After a night in the ruined monastery, Tienarth healed Jerker, then transformed into a hawk to survey more of the valley while the rest of them nursed their wounds. The thief Permiscuous found his way to the camped party and was interested to investigate the cave. Azrak and Ollie weren’t interested in doing anything.
To the north, Tienarth spotted a ruined church. A green glow emerged from empty windows. After circling around a few more areas, he relayed the news to the rest of the group. The considered investigating it as one of the green orbs that spit out black puddings. Meanwhile, three giant bees arrived at camp. Before they could get close, Jerker and Aderian hurled boulders, killing two of them. The third flew away.
The next morning, Aderian argued for walking to the ruined church. It was a short walk of about 3 miles. They found a structure that was of typical Elven design and obviously meant for worship of the World Tree. Its design was similar to the larger cathedral in Tosasth. Doors and the glass from windows were gone. The inside was bare except for a hoop of silver 6′ across, standing up on end. Bright green energy came out of what they recognized as a portal to Haderax.
They experimented for sometime, tossing objects through the portal. Permiscuous went through as Tienarth watched via his crystal ball. They soon joined him, walked down the dark tunnel and looked out over the twilight valley of the realm of Haderax. The black waters of the Dimwash rushed by. No spirit came to greet them, so they walked for some time along the shore. Aderian seemed interested in approaching the erupting volcano, but eventually the party decided to retreat. They had no purpose in this strange realm, and it felt dangerous to remain.
Tienarth had recalled how time passed differently on the other side of the portal. When they returned to the monastery the Dwarves told them four days had passed. They’d spent their time digging a trench in which they felt more comfortable than lying out in the open.
On 12/1, they headed to the cave with a careful plan of attack. They climbed slowly up the incline of loose rock, waiting to assemble together in the 25′ opening. The Dwarves still remained back at camp.
Tienarth transformed into a gold dragon, then cast a mirror image spell for greater protection. They advanced steadily down the passage until they came to the larger chamber. The huge spider jumped out. Permiscuous stuck it with a javelin. The spider attacked one of the illusionary dragons while Tienarth caste a haste spell. The fighters rushed forward, slashing the spider in short order.
Moving farther down the passage, they skirted around a deep spit that smelled of decay. Presently, they came to another deep shaft. Across it was a wooden tower on a shelf of rock. From behind barrels, bugbears and an aranea revealed themselves. The bugbears fired arrows that dispelled the remaining mirror images. The great dragon flew over the chasm to claw and bite at the bugbears. He dodge a spell from the spider person before Jerker and Aderian crushed it to a pulp with thrown rocks. Eventually, the dragon killed two of the bugbears. The last was dropped by an arrow fired by Ferris.
They crossed the chasm via rope and considered descending the wooden ladder into the darkness.
End Notes
- Treasure: none!
- Combat 1,734 xp
- 3 Giant Bees 39 xp
- Huge, Monstrous Spider 875 xp
- 3 Bugbear Guards 615 xp
- Aranea 205 xp
- Characters 248 xp
- Aderian (fight) 275 xp
- Ferris 273 xp
- Hocusbo 273 xp
- Jerker (fight) 275 xp
- Nate (fight) 275 xp
- Permiscuous 273
- Tienarth (wilderness) 250 xp