Characters: Tienarth (Tre), Ferris (Henry), Azrak (Nick), Ghevont (Jeff), Globo (Oliver), Nodo (npc), Antar (npc)
Well rested, Tienarth’s Raiders again made the journey to the nameless dungeon, stopping overnight at the crossroads camp spot. Yazzi and his assistant were still there selling goods from their wagon. A few other travellers were camped out, too. The party was not disturbed during the night, nor on the way into the dungeon. They carefully stepped down stairs into the third level.
Ferris listened at a pair of double doors that hung limply, unlatched. Suddenly an ochre jelly burst out of a secret door next to Tienarth. Only fire could hurt the terrible menace, but the party made quick work of it by pouring oil over it and setting it alight.
Next, they found a giant spider devouring a giant bee. The party debated the dangers as the spider leapt forward. Would the poison of the spider kill a party member? They didn’t discover this because the one saving throw was made and the spider was dispatched. They were now in a mostly empty former temple, surmised by the faded murals.
A secret door was discovered in the west wall. Onward they crept until they found another set of double doors, again unlatched but in better repair. Ferris examined them. He saw firelight through the cracks. The doors had no obvious vermin paths gnawed from them. Ferris silently pushed the door open to reveal a grotesque scene. Obscene murals looked as fresh as the day they were painted. Torches in sconces flickered dimly, throwing dancing shadows around the room. A pentagram painted in blood dominated the room.
Sensing no obvious threat, the party began to search the room. A few minutes later, dark man shapes floated out of the darkness in the corners of the room, momentarily surprising the party. The shadows were upon them, striking Tienarth first and draining his already feeble strength away. As the battle continued, the three warriors took several blows and saw their stamina wane. Only Azrak and Globo could manage to do any damage to the creatures. Despite their obvious evil, they were undaunted by holy water that sprinkled through them harmlessly. The fighters fought on and eventually destroyed the horrors.
Feeling safe again, the party searched the room in earnest. Below a flagstone, Nodo found a hidden cache. Unnoticed by all but Ghevont, Nodo palmed a ring and then alerted the party to the find. They quickly fought over who took individual treasures. Tienarth insisted on giving Globo and Azrak first choice owing to their primary effectiveness. Azrak took a ring. Globo took a bracelet. The rest of the horde included coins and another tiger’s eye ruby. This ruby the party set aside, suspecting it was for the mirror they stashed back at the fort.
After the battle, the party knew they were hurt and had to rest. Strength was returning, but estimates put Azrak’s full recovery at close to an hour. The party slunk back to the secret room from whence the ochre jelly came to relax.
Meanwhile, Ghevont insisted on exploring alone with Nodo. Within a few minutes, they surprised a group of giant ants and turned tail to escape. Despite the head start, Ghevont’s plate mail did not allow him to run fast enough. At first the ants gave chase at normal speed. The next moment, they were racing as fast as they could. Ghevont dashed through the secret door to the first temple. An ant tore Nodo in half, and then suddenly another ant bashed his way through the secret door. Ghevont did his best to sprint back to the party, screaming “Ants! Ants!”
Azrak pulled the door open as the ants descended on them. Ghevont dashed into the room. Tienarth cast a web spell that stuck the ants in their place. Globo and Azrak began hacking at the helpless animals. Antar jumped into the web where an ant was just cut down and found himself stuck. Unfortunately, the next moment a nearby ant unstuck himself and made a vicious attack. Antar’s backbone was severed and twitched helplessly, close to death. And then Ghevont tossed flaming oil into the web. Antar died with the ants.
After this, the party rested for a full day and healed. They made their way out of the dungeon. They encountered snakes that they charmed and slept to avoid. They met bees at the entrance and resorted to a web spell to flee. Once out of the dungeon, they made it back to Morgansfort without incident.
Back at the fort all of the coins and more were required to reenter. Globo paid for most of this with the proceeds from his bracelet. The tax-collecting sage at the entrance had been carefully studying the mirror while the party was away. He now reported that the rubys they’d found were all necessary to operate the mirror which was essentially a crystal ball of sorts. Without the rubys, the focus of the mirror was on some room of the dungeon. The party is keen to track down those sold rubys and have a jeweler reset them.