc...whose head goes flying through the air in a shower of blood.

Occa directs his unseen servant to cook up some popcorn for the "main event" that Gonzo has turned the melee into. Soon the air is filled with the aroma of popping corn.

Gilstrock, meanwhile, has dispatched another orc-leader as the ranger detonates a fifth. Gonzo, meanwhile, pounds another. While making the orc shorter, he does not kill him. Jesse looses another three darts, hitting an orc-guard.

From the main entrance, though, come charging another dozen or so orcs, screaming for blood and a share of the popcorn. You note now that the door in the north wall of the cave is open.

Occa draws a wand at his side in a lighting fast disply of reflexes, "Go ahead make my day!" He points the wand at the incoming orcs from the main chamber and casts an ice storm far enough back in the chamber to get the orcs. The area in and around the main intrance is engulfed in sleet. When it clears you see all 12 orcs...frozen solid and very dead.

Stiff turns invisible again.

Scryte grabs a handful of popcorn, stuffs it in his mouth, and goes to guard Occa's front. With invincibility comes responsibility.

"Orc Burgers for dinner anyone?" Op Code yells as he keeps attacking. Another orc goes flying.

Gonzo grabs two orcs and mashes their heads together. One dies...the other doesn't...

Gilstrock knocks off another orc.

The ranger and the fighter continue to keep the orcs bottled up in the secret doorway, while Gonzo, in the passage itself, has fun too.

Five minutes later the battle is over. Dead orcs lie in heaps under the early spring sun. The only damage that anyone in your party took was to Gonzo...who is down 7 hit points.

Searching the bodies, you find a grand total of 228ep and 10gp. Also, one of the suits of field plate that a captain was wearing looks extra-special.

The place is quiet. It is approaching midafternoon.

Salaam looks around.

"Is everyone ok ?, anyone need some healing ??"

Pharian tells Gilstrock, "Uh, maybe I should have told you this a half an hour ago, but I have a strength spell ready to cast on you whenever you feel you need a little extra muscle. You want that now before we head in any further?"

"Yeah," Gilstrock says, cleaning off his sword again and heading in the direction of Pharian. "These orcs are no trouble, but I have a feeling that things aren't going to stay so easy for very long."

Pharian casts strength on Gilstrock.

Gilstrock will again retrieve his spear after Pharian has cast his spell.

Pharian takes the wand Occa found under the dead mage's ashes, and says "I wonder if he bothered to get this thing fixed since the last time we saw him." Then pointing it down towards the bottom of the cliff, he says, "Whoopdedoo."

Suddenly a jet of gas shoots out of the wand under high pressure...30' away it forms a cloud of impenitrable vapours...that hangs in the air.

Stepping over the bodies of dead orcs, Scryte heads down the tunnel the orc with the shiny field plate came from. He will see what is just ahead, looking for any signs of traps as he goes.

The passage runs north for 90' and ends. The walls are all rough, poorly dressed stone. Apart from some bits of junk, food scraps and orc-excrement, the passage is barren.

Pharian looks at Occa and Stiff questioningly. "What do you think?" he asks. "Wand of wonder?"

Occa says, "Try it again and find out."

Pharian again points the wand away from the party and says "Whoopdedoo."

The wand spits out a tiny ball of energy...which explodes into a fireball when it hits the river below...raising a massive cloud of steam and torching some of the nearby trees.

Occa smiles and says, "Yes, I would say it is a wand of wonder."

Scryte, just returning from the end of the secret, dead-end passage, has his eyes go wide, then a HUGE smile spreads across his face.

"You mean I can do that. Hee hee, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahah. Let's go I realllllly want to do that to some big bad somethings."

Occa says, "Oh no..."

"Oooh yesss..."

Taking the wand out of the loop Scryte heads back into the cave that he searched earlier. He is going to search the dead end for any secret doors.

Op Code suggests that the whole hall be searched for secret/concealed doors, et al.

Scryte searches the entire hall for secret doors.

Pharian says, "Why hang around out here looking for secret doors? This ledge would be a good place for a dragon to gas an entire party-- namely, us-- so I think we should just head in through one of the doors we already know about."

But if the party wants to look for secret doors he will help.

Stiff remains invisible and takes a look around, keeping wary of any further attacks. He sees nothing new. All is quiet.

Searching the entire passage turns up nothing...that is until Valdar pulls out his magic longsword and joins you.

"Secret door here at the end," it informs you.

Listening at the secret door, Scryte hears nothing.

Pharian says, "Whatever... now that we've found the time looking for this door, we might as well go through it. All I'm saying is, let's go."

Cat nods, and finally speaks .. *grin*

"I agree with Pharian - let's continue on. There will be plenty of time after we rid ourselves of the dragon to poke around here."

Scryte pulls his ear away from the door. "I wonder whats on the other side.", he mumbles as he inches the secret door open.

Opening the door, you see on the other side a series of tunnels. All are of rough cut stone. The smell of orcs hangs heavy in the air...though there are none in sight at this moment.

To your right, a 10' wide passage runs east for 20' and then widens out to the southeast.

Before you is an open area...roughly 20' X 20' (20' north, 10' west). Out of here a 10' wide passage runs off to the northeast, and a 10' wide passage runs off to the northwest.

You move in and look northeast. This passage runs for about 30'...then opens up to the east. A flickering, ruddy light comes from this direction...and you hear a voice chanting - or praying - on orcish.

You look northwest. This passage runs for 10'...and then turns north.

Scryte turns to face the others and puts a finger to his lips. With a broad grin he turns and slips quitely into the shadows. He stays near the wall of the cave. While making sure he doesn't trip any traps, he goes and investigates the chanting.

Gilstrock tries not to move or make any noise. He certainly doesn't go after Scryte, for that would spoil the halfling's stealth, what with Gilstrock being a big clunky human in field plate and all.

However, he looks worriedly after Scryte as the little fellow starts making his way toward the orcish chanting. He hefts his frost band in his right hand, ready to rush in should Scryte call for help. He looks once or twice inquiringly at Pharian.

To Valdar, Gilstrock whispers, "Can you understand what that orc voice is saying?"

The mighty elf-lord tweaks an ear.

"He's either praying to his despicable god...or rapping," he whispers in reply.

Stiff mutters something arcane, and concentrates.

Salaam also whispers something, then grasping his hammer, heads after Scryte as quietly as possible.

Gilstrock puts his hand on Salaam's shoulder to stop him before he gets too far. "Let the stealthy ones go first," he says. "Let them find out what they can find out before us noisy ones go in."

"Noisy ! Moi, I think not, I may not move like our small friend Scryte, but I am not loud. Anyway, I am fascinated by these barbaric religions and wish to learn more before we have to kill them."

Occa can't help but laugh at this. "Said like a truely civilized man!"

Then he puts his hand over his mouth in an attempt to quiet himself....

Soon tears from laughter run down his red face.

Gilstrock takes his hand off of Salaam, and says, "Whatever."

Gilstrock looks dubiously after the cleric as he heads down the hall, doubting Salaam's stealth. He gives Pharian another uncertain look, and they says to Gonzo and Op Code, "Cavalry, get ready to charge over the hill, eh?"

Pharian looks at Gonzo, then at his own scrawny arms, and says "Well, I'm clearly not cavalry." He looks down the hall where Salaam is trying to move quietly. "So I guess I gotta go with the stealthy crowd." Then he slips on his ring and disappears.

Scryte strains his eyes in the dim light looking for traps, trusting to his peripheral vision to catch any movement. Unconsciously he adjusts to stay in the darker shadows. Every tiny footstep placed lightly, toe then heel. His hearing ready to catch the slightest sound that's out of the ordinary...............Clank, clank, jingle, jingle, swish, swish, swish. Scryte spins around, dagger in hand, sure that the others must be getting attacked by orcs.

There, "sneaking" up the hall toward Scryte, is Salaam.

Scryte droops his head and shakes it. Then after a big sigh, continues toward the chanting.

The chanting takes on a slightly different cadence.

Suddenly an impenitrable darkness descends on Scryte and Salaam as they appraoch the chamber at the end of the passage. They - and Stiff through his wizard eye as well - are just able to note a small cave with another passage running off to the north, before their vision is rendered useless.

The chanting resumes after a brief pause.

You hear Salaam chanting...and suddenly the darkness is dispelled.

At the same time Scryte feels his muscles and limbs stiffen...as he is held in place.

The chanting continues.

Back down the hall by the secret door, Op Code keeps a lookout down the other passages for any orcs or the likes.

Occa casts sleep in the cavern.

The chanting continues unabated.

Pharian says to himself, "Damn! I've been around that halfling so long I can practically hear him thinking."

"You know what, guys?" Gilstrock says to the others. "I think they know we're here. Perhaps the time for stealth is past. Let's go!"

Gilstrock brandishes his sword over his head and points it down the passageway Scryte and Salaam went down as if giving the signal to charge. After that, he makes his way down the passageway -- though he isn't quite charging. He's moving boldy if cautiously, looking to see what he sees.

Jesse moves up the passage as well.

The rest of you follow.

Salaam looks for the source of the chanting and throws his hammer at it, no more Mr. nice Guy when a teammate is involved.

Before him - and Pharian, Scryte and Stiff's eye as well - Salaam sees a smallish, odd shaped cave (right wall heads 10' southeast, 20' east, 30' north, 20' west-southwest, 20' north, 10' west (closed door in this section), 20' south to meet up with the left wall of the passage you have just come up). This place has been made over into a temple devoted to He Who Watches...the chief god of the orcs. A crudely carved stone statue - somewhat smaller than life size - glares down on all who dare to enter this sanctum, with its one eye. Before it is a roughly carved stone slab...the altar. It is covered in dried blood. An equally bloody altar service sits atop it. The whole scene is garishly lit by guttering torches inset in wall sconces.

Standing by the altar is a large orc-priest. He is as big as an ogre, and wears plate mail. He wears a necklace of skulls...dwarven, elven and halfling. He has only one eye...his left one being plucked out in tribute to his Master.

He is chanting a spell on a piece of bone that he holds.

Pharian pops into view as he opens up with a magic missile spell...while Salaam throws his hammer. The missiles hit first, and ruin the orc's spell...while blowing a nice, bloody hole in his plate mail. The hammer follows...imbedding itself in the orc's missapen cranium. He drops dead on the spot...just as the rest of you arrive.

Cat draws out a slim wand, ready to use on any more targets. There are no more, though...the orc-priest was alone.

Searching, you find nothing of value in the temple, but for a finely crafted shortsword that the orc carried. Beneath the blood and gore, the altar service is made of cheap pewter.

There is a door to the north.

After dislodging the hammer from the dead orc, Salaam says aloud,"In the name of Thoth, I sanctify this wretched place and banish the evil from this realm."

He smashes the altar. Clouds of black smoke rise from it as he smashes it to rubble...and a stench like decaying flesh fills the room.

After moving everyone out of the way, he dislodges the statue and pulls it down, breaking it into a million pieces.

After all that, Salaam turns to see if Scryte can move.

He is still immobile.

"Oh great Thoth, please break the bonds that hold my companion." the cleric of Thoth intones.

Pharian stops Salaam, saying, "Don't waste a dispel magic spell-- this hold person spell will probably wear off in a couple of minutes. Besides, I've been enjoying the respite from his chatter."

To Scryte, Pharian says, "Hold tight, little guy-- you'll be able to scratch in a moment."

Scryte blinks in reply, and sneezes thanks to the fumes. After another moment he is completely freed from the hold spell.

Scryte grabs his and moves it from side to side. "Wow, that was neat. I kept trying move different parts of my body, but they wouldn't budge. Its kind of tiring work trying to move muscles that just don't want to move. It really made my muscles sore, especially my jaw. Huh, I guess it's because I was trying to tell you so much important stuff. Like, lookout theres some big ugly, spell casting, one eyed, orc priesty kind of guy casting another spell. But I guess you didn't need my help with that one. Oh, hey Salaam that was some good sneaking you where doing back there. Oh, yea I'm fine thanx for asking. I just feel all bottled up inside, like I need to get something out. Well anyway where do we go now? I was thinking about just taking a peek behind this door over here. You know. Just see whats on the other side. You never know......."

Scryte heads to the door up the north hall.

Opening it reveals a small, 10' square bedroom...the quarters of the dead orc-cleric. The place is dominated by a large, plushy bed, made up with satin sheets.

From between the sheets peek two almost-attractive-looking orc-boys...

It is midafternoon.

"Hey, look what I found, Playboys. Well maybe not the kind you like Occa, but I guess the late One Eyed ugly orc had a funny side to him. You all had better keep Cat and...well anybody else out of this room. This room seems to be made for her type of entertainment. Not that I mean prepubescent orc boys are her type, but the bed could get her mind going. Next thing we know, we're fighting dragons somewhere further along, only to discover that Cat and Jesse have snuck back here."

Jesse blushes at this comment and walks away to closely examine one of the walls.

Scryte takes a big breath and looks directly at the orc boys. "Alright kids out you go. We have some serious adventuring going on here, so get out before we have to kill ya. Now where is that treasure. Old one eye could have been too tricky. Of course that spell of his did work pretty good. Lets start with the obvious..."

Scryte walks over to the bed waving the orc boys off the bed with his dagger.

The orc-boys hurriedly climb out of bed and go running across the room...to wrap themselves around Salaam's knees. Evidently he reminds them of their former master.

"Will such abominations never stop ?" Salaam mutters out loud, shaking his head. Whether he is referring to the orc-boys, or to Scryte's incessant chatter is hard to determine. He scans the room for magic and look to see if there is a desk or anything that would hold paper or any records of note. There is no desk, but he does pick up an emanation of magic from under the bed...where the halfling is just looking.

Gilstrock sheathes his sword and reaquires his spear. He also hangs up his shield on the hanger on his pack, so that he has a hand free. He then assists Scryte and Salaam in searching the room, though he doesn't stray very far from where Scryte is.

From under the bed the halfling pulls three leather sacks. Looking in the first, he counts out 433sp. Out of the second come 8 black pearls...which those in the know estimate as being worth 500gp each. The last sack contains 8 vials...and it is from these that Salaam detects the magical emanations.

While the others search the room, Pharian keeps watch outside the door.

Op Code asks "Shall we play Orcish Inquisition today? Maybe we can get some info out of these boys."

"Boy, look at all this loot", says Scryte. "Ol' One Eye wasn't doing too bad by himself."

Scryte eye's the vials . "Any body else feeling kind of thirsty. This stuff looks like it'll taste pretty good. What do you think Gilstrock, Salaam? Shooters?"

"Uhhh..." Gilstrock says, "be careful with those. Just take a slight taste. But know that even that can be dangerous. You might want to get the OK from Occa or somebody, I don't know what the other folks will want to do to check them out."

Looking at Pharian, Gilstrock says, "What was that thing you did to find out properties about new items?"

Pharian says, "You mean casting identify? I don't have that memorized, and it would take too long even if I did. The best way to find out what they are is to take a sip-- but I wouldn't put it past that one-eyed orc to have a potion of poison mixed in to discourage the curious. So I think we should just toss them in a backpack and deal with them when we go back to camp."

"Scryte! Just take a sip of one vial at a time if you're going to taste them. We don't need to scrape your remains off the floor just because you wanted to drown your sorrows," Op Code tells Scryte.

"Slow down, little one," Salaam says as he puts his hand on the halfling's shoulder and the naked orc-boys look up at him adoringly. "These vials contain magicked liquids, I wouldn't just drink one just b/c you want to."

You take the loot and return to the passage outside of the secret door.

"What do you all think? East?", Scryte pipes in.

You head east.

After 20' the passage widens out into a barren open area (right wall goes 20' southeast, 10' northeast, 10' north (10' wide passage running northeast out of this section), 10' northwest, 20' west to close up). Apart from some garbage, the place is bare.

You continue on to the northeast.

The passage runs for 30'...then turns southeast. Rounding the corner, you see that it continues for an additional 20', then there is an intersection. A passage runs south, while another runs northeast. Both are 10' wide.

You head down and take a look.

To the south, the passage runs for 40'...before ending at a door in the south wall facing you.

To the northeast, the passage runs for 20', at which point it turns east. From this direction comes a reddish glow and the crying of orc-children.

Cat creeps forward a bit, "Oh ... children ... they're crying .. " She whispers, looking back to the others ...

Looking around the corner, you see that the passage continues east for 20', then opens up into a cave chamber.

From what you can see from where you are, the place seems to be crowded with female orcs and young.

Stiff finally pipes up but quietly. "I think I will cast a clairvoyance spell, centered 9' behind the door in the south. It will only take me a few segments to do this. I do think we should check out what is to the north east. Don't forget just because we hear orc childrens voices we might be caught in a situation here if we should happen to be attacked from the north and the south."

He starts incanting, then, and concentrates...with a faraway look in his eyes.

Op Code whispers "Where there's female and young orcs, there's got to be male orcs. I say let's make mince meat of them. There's too many of them to try the old talk-now-kill-later routine. What do the rest of you think?"

"Of the women and children?" Cat asks in surprise.

Jesse speaks, his voice low. "I will not kill children, even orc children. Those who take action against me, I will fight against, but children, no. If we can, I would suggest that we try to put them to sleep and let them alone."

"Cut the sniveling, Cat," Pharian snaps.

Cat turns to face Pharian, her eyes cold and her voice low. "Excuse me?" She says icily, ennunciating each word slowly.

"I do not snivel, and you had best watch your tongue, or I will assist you in learning how to use it properly." She finishes, turning her attention back to the corridor.

"They're not children, they're orcs," the magic user continues. "But I don't know that we should take the time and effort to exterminate them; and Jesse, you certainly had better not waste any spells putting orc babies to sleep.

"Unless you fighters think that you can take them out without too much delay or commotion, I say we just pass them by. Everybody remember: the orcs are just an irritation and a distraction-- it's the dragons we're here for."

Cat whispers back, without turning her head. "I'm surprised that you have such an intelligent idea - perhaps you are not stupid, merely insufferably rude."

"That's right," says Pharian, ignoring her threat about his tongue.

Jesse turns and faces Pharian, "Why...Why... I do not know what you believe. However, I know that I _do not_ kill children whatever their lineage. Children, all children, deserve the right to live and grow up, the right to make their own choices. Choices denyed to some."

Jesse begins to shake.

"I _do not_ care that these are orc children. They deserve the right to live and grow up to make their own choices. I _will not_ kill them, nor will I permit them to be killed. No matter what else...I _believe_ that they should be allowed to make their own choices."

"Fine, fine," says Pharian with a shrug. "I'm not going to have a philosophical debate in the middle of a hostile dungeon. I don't much care whether they live or die. They're not going to attack us, so I'm perfectly happy to ignore them. It's just that as a matter of strategy, I insist that we don't waste any spells on them."

"What if, what it just ten of them turn out to be good and strive for peace, and you go in there and kill them now. What if just one of those children decides to work for peace and goodness... I _can not_ live with myself if they were killed with out the chance to grow up." says Jesse.

Jesse looks furious. "We have the power to be good and compassionate we have the choice. That's what sets us apart from creatures and orcs. Show that compassion and use the powers we have to give these children a chance to make the right choice."

The bard looks aorund at the rest of the group. Staring at each one in silence.

Valdar eyes Jesse.

"That is your human half speaking, Jesse," he says in a low voice. "I do not not know what it is like on your home world...but here an elf would feel no remorse at killing young orcs...for we know what they grow up into and have suffered too much at their hands already. But Pharian is right...we have bigger fish to fry right now."

"I suggest that the mages cast sleep and nullify any possible threat that they can be." says Salaam. The orc-boys look up at him with adoration at the sound of his voice.

Suddenly from down the hall you hear the orc-females crying out...finally having heard or spotted you. The cave down there is filled with yells and screams...and the sounds of crying children...as you see them all scrambling to make their escape through some other, unseen, exit.

You move forward, then, and look into the cave.

It is irregularily-shaped (the right wall runs 10' southeast, 15' east, ~15' northeast, 10' north, 10' northwest, 20' west (passage running north-northeast in first 10' section), and finally 10' southwest (passage running northwest in this section) to close up). A cooking, eating and recreation area for the orcs, this place stinks of orc-cooking, feces, and unwashed bodies.

The cave is now deserted. Going by the sounds, yelling and cries, the orc-females and young fled up both the north passage and to the northwest.

You look up each of these passages.

The north passage turns north-northeast almost immediately, runs for 30' and then opens up into another cave. You see movements down there...as you spy orc-females attempting to barricade themselves in against you.

The passage to the northwest runs for less than 20' before opening up into another cave to the west. The sounds of orcs are fainter from this direction...and receding quickly.

Op Code glares at Cat "Way to go! You and your moronic philisophy. If we get killed because they raised the alarm, I'll come back to haunt you."

Cat turns to face Op Code, her brows raised and a smile on her lips - though her eyes are icy. "Fine, but not on nights when I am otherwise occupied, is that clear?"

Occa sighs as if coming out of a daze and looks around at the mess, "This great...your talk has now sent them scurrying away...if we could have stopped that it wouldn't have endangered our mission."

He pulls out a wand and sends a fireball as far as he can up each corridor that they fled down. "That should take care of the problem once they expand....oh, everyone RUN!!!"

He runs back the way he came...at least till the fireballs are over.

A dull roar comes from both passages as you turn and flee the advancing flames. The fireballs engulf the room you just vacated, filling the area with smoke.

The party, however, escapes unscathed.

Once the flames die down, you return to the recreation cave. From both tunnels, now, you hear only silence.

Jesse follows Occa down the corridors to avoid the fireballs. Once we are out of range, Jesse stands toe to toe with Occa.

"You son of a bitch... You... You..." His anger is clear. "We had agreed to leave them be...Why?"

"At least somebody agrees with me. Way to go Occa," Op Code remarks.

"They had become a threat to the mission....if you guys had remained silent bypassing would be fine. However, I don't like the idea of a bunch of dragons knowing I am coming...if you noticed, their shields have a dragon on them...so they are minions of the dragons. Well, where do you think they will run for protection? To the dragons. Of course, they probably wouldn't get it, but they would alert them. We should have walled up that room for a day or three and then let them go. However, once they took off, there was only one thing to do."

He looks at Jesse and says, "I know you feel strongly about this...however, if you want to discuss this or 'duke' it out, let's save that for back at base camp."

Occa then says, "Shall we move on?"

Jesse looks at Occa for another minute or so. His breathing slows "Agreed, we will discuss this more later."

He then turns and moves towards the rear of the group, alone,lost in thought.

You head up the north-northeast corridor.

This opens into another cave...roughly circular (~30' diameter; passage running out of the west side). Recently a sleeping area, it is filled with an assortment of odd cots, bedrolls, pallets and rags...now mostly reduced to ashes. Also in here are the smoking remains of about 45 female orcs, and 30 young of various ages. You find nothing else in here.

Moving down the passage to the west, you find that it runs for 20' then opens up into a smaller, circular cave (~20' in diameter). An orc-nursery, the fireball has destroyed all that lived in here, too. You count about four score of corpses here...ranging from newborn orc-babies to young adults.

You find nothing else in this area.

You return to the recreation cave and then head up the northwest passage.

This tunnel opens up after less than 20' into a roughly rectanglar-shaped cave (20' north, 20' west; passage running west out of west wall, southernmost 10' section). Another sleeping area, it too is filled with torched cots, pallets and the like. However, there are no bodies here.

You head down the west passage.

It angles northwest after 10'...then turns north-northeast after another 15' or so. 10' in this direction, and it forks three ways...a passage runs northeast, a passage runs north, and a passage runs northwest.

You look up each in turn.

The northeast passage runs for 40'...then turns north.

The north passage runs for about 10'...then opens up into a fairly large cave.

The northwest passage runs for about 10' as well...then also opens up into a large cave.

The entire area is silent.

"A man I can work with," says Pharian approvingly, looking at the smoking wreckage Occa's fireballs have left. "All action and no talk. But Occa, if we give the orcs any credit, I think we can assume that they sent someone to warn the dragons as soon as we fought the battle on the ledge."

"I know, I know...I am hoping that they are stupid. Sadly, I doubt they are that stupid." he looks over the group and says, "Luckily, this is a very powerful group, so we may be able to muscle our way through this." He shakes his head and says, "If we live through this, I would recommend a week or two at boot camp to instill a bit of discipline and team work."

Jesse fires back, "And I recommend that we spend a week or two learning to show compassion and understanding. Demonstrating that we are good and honorable."

He wanders over to where Cat and Scryte are.

Occa smiles and says, "I am neither good nor honorable, so that would be pointless. Jesse, have you ever thought that you might be in the wrong line of work? Maybe you are taking your stories a bit too literally...that is the problem with bards...they glorify everything and have a tendency to leave out the ugly parts. Sure, it makes for a better story, but..." He stops himself and says, "Back at camp we will talk about this more."

The halfling eyes the passages before you.

Scryte says, "What do you all think? One doesn't look any better than the others, to me. How about if we start with the large cave to the west, then the center cave, and then go up the passage way to the north east. But hey, I'm not the leader here. So whatever you guys think. I'll just tag along."

Scryte continues to ramble as he heads to the large cave to the north west, "You just let me now. I'll follow you. You betcha. I'll just be over here while you decide. I'm just a little curious about.........."

Cat, who has been very silent since Occa took matters into his own hands smiles at Scryte. "Oh, and what are you curious about - perhaps that would be a good place to begin then ... the choices are rather overwhelming."

Occa quietly says, "Good place for dragons."

Scryte stops abruptly, "Uh, I guess I can wait by you guys."

Scryte walks briskly back to the group.

Occa casts some spells...and you wait patiently...

Occa says, "Barracks to the North and NorthWest...all the orcs fled through the Northwest..there is an exit at the other end of it. Let me check the NorthEast and we will move on."

A few more minutes pass...

Occa says, "Damn...my eye ran out. We have two choices here...go up the NorthEast passage and see what is there, or follow the women and children. I doubt we can catch them since we went and examined all those other rooms. So, we go up the NorthEast then...unless there are some reason not to do so. Lead on mighty warriors."

Scryte stays in the center of the group, ready hide at a moments notice.

To the northeast, the passage only runs for a further 10' before opening up into another cave (right wall runs ~20' north-northeast, then 30' west, then south to close up again). This place is used to store all manner of supplies and foodstuffs. in here you see many sacks, crates, boxes and barrels. Opening the containers, you discover many different types of clothing and footwear, armour (mostly leather and scale, in poor shape), odd weapons, oil, foodstuffs (of dubious origins and quality) as well as a small keg of beer.

None of it seems to be of any value.

"Secret door over here," chimes Valdar's sword suddenly. He is over by the north wall, near the northwest corner.

Scryte rushes over to the secret door and checks for traps.

He finds none.

Occa has his unseen servant open it once Scryte has checked it out.

Beyond is another 10' wide passage...of rough stone...running north into the bowls of the hill for as far as you can see.

As the discussion continues...

"Unfortunately, Jesse, as much as I disagree with Occa's method of the lethal removal of the Orcs, it was necessary to keep our entrance as quiet as possible or we will all turn into barbeque humanoids once the dragons get a hold of us." Salaam puts his arm around Jesse in order to calm him and to make sure that Occa doesn't hurt him.

Cat frowns at Salaam, but says nothing, looking rather preoccupied.

Jesse looks up at Salaam. "Thanks, but I can take care of myself. I appreciate your concern though, Salaam." he says softly. He gives Salaam a peck on the cheek.

The bard lifts the clerics arm off his shoulder and walks over to be near Cat.

Op Code gives his two cents worth. "Can we dispense with all of this philosophical debate, about what is morally right or wrong, and get on with why we are here in the first place? Being split apart just because we have opposite viewpoints is going to get all of us in truoble."

He then turns and marches up the hallway to the north towards certain death or glory, hopefully the latter.

Occa says,"Well, maybe this is a back door entrance...let's check it out."

He moves forward into the passage and moves forward using his robe to scan ahead.

You all move into the tunnel.

It runs for several hundred feet into the hillside. After a time, you note that the walls, ceiling and floor have become smooth...the stonework of excellent quality...though old. Gonzo recognises Dwarven craftsmanship when he sees it.

Finally, though, the passage stops at a dead end.

Valdar pulls out his sword again.

"Secret door at the end," it says.

Occa says, "Can you listen for noise beyond Scrythe?"

Scryte, just coming out of thought, says, "You betcha boss. Lets see if all the practice eaves-dropping back at camp has paid off. Off course it doesn't take much talent to listen in on Cat. Actually its kind of hard to muffle her out. What? Oh right, the door." The little curly haired halfling walks up and presses his ear to the secret door.

Jesse blushes at Scrytes comments.

The halfling hears nothing through the door, so you open it.

Beyond is a 10' square room. There is a door opposite you in the north wall. Obviously a closet, there are several racks in here for holding clothes, as well as some drawers.

It is dinnertime.

"One can tell a lot about a person by their choice in clothes." comments the bard as he begins to search the room.

Gilstrock starts pulling open drawers looking for interesting things. He is not, however, much interested in orc lingerie.

The drawers are empty...the racks are too. Obviously, this place has not been used for its original purpose for a long time.

Cat sighs, "What a shame .. it would have been nice to find some more lovely garments ... oh well ... "

Occa says, "These halls are dwarven...probably driven out by the dragons and now inhabitated by them and their orc slaves. It will be interesting to see what this closet holds, for it will tell us if we are in a deserted section or if the orcs hold this section. The dwarves would also explain the Secret doors Gilstrock."

"I guess," Gilstrock says. "I mean, I know they make the best ones. But it would be inconvenient for the dwarves to move around too.... But I suppose they had their reasons." Gilstrock doesn't seem excessively concerned about it.

Scryte listens at the door in the north wall, but hears nothing.

Occa says, "Anyone have X ray vision? No, well, then we will have to peak behind the door." He has his unseen servant open it ever so slightly so that we can peek out.

Pharian pulls a lint-covered piece of bread from a pocket and chews on it absentmindedly.

"My guess," muses Pharian, "is that we have a ways to go yet before we reach the heart of the mountain. This complex-- was it called the halls of Galahad?-- is going to be extensive, no doubt, and we are still quite near the back door."

"Which reminds me..." Pharian continues, turning to Gonzo. "I was curious, Mr. Galahad, if you were any relation to the carvers of these halls."

Opening the door a crack, you see a 20' X 20' room (10' east, 20' north, door in north wall east corner, door in east wall north corner). Once someone's private quarters, this fact is evidenced by the presence of an ancient bed, desk and chair.

You hear the sound of something moving towards you...

Moving into your light, you see four human-like figures with transparent flesh...such that their skeletons can be seen. The carry swords and axes, which appear to be quite substantial...ghouls of Nehwon!

Gilstrock draws his sword and challenges the ghouls: "Yield our thou diest!"

Occa looks at Gilstrock and says, "What did he say?" He smiles and says, "Hail there! We are only passing through and mean you no harm unless you are in league with the dragons."

Salaam grips his hammer but make no overt moves to attack. "If thou are intelligent undead, we have no desire to fight, actually I would like to talk to you." he says in a disarming voice.

Op Code, however, charges one of the ghouls and attacks with his newly acquired magical long sword.

Easily dodging a thrusting sword, the ranger casually lops off the arm that held it. The monster screams, as a second ghoul bounces her sword off of Op Code's shield.

The others, taking their cue, close on Gilstrock.

The fighter has his hair trimmed for 7 hit points before nailing one of the ghouls not once, but twice. She drops dead.

The second ghoul on him misses.

Meanwhile, at the back of the party...

Gonzo looks up from examining the stone of the walls.

"Halls of Galahad", he says perplexed.

"Hmmmmmmmm... me dinks dat dis place might be de one me pop spoke to me about on his dying bed. Me broders laughed at him and me, but it is dat which set me upon da road dat has brought me to dis place. Once long ago, we Galahads called dis place home. It was taken from us, me granpop and others wuz driven out by dragons and now" a slight giggle escapes, "Us Galahads iz back home. Lemmee at dem dragons, we'ze gots house cleanin ta do!"

"Me pop said dem dragons stole all our treasure... it is time to reclaim dat as well."

Pharian looks intently at Gonzo as the dwarf tells his story, then says, "Gonzo-- what did your father say to you? You've _got_ to think of everything you might know about this place." He pauses, thinking. "Your father never mentioned a map, did he?"

Stiff tries to stay out of the melee as best he can.

"Well, I guess that answered my question .. I think." Cat frowns at Op Code.

Scryte stays in the back. The little halfling starts jumping up and down waving his arms yelling, "Hey, go go team. Give me an O. P. C. O. D. E. What does it spell? Op Code, Op Code. Yea Team."

They didn't yield, so they diest. Gilstrock presses the attack.

Gilstrock nails the second Nehwon ghoul with a devastating hit, and she reels. Still she recovers and slices his arm open for 8 hit points of damage, before he cuts her down with a final swing.

Op Code likewise chops down his first opponent easily with his new sword, then turns to face the second.

Like Stiff, Pharian will likewise save his ammunition unless the fighters have problems.

Salaam goes into melee with his hammer, against the last ghoul which was about to attack Op Code. A single swing of his hammer reduces the ghoul to pulp.

However, at this very moment, the door in the north wall swings open, and a large, gray-skinned reptillian creature sticks its dragon-like snout through the doorway. Its eyes flash red...as it slides into the room...

Cat pulls out her wand and says "PowweeZowee" ...

Two missiles spit out of the wand, striking the newest arrival in the nose, and causing it to smoulder slightly.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!" it says, mad now.

"Thanks for the cheer," Op Code utters. "I just wish you were a better looking cheerleader." Thinking about it, he then says "Hey Kat How about if you give us a cheer."

Scryte stops dead in the middle of his cheer. "Uh oh."

He whips out his wand and points it the creature he assumes is a dragon. In a loud commanding voice Scryte says, "Uh.....what was that command word again Occa?" then realizing that he would have to fire through the rest of the group he decides to hide instead.

Cat claps her hand over her mouth, her eyes suddenly wide. "Ooops ... did I do that?" She says, looking mortified.

She rushes forward, slipping the wand back under her skirts ... and rubbing the ring she wears on her right hand.

Jesse blasts two magic missiles at it and then draw his sword and stand near Cat to defend her.

Ten missiles sear into the advancing wyvern, reducing it to a blasted, smoking corpse.

But, a second wyvern next appears in the doorway, and moves into the room with a blood-curdling screech!

"Oh great Thoth, grant me the ability to lighten up this party." Salaam intones as he casts a light spell at the second creature's eyes. It is blinded.

Gil is anxious to get at this new beast with his frost blade and enhanced strength. Kicking the bodies of the ghouls aside, he cries, "Out of my way you foul invisible fiends! I have bigger fish to fry!!"

Op Code yells "Ah, bigger fish to fry, unless we get fried first." He then tries to get to the dragon, slashing through the ghouls.

Pharian yells "Fighters in front!", gives Gonzo a playful shove from behind, then disappears.

Gonzo disappears into the shadows...

The second wyvern meets Gilstrock with a bite for 6 hit points of damage. He connects with his frost brand, opening up a mean gash in its serpentine neck for 10 hit points, while dodging its lashing, stinger-equipped tail.

Pharian reappears, as a cone of cold shoots out of hand and strikes the monster for 43 hit points of damage.

It freezes up solid...dead.

Four Nehwon ghouls and two wyverns lie dead on the floor.

The door in the north wall is open. Looking through it, you see a large room (20' X 50': 10' east, 20' north, 30' west; door in middle of north wall, door in south wall east corner), with a pile of loot in the northwest corner.

From somewhere to the northeast, you hear a door slam.

Pharian says, "Gilstrock, you OK? Looks like that wyvern really mashed your wrist. Salaam, how about some healing over here."

Then, hearing the door slam in the distance, Pharian gloomily adds, "More warnings for the dragons. I don't like this at all, but I suppose that there is really nothing that we can do about it. We'll just have to rely on our considerable firepower."

Salaam gently holds Gilstrock's arm as he prays to Thoth. "Please heal this man's arm as he helped a humble devotee in battle." he finishes as he casts a cure light wounds on him.

Op Code suggests "Let's go check out the loot. Someone stand lookout while the rest of the party investigates."

Scryte pokes his head around the corner. With a gleem in his eye the little halfling says, "Someone mention loot?" Obviously having not been a part of the fight he says, " I was just watching our backs."

Searching the pile of goodies, you discover 3000sp, a small gem that you value at 50gp, two scrolls, a small model of a stone bridge and a suit of nice-looking scale mail sized for a human.

Scryte listens at the doors, but hears nothing.

It is evening.

Gonzo walks around the room, inspecting the craftsmanship of the walls and floor. He can't reach the ceiling.

Salaam regards the pile of treasure for a moment.

He picks up the small bridge and examines it.

"Occa, you have any idea what this could mean ?" the cleric asks, looking at some words engraved on the underside of the token.

Occa says, "I would expect it is a magical token that will form a bridge when the command word is spoken. Might be useful down here."

Salaam nods.

"Occa, could you do the honors ?" he asks as he points his hammer at the door.

Op Code is prepared to meet new foes with his sword when the door is opened.

Occa has his unseen servant open the door.

Through the north door is a 20' wide passage, running east-west. This ancient thoroughfare has a floor of granite, worn by the tread of countless feet down through the ages. The walls are 12' high, the ceiling arched to a height of 18'. Directly across the hallway is another door. 30' east of this door on the north side is a 10' wide opening. The sound of running water comes from there.

Otherwise, the passage runs as far as you can see in either direction.

Faintly, you hear the sound of retreating footfalls, coming from the west.

Op Code speaks up. "I heard of rumors of someone owning a small model of a boat. When they said a command word, it transformed into a large boat that could carry people. Maybe this does the same thing, only it makes a large bridge. Then again maybe not. Stiff, have you any ideas?"

Op Code mentions "Shall we follow the sound? Or is it to lure us to a trap?"

Occa says, "Foot falls....hold on." Occa suddenly disappears.

You wait...

Pharian scratches an itch in his left armpit, and says, "Well, not much to do but wait for him, I suppose."

Turning to Gonzo, Pharian says, "Ah, Gonzo, we were interrupted back there. You were just about to tell all of us what you know about these Halls of Galahad."

"Are there any caches or areas that can help us ?" Salaam asks Gonzo inquisitively.

Before Gonzo can answer, though, a flickering light from several hundred feet up the passage catches your attention.

You know a fireball when you see one.

You hear distant screams...then you see a bright point of light appear down the passage to the west...followed by a second distant fireball...

Bright flashes suggest to you that someone is casting magic missiles...then you hear the sound of a melee...

All of this is taking place up the west passage...over 200' distant...

"Thoth, grant me sight." Salaam intones as he casts a true seeing.

"I bet this is for real," says Pharian. "I'm going to go give Occa a hand." He turns and runs west down the passageway, reaching for his ring of invisibility. As he disappears, he says to Salaam, "Give me a holler if you see a trap."

Salaam is still casting...and will be for awhile yet.

Gonzo darts up the passage after Pharian.

Op Code runs as quick as possible down the west passage, ready to attack when necessary.

The rest of you stay put.

As the three of you rush up the passage towards the fight, Op Code is rapidly left behind.

Suddenly, ahead of you, you see a pillar of flame erupt...and in its light you see two people getting toasted.

By the end of the round, Pharian and Gonzo are nearing the scene of the battle, while Op Code will be there a half a minute later.

You see Occa sitting on the floor...rather singed. The corpse of a man in field plate lies next to him. Between him and you, though, is a magic user, in the process of casting a spell at you.

Behind Occa is another fighter...almost in striking distance of the mage. A little farther back you see a cleric...also incanting a spell...

Occa draws a bead on the magic user, when suddenly Pharian pops into view and blows him away with two missiles...before unloading the rest of his spell on the cleric behind Occa. He drops too...his spell dying on his lips.

Occa spins about, just in time to dodge a swing from the glowing sword of the last fighter.

"KARUMBA!... time to RUMBA!" yells Gonzo, as he launches himself at the fighter, who again fans on Occa. Gonzo lands a perfect hit on him, gravely wounding the enemy.

Op Code comes running up, and in the distance you also see Jesse. The ranger also leaps into the fray, opening a terrible wound across the fighter's neck and nearly killing him with a single stroke.

Like a man possessed, though, he fights back...but, losing the initiative he is doomed. Occa scrambles out of the way as Gonzo delivers the killing blow, and the fighter drops.

Jesse comes up to you.

Around you and up the passage aways now lie five bodies: a magic user near you, the fighter that Op Code and Gonzo just killed, another pile of armour...now full of ash...a dead cleric, and farthest away a pile of smouldering robes that look like the type a spell caster might wear.

The passage continues on for as far as you can see to the west.

Salaam comes flying up.

Occa smiles and says, "Uh, hi guys...glad you could join me. I just didn't want these guys alerting anyone to our presence."

He casts detect magic and collects whatever he can from the body and then says, "Let's get the hell back down the hall and across the door way...just in case any dragons might be coming."

He stops and says, "Hmm, of course, we could see where these chaps where going. Whaddya think? Oh, can someone heal me? I am almost dead."

"I'd like to know where they were going," answers Pharian. "though I must say, standing in this wide hallway chills my blood. I don't like the feel of it."

Occa says, "I agree with you Pharian. Uh, Salaam, can you divine or speak with dead and make sure these guys were evil? I would hate to think we just slew a party that might have been here for the same reason."

He goes and checks the dead cleric....looking for holy symbols.

Salaam scans everything with his true sight and says,"Not bad guys, couldn't you leave someone alive for us to question."

He goes over and casts a speak with the dead on the just-killed magic user.

You find the following magical items and loot on the remains of the other party: scroll, ring, 4 travelling spell books, a suit of human-sized studded leather armour, a wand, a scroll, an egg, a suit of human-sized field plate armour, a shield, a bastard sword, a ring, 4 more travelling spell books, a suit of human-sized scale mail, a longsword, 16 arrows, 750gp, 8 small gems worth 30gp each, a scroll and two potions.

On the cleric, Occa finds a holy symbol...that of a servant of Tiamat.

"What is you want of me..?" whispers the soul of the dead man, to Salaam's demands to speak.

"What were you doing here and what do you know about the dragons and Roget?" Salaam asks.

"We were trying to get away from you...we heard you killing the wyverns..." it replies in a deathly whisper, before continuing. "I know much about the dragons. Roget is a snake...he and his orc-friends..."

Pharian whispers to Salaam to also ask what what the wand does (and what it's command word is), what the rings do, and what the scrolls and potions are.

"These dead people are very literal," he adds.

"Tell us the command word for the wand, what the wand is, and where the dragons are and what are their, how many ?, weaknesses ?"

"Sunpak...illumination...ahead and behind you...many...whatever weaknesses dragons have, I suppose..."

The voice is quiet.

You hear movement behind you, as Scryte, Gilstrock, Stiff, Cat and Valdar join you.

"What happened here? Who were these people?" Gilstrock asks.

Looking apprehensively up and down the hall, Gil says to Pharian, "You mentioned dragons in both directions. How many? What kind?"

Gilstrock idly pokes through the loot with the end of his spear as he speaks.

"Well," says Pharian, "many, but the dead man talking wouldn't give us any more details than that. We saw those couple above Inner Sanctum a few days back-- what color were they? And there will probably be a red leading the pack, at least according to Valdar."

"The dragons back at the city was a group consisting of 1 large black one and 2 smaller whites. As for the leader here...probably a very large red. It would be kinda cool if Tiamat where here."

"Where is that elf-lord gone to, anyway," says Pharian, looking at Cat's skirts.

Occa laughs.

Cat mumbles a few words and Valdar wiggles out from beneath her skirts.

"Yes? What is it?" He asks, looking slightly annoyed.

Pharian says to the just arrived members of the party, "The dead man says we've got dragons in front of us and dragons behind us. So I'd say this hall is not a great place to be."

Cat rushes to Occa, concerned at the severity of his injuries. She looks to Salaam. "Have you any healing left ... we need to have Occa well enough in case we encounter the dragons we are searching for."

Motioning to the wand taken from the dead magic-user, Pharian says "As I recall, anybody can use a wand of illumination. The command word is 'sunpak'. Could any of you fighter types use a long range weapon? Otherwise, I suppose I'll hold onto it for the rest of this adventure."

"Do you recall what it does? You might want to give it to Scryte or someone else who is fairly weak. Your magic is good enough to for you, but if they could help at all, that would help."

Pharian says, "Makes sense to me. Scryte, you take the wand. I knew someone who had one of these once. His could be used to cast dancing lights, or light, or continual light."

Pharian hands the wand to Scryte, and starts explaining the spells to him, rather condescendingly. "You can use light or continual light to cancel a darkness spell, like the one that one-eyed orc shaman cast, or to cast into someone's eyes to blind him. Light would be better for blinding someone because it is quicker to cast and still lasts a ling time. Dancing lights isn't worth crap-- maybe you could use it to make it look like we were marching in a different direction."

"One other thing," continues Pharian. "You can also use the wand to cast a sunburst, which makes a bright flash of light and can blind and stun anyone around. It can really harm undead-- like those ghouls we killed. But it will use up the magic faster."

"You're well on your way to becoming a wizard, what with all these wands," says Pharian with a smile. "Much more respectable profession."

Occa says, "Oh, I have a staff of Illumination...I think Catty has it now, though...those are great against undead."

"Uh ... I do? Where those ghoul things undead? Guess I should have thought to use it then, huh?" Cat frowns, as if trying to sort and order this information. "You see ... I've not really adventured like this before ... and well ... "

Occa says, "Well, it is really easy...all you do is try to kill everything you see...right Op Code?"

Occa smirks.

Op Code speaks up. "Seeing that it is late in the day, after we are done with these bodies, shall we go and make camp somewhere safe for the evening?"

Occa says, "Good idea Op Code. Let's take care of these bodies." He has his unseen servant pile them up and then he casts disintegrate on them.....

They disappear with a loud 'pop'.

He then says, "Okay, let's head back to the dwarf closet and make camp..."

He heads that way.

Scryte follows in tow.

"Camp?" says Pharian, incredulously. "We're going to make camp? Here I thought we were attacking a lair of dragons who are more than intelligent enough to mobilize their minions to repel invaders... and it turns out we're on a camping trip? If you'd only told me ahead of time, I would have brought some marshmallows."

Pharian pauses for breath, composes himself a bit, and then continues, "If spell casters are running low on spells, OK, that's one thing. Look, I know I am the newcomer to this group, but in the past it's never been my practice to 'make camp' in the middle of a dungeon just because I was up past my bedtime. It's not like it's going to get any darker down here."

Occa stops, smiles and says, "You are acting like you are up past your bedtime, Pharian. However, we do need to rest sometime and I am getting low on spells...I don't know how the others fare, but I expect they are probably doing better than I am...but I still have my wands. I am willing to go on if everyone else is..."

He looks around and says, "What is the consensus here? Speak up everyone."

"Very funny," snaps Pharian to Occa's remark about his bedtime. "I've used all but one of my magic missiles, plus my cone of cold, so I have only a couple of offensive spells remaining. So I guess we might have to have a slumber party at some point-- the question is when."

Occa smiles and says, "I am glad you can appreciate my humor." He winks at Pharian and says, "Well, I also need some healing...Salaam can you heal me? This group had me about dead when you guys showed up."

Occa does look pretty bad off.

"Occa, stop whining and stop moving," Salaam says as he places his hands on Occa. "Oh great Thoth, please heal this loud mouthed companion so we may finish our work as I try to spread your word on this new world." he intones as he casts a cure serious wounds on Occa. "As to where we go, I suggest we go further into this mountain, backtracking will only give the dragons more time to prepare, if they aren't ready yet..."

Occa is cured for 11 hit points.

Occa smiles at Salaam and says, "Thank you...I think I feel much better."

"The real problem is that we don't know how far we have left to go before we start meeting dragons-- I wish we hadn't killed that last fighter, he might have been able to tell us. And Gonzo, damn it, if you know anything you're not saying..."

"This is true. It would be better to be at full strength, but hell, we have fought under worse conditions. As for the last fighter...we can take him with us...oh, damn, I guess I should haven't disentegrated them. Oh well, we can find someone else to get information on."

He sighs and says, "It looks like we are going to go on. So, the question is...do we go on down this corridor or back to that door or back down the other way? These large corridors look like paths for dragons, so my inclination is to go through the other door. What about the rest of you?"

Scryte says,"I'm up for going on, but then I haven't been putting in the work that your all have. If we make camp I'll keep watch. Its the least I could do."

He says, "Okay, no backtracking then...these guys were going to go warn someone of our presense...that someone is this way. Let's press on then."

Occa moves forward (back the way the evil party was going originally).

Pharian asks Salaam how many healing spells he has left.

"Pharian, I did not realize you were hurt, if you were not and you are checking to see how much healing I have remaining, suffice it to say I have a few more spells left, but a chance to rest could never hurt either." Salaam says as he wipes his brow of a little sweat.

"Just checking," says Pharian.

You head west down the 20' wide passage...making plans as you go.

The passage runs straight and true for about a mile...running west southwest.

Finally, it ends at an enormous set of bronze double doors set with the engraving of a smiling dwarf.

Scryte puts his hairy halfling ear to the door but hears nothing.

It is mid-evening.

Occa says, "Salaam, I need a bit more healing my friend...another one like that last one and perhaps another minor healing and I should be better."

"Oh great one, please help your servant heal this man." Salaam says as he cast his last cure serious wounds...for 6 hit points of healing.

Occa says, "Thank you Salaam."

He looks at the door and says, "Hmm, huge door....big hall. I bet there is at least one dragon behind this door."

He looks over to Valdar and says, "Any secret doors around here? I can't imagine the dwarves always opened these giant doors. Of course, maybe it is the gate to their hall." he smiles thinking of all that dwarven loot and sunny vacations south of the border.

"No secret doors," replies the talking sword.

"Can anyone see through these kind of barriers?"

Suddenly you are distracted by a light from behind you...accompanied by a low humming.

Looking back, you see a pair of headlights approaching you at a high rate of speed...to stop 10' away from you.

It is a flying saucer.

A door opens at the front of the craft and two people come tumbling out.

As they stand and dust themselves off - looking very disoriented as they do - suddenly Scryte is drawn into the machine as if by an irresistable farce - errrr - force.

The door closes behind him...the machine turns around...and flies back down the passage at a great speed.

Before you stand two elves, a wood elf and a high elf.

"Ahhh! Car!" Gilstrock cries. "Get out of the crosswalk!"

He realizes what he's doing, and desists. Rubbing his right wrist, Gilstrock says by way of explanation, "Sorry. Reminds me of this nightmare I've been having lately."

Op Code, a human male wearing full plate armor and carrying a long sword, shudders then goes to greet the elves. "How did you get that thing in here? Those turns must have been something fierce. Anyways, My name is Op Code, Ranger of Yar-Glrak. What are your names, and what brings you two to these parts?"

An elf stumbles foward from the saucer. He is thin and short of stature. He has green eyes and long black hair. He is wearing soft black boots, black lether armour, and a brownish/balck tunic and cloak. He also carries a dark brown bag which is strapped to his back. His ears are pierced in several places, and the earings he wears are all black gems and black silver. The poor guy is covered in sand and dirt and looks exhuasted and disorientated. He drops to his knees before you in exhaustion and looks about with unfocused eyes. "My name is Lore", he says, "Where am I?"

"Why, hello," Gilstrock says to the newcomers. He is a tall, powerfully built human with unkept blond hair. He hasn't shaved in a couple of days. He's wearingfield plate armor, has a spear in his hand, and is veritably draped with weapons. Over his armor he wears a light blue cloak.

"I'm Gilstrock," he says. "You folks friends of Valdar?"

Lore mumbles, "who?", in reply.

The grey elf in the battered plate mail shakes his head.

"That's me. Never laid eyes on them before," he says.

The being in front of you wears a grey cloak with the hood pulled up. Light brown hair peaks out from the hood and plain brown eyes. His face is not remarkable and is easily forgotten. He is short for a man. However something about his face tells you that he is not human, but an elf, even though you cannot see his ears.

You can see the chainmail on his arms and you note that his shield bears an emblem of a fighting hawk. He carries a bow and quiver on his back along with a backpack. You can also make out a hilt sticking up beyond his backpack.

He slumps against a nearby wall and slides down to the floor. "Name's Darian Trist and I'm really getting tired of that."

To Op Code, he says,

"We didn't bring that thing in here. The monsters inside brought it in. We were their prisoners so they brought us wherever they wanted to bring us. And as I said, I'm Darian Trist. What I didn't tell you was that I'm a fighter and a magic-user. Although I get the feeling that Lore and I are fledglings compared to the rest of you."

"I wouldn't be making those kinds of assumptions ... I am not very experienced either .. as you could probably tell by now ... " Cat replies, clutching her wands tightly and looking toward the 'passwall' thingie.

Cat laughs, her jewelry and sequins sparkling suddenly for no apparent reason. "Well Darian .. it is a pleasure to meet you .. hope you are good at fighting dragons .. that is what we are getting ready to do .. we could really have used that contraption you arrived in though ..." She adds.

Cat is short for a human, standing 5' 1" tall .. though her hairdo makes her appear taller and grander. She is gowned in an Givenchy orginal, though it is a bit travel stained now. Her green eyes twinkle merrily as she studies the new arrivals.

"That contraption was some sort of mobile torture chamber with hideous monsters that delight in picking up Lore and I and depositing us... Did you say DRAGON!!?"

Darian closes his eyes and groans. Without opening his eyes, he says, "Lore, the gas must have affected me worse than I thought. Tell me, what did you hear?"

Lore looks very unhappy, "The same as you Darian. I think we are in deep shit."

"Um, Lore, there's a lady present."

Lore then stands, places a smile on his face, and says, "How can I help?"

Darian stares up at Lore. "What? You've recovered from the poking and prodding already? Or didn't they continually shock different parts of your body for the past eternity?"

Standing near Cat is a skinny kid, he wears a short sword and has a lute strapped to his back. "My name is Jesse, I'm the minstral boy."

Lore nods in response.

"I'm Pharian," says Pharian, briefly turning his attention to the newcomers. He is a thin, unpleasant-looking man, perhaps in his late fifties or early sixties. His lined face seems set in a frown, and his nose has clearly been broken at least once. His eyes are shifty. Judging from his robes, he is clearly a magic-user.

Then turning back towards where the vehicle was, Pharian says, "Damn! I should never have given that little thief that wand. I guess that's the last we'll be seeing of him."

Another figure steps forward...a middle aged man with long brown-black hair pulled back in along pony tail. His green eyes pass over each of you in turn and his pale hands instinctivly come to his mouth, which seems to be forever twisted in a smile.

He giggles outloud and then tucks his thumbs under his leather belt next to a large leather belt pouch and, on his opposite side, a small leather belt pouch. He swallows a laugh and says, "The strangest things happen around here. I shall miss that pesky halfling."

He looks to the newcomers and says, "I am Occa the Annoying mage. Pleased to meet you." He smiles and gives a short bow. "Either of you have X-ray vision or clairavoyance, by chance?"

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to ignore your question. No, I don't know either of those spells."

Darian looks up from the floor and at Lore. "Lore, I don't think we're in Greyhawk anymore. And I don't think the others made it. Maybe this is a side effect of the gas. Maybe we're hallucinating? Yes, that must be it."

"No, you're not hallucinating," says Valdar. "And no, you're not on Greyhawk anymore. You're on Earth...an altogether different world. I am Valdar, lord of Greyhall in Dorian...words describing places that will have no meaning to either of you..."

He shrugs.

"Hmmm," Gilstrock says. "This Earth place seems to be sort of a cosmic dumping grounds. People from all oer end up here. Where's Greyhawk? Pharian and I are from the Runelands, most recently Gowulake, and I believe Occa said he's from some place called Delith."

Lore replies, "I'm not sure where Greyhawk is in relation to this Earth place."

"I don't know where here is, so I'm not sure I could tell you where Greyhawk is. It's where I grew up."

"The gods have brought us together for some purpose, I am sure," says Valdar.

"Otherwise, we've hooked up with some very strange folks."

"That you have," says the elf with a chuckle.

"Whelp," Gilstrock says, bouncing on the balls of his feet, "I'm no halucination, and some of these mages here are quite strange." Gilstrock winks at Occa and Pharian.

Darian regards him with one eye and then closes it again.

Lore smiles and turns to Occa. "I am a trained mage sir, but I do not think I am nearly as skilled as you are. The spells that I do have are at this group's disposal though."

Occa says, "Are you certain of that?"

"Sir, if you can cast passwall, then we're fairly certain."

Occa says, "Well, I know how you feel, I can't cast wish like Stiff over there can. He is an Arch magi."

Darian looks around. "Stiff? I don't think we were introduced to him. An Arch magi? Lore, we are severely outclassed. Maybe, I should just be someone's apprentice?"

Cat grins and walks to Darian, taking his arm. "You can be my apprentice." She says softly, grinning.

Occa says, "I could always use someone to do the drudgery that i hate to do...sadly, I can't help you with your fighting skills, nor Lore's thieving skills. Too bad really."

"Well, I'm sure you could work with me on my magical skills. And maybe someone can help me with fighting skills. I'm not sure that Lore and I can make it back to civilization without your folks' help. So, it's in our best interests to make ourselves useful rather than just being a burden."

Occa smiles and says, "Darian, you have a great attitude...very refreshing, I must say. Don't worry...I am sure both of you will soon prove to be invaluable to this group if just for the attitude you have. Plus, we are a 'good' group...well, most of these people are, so we wouldn't just abandon you."

"Well," Gilstrock says, hefting his spear, "I'll work out and hone fighting skills with anybody who wants the exercise. Though I don't know if I'm quite advanced enough for what you're looking for, I think I'm rather outclassed by these mages and rangers and things."

"But right now, we've got dragons and such to kill," Gilstrock concludes.

"I don't think we have any spells at our disposal, Lore. Didn't we use everything we had back at the temple?"

Lore frowns at Darian (as if to tell him to be quiet) and says, "I think it's been more thjen a day since we left the temple. I'll need to memorize a few spells, but then I'll be ready."

Darian starts to put his hand to his head and hits himself in the ear instead. "Has it been? Oh, then I guess I'm ready to go. Once I stop this twitching."

Occa says, "Well, I suspect there are dragons behind this door, but I would like to know for sure. I guess we can just go in..."

Lore says, "If you'd like I can check this door for traps and see if I can hear anything behind it. I am also skilled in the arts of detection and stealth."

"You mean you folks are really serious about going after a dragon! Um... Would you consider it rude if Lore and I waited out here? I don't think either of us are capable of dealing with a dragon."

Cat laughs, "Whether we are capable? What has that to do with anything ... we are supposed to be heroes .. saving the oppressed folk of the nearby villages ... Jesse will write many glorious songs about us ... right Jesse?" Cat turns to smile at the young man, then frowns.

"Perhaps you should remain with these guys then .. if you get toasted .. there won't be a song about us." She says gently.

Occa says, "No, we are serious about going after a multitude of dragons..."

Lore speaks up again (you can hear the fear in his voice), "Excuse me...but before I go charging into my death, could somebody fill us in on what exactly is going on here?"

Darian just leans against the wall and closes his eyes again. "See, Lore, the floor was much better for talking about all of this. 'A multitude of dragons', the man says. One's more than enough."

Occa says, "No time for that...we have dragons to slay...that is why we are here. Opps, there I went and explained it all to you. Which part didn't you understand. Anyway, if you guys can't help, stay to the back and try not to get breathed on. If you die, Salaam or Orlon will probably raise you. So, just enjoy the fireworks and try not to be eaten. If you can help, great, if not, well...you will be able to eventually." He walks over to Lore and says, "This is a wand of Frost...the command word is (he tells you since I don't remember it right now). That should augment your spells."

Lore's eyes sparkle as he says, "Thanks!"

Cat straightens up a bit and sails forward. "Excuse me? Strange? Who are you calling strange? You are the ones that arrived unannounced and unbidden to our dungeon ... without invitations, without footmen, shoddily dressed, and now, bordering on rude."

Lore says quickly, "Please pardon my friend Darian. We have traveled far and do not yet know the proper customs of your land."

"Hmmm. Well, okay then .. if you like, I can take you under my wing so to speak and educate you on matters here." Cat offers, openly appraising them and smiling.

"But right now I suppose Occa wants to get us blown up ... where did I put that wand thingie ... " Cat suddenly says, patting her gown and searching its many pockets. Finally she withdraws two wands and holds them ready.

"So just shoot anything, right?" Cat asks, looking a bit nervous. "Do we want anyone invisible .. or maybe some illusions? I'm pretty good at those ... "

"Too late for that, although a disquise as the other group would have been useful...oh well."

"I'm sorry, miss. I didn't mean to offend. And I suppose we're rather strange to you."

"Oh, don't worry about it," answers Pharian for Cat. "It happens all the time. She's very offendable."

Cat turns to Pharian and smiles. "Indeed?" She smiles impishly and turns back to the newcomers.

Lore takes a step backwards.

"Still. Since Lore and I are going to rely on you folks to get us back to some sort of civilization, it's probably best not to offend any of you."

Cat laughs again. "There is no civilization nearby ... just us ... now Sandas - there is a nice little town with all the amenities. But .. that is very, very far from here." Cat replies, looking a bit wistful and straighening her toppling hairdo.

Darian closes his eyes again. "Maybe I should stay here until my head clears. Would someone check on Lore, for me? He doesn't seem to be responding much. If he's unconscious, leave him that way. It's probably better to sleep through this pain."

"What is this flying saucer and where did you two come from ?" the shaven-headed priest asks quite amazed at the turn of events. "Oh, my name is Salaam, high priest of Thoth, from the world of Toril in Realmspace. I am pleased to make your acquantince, gentlemen."

Lore keeps his smile in place. "Greetings Salaam. I am Lore and this here is my friend Darian", says Lore pointing towards Darian, "We are originally from Greyhawk although we no longer have any clue as to where we are now. That being the case though...we are still glad to be alive."

Darian raises at an arm off the floor with some effort at the mention of his name and waves. "Hello. I'm going to keep lying here until I can regain some control over most of my body parts. Some of them still seem to be twitching on their own."

Lore offers a hand to help Darian to his feet saying, "Get up Darian..your not hurt that bad and we need to be ready for that dragon of theirs."

Darian allows himself to be pulled up and leans against the wall. "No, I'm not hurt. Just those shocks they kept giving me have made it difficult to control all my body parts."

Darian looks down at the floor. "Lying there was just a lot more comfortable than contemplating facing a dragon."

"You folks don't happen to know which TYPE of dragon we're facing, do you? I suppose that might be important."

To Occa, Gilstrock says, "You said something about getting on with killing the dragons? Sounds good to me! Let me at 'em!"

Occa says, "Well, okay then..."

"What the hell am I doing here?" mutters Pharian to himself. "Remember, everybody-- if there is a dragon back there, we need to fan out so we don't all get caught in the same breath attack."

Lore suddenly looks very worried.."Huh...a dragon?" Lore then quickly looks about for a place he can take cover.

Occa says, "That is why the passwall is to be at an angle. Plus, if you want to get anything done wiht this group, you just have to do it. Or decide it...I can't wait forever for everyone to have their say, especially if they don't have an opinion."

Lore speaks up.."Ahhh...excuse me....but would somebody please fill Darian and I on what exactly is going on here. You folks seem to be much more experienced then us, and I really do not feel like being fried by a dragon on the same day that I just got released from a UFO."

Lore listens at the door. Hearing nothing, he inspects it for traps. He finds none.

Occa casts his spell. A passage appears in the north wall...angled to the northwest.

Gilstrock sticks his head through the space to take a look and find out what he can see.

The passage opens up into a long, narrow entrance hall (10' X 40': 10' west, 30' south; 20' wide set of double doors in middle of west wall).

Before the doors sit five large, reptillian creatures...not dragons...but giant lizards.

They move towards the opening and Gilstrock quickly...

Gilstrock calls back over his shoulder, "Lizards! Big ones! No Dragons!" At that, he turns, drops his spear and draws his sword. If the lizards do anything the slightest bit menacning, he will charge at them and start hacking away, crying "Die, you big lard-filled excuse for reptiles!"

Two of the lizards look at each other, shrug, and attack.

Gilstrock meets the first one with his sword and chops a leg off. Thrown off balance, its bite misses him. The fighter's next swing kills the monster.

The second monster bites him but does no damage.

"Well.. we gots business to be getting to." Gonzo darts down the passage. A moment later you hear -

"KARRRRUMBA!"

- and you know that the dwarf has attacked.

His first attack sends a shower of lizard blood spraying. The lizard...already nearly deceased, misses...and Gonzo's next swing finishes the job.

Op Code moves in to attack.

Occa says, "Well, this looks like it might be good practice for the fighter types."

"Any battle is good practice for us fighter types," Op Code tells Occa, as he goes into action.

The lizard on the ranger gnashes his teeth on Op Code's shield as he chops a goodly portion of its lashing tail off.

Darian looks at the lizards and draws his sword. He then looks at Occa. "Does that mean I should go out there and help?"

"Better not, they might spit acid or fire."

Darian looks quite relieved, but keeps his sword at the ready.

Lore stays to the rear of the group for now, carefully observing the unfolding events.

The last lizard runs up the wall of the passwall tunnel...and then along the ceiling towards the rest of you.

Cat groans and then says, "PoweeZowee" pointing one wand at the creature, then pointing the other wand, she says the word for that.

A magic missile spits out and scorches the approaching monster. From the other wand springs a cone of cold...which slows the cold-blooded creature to a crawl but does not kill it.

Pharian stays behind the fighters, and uses his wand of illusion to cast an illusionary cone of cold when he has the chance. The lizard falls for the illusion, hook, line and sinker. It freezes up and drops to the floor...firmly convinced that it is dead.

Back in the lizard room, the fighters are finishing off the last two monsters.

The remaining lizard on Gilstrock grabs him firmly in his jaws and shakes him like a rag doll. While unable to damage him thanks to the stoneskin, the fighter is prevented from making an attack.

No matter, as Gonzo is all too happy to help out. A single swipe with his longsword and the monster is history and Gilstrock is freed.

The last monster, on Op Code, continues to gnaw on his shield without effect as the ranger chops another piece out of him. His next swing polishes the lizard off.

Peace and tranquility returns to the dungeon.

You pass through the passage and poke about.

Once an impressive entrance chamber, this narrow room is now dominated by a large lizard-nest at the south end. Searching the place, you find some beer money...1667ep.

Another set of double doors is in the west wall.

It is late evening.

Once everyone is in the room, Occa cancels the passwall. Once it is gone, he says, "Well, we should search this room for secret doors...Valdar, how far can your sword detect? If you walked around the perimeter could he detect the whole time?"

"It only detects within 10'," replies the elf lord, as he takes a walk around.

"No secret doors," says the sword.

He looks over at the other double doors and says to Lore, "Wanna test your skills at finding traps?"

Lore smiles and bows saying, "No problem.." Thereafter Lore searches the room for traps and secrets.

He finds nothing.

Occa scans the room for invisible or hidden creatures. He sees none except Stiff.

"Alright folks, I suggest that we make camp here, we know what's behind us and can hold by the doors in the event of an attack. I need to replenish my spells, and I know some of the mages could too. Let us familiarize ourselves with each other and then be off by early morning.."

Occa says, "Before we make camp, let's make sure we aren't on a big dragon highway first."

Occa scans the rooms for tracks and use.

A goodly trail runs from one set of doors to the other. There is a large variety of tracks...a number of different species. Because of the clutter, though, you cannot identify any of them.

Valdar pokes at a lizard or two.

"These fellows seem to be well fed," he says. "I imagine the other tenants of this place give them food to be allowed to pass."

"Do you mean they were intelligent in some way?" asks Darian.

"No...but you can train even a dumb animal to perform tricks," replies Valdar.

"Quite true. Hadn't really considered that."

"You will..." Valdar says, with a smirk in Cat's direction...

"Next time we're in Sandas, You should stop in to see 'The RayJay Show' with his sidekick Ming. They can show you stupid pet tricks if you inquire," Op Code comments, laughing out loud.

Pharian rolls his eyes and mutters, "Elves have one thing on their minds, and one thing only."

Then he says, more loudly, "Now children, pay attention-- we have a dungeon to ransack."

"Speaking of well fed," Gilstrock says as he cleanes off his sword and retrieves his spear, "when's dinner?"

Op Code asks, "Oh Salaam. Can you whip us up something there? The troops are getting restlesss. Just make sure it's not pizza. OK?"

Valdar hears Op Code's request, and creates a box of Tim Bits.

Occa says, "Cat, how good are you at illusions? This might be a perfect way to empty this dungeon of alot of pests...we could setup shop here and kill however goes through. What do you guys think? Plus we get lots of free food." he giggles at his own idiotic comment.

"But, how often do things go through here? We could camp out for weeks and only encounter a few creatures."

"Well, we could have an illusion as we make camp here for one night...then we could move on. However, this trail is a fair sized one. I expect that we will probably have some encounter. If I am wrong, all the better for us."

"What we must decide is whether to camp out or not...hmm, looking at it at that level..we already decided to push on. Five lizards aren't going to be a big deal and we can camp any time."

"Let's push on. Lore, do you hear anything behind that door?"

Pharian says, "I agree that this isn't the place to camp. But now that we have the newcomers tagging along, I am more of a mind to find a place to spend a night replenishing our spells, especially since Salaam doesn't have much healing left."

"I agree...we will find the next 1 door room and make camp there. I wish I had disintegrate still for these lizards. Oh well."

"What I can't figure out," Pharian continues, "is why more creatures haven't attacked us. It seems to me that the dragons must know we are here. Why have they made it so easy for us?"

Valdar shrugs.

"It's a big dungeon," he says. "We're more than a mile from where we entered it, aren't we? Perhaps they don't control all of it."

"Why do you think they know?" asks Occa. "The party that we obliterated was on their way to warn them. they may not know just yet." He looks over at the lizards and says, "but they will soon...that is okay, although things will heat up alot."

"Why do I think they know?" says Pharian. "Because I'm a pessimist."

"Ah, that makes sense."

"Though Pharian always used to tell me he was a realist," Gilstrock says. "Something or another about long experience."

Pharian then says to Occa, "Perhaps soon we should do that scouting that we talked about."

"Okay, after we find a camp, we will scout this place out a bit."

Lore turns away from the door and says, "It looks safe. I can't hear any sound coming from the other side."

Occa says, "Get ready everyone." He has his unseen servant open the door.

The double doors are opened, to reveal a 40' wide passage running west...for 60'...turning south after 30' and becoming 30' wide. This imposing area has a row of pillars supporting a vauted ceiling some 30' overhead. The pillars are carved to resemble great tree trunks.

You move down the hall and look south.

This passage runs for 60' and continues. However, in the 20' - 30' section of the west wall is a 10' wide passage running northwest.

You head down to this passage and take a look.

To the northwest, the smaller passage runs for 60' and continues.

To the south, the main passage runs for 60' from the intersection and continues.

Op Code mentions while eating a Timbit, "I imagine that the dragon is to the south. My vote is for that direction. By the way Valdar. Next time can you whip up a pot of perculated decaf to go with these Timbits?"

"You are a glutton for punishment, aren't you, Op Code?" says Valdar.

Pharian says, "Fine, south it is."

Darian asks Occa, "Is there any particular marching order you folks have?"

Valdar chuckles.

From the northwest-running passage, the wide south one runs for 90' along the west side and 110' along the east. Then a strange, dungeon-mapper's nightmare sort of intersection occurs.

The west wall angles southwest for 10'...after which is a 20' wide passage running west. The south side of this westbound passage runs an additional 10' east of the angled wall on the north side. This south wall then turns south...runs in that direction for 10'...then turns southwest.

Across the 30' passage, the east side...after angling southwest after the 110'...continues southwest...and into a 10' wide passage.

The net effect: A 20' wide passage running west and a 10' wide passage running southwest.

You look both ways.

To the west, the 20' wide passage runs for 60' and on, as measured from the south corner. In the 20' - 30' section of the south wall is a 10' wide passage running southwest.

Down the original southwest passage...this runs for 60' and on, as measured along the right (west) side. There is a door in the 30' - 40' section of the right wall.

Op Code looks on in stunned belief. "My, gods can be cruel sometimes. Whoever designed this place sure had a cruel streak in them." He quickly gets his slide rule and protracter out and starts mapping the intersection.

"I guess that means no?" asks Darian in repsonse to Valdar's chuckle.

"Correct," replies the mighty elf lord.

"Hmmm... Maybe it's not so important when you're as powerful as you folks are."

"No, not really...we sort just walk along...do you have some suggestions?" asks someone else.

Darian looks around at these powerful folks and clears his throat. "Well, having someone adept at spotting traps out in front is usually a good idea. And having a rearguard of at least one powerful fighter is probably smart too. Probably should spread out the mages also so that one spell doesn't take them all out at once.

"Valdar, would you explain to me why I amuse you so? Are you trying to annoy me?"

"Annoy you? Of course not!" Valdar replies with another chuckle. "I find many people in this group amusing. Occa and his chaotic ways...Op Code and his tastes in food...Cat and her tastes in...well...you get my drift. The only person I don't laugh at - at least not in front of him - is Stiff, for he might blow me to pieces if I did." Valdar smiles. "But, for all the strange people and disorganized ways that this group has, it manages to get the job done...I have seen that with my own two eyes."

"Don't I amuse you too, Valdar?" says Pharian, in mock dismay.

"You're just a sour old fart," says Valdar, chuckling again.

"I am an elf and a servant of Corellon Larethian. We tend to be lighthearted creatures when circumstances permit. Or are the elves different on Oerth?"

Darian looks confused. "Oerth? Is that another name for Greyhawk?"

Valdar nods...looking at Darian curiously.

Darian shrugs his shoulders.

"As far as being lighthearted, most elves are. I'm not. Maybe it's my upbringing or just from what I've experienced. But, if I amuse you, that's okay. As long as I understand that you're not trying mocking me. I can tolerate the rest."

Pharian says in reply, "A word of advice, Darian. If you are going to stay with this group, you had best learn to let mockery slide off your back. It sometimes flies thick and furious around here."

"Perhaps if it's not meant to hurt, then it won't be so bad. I'm accustomed to being mocked by people who mean to be cruel, not joke with me in fun."

"Neurotic elves are the worst of all," says Valdar, turning serious. "For some reason you remind me a little of Dani...she is dead now...and she was a half-elf. It has been some centuries since I last travelled to Oerth - or Greyhawk as you prefer to call it - and I am sure that much has changed there in the meantime. We elves are long-lived, and our trials are many. Without a sense of humour we would soon become an unbearable lot."

Darian shrugs again. "I haven't lived very long for an elf, so I'll take your word for it. And I may be neurotic, but it's kept me alive. If I wasn't constantly looking over my shoulder expecting the worst, I'd be dead at least a dozen times over. Folks always assume that different is bad..."

"And how are you different?" asks Valdar.

"Besides," he says, brightening up. "Things are going well here today. We have destroyed a large nest of orcs led by a powerful mage, battled Nehwon ghouls, killed two wyverns, wiped out a powerful evil party and now have done in some hungry lizards. We have made, perhaps, the world a little safer for we elves to frolic in."

"Well, you folks have done well. I helped kill a few beetles in an old pyramid before those monsters took Lore and I away. I guess that made it a better place, but they weren't really bothering anyone, so I'm not sure I made the world any safer."

The ranger completes updating his map, and mops his brow.

Op Code says, "Whew. I'll be glad when machines are invented to make this mapping job easier."

Op Code would like to look down the sw passage that goes from the west passage. ie: the one that the door is not in.

He speaks to Darian. "If you want Darian, we could take turns mapping."

Darian looks at him as if he had five heads growing out of his neck. "No, thank you. You seem to be doing just fine..."

You head for the passage suggested by Op Code. It runs for 30' on either side towards the southwest. Then the left wall runs south for 10'. After that, both walls turn west. In other words, the passage runs southwest for 30'...after which it turns west.

From down in that direction you hear the sound of low, deep voices...singing in three-part harmony -

"Dum-dum-de-dum-dum-dum..."

You also think you hear the sound of someone else sobbing from the same direction, too.

Come to think of it, you also hear the same sounds coming down the 20' wide passage...which continues to the west from where you now stand.

It is late evening.

Op Code reminds Darian "That spaceship that brought you here also took away our resident Rogue, Scryte. How are your skills in spotting traps and the like?"

Op Code, grinning at Valdar, next says "And what is the matter with my tastes in food? As a matter of fact, after my adventuring days are over, I was thinking of becoming a chef."

"Going to open a pizza parlour and donut shop..?" asks the grey elf.

"Do you suppose the two hallways are connected?" Op Code asks. "We would probably be better off approaching it from the 20' wide passage. Any ideas?"

Occa says, "Who cares...let's check it out." He moves toward the noise.

Pharian says, "This sounds like a ploy to me, so let's be careful. I'll be moving down the passageway slightly behind you and along the opposite wall." Then he turns invisible.

The rest of you amble down the 20' wide passage after them.

In the 90' - 100' section past the passage running southwest is another passage...running directly south. The 20' wide passage continues west beyond the passage opening. However, in the 35' - 45' section, in the middle of the ceiling, is the opening for a shaft extending upwards.

Out of the southern passage comes a low, reddish glow, and the sounds of the singing and sobbing.

"Dum-dum-de-dum-dum-dum..."

You take a look.

The passage runs south for 20'...then opens up into a chamber. Down there, near the entrance, sits a stone giant on the floor, sobbing and holding his head in his hands. As you watch, he looks up, to the west, as the singing stops.

"That was so beautiful," he says, his face wet with tears, "The deep and touching lyrics...the multiple textures...the meaningful - "

Suddenly Op Code belches. Must be the tim bits.

"Hey!" says the giant, looking up the passage and noticing you. "Room service is here with a midnight snack!"

He takes up a club and comes after you. You hear other growls and mutterings from around the corner in the chamber.

"All right!" excitedly yells Op Code. "I just lovvvve fighting giants. Let me at em." He then drinks his potion of speed and charges the giant with his long sword #2.

"Rangers. Sheesh," mutters Valdar.

Occa casts lightning bolt at the approaching stone giant. However, since the giant was only 20' away, it is on the party before Occa can complete his spell or Op Code finish his potion... Not that it matters...he just uncorked a potion of plant control, having consumed the speed potion back in Frisco...

The giant swings his club, succeeding only in knocking the vial out of the ranger's hands...to smash against a nearby wall.

Back in the giant chamber, you glimpse two more stone giants for a second, heading east...apparently down another passage. Unfortunately, with Op Code and the first stone giant squaring off at this end of the south passage, neither Occa or Salaam can get a clear shot at them.

No matter.

From 90' to the west of you, you hear a door open, and hear creatures walking and moving towards you in the dark...

"Everyone back up, its going to get messy," Salaam says as he prays to Thoth.

Occa squints up the passage to the west...trying to block out the glow from Salaam's hammer.

Darian draws his sword out quietly and stays near the rear of the party, near the north wall of the passage.

Occa says, "Uh, Darian, I wouldn't rely on that invisibility if I were you. Your sword must be cursed."

Then, he starts casting a spell at the approaching monsters.

Darian sighs, "Can everyone else see me or is it only you Occa?"

"Shit!" Op Code yells. "I goota keep track of those potions better, or I'm likely to get myself killed someday."

Op Code launches a full attack against the stone giant in front of him.

The ranger...doing what he does best, buries his sword into the belly of the stone giant for 25 hit points of damage. The giant cries out - in pain this time - and attacks with his club. Op Code is conked for 7 hit points of damage.

Rushing into the range of your lights from the west, now, are two large fire giants.

Suddenly, the air is full of flying giant toads, too...as 8 of them make enormous leaps...to attack you.

Pharian tries to cast a lightning bolt at the giants approaching from the west...but they are on the party before either magic user can complete their spells. Occa is attacked...missed...but his spell goes awry anyway and does nothing but leaves an icy spot on the floor.

Rather than get caught in a melee, Pharian turns invisible again and yells, "Those other giants are probably trying to circle around behind us from the east!"

Pharian's voice says, moving east, "I've got an idea for heading off these giants if they circle around."

"KAAAAAAAAAAAAAARUMBA!!!!!!!!" yells Gonzo, as he attacks. Landing a nice hit, he does 22 hit points into the second fire giant. However, his flame tongue does not seem to be as effective as it usually would...

The giant replies, but misses.

Gilstrock, silent because of his wrist, does likewise...hurrying to Occa's aid.

His frost brand connects with devastating accuracy, and the giant howls in agony. His next hit is even more deadly...and a chunk of frozen giant arm goes sailing.

Occa backs up, looks around and says, "Any of you others able to see Darian?"

"Sure. Why not?" asks Valdar.

The toads land and attack...Gilstrock, Op Code, Darian, Lore, Salaam, Jesse, Valdar and Caterina. The ranger is missed, as are Gilstrock, Darian - who misses in turn as well, Jesse (also missing), Valdar (who kills his attacker), and Cat.

Lore, though, is bitten for 7 hit points. He manages to get in a minor hit with his sword, though, for 1 hit point of damage.

Even Salaam is bitten for 4 hit points...and his spell is ruined.

Stiff makes his presence felt, as he suddenly appears a short distance up the passage...filling the air with magic missiles...

Five missiles burn into the stone giant on Op Code and it collapses. The remainder of the spell hits the fire giant on Gilstrock...followed by nine more missiles into the same giant...which then drops. Gonzo's giant is next, as he falls under a hail of six more missiles. Some missiles into Gilstrock's toad and it croaks...then more into the other toads... The next spell cooks the toads on Op Code, Darian, Lore and Salaam, and his final spell kills the last two.

Stiff blows on his smoking index finger.

You are safe for the moment...but to the east you hear the voices of giants...and from the west somewhere, you hear something half crawling, half slithering over the flagstones towards you...

It is midnight.

"Damn ! I hate when a spell like that gets ruined." Salaam grasps his hammer and approach the slithering creature. "Thoth, please protect your servant." he intones as he casts a protection from evil on himself.

Darian sighs again. "No, it's just that the invisibility doesn't work on you folks. I'm not experienced enough to fool you. "You folks must be too powerful for me. Oh well, maybe when I get a little more experienced, it'll work better."

Occa says, "I don't think that is it Darian. How are you trying to become invisible?"

"Umm... Can we talk about it later? It obviously isn't going to work with what we're facing so it's not of much use."

He looks at Stiff.

"Oh, that's Stiff. Um... Pleasure to meet you, sir."

Darian keeps his sword at the ready and steps in front of Occa to defend him.

Occa begins casting...slow down the corridor where the giants are coming from.

Op Code will go east towards the giants' voices, ready to launch new attacks.

From up the passage you hear a giant's voice...

"Ouch! Look out behind you!"

...and Occa sees a giant vanish.

"Shit!" says Pharian, invisible...as he notes a third giant coming down the passage from the east.

Suddenly a fireball explodes behind the last giant, engulfing him. You all hear screams of agony.

All of you see three stone giants, now, running down the passage towards you. Two are healthy...one is badly burned. Suddenly two of them - one healthy giant and the burned one - inexplicably slow down.

Op Code meets the first giant head-on...and opens a massive wound across its abdomen. Holding his guts in with one hand and swinging his club with the other, the giant misses the ranger badly.

Meanwhile, back in the other direction, Salaam has walked 60' west up the passage, to where it turns south and becomes 30' wide.

Looking around the corner, he comes face-to-face with a dragon...which of course immediately breathes on him. Salaam jumps back and so avoids the worst effects of the attack...but he still finds himself engulfed in a wet cloud of vapours, which makes it nearly impossible to breathe (2 hit points of damage)...and makes it such that he can do little but try and escape from the vapours.

The dragon looks around the corner at you...and prepares to breathe again...

Salaam backs up, pulling out his wand of magic missiles. He suffers 2 more hit points of choking damage before he is clear.

Pharian assumes that Op Code can handle the giants and casts his last magic missle spell all the way down the corridor at the dragon. Six missiles slam into the head of the dragon, spraying blood and flesh all over the place...but not killing it.

Seeing this, Stiff utters a word of power which sends the enormous dragon reeling.

Lore decides to take the offensive and uses his wand of frost, pointing the wand that the dragon's head and whispering the activation word. Instantly the dragon and Salaam are engulfed in an ice storm. Both of them take 15 hit points of damage...and the dragon is slain.

Cat stands there for several moments, awed at the sight.

Meanwhile, Op Code, now joined by Gonzo, battles giants.

The ranger handily dispatches the giant he badly wounded a moment ago, then turns to face the burned, slowed giant.

Gonzo, with his trademark bellow, hits the other slowed giant without trouble. The giant misses. Gonzo chops at it twice more and it falls.

Op Code follows suit with the last giant.

Again...it is quiet.

Occa says, "Damnit, once again, I wasn't given time to blow anything away. I wish everyone here would stop killing things so quickly."

Op Code tells Occa "You just have learn to be faster on the draw my boy. Stiff here can give you a few pointers I'm sure."

Lore goes over to Salaam and says, "I'm sorry....I didn't realise that bloody wand was so powerful. Are you going to be okay?"

Shaking off the chill, Salaam responds through chattering teeth, "Lore, better from you than from the dragon." When he calms down, he intones, "Oh great Thoth, please heal your cold servant." He casts a cure light wounds. Once healed a little, "I am out or nearly out of curative magics and could use a rest as well, so I suggest we make camp as soon as we can."

Salaam cures himself for 5 hit points.

"Sounds good," Gilstrock says. "Should we set up camp here? I'll take the first watch."

"Agreed," says Pharian. "We need to camp. Let's take a look at the room the giants came from. If it has too many entrances to watch, I can seal up one with a wall of stone." He heads south to take a look at the room.

Gilstrock continues, "Speaking of running low on things, we might want to plan ahead a bit and conserve our strength. Like we did with the lizards; if there's something us fighter types can take care of, you mage types should aoid blowing off too much of your heavy artillery. I have a bad feeling that we're going to need it later."

"Wise advice, my friend," says Pharian. "What's artillery?"

Gilstrock opens his mouth to answer, and then does a double take. "Hmm, I don't really know, now that you mention it. A term I heard somewhere. Has something to do with blasting things from far away. I seem to remember thinking it was pretty severe, and that it had something to do with wizards or something."

Op Code searches the dragon and all the giants to see if they were carrying any treasure.

On the stone giants he finds nothing. Ditto for the dragon. But, searching the fire giants he comes up with a total of 1500ep and 2000gp.

While up at the west corner he pauses and maps what he sees.

In the northwest corner of the west wall is a door...open. This is where the fire giants and giant toads came from.

To the south, the 30' wide passage runs for 60' from the southeast corner and ends. However, in the westernmost 10' section of the south wall is an opening. As he watches, though, it closes...and becomes undetectable.

Op Code notes this fact...then goes and takes a look through the open door in the northwest corner. This opens into a 30' X 30' room (20' north, 30' west; doors in middle of each of the north, west and south walls...the south door is open). The walls of this room have stone benches along them. Before him, 5' out from the east wall is a granite counter.

There is also the shaft in the ceiling of the 20' wide passage, in the 25- - 25' section as measured from the passage that leads to the stone giant lair.

Meanwhile, Pharian and the others have gone to explore this very lair. It is a 20' X 30' chamber (20' west, 20' south: passage in east wall southern half heading east; 10' wide passage in south wall middle section heading southeast; 10' wide opening in south wall west portion).

In here are several pieces of stone furniture...sized for dwarves, including some pallets, chairs and stools, along with a table. You get the impression that this place was used as a guard room. Also in here are some piles of furs and odd junk that giants like to carry about. There is also a large brass brazier, which warms the chamber and throws out some light.

Searching, you find 2500gp.

You look down the east passage. It runs east for 60'...and eventually joins up with one of the angled passages that you found earlier.

You look southeast. This passage runs for 50'...then there is an intersection with a passage that runs northeast and another passage that runs west. Also, in the 0' - 10' section of the left wall is another passage running east.

You look through the last opening in the south wall of the chamber, west portion. This is a passage...opening out to 20' in width to the east as it heads south...for 60'. However, after 50' it turns east, becoming 10' wide.

Pharian says, "This room has a lot of passageways to be made very secure. Occa, Stiff-- do you have any wall spells?"

Lore will walk around the chamber checking for traps and secrets.

He finds none.

Occa says, "I think we need to get into that section of wall that just disappeared to the South. This room is too open to make a good camp...it is only good for a last stand."

You head down to the end of the 30' wide passage.

Occa goes and examines the section of the South wall/corridor where the door disappared. "Valdar, can you detect secret doors here?"

Valdar climbs out from under Cat's ample skirts and waves his sword around.

"Secret door here," it says...where Op Code saw the opening close a few moments ago.

"If I may, I need to rest." says Salaam.

Not yet...

Op Code will help gather all the money, then go investigate the doorway in the south wall that vanished. He will also take a look down the east passage at the end of this room.

The east passage out of the stone giant chamber does indeed connect up with the southwest passage you found earlier.

The eastbound passage that runs out of the 0' - 10' section of the southeast bound passage runs for 100' along the left wall...and ends at the door facing southeast.

Heading down the southeast bound passage that exits from the chamber to the intersection at the end, you see that to the northeast it joins up with a passage already mapped. To the west, it runs for 40' along the north wall...then meets the 20' wide passage running south out of the giant chamber.

Op Code joins the others...by the secret door.

Occa says, "Get ready everyone." He has his unseen servant open the door.

The door is opened...to reveal a large room (20' X 40': 10' east, 40' south; door in west wall south corner).

Facing you by the door is a second dragon...who immediately breathes on the lot of you...engulfing you in a blinding wet mist which chokes you.

Gonzo, Gilstrock, Op Code, Darian, Salaam, Stiff, Caterina and Occa dodge the worst effects and take only 4 hit points of damage.

Lore and Jesse, though, take the brunt of it...8 hit points of choking damage.

Lore dives for cover doing his best to stay out of the way of danger.

Blinded, Gilstrock rushes the dragon, his sword drawn, and cries, "Prepare to meet your maker you overgrown spawn of an iguana!"

"Okay, enough of this crap," Salaam says as a bloody haze clouds his judgement as well as his vision. "Wyrm, ye shall die today."

He unslings his hammer, swings with both hands and throws it into the creature.

Op Code storms in to attack the dragon, muttering "Damn dragons and their bad breath. The least he could do when belching is cover his mouth. I'll teach it some manners."

Occa - still able to see thanks to the robe - pumps the dragon full of magic missiles... One spell is enough to kill it.

It was only a small dragon...as dragons go.

Once the mist clears and your vision returns, you go in and search the chamber. It is barren...but for an enormous pile of treasure that the dragons liked to sit on...as is the habit of such creatures.

You count out: a potion, a small handkerchief, 6000gp, 200pp and 20 miscellaneous articles of jewelery worth 16,000gp each.

Occa starts thinking about his vacation in the sunny south again...

It is very late and you are all tired.

"Okay, ENOUGH ! I am wounded and tired, therefore I am going to rest and pray. If anyone has a problem, I don't care, and if we get attacked, tell them I am busy and I'll get back to them later." Salaam says with a weary smirk, as everyone sees that he is currently afflicted with some sort of delirium or dementia. He finds a corner and rests.

Occa staggers for a moment and says, "Do you guys realize we just found over 320,000 gps worth of jewelry." He dances around with several pieces of it drapped on his body.

Occa goes and picks up the hankerchif (or whatever) in the treasure and says, "This is a better place to rest. Come in everyone, let's make camp."

Once everyone is in, he shuts the door.

Then he examines the hankerchief...spreading it out on the floor. "Could it be?"

Pharian peers over Occa's shoulder, curious. "Could it be what?" he says.

It rather resembles a similar handkerchief that you found in the community chest...with a large checkerboard pattern on one side and a small checkerboard pattern on the other.

It is of silk.

Occa says to Pharian, "I was hoping for a portable hole, but I think it is a sheet of smallness instead...the checkerboard patter, you see."

He pulls gets a crown from the pile of treasure and wraps it up in the sheet. "See you wrap it up and it shrinks down...then you just wrap it up with the other side to get it to grow."

He tries it.

It does just that.

Occa holds up the miniture crown. "This is very useful for spell books and the like as well....makes things much easier to carry."

Once they are closed in Lore moves about the room once again and checks for traps and secrets.... He finds none.

Thereafter Lore moves to where the pile of treasure is and eyes it hungrily.

"So....when do we divide up the treasure?", he asks.

"When we leave this dungeon...don't worry, there will be plenty. We are obviously on the fringes here and haven't reached the big boys yet. I just hope we all survive that far. The dragons we have met have been fairly wimpy so far."

He jumps up and goes and casts wizard lock on the secret door.

Lore's eyes widen as he looks at Occa. "Those....those were wimpy dragons? That last once nearly killed me....by the gods, am I in trouble", he says. Lore looks very unhappy and doesn't even seem interesting in the gold any longer. Those of you with good hearing hear him mutter "what good is all this gold if yer dead?" to myself under his breath.

After posting watches, you pass an uneventful night.

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