Fireseek 9 (cont): 10:20am  While the group is milling around the room with six crystal spheres, and before we move on to the next room, some discussions take place.

     Taizu, "Hey all, Couple of thoughts on booty, etc. I would prefer not sending magic items and jewelry back to the girls while we still have a prisoner. In the simplest terms if he charms the girls into letting him go or escapes, he'll steal them. Also, if there is nothing of true worth, maybe he'll just escape taking a horse and provisions and not kill the girls in the process. Although lugging all the magic, especially armour no one is using and some of the weaponry may become a problem in terms of encumbrance. We could just leave the items of particular value in the dwarven temple since it's remained intact to date. If anyone has the magic trap spell , it might be nice to re-set one or two of those. I may also be able to create some additional traps to protect the stuff/temple if there are sufficient raw materials. It seems to me though that we should have enough spare nonmagic swords/arrows to rig at least one trap. Any thoughts? "

     Tarva: "I think the idea of turning one of the dwarf rooms into a booty stash point is excellent.  Perhaps we can take a pause (from exploring all these "twisty little passageways") to go retrieve ALL the booty currently with the acolytes and bring it back to one of those rooms.  And periodically move new stuff there, as well. I don't think it would be a good place to bring the horses, so the desire to keep the booty and the prisoner separate ought to fall out automatically."

     Ahb: "I can cast Glyph of Warding on the door, but Icannot pray about it until tomorrow."

     Taizu: "'Glyph' that's the word I was looking for. I think it might be a great idea especially if we want to use this area as a treasure cache. At least, we can use it to prevent this good temple from being defiled."

     Arvee:  "After thinking about this a bit, since we have deactivated the defenses, I think I would be willing to bring a good deal of the priceless treasures with us to give to an active dwarven temple to safeguard. Hopefully, the would of course reward us for returning them."

     Tarva:  "I think Arvee's suggestion is a wonderful one.  I'm not at all happy about the idea of just taking these religious artifacts and selling them - but restoring them to an active temple [or, at least, sealing them up and telling an active temple where they are: transporting them might be more of a problem than we want to take on] seems to me to be a good thing to do. And, if they did want to give us an award, why that would be nice also -- we're not paladins, after all."

     Glendon: "I would accept the return of the artifacts as reward enough, of course, but I would ask the temple preists if they could reinstate Arvee's good name.    We could go one better.  After we clear this place of evil (spoken in the truist optimism and belief in the abilities of the group) we could hand it over to the Dwarves have the temple cleansed and exorcised by Dwarven priests and have the place consecrated agian.  That would give us some cool points with the Dwarves and we would be stylin' after that....you think?"

     Taizu: (shuddering): "You're damn straight we're not paladins."

     Glendon: "No, but I would find more value from a dwarf's friendship than from the any profit from the sale of his temple's artifacts."

     Taizu:  "Again, not paladins. Seems to me we've taken treasure from temples before - note the rather large sword currently on my back.  We've also 'respectfully' grave robbed in the past. The dwarves are more than welcome to take this place back assuming we manage to survive long enough to tell anyone about it."

     Arvee:  "Well, first of all, Arvee is not really that interested in getting 'honor' from the Dwarves. With that, he really doesn't care about getting the beard back either. Arvee isn't a disgraced dwarf, just a dwarf that none of the other dwarves gave a rats ass about and just sort of carted off to the furthest outpost where none of them would have to look at him. Well, maybe some of the dwarves consider him a disgrace for his family being slaughtered by Orcs and his torture and scarring, but Arvee really only puts most dwarves slightly above Orc and therefore, they can take their dwarven concepts of honor and stick them where the cave torches don't shine.  The large sword on the back was taken from an evil temple, and therefore will be put to a better use. If we are going to start trampling on some of the god's territory and worshipers, can we at least avoid pissing off the good ones?  Besides, Arvee is not going to win any popularity contests and when he plans on taking his place among the Gods he's going to need a few on his side."

10:40am  We are at the entranceway to an alterroom, 60' wide and 70' deep.  There is an anvil-shaped altar near the far end of the room, roughly 15' x 15' and 10' tall, with steps to the top on one side.  On top of the altar are two large gems that glisten as if on fire, providing light for the entire room.  The walls all around contain carved images of dwarves with hammers; the floor is of tiles of interlocking grey and white hammers.  The far (southeast) wall has large dwarven runes on it.  There are stairs in the east corner rising to a platform in that corner, with a door into the southeast wall.  The door is a stone slab with more dwarven runes carved into it.

     The runes along the far wall translate into, "Moradin Destroys Transgressors - But Rewards The Faithful."

     Arvee starts in, nothing happens.  He heads for the stairs and the door.

     As others follow him in there is a loud grinding noise from the southwest corner, and over a six-second round an eight foot tall stone "statue" of a dwarf rises to floor level.

1: Tarva reserves to respond to an attack; Glendon moves forward to within range, casts Grease in front of - let's call it a Stone Dwarf; in Dwarvish, Arvee commands it to "Stop", then reserves against an attack; Darred moves to the side and reserves to use the wand of Slow; Ahb moves up; Stone Dwarf moves 20' towards Darred; Darred casts Slow with the wand, and designates Stone Dwarf as his dodge opponent; Tarva shoots and misses; Arvee yells, "If you're not a dwarf, get out!"; Stone Golum hits Darred for 13; Taizu runs out of the room; Rowan runs out of the room.

2: Tarva runs out of the room ("because I always do what I'm told," she answers Taizu's look of surprise. "You so do not!" grouses Taizu); Glendon moves to Ahb, picks her up; Arvee moves to between Stone Dwarf and Darred; Darred runs out of the room, Stone Dwarf AoO on Darred and hits for 19; Ahb puts up with being picked up (while announcing that her roller-coaster emotional life makes her expect a let-down once they're out of the room); Stone Dwarf shifts 5' towards Glendon (and Ahb), Arvee attempts an AoO to trip it, but fails, and hits Glendon for 20, 20; Taizu waits; Rowan waits.

3:  Tarva reserves to shoot Stone Dwarf if it attacks Arvee; Glendon runs, Stone Dwarf AoO for 14, out of room with Ahb; Arvee stands; Darred reserves for Stone Dwarf attacking Arvee; Ahb Heals on Glendon for 35; Stone Dwarf walks back to Southwest corner; Taizu waits; Rowan waits.

4: To the accompanyment of that grinding noise, Stone Dwarf sinks back into the floor, until it is smooth again.

     Arvee asks, "What do I do now?" 

     Rowan gets an idea: suggests to Taizu that he use his wand of Alter Self to turn himself into a dwarf.  He does this, but when he steps into the altar room, we all the grinding noise start up again.  Taizu quickly steps back out of the room, the grinding noise reverses itself, and shortly everything is calm again.

     Arvee tries his luck at searching, taking twenty to compensate for his lack of experience.

11:00am  Cllimbing up the stairs in the southeast corner, Arvee announces that the runes on the door at the top read, "Chamber of Mystery".  He opens the non-locked door to a 20'x20' room with: a fine marble floor; excellent stonework holding up the domed ceiling; a faint chanting sound; a smell of fresh earth; and, hanging from a silver chain from the center of the ceiling to about 5' off the floor, a huge emerald giving off a dim light.  Arvee goes into the room.   Quite a bit of time passes - rather an alarming amount for the rest of us.  Then Arvee reappears, comes down the stairs and back to the group, looking a little dazed.  Ahb is immediately concerned and wants to know if he is hurt.  Distractedly, he says he is fine.

     Rowan wants to try an experiment: she asks Arvee to pick Ahb up and carry her into the room - find out if the protection spell will fail to detect any non-dwarf who is not touching the floor.  Arvee (and Ahb) agree, he picks her up, steps into the room - grinding noise, steps back out immediately -  noise subsides and stops.  Well, now we know.

      This action, small as it was, is apparently enough to snap Arvee back to the present.  He tells us about the room, especially about its seemingly inconsistencies (such as marble floor and earthy smell).  And about the emerald.  Which he touched.  Upon which it imparted into his mind a history - although more of an experiencing - of the events his ancestors had lived through, back for many generations.  Everyone thinks that is really neat.  However, it isn't getting us any further forward.  Didn't the Chamber of Mystery have any ohter doors?   Oh, yeah, says Arvee, I did see another door.  But then I touched the Emerald...

     Arvee goes back to the Chamber of Mystery.  Still earthy smell, faint and indistinguishable chanting, glowing emerald.  He goes to the other door, and finds that it is locked.  Before coming back to us, he detaches the emerald (his mind is once again flooded with memories not his) and places it in a pocket.  Then takes it out  (flood of memories) to show us.   Ahb, from her experience as a gem-cutter, announces that it is one of the finest emeralds she has ever seen.  Taizu asks Arvee for permission, then touches the emerald.  Nothing happens to, or for, him (Tarva guesses that Alter Self is only skin deep).

     After Arvee announces that the other door is locked, Rowan suggests that we all just run across the room, very fast, and be out of it on the other side before the Stone Dwarf is fully engaged.   Tarva asks Rowan if she'll loan her boots to Taizu.  Tarva's thought is that with the boots, Taizu - even as a dwarf - can easily get all the way across the altar room before the Stone Dwarf reappears.  If being in the Chamber of Mystery is the same as being out here, it will subside again.  If it doesn't, then the boots will give Taizu plenty of time to come back out of  the Chamber of Mystery, cross the altar room again, and be outside with us, before the Stone Dwarf can move across the altar room floor and intercept him.  Rowan agrees, and Arvee goes back to near the foot of the stairs, to shout up into the Chamber of Mystery, if Taizu needs to be warned to retreat.  He explicitly tells everyone else to stay at the entrance: if he sets off a trap it might affect everyone in the Chamber of Mystery, so he should be the only one in there.  Without the emerald hanging from its chain, the room is dark.  Taizu takes out a light stone and starts working on the lock.  Once unlocked, he calls Arvee, and Arvee comes into the room -- as does Tarva [grinding noise starts up, then subsides].  Arvee opens the door (just in case there are other (non-)dwarf-detecting traps) onto a short, 20' long corridor, 7' wide, with a right-hand turn at 15'.  Arvee calls for everyone else to also come over, which they all do [grinding noise starts up, then subsides].  Taizu, Arvee, and Tarva advance to the turn: 20' down is a door straight ahead, and also another right hand turn.  Taizu finds no traps on the door, but announces that it has a very intricate lock, which it will take him a while to pick.

11:30am  The door opens into a 30'x30' room with a glass table, six bunk beds, two bookcases, two chests, and a bronze urn on top of the table.  Taizu moves to the first chest; Tarva to a bookcase; Ahb to the other bookcase; Rowan also comes into the room; Darred stays outside where he can watch both corridor directions; Glendon stays in the doorway. The books are all in dwarven, and all conntain esseys and tracts on Moradin.  Taizu says the check also has a good lock (but not good enough...)   Inside are six greenish-grey hooded dwarven vestments and a gold insence burner.  The second chest has six bundles of more normal clothing, six heavy maces, and a small pouch containing three thunderstones.  Glendon comes in and casts Detect Magic and (other than his companions) finds nothing. 

11:45am  Taizu moves on to the next door: at the end of this short corridor leg (the corridor turns left while the door is to the right).  Tarva and Arvee come with him.  Taizu sees no traps on the door, starts working on it.  Other people come up (except Darred, who still watches our back at the previous corridor corner) while he's working on it.  He unlocks it, opens the door, and a three foot thick ceiling falls down on the party!  Everyone except Darred and Rowan take 35 hp.  Arvee, with assistance from practially everyone else, manages to lift the stone enough for all the rest to get out from under, then we hold it while he gets out, then the slab is dropped onto the floor.  So that section of corridor floor is 3' higher (and the corridor 3' shorter) than everywhere else.

     Luckily the doors open in (or else we would need to completely get rid of the slab before progressing) to a 30'x30' square room.  In the center is a dais with a Mordain symbol.  On top of it are several items:  a box with inlaid sidings of gold depicting dwarves working at a forge; a book of Holy prayers to Morridon with silver & gems encrusting the cover; a small gold statue of Morridon; a golden urn; and inside the box are ten amathysts.  Along the back wall are three trunks.  Taizu opens the first: it's filled with gold coins.  "Oh, I want to count them!" says Tarva. "That's good," says her mentor and master (that's like 'lord and master', but more musical), "because I was going to tell you to."  Tarva casts Easy Math and states that there are about 2,800 coins in the trunk.   Taizu opens each of the other two trunks, which are also filled, to roughly the same level, with gold coins.  That would make roughly 8,400 iin all three.   Taizu casts Detect Secret Doors.  There are none in this treasury room, but he thinks he can sense one physically nearby.  From the direction, he thinks it must be back in the Dais room.  While the spell is still running he checks the corridors nearby and finds one at the opposite end of the next stretch.  Then back in the room with the bunks, he finds a secret compartment.  Opening it reveals a large gold key.  Tarva wonders out loud if perhaps it is to the door to the treasury room - Taizu checks and it is.

     Ahb casts Circle Of Healing on all who had the slab fall on them, for 16 points.  Tarva uses her Faith Healing on Glendon to bring him back up to full.  Darred locks the door to the treasure room, and we move on.

     Taizu opens the secret door, and finds that it opens into a passageway we've been in before: between the Air Temple Tower room and the room where the Hydra attacked us.  Tarva asks if the door can be opened from the outside, and Taizu determines that it can.  He closes it back and we move down the corridor forty feet to the doorless entranceway to a dining hall, 40' wide by 80' long.  There are two long stone tables running most of the length of the hall.  On top of one is a silver tea service; on top of the other is a bronze harp.  There are also six evenly spaced doors along the long walls: three on each side.

     Taizu of course makes a beeline for the harp; Tarva goes with him.  Darred stays at the entrance as a rear guard.  The rest check out the other doors.  First Left: small private dining room.  Second Left: storage, boxes and barrels, no edible food left.  Third Left: latrine.  Third Right: latrine.  Both latrines are long unused and have no odor.  Second Right: kitchen.  First Right: small private dining room.

     This is the extent of the rooms in the Dwarf Haven.  We retrace our steps to the Mystery Room, we wait while Arvee searches for, and finds, the secret door Taizu faintly detected from the treasure room.  He opens the door onto the outside, where it is still blizzarding.  Closes the door again. 

     We decide to move everything, including horses, from the air temple into this haven.  Using the secret door both to shorten our path and to avoid the stone dwarf, we go back to discover (much to Taizu's relief) that the acolytes have not been sweettalked and murdered by our prisoner.  Various people object to taking hin into the Dwarf Haven, and thus letting him know it exists.  Ahb reminds everyone of her decision that prisoners are Taizu's responsibility.  Taizu says to kill him; Arvee administers the coup de grace.   Then we move everything (and everyone) along.  The horses are 'stabled' in the dining hall.  Booty is placed in, and locked in, the treasure room.  Neva and Lysette are established in the bunk room.

2:30 pm.  We go back to an unexplored branch in the maze of passageways outside the Dwarf Haven (crossing the Dais Room (at a run): grrrind - ungrrrind) so as to take the much shorter route).  The short corridor leads into a roughly circular room, 80' across, with a 5' high pedestal in the center.  There are supplies being stored here:   Some of the barrels have the Temple of Elemental Air symbol; we conclude these are supplies used by temple-hired orcs.  Move on to the door near the movable barrier.  Taizu opens it and Arvee sees a 40' wide, 20' deep chamber, with a 15' wide corridor extending on from the left end of the far wall.  The ceiling is 15' high, and the chamber is well lit..  Many implements hang on the wall opposite the door, and there is a second door in the same wall as this one, to Arvee's right as he stands in the doorway.

There are also six gnolls in the room, wearing black scale mail with a triangle symbol, shields, axes. 

1:  Taizu shoots Gnoll₁ for 5, 5; Rowan shoots Gnoll₂ for 8, 8, kills; Gnoll₃ yells something in Gnollish; Gnoll₁ hits Tarva for 4; Gnoll₃ hits Arvee for 9; Gnoll₅ shoots, misses; Gnoll₆ shoots, misses; Gnoll₄ tells us, in Orkish, "Stop: you may not pass"; Tarva hits Gnoll₁ for 16, kills, bloopers and knocks Arvee down; Darred casts Magic Missile on Gnoll₅ for 7, on Gnoll₆ for 2; Ahb reserves for any additional enemies showing up; Glendon casts Magic Missile on Gnoll₂ for 14, kills; Arvee gets up, charges Gnoll₅, hits for 16, kills, cleaves on Gnoll₆, criticals for 87, kills.

2:  Taizu steps into the room, shoots Gnoll₄ for 12; Rowan takes a 5' step, shoots Gnoll₄ for 11, kills;

Tarva and Arvee step over to the corridor and look down:  like the chamber, this hallway is lit;  40' down a hallway branches off to the left; at 80' there is a door to the riight; at 120' a cross corridor forms an intersection with this one;

the door at 80' begins to open; Tarva switches to her bow, reserves for a target; Darred comes to the corridor, reserves for a target; Glendon comes to the corridor, begins cocking his crossbow; Arvee runs up to just beside the opening door.

3:  Taizu moves to the hallway at 40', checks it out: 10', runs 40' and turns left, opposite the left-turning hallway is a door to the right; Rowan moves 50' forward and switches to her sword; out of the door come eight humans, wearing black banded mail with the triangle symbol, carrying bastard swords: Human₁ comes out, Arvee AoO for 17, kills; Human₂ comes out, Arvee AoO for 19, kills; Human₃ comes out, Arvee AoO for 15, kills; Human₄ comes out, Arvee AoO for 18, kills; Human₅ comes out, forced by the bodies to stay too far away from Arvee for an AoO, runs away; Human₆ comes out, runs away; Human₇ comes out, runs towards Rowan; Human₈ comes out, runs towards Rowan; Tarva shoots Human₅ for 8, kills; Darred Magic Missiles Human₆ for 4, Human₇ for 2; Taizu shoots Human₆ for 6, kills; Arvee moves up; Glendon shoots Human₈ for 9, kills; Arvee moves to Human₇, hits for 16, kills.

171 ep.

The room the humans came out of turns out to be a dorm room, 40' by 20'.  We pull the bodies, human and gnoll, back into this room and, at Glendon's macabre suggestion, put them into the beds.  Individual possessions under each bed, as well as the bodies themselves, are searched by Taizu and Rowan, with Tarva watching his back.  Ahb and Glendon move down the at-40' side corridor to its turn, then 10' further to where it turns again to the right.  Darred is at the 'start' of this corridor, where he can watch our rear and the corridor itself.  Arvee stays in the doorway to the dorm room. 
Taizu and Rowan find a flat gluegreen stone with a depiction of 'waves pounding relentlessly' - a symbol for the Elemental Temple of Water.  There is a brief discussion about whether this means we've stumbled past Earth and into Water, or if it's booty from a raid on Water.  They also find eight potions of a Light Green color, and 78gp.  Glendon opens the door at the corner of the 10' and 40' hallways: it is a 10'x10' storeroom with boxes, bag, and barrels of food supplies, and meat hanging from the ceiling.  He checks all the barrels for the type of liquid each holds.  Casts (on their side) are wine; barrels (upright) are water; boxes mostly contain raw grains.

3:30pm   Everyone gathers at the mouth of the 40' branch to discuss what to do next.  Darred and Taizu see, far down the corridor (past the intersection), more fighters coming towards us.  Two of them duck into doors (one each) on either side of the corridor, but the rest keep coming.

1:  Rowan moves to just this side of the intersection; Glendon moves to beside Rowan; Darred casts Fireball on Human₉ through Human₁₄ for 21, killing them all; Taizu runs past the intersection to just beside the door on the left side of the corridor; Arvee runs with him to the door on the right side; Tarva moves 20' down the corridor and reserves for a target; Ahb moves to beside Tarva; Taizu hears a conversation in Arvee's room.

2:  Rowan moves across the intersection and up beside Taizu; Glendon steps into the intersection and looks both ways before crossing, to the left it runs 20' to double doors, to the right it runs 50' to a side hallway on the left, then curves to the right, and also a "Hill Giant! on a bridge" , shoots his crossbow, misses; Giant₁ throws rocks at Glendon for 14, 14, yells, "Hey!  Intruders!  Get out here!"; coming out of Arvee's side room, Human₁₅ misses Arvee; Human₁₆ misses Arvee, Human₁₇ misses Rowan; Human₁₈ misses Taizu; Taizu starts singing Inspire Courage, hits Human₁₈ for 7, kills, misses Human₁₇;  Arvee hits Human₁₅, kills, cleaves Human₁₆, kills, cleaves Human₁₇, kills, moves back to the intersection and follows Glendon's stance to see Giant₁; Tarva shoots Human₁₇ for 7, moves to intersection, looks past Glendon, yells, "Behind you, Troll!"; Ahb moves up to beside Tarva.

3:  Rowan moves to Troll₁, tumbles to avoid AoO, hits at but misses; Glendon casts Flaming Sphere under Troll1, but it evades; Darred moves up with the rest of us; Human₁₉ through Human₂₂ come out of the side hallway to beside Giant₁; Human₂₃ and Human₂₄ come out of the door next to Taizu; Giant₁ fumbles and drops rock; Troll₁ hits Rowan for 16, 14; Taizu (Inspire Courage now takes effect) keeps singing, charges Human₂₃ and hits for 6; Arvee charges Giant₁ and hits for 19, 20; Tarva shoots Troll₁ for 10, misses; Ahb moves 30' to get in range and casts Sword Stream on Giant₁ for 11.

4:  Rowan criticals on Troll₁ for 23, misses; Glendon's Flaming Sphere hits Troll₁ for 5; Darred casts Choke on Troll₁ for 2, plus various minuses (through round 8); Giant₁ hits Arvee for 17; Human₁₉ on Arvee misses; Human₂₀ on Arvee misses; Human₂₁ on Ahb misses; Human₂₂ on Ahb misses; Human₂₃ on Taizu misses; Human₂₄ on Taizu misses; Human₂₅ and Human₂₆ appear near Arvee; Human₂₇ and Human₂₈ appear near Taizu; Taizu keeps singing, hits Human₂₃, kills, hits Human₂₄ for 7; Arvee hits Human₁₉, kills, cleaves Human₂₀, kills, cleaves Giant₁ for 17, misses, hits for 17; Tarva shoots Troll₁ for 4, misses; Ahb misses Human₂₁, hits for 8, kills.

5:  Rowan hits Troll₁ for 12, misses; Glendon's Flaming Sphere hits Troll₁ for 4; Darred (Choke on Troll₁ for 1) casts Mage Armor on himself; Giant₁ on Arvee misses, hits for 18; Human₂₅ on Arvee misses; Human₂₆ on Arvee bloopers, -4 to hit; Human₂₂ on Ahb misses; Human₂₈ on Taizu misses; Human₂₄ on Taizu misses; Human₂₇ on Taizu hits for 3; Troll₁ on Rowan misses, misses; Giant₂ charges from behind and hits Darred for 16; Gnoll₇ through Gnoll₁₂ run up behind Giant₂; Darred yells, "OW!"; Taizu on Human₂₄ misses,misses; Arvee on Human₂₅ hits, kills, cleave on Human₂₆, kills, cleaves on Giant₁, criticals, kills, runs to Giant₂, Human₂₂ AoO hits Arvee for 8; Giant₂ AoO misses Arvee; Tarva on Troll₁ misses, hits for 4; Ahb on Human₂₂ hits for 7, kills, moves to corner of intersection.

6: Rowan on Troll₁ misses, misses; Glendon's Flaming Sphere hits Troll₁ for 9; Darred (Choke on Troll₁ for 3) designates Giant₂ for Dodge, moves away, Giant₂ AoO on Darred for 14, yells "More gnolls!", casts Web on Gnoll₇ through Gnoll₁₀; Human₂₈ on Taizu bloopes, disarms himself; Human₂₄ on Taizu hits for 5; Human₂₇ on Taizu hits for 3; Gnoll₇ moves 20'; Gnoll₈ moves 20'; Gnoll₉ through Gnoll₁₂ are completely webbed;  Taizu sees, further down the corridor, a human female - Mage₁ - and two giant lizards - Dino₁ and Dino₂; Mage₁ casts Fireball for 28, centered just behind Tarva, Darred and Glendon evade and take zero, Ahb, Arvee, and Tarva save and take 14, Rowan and Taizu aren't in range; Giant₂ on Arvee misses, misses; Taizu stops singing (Inspire Courage lasts to round 11), casts Sculpt Sound at Mage₁, Human₂₄ AoO on Taizu for 10, Human₂₇ AoO on Taizu for 6, Taizu loses concentration, spell fails; Arvee goes berserk, criticals on Giant₂ for 91, hits for 23, kills; Tarva on Mage₁ shoots for 10, 8; Ahb recognizes lizards as dinosaurs, casts Silence  at Mage₁, moves 20'.

7:  Rowan hits Troll₁ for 14, 12; Glendon's Flaming Sphere hits Troll₁ for 9, disappears, Glendon casts Magic Missile on Troll₁ for 10; Darred (Choke on Troll₁ for 1) casts Fireball on Mage₁, Dino₁, Dino₂ for 13; Gnoll₇ charges Glendon, misses; Gnoll₈ charges Tarva, misses; Troll₁ hits Rowan for 14; Mage₁ casts Lightning Bolt for 27 on Human₂₈, Taizu, Arvee, Ahb, and Darred, Darred evades and takes zero, Arvee, Ahb, and Darred take half for 13, Human₂₈ killed, then Mage₁ runs away; Wolf₁ runs up to Taizu; Human₂₄ hits Taizu for 10; Human₂₇ hits Taizu for 9; Dino₁ moves up to Taizu, attacks Wolf₁, kills; Dino₂ moves up to Taizu, attacks Human₂₄, kills; Taizu casts Invisibility on himself, then stands perfectly still; Arvee moves to get a straight shot, then charges Dino₁, hits for 20, kills, cleaves Dino₂ for 20; Tarva drops her bow, draws HR, hits on Gnoll₈ for 13, kills; Ahb moves 30' down the corridor, calls to Taizu to come for healing, reserves to heal Taizu when he arrives.

8:  Rowan on Troll₁ misses, misses; Glendon on Gnoll₇ criticals for 21, kills; Darred (Choke on Troll₁ for 1, ends) casts Magic Missile on Troll₁ for 10; Dino₂ on Arvee misses, hits for 13; Human₂₇ on Arvee misses; Troll₁ on Rowan hits for 11, 13; Mage₁ and an ugly human male - Mage₂ - appear through the double doors behind Troll₁; Mage₁ (?pissed off by arrows?) casts Flaming Sphere at Tarva, who saves; Taizu moves to Ahb, tells her and touches her so she can find (invisible) him, Dino₂ AoO on Taizu misses; Ahb Heals Taizu for 23; Arvee hits Dino₂ for 21, kills, steps 5' hits on Human₂₇, kills; Tarva charges Mage₁, Troll₁ AoO on Tarva for 16, criticals for 26, kills.

9:  Rowan goes total defensive, tumbles away; Glendon tumbles past Troll₁ to beside Tarva, uses Aid Another to give Tarva a +2 attack bonus on Mage₂; Darred uses wand of Slow on Troll₁; Troll₁ hits Glendon for 12, misses; Mage₂ uses a wand of Shatter on HR, who ignores it; Taizu, with a hurried, "Thanks, Ahb" moves to the intersection and switches to his bow; Ahb moves to the intersection; Arvee moves into position, charges Troll₁, hits for 21, it falls down; Tarva hits on Mage₂ for 9, 11, kills.

10:  Rowan waits for healing from Ahb; Glendon delives a coup de grace to Troll₁ for 25, but it is still alive; Darred takes out a flask of oil, pours if over Troll₁, sets it on fire.

764 ep.

[Once again, careful verification of this section would be appreciated.]
Glendon and Arvee begin their patent-pending interrogation of the gnolls trapped in Glendon's web.  Upon being presented with a "cooperate or die" choice, they easily choose to cooperate.  (How many in their group) twelve; (who is in command) Yeglatiz; (do they have any captives) not that we've taken (in the temple) probably; (where held) I don't know.  Deciding that they are dealing / answering in good faith, and upon their promise of continuing to do so, Glendon relinquishes the web, he and Arvee escort them into the bunk room: "Ah, look, Yeglatiz is sleeping...  no, wait!..."  (what is behind the double door)  that's the wizard's area, them and their two lizards, the lizards are given screwups to eat - it's not a good idea to screw up; (what's beyond the bridge) that's the inner temple, where the ?doom directors? are (doom directors) they rule the inner temple; (how many gnolls) twelve; (where does the long corridor lead) to the Earth Temple; (who is in charge of the giants and trolls) their boss is DaGran, he's an ogremage.

Darred has moved back to the start of the corridor, is watching both directions again.  Tarva has picked up her bow, and is now stading in the intersection with Taizu and Rowan, each watching a direction.  Ahb is at the side passage between Darred and the others.  Taizu - still invisible - hears something in the distance, tells Tarva (at the intersection) goes down to the next cross passage, sees something, turns and runs, telling Tarva and Rowan as he passes them "Get the hell out!"

1:  Taizu tells everyone, "Half ogre demon thingy with flames is flying down the hall"; those that understand giant hear, "Come on - something's wrong!", OgreDemon appears around the corner, 10', flying 160' per round, with a really big sword and the emblem of the Temple of Elemental Fire, comes to within 40' of Tarva (who is now the closest of the party to him); Tarva decides that she can't run fast enough to escape it, begins singing Inspire Greatness to Rowan, shoots and misses, steps into the side passage and switches to Heart's Reach; Glendon is recruiting the gnolls to fight on our side against their old boss; Ahb drinks a potion of Cure Moderate for 14; Darred casts Hypnotic Pattern just in front of OgreDemon, moves 30' away; Arvee drinks a potion of Cure Serious for 21, moves 30'; Gnoll₉ through Gnoll₁₂ step into corridor, at which point they all immediately freeze in fear.

2:  Taizu steps to one side (so nobody will run into him) reserves to see if OgreDemon is successfully hypnotized; OgreDemon vanishes; Tarva drinks potion of Cure Serious for 21; Rowan drinks potion of Cure Serious for 17; Glendon drinks potion of Cure Serious for 20; Ahb casts Bless, moves 30' closer; Darred drinks potion of Curse Serious for ??; Arvee drinks potion of Cure Moderate for 8, moves 30' further.

3:  Taizu moves to Tarva, uses wand to cast Invisibility on her, hisses, "Out! Now!"; OgreDemon turns visible while hitting Darred for 21, then turns invisible again; Tarva double moves 60' towards exit; Rowen is moving towards exit; Glendon reserves for a target; Ahb moves 40' towards exit; Darred starts to move, OgreDemon becomes visible again and AoO on Darred for 25, Darred falls unconscious at -3; Glendon hits OgreDeomon for 7; Arvee tries to activate his boots, fails, runs to OgreDemon.

4:  Taizu moves to Rowan, casts Invisibility, says "get them out of here; run away!"; OgreDemon casts Darkness, Arvee AoO criticals for 75; Ahb AoO for 8; Glendon AoO misses; Tarva reserves for a target to hit; Rowan moves to the edge of the darkness, reserves for something to hit; Glendon misses OgreDemon, puts on night goggles; Ahb moves to Darred, Heals for 20; Darred regains consciousness, gets up, makes a half move towards the exit; Arvee comes out of the darkness along the wall.

5:  Taizu casts See Invisible, looks around but sees nothing hidden, moves a bit; Princess Meggie takes on Troll₂, misses, hits for 7; Tarva is through the darkness; Rowan moves into the darkness; Glendon ???; Ahb moves out of the darkness; Darred makes it to the exit door; Arvee ???.

6:  Taizu moves to the darkness, into it, can't see, says in Draconian "everyone is clear, I'm last"; Princess Meggie on Troll₂ hits for 2, misses; Troll₂ moves into darkness; Tarva gets out of the darkness; Rowan gets out of the darkness; Glendon gets out of the darkness; Arvee moves out of the darkness.

7:  Taizu gets out of the darkness, sees no invisible entities between it and the exit door, moves towards the exit; Tarva through door; Rowan through door; Princess Meggie hits Troll₂; Troll₂ reaches end of darkness; Darred wants invisible people to indentify themselves, so we'll know when everyone is here, Tarva and Rowan announce their presence.

8:  Taizu through door; Troll₂ charges Arvee, Princess Meggie AoO for 8, misses Arvee; Arvee activates boots, nothing happens, hits Troll₂ for 17, miss; Tarva watches our backs; Rowan switches to bow; Glendon moves to Troll₂, hits for 4; Ahb through door; Darred uses wand to cast Slow on Troll₂.

9:  Taizu is reserving to slam the door when everyone is out; Troll₂ misses Arvee, misses Glendon; Arvee misses Troll₂, activates boots and fails spectacularly as they Slow him, hits for 19 anyway; Tarva keeps watching; Rowan turns visible as she shoots at Troll₂ misses, hits for 9; Princess Meggie hits Troll₂ for 2; Glendon on Troll₂ misses, hits for 5; Darred casts Bull Strength on Arvee, but it doesn't raise beyond his bracers.

10:  Taizu is reserving, while watching for any invisible entities that might appear (well, to him, anyway); Troll₂ hits Arvee for 30, misses; Arvee hits Troll₂ for 19; Tarva watching; Rowan shoots hits Troll₂ for 14, miss; Glendon misses, criticals for 17, Troll₂ falls down.

Arvee and Glendon douse him with oil and burn him.

114 ep.

5:00pm  We retrace our steps to the secret door into the Dwarf Haven.  Tarva worries outloud about our trail - not much of one on stone normally, perhaps, but we've several wounded people: could Taizu and Darred use a spell to eradicate our trail?  They each (one at a time) cast Prestidigation and use it to clean behind us.  Once inside, the first order of business is healing.  Lyseette Heals Arvee for 10, 6, 9, 9, 4, and 4.   Neva Heals Rowan for 9, 8, and 11.  Taizu casts Cure Moderate on Rowan for 17, on Arvee for 13.  Rowan uses her wand, nine shots of Cure Light, for 8, 4, and 4 on Tarva; 10 on Glendon; 7 on Ahb; 9 and 9 on Arvee; 4 on Darred; and 9 on herself.

Tarva also expresses concern about the distribution of the healing potions we have left, and the best way to allocate the new ones we've just gained.  Ahb appoints her to take an inventory and redistribute as she thinks best.  Which she does, resulting in everyone having either three Cure Lights and one Cure Moderate, or else two Cure Lights and one Cure Serious. 

That done, Tarva says to Ahb that, if Ahb wants, Tarva could cast Identify on up to three of the unknown magic items we have, and find out something about thiem.  If she started almost immediately, say by 6pm, she'd be through by 2am.  She would ask to be taken off the watch list for the night, and allowed to sleep "in" until 10am tomorrow, so as to regain all her slots.  Ahb is thinking about this.  If Ahb agrees, Tarva wants to use her spell on: (1) the Air Elemental summing horn; (2) the longsword secreted in the Air Temple Dais; (3) whatever else Ahb would like - Tarva thinks the most likely candidates are: (a) alabaster wand (carving of praying); (b) iron wand (etchings of spikes, thorns); (c) cloak; (d) pouch of dust; (e) other magic longsword.