Ugly-Unt Gets In Our Minds

 Present

• Cody Dieback. Human Male Wizard from Highport – Andrew
• MARMALADING Jack "Blocker" Jones. Human Male Temple Fighter of Aquamarina from Porn City – Jamie

• 

  Lois Price

  Tom Eade. Human Male Fighter from Porn City – Jeff
• Esmeralda "Ezme" Abernathy. Human Female Temple Fighter of Soixante Neuf from Scabport – Shane
• MARMALADING Ardern. Human Female Priestess of Mr Quail from Porn City – Kevin
• MARMALADING Rock Hammer. Human Male Barbarian from Central Plains – Steven
• Willow. Half-elf Male Caribou Gorn Priest from Porn City - Chris
• Lois Price. Human Female Wizard of Porn City – Ian
• Munch Ease. Human Male Thief from Porn City – Darryl

by Ian

The Party pick themselves up and brush off the putrid gore and debris from the pet. The uphill smooth tunnel is ahead.

Tom decides to finish the hideous creature once and for all by taking his non-magical club and pulverising its head, arms and tentacles. Splatter flies around the tunnel. Party members dodge and bat away the bits. Unfortunately a small bit of the creatures head  lands on Lois's face. Her sharp eyes notice that the chunk of skull or brain, or whatever it is, notices that the chunk has strange little metal buttons and gems connected with coloured strings? The party notice this stuff is only in its head.

Now a series of conversations to decide what to do next? Ugly-unt is still wailing upstairs...

"What did you do???? Waahhhh. That was our friend!!!"

The last few power points all the spell casters had are spent on heals to get Munch up as he was unconscious. 

It was decided that Ugly-unt is obviously still listening to everyone's thoughts. Everyone is out of power so a period of resting and spell point recovery. The idea is that the sphere may stop Unt's mind-reading so they all head there.

They cram in and shut the trap door. A few try to mind-contact Unt and nothing. No connection at all! Yay, we can talk freely! Unfortunately the same protection also stopped all chance of connecting to gods to get power points back. Lois & Cody could not recharge either. The group head out again, back to the basement chamber where the pet's barred door is.

The spell casters prove that they CAN rest, pray and study here to get their points back. But decide to explore a little first.

Munch decides to taunt Unt via mind connection. The only problem is that his tormenting worked. A sharp, painful screeching blasts into Munch's feeble mind. He saves and the noise passes. No one else hears it.

"Unt mind-blasted me like the creature did!!!"

"Well, then you better not bother Unt again then..."

They decide to explore the barred pen. Tom lifts the securing bar. They carefully step forward.

Cell filth

There is a short tunnel that ends in a small room with a portcullis (open). The smell is putrid and overwhelming. Past the portcullis, there is a larger room that is full of offal and discarded waste. Bones, filth and flesh. 

Across THIS room, on the opposite side of the room, is another portcullis. The group head there and the gate is closed with the control on the other side, in yet another small 10x10 room, with an exit door on the other side of that. The experts determine that the room is well outside the cottage section now, out toward the wilderness that surrounds the property. Even Unt's wailing and mind connection seem dim here.

The party return to the basement. An expedition sets off to the kitchen. Food is on the stove. The stealthy move to the front door and spot Unt with a couple of the dogs over near the stable. Brave Munch decides to ping Unt (for whatever reason) and Tom connects too. This time Tom receives that loud screech and collapses to the floor. 

Lois transfers her last points to Willow who casts Cure Serious Wound to get Tom up again. Tom spends the rest of the time chanting. Much to everyone's annoyance.

They decide to make a run for it. However, as Unt can mind-read, he sends the dogs to the back door and all 3 hounds are waiting at the rear. Everyone returns to the cellar...

Over the next 4 days the party set up camp in the basement. There is a very secure solid metal door between the camp and the house (Unt). They have days of regaining spell points via wafer, curing, exploring and detecting magic in every possible place. This underground area is well and truly searched.

Unt is largely absent and nothing interesting happens.

Eventually, all spelled up and sick of being underground, the group head to the metal sphere to make plans without Unt eaves dropping. 

While in the sphere, they investigate their discovered items:

- Magical dagger (that can wait)

- Small hand held crossbow / dart gun thing

- The communicator

They switch on the communicator and 3 names appear; Julius, Ugly-unt and a new name: 'Thackery'.

They press Unt and the device vibrates. This is Unt's device

They press Thackery and an incomprehensible squawking blasts out. Cody casts Comprehend Language and the gruff voice is asking what Unt wants? Who is this???? They stop the transmission.

hand-held slug gun

Lois looks at the small hand-held slug gun and eventually note small, intricate controls that cause a central chamber to pivot outward. There are 8 small cannisters. They seem to have one end made of polished metal and the other is dull and filed off? Munch heads out of the chamber, and uses the dart gun in the tunnel. The power of the dart hurts his hand and makes a massive, explosive noise. There is a pleasant burning smell. The dart disappears up the tunnel and can be heard bouncing off the walls and floor. He comes back and reports the strange device. 

"Its really dangerous and difficult to control" 

[ No one in the party has a crossbow skill that would be relevant to operate this 'dart gun'. Down to 7 darts remaining. ]

They finally decide to exit via the locked portcullis to the woods. As they head off, everyone is careful to conceal their thoughts and not think of their decisions and plans. Unfortunately, most miserably fail their mind rolls. Esme in particular is carefully detailing every step of their plan in her head [ critical mind roll fail! ]. No matter, they press on.

Cody Knocks the closed portcullis and the grill breaks apart. They head to the exit door and that is ALSO blocked solid, from the outside. Cody, with another Knock and it too blasts open - never to be locked again.

They head off and a straight upward sloping tunnel brings them out in the woods, about 100m behind the cottage grounds. 

Finally outside they breath in the sweet fresh air and bath in Real's light. The party loop back to the house. They carefully approach the outer fence wall. There is no sign of the dogs nor Unt. Smoke plumes from the Kitchen chimney as normal.

Unt appears around the edge of the house and looks at us.

"I have been expecting you. Why did you kill our pet????"

Lois enters the conversation. "Well... you DID leave it there to kill us. It WAS self defence. We all acted as a team to kill that horrible thing and we are glad its gone!"

Unt's fury becomes uncontrollable and he RUNs at the fenced wall. 

- An arrow is loosed and hits Unt on the shoulder

- Cody fires an impressive Cone of Cold

Well Unt does save, but even then, the cone of cold not only does no damage, the arrow in Unt's shoulder pops out and the wound heals. Argghh, back to that again.

Tom and all don their magical weapons and ready to receive the charge. Tom does an impressive hit, but again, no damage. Literally bounces off. 

The stealthily hidden Munch, reaches out with his metal zapper and discharges a bolt on Unt. He recoils with the hit. 27points of damage! One of his arms is blackened and destroyed.

Unt turns and heads back to the cottage howling and Esme fires another arrow. It lands perfectly in the back of Unt's neck and he drops.

The Ugly-unt battle

The party cross the fence celebrating the win! Only to discover the celebrations are a little too early. Unt is getting back up to his feet. Twisting his neck and the withered arm is mending from the shoulder. The level of regeneration is beyond astonishing.

Tom switches to his non-magical club. 

Lois has an idea and pulls out the glass fronted panel with the small gem. She holds the little button at the side and points at Unt. The device starts up and there is an image in the glass that shows bones, sinew, organs. Its amazing. A purple line appears at the base of the glass panel and moves up the screen. Lois keeps it pointed at Unt, looking for some kind of way to deactivate Unt. Whoops. the purple line goes over Unt's burnt arm and it starts to repair even faster. Almost instantly!

Lois scans Cody

Tom smacks Unt with his club and he drops again. Esme and Tom decapitate Unt with their non-magical sword and club. 

Lois points the thingy at Cody, Same thing. Skeleton and tendons. Little white blips crawling all over him. He recovers 1 HP to full. The device thing seems to be getting a little dimmer.

[ We suspect this is a limited number of heal charges, just not sure how limited. ]

The party gather up all of Unt's pulpy bits. He too has the strange little metal buttons and strings in his head (what's left of it). The party throw everything into the coal range fire.

Setting up Home and the Cultists

The group chill out and make themselves at home in Lois's cottage. They get rid of the humanoid and other 'worrying' carcasses from downstairs and clear the kitchen of offal and anything else nasty. Cody insisted we keep the sweet breads for him. Willow casts 3 x Animal Friendships and the dogs are now friendly.

They FULLY search the house in detail and the only new thing is a magical cloak in Julius's wardrobe. 

Cody takes the time to cast Identify on the dagger and the cloak:

- Dagger is a simple +1

- The cloak is interesting.... It negates spells. There is a total 'charge' of 30 power points and any spell cast, the count is decreased by the *spell level*. If a 3rd level spell is cast, there is NO effect form the spell and the count decreases by 3. 1 for level 1 and so on. THAT would have been handy in the Wizards Guild on the day Julius was killed!

The partly also find a map and triangulate this village, Porn City and Greybank and discover that the locations make a perfect equilateral triangle. Cody considers that this shape and orientation is the same pattern as the glimpse on the black window panel in the Porn City sphere (before it was atomised, along with half the lower city). The corner point representing this village was the red light. Means that Greybank has a live sphere!

At a lose end with the house cleared, fully explored and not much more to do, the party decide to start working out the cult. We need some names!

Munch and Cody as the 2 stealth experts, sneak into town and monitor things. Munch at the Methuselah Temple and Cody by the village inns.

Munch notices the elderly female Methuselah Priestess, at precisely 8pm, leave the temple and head to the Flaccid Barrel.

Cody sees the Priestess arrive. She sits at a table with 7 or 8 other guests. One person, Esme Wills of the Town Guard, seems agitated and emotive. Pacing and waving her hands. 

1 hour later the gathering depart the inn and return to their homes. The Priestess lights out at exactly 10pm.

Munch and Cody return at 11pm as the village dies down to nothing happening.

The group, with Munch and Cody doing as much as they can, do not discover anything more. They do not glean any more cultist identities. 

Cottage Visitors

After  week has passed since the party passed through town, Esme Wills, in a town guard corporal uniform, and another town guard corporal, are seen approaching up the lane. Esme looks nervous. The dogs bark and the male guardsman knocks at the front door.

Lois, opens the door with a wide and friendly smile, "Visitors! Please, do come in. I am Lois."

Esme Wills visibly relaxes and she introduces herself and her colleague, Ronald "Ron" Build.

Ron enquires, "Where is Unt? He lives here doesn't he?"

"Oh yes" replies Lois, looking around. "He is here somewhere. He is a wonderful worker. Probably out back or in the stables or something? I am sure he is not far away." she charms.

Esme Wills quickly, and rather bluntly, asks if Lois is continuing Julius's great works and believes in the cause of distorting time and space. Lois, fully expecting this, agrees and praises the virtues of Julius's works and his beliefs. She describes the great work the party were doing for Julius in Porn City and how deeply involved we were in the recent web snot and investigations. Esme Wills beams with Joy!

Ron offers Tom a job in the town guard. Tom politely declines.

Lois asks if there is anything she and the party can do to help?  Esme brightens and invites Lois to the next cultist meeting in the Methuselah temple. Lois keenly accepts the invite. "Its tomorrow at 8pm - don't be late!"

The party discuss and decide that Lois and Tom will go to the meeting. They let Lois borrow the cloak. POP! oh oh, its a beautiful fit and looks great. Problem is, Lois can't take it off now. Ok, so not a problem for now but means Lois can't receive a heal. But as long as she stays away from weapons, nothing can hurt her right?

Lois and Tom arrive at 7.59.30 pm and Doreen the Priestess receives her at the door. "Bah, your timing is miles out. You are far too early". Lois observes the room is already full of the other guests. Wonder what kind of telling off they got as they were even further away from 8pm?

The cultists' meeting

The meeting went very well. Introductions made. Talks about the cult and what it stands for and the glory of the tentacled beasts that will rise to bless the world!

The party have vastly more knowledge on the mind flayers, eggs, spheres and goings on about the cultist 'gods'. Much discussion around the evil of the Throak family. Lois agrees wholeheartedly.

Lois and Tom find out that Thackery is the black man that went to Greybank with the stolen egg and the fake Throak barge. Lois thinks that a return visit to Greybank is not too far away.

Eventually Lois again offers to help and says that the party are all returning to Porn City shortly. Doreen suggests we catch up with a Lieutenant guard named 'Wilbur' who is a Thieves Guild insider for the cult that has infiltrated the Wizard Guild. They are planning to break into the Throak warehouse at night, when the guard is light, and take an egg or two. 

"Perhaps we can help?".

"Oh absolutely" oozes Lois. "I am sure we can assist Wilbur and help get an egg out"

Doreen and the cultists offer Lois and Tom a cultists neckless to wear. They thank them for the wonderful gift! The meeting ends and everyone says their goodbyes.

Back at the house a quick detect magic and the necklaces are indeed magic. 

"Like heck we are wearing those..." Lois and Tom state.

Cultist Identities discovered

• Elisabeth Riley - Flaccid Barrel
• Esme Wills - Town Guard (Corporal)
• Ronald "Ron" Build - Town Guard (Corporal)
• Doreen - Methuselah Priestess (excommunicated)
• Amanda Dross - General Store Owner
• Brit Hayley - Old lady, retired mage
• Pedro the Tool - Merc in town. Been away 6-8 weeks.
• David Puck - Assistant bar tender at the Golden Tourniquet
• Thackery - Black man at Greybank
• Wilbur - TG Lieutenant that has infiltrated the Wizard Guild 

Lois's Inheritance

 Present

• Cody Dieback. Human Male Wizard from Highport – Andrew
• Jack "Blocker" Jones. Human Male Temple Fighter of Aquamarina from Porn City – Jamie
• Tom Eade. Human Male Fighter from Porn City – Jeff

• 

  Cody Dieback

  Esmeralda "Ezme" Abernathy. Human Female Temple Fighter of Soixante Neuf from Scabport – Shane
• Ardern. Human Female Priestess of Mr Quail from Porn City – Kevin
• Rock Hammer. Human Male Barbarian from Central Plains – Steven
• Willow. Half-elf Male Caribou Gorn Priest from Porn City - Chris
• Lois Price. Human Female Wizard of Porn City – Ian
• Munch Ease. Human Male Thief from Porn City – Darryl

by Cody

We had arrived in Le Brun, a modest settlement of perhaps 350 souls, nestled at where the Broken River forked. The place boasted two establishments of note for travellers: the Golden Tourniquet, which sounded more like a medical procedure than an inn, and the Flaccid Barrel, which I shall refrain from commenting upon. There was also a Temple of Methuselah in town, for those inclined toward such timely devotions.

It was late in the day when Fat Willow suggested we ought to stake out Julius's cottage before approaching it. "How do we know someone isn't watching it?" he reasoned, which was uncharacteristically paranoid for him.

We secured three rooms at the Golden Tourniquet and made inquiries. They didn't know much, but Elizabeth Riley, who worked at the Flaccid Barrel, proved more forthcoming.

"We used to see Julius regularly," she told us over a pint of something questionable. "He kept to himself, mostly. He does have a servant, though I never met the fellow myself."

She mentioned others in town: Esme Wills, Sergeant of the town guard, and Captain Terrence who commanded them.

"We noticed there was a Methuselah temple here," I piped up, ever curious about religious establishments.

"Yes indeed," Elizabeth nodded. "Priestess Doreen Smythe runs that." 

She then gave us directions to Julius's cottage, a modest property on the outskirts of town.

Julius's Cottage

Before we could retire for the evening, Munch was sent out to scout the property. He slipped away into the gathering darkness, returning an hour later with his report.

"Surroundin' the ground'sa low stone wall," he whispered, though we were in the privacy of our inn room. "Single-storey cottage wiv a garden, stables, driveway, an' dog kennels. There's a light on. Property's surrounded by trees. No one's spyin'"

We decided to approach properly the next morning. At the gate, several dogs barked ferociously until we heard a whistle that sent them packing.

Ugly-unt

A servant greeted us at the door. He was enormous—six foot seven at least—and profoundly ugly, with a face like a wrinkled prune that had been stepped on - repeatedly. Indeed, he made even me look handsome by comparison, which is no small feat.

"Been expecting you, Bunning," he said, looking directly at Lois.

"No, I am Lois," Lois corrected indignantly.

"Yeah, Lois Price guaranteed," the servant chuckled. "An in-joke the master and I used to have about you."

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Ugly-unt," he replied, "with a silent 'c' in the middle.  Lois is here to take master's place, which is wonderful."

Inside, the cottage was modest but well-appointed. And there, above the fireplace, hung a painting of Lois - stepping out of the shower. Beside it, her mother—sister to Julius, though one would never guess from the family resemblance.

Ugly-unt served us tea with mechanical precision. "Julius told me he would be leaving this place to you," he explained to Lois. "So I was expecting you."

The cottage consisted of a main room, bedroom, study, kitchen, and cellar. We began our search in the study. 

No magical traps upon the desk. In one drawer, we discovered a bag of gems, three vials (magic), and a small knife likewise enchanted.

"Finders keepers," Munch muttered, though we agreed to divide the spoils later.

Unnatural meat

Down in the cellar, behind racks of wine, we discovered a secret door leading to some tunnels. What we found there turned the delicate stomach: carcasses hanging from hooks—sheep, pigs, cattle-beasts, but also humanoid creatures. The cuts were unusual, professional but ... wrong. And among them, at the back, gnoll carcasses and ... human bodies too.

"We should check if Ugly-unt is serving us lunch," Tom noted darkly.

True to Tom's prediction, lunch was sweetbreads in a roux sauce—a strong, gamey meat that I pushed around my plate with mounting suspicion.

When he was out of earshot, we came to the conclusion that Ugly-unt was not a man at all, but some form of construct.

"No I'm not!" came a shout from the kitchen.

Either he has good ears, or he can read thoughts.

From the meat cellar, more tunnels extended further through another secret door. 

We found big tables covered with metal pieces, dark stains on the floor, and—most alarmingly—a communication device similar to the "book" we had found in Porn City.

There was also a mini-crossbow with a tiny metal pipe for the bolts, with a pistol grip, which Ezme immediately claimed.

The tunnel led to a circular room with a three-metre hole in the floor. Above, the ceiling showed where a hole had been filled in with dirt. Down the hole was a very smooth shaft, clearly not of natural construction.

A set of double doors stood barred from this side. Beyond, we could hear something large moving about. It bashed against the barred door with considerable force.

"Best you don't open that door!" came a voice in our heads.

We followed another passage and eventually reached another metal sphere—just like the one beneath Porn City, complete with keypad and all.

Munch investigated the keypad. There was a code scratched on top: 9363303_0_

Suddenly, Lois clutched her head. "Don't come back upstairs," she heard Ugly-unt in her mind. "I'm giving him a walk."

Trying to remain calm, she thought back: "Ok."

"That's good," came the mental reply. "You can send Munch up if you want, though. He needs some food."

We heard noises upstairs—heavy footsteps, the clanking of chains.

Then, urgently in Lois's head: "Lois! Get out of the way. He's coming down. I can't control him!"

"Bugger," I muttered.

Munch, listening to the brain-boxes of the group, tried "3 3" on the push-button panel. The hatch clicked open.

All in 

We all scrambled inside the sphere and sealed the door behind us. No sooner had it closed than something massive landed upon it—two hundred kilograms of angry creature—preventing us from opening it again.

For the next hour, we occasionally tried the door. The creature remained stubbornly atop it, snuffling and scratching. So, nothing else to do, we searched the interior thoroughly.

Unlike the Porn City, sphere, the inside of this one had been stripped bare. Many drawers were missing, though the buttons and levers remained. Unlike the other sphere, nothing worked—the power seemed completely drained.

Eventually, the creature grew bored and wandered off.

"It's all right," came Ugly-unt's mental voice. "I got it. I've locked it up again."

We cautiously emerged and crept back down the tunnel. But the creature had not been locked up after all!

We met it in the tunnels—a thing of tentacles and malice. Yes, the same type of creature we had fought beneath Porn City, but this one fresh and whole. Rock and Tom, scouting out front, took one look at it and fled. They tumbled back down the steep tunnel, taking damage from the fall. [2D6 each]

It squealed

Then the creature arrived. And it SQUEALED.

The sound pierced our minds like needles. Munch, Rock, Esme, Jack, and I collapsed, clutching our heads as the psychic assault overwhelmed us. [Failed saving throws against Arcane magic]

The fight was joined.

Willow had the Wand of Major Cures, so he used the last two charges to bring Jack and Rock up.

Ardern attempted to cast a Major Cure to bring Esme up and fumbled spectacularly—everyone in the vicinity took damage from the magical backlash except herself. [Ardern rolled a 20: 2D4 damage to all within 3 metres] Luckily, she succeeded the next round.

Mighty blows

It was a desperate battle. Esme and Tom struck mighty blows in the first two rounds, nearly slaying the beast immediately. But the creature rallied, and its tentacles were deadly. Tom was dropped, then criticalled by a tentacle strike that would have killed a lesser man. [Tom spent 3 Luck to reduce damage.]

Esme was dropped next. Jack took a critical hit that sent him reeling. Rock, lacking a magical weapon, could only watch until I cast Enchant Weapon upon his blade, allowing him to harm the creature. [Enchant Weapon, making Rock's sword +2 ]

Even that was not enough—Rock soon fell unconscious.

In desperation, as the creature turned its attention to the fallen, I cast Cone of Cold. The blast of freezing air engulfed the creature, and with a final shudder, it collapsed, frozen and dead.

Silence fell over the tunnel, broken only by our ragged breathing.

Then, in all our minds, a voice—Ugly-unt's, but broken and despairing: "What have you done?"

From up the tunnel came wailing. Terrible, mournful wailing.

And we knew this was not over.

Le Brun or Bust

Present

• Cody Dieback. Human Male Wizard from Highport – Andrew
• Jack "Blocker" Jones. Human Male Temple Fighter of Aquamarina from Porn City – Jamie
• Tom Eade. Human Male Fighter from Porn City – Jeff
• Esmeralda "Ezme" Abernathy. Human Female Temple Fighter of Soixante Neuf from Scabport – Shane
• Ardern. Human Female Priestess of Mr Quail from Porn City – Kevin
• MARMALADING: Rock Hammer. Human Male Barbarian from Central Plains – Steven
• Willow. Half-elf Male Caribou Gorn Priest from Porn City - Chris
• Lois Price. Human Female Wizard of Porn City – Ian
• Munch Ease. Human Male Thief from Porn City – Darryl

by Jamie

The Wizards' Guild Throaks engaged us after our great success getting rid of the strange mind flayer creatures. (They don’t realize that we were responsible for the huge explosion that took out part of town). They gave us each a mighty wizardly gift. 

• A ring of protection +2 for Lois

• 

  Tom's mace

  Munch gets his arm back
• Cody asks for a stone of D4 power points per day 
• Jack +2 ring of defence. 
• Esme ring of infravision 
• Ardern +2 ring of protection
• Tom +2 morning-star mace 
• Willow boots of striding and jumping.

Cody was called into the Wizards' Guild for questioning. Julius was up to dodgy stuff and the guild was cleaning out traitorous wizards. We found out that Julius had a communication device. Ours is in the Soixante-Neuf temple. Lois’s mum tells us to go to the house at Le Brun. Munch went to the Wizards' Guild to get his arm fixed but it didn’t work. The following morning he went back and his arm was fixed. I wonder how long that spell will last?

Because Lois didn’t want to ride in cart, we waited many days for a boat to take us to Le Brun.

We needed to get to Brokenmouth and on to Le Brun. We got a barge ‘the sinking seagull’. We traveled among the coast to Brokenmouth with no problem and stayed in the Emancipated Siren – run by Julie Ounce. 

Got a small barge and made it to a small hamlet called Sloth by the end of the day. There we stayed in the Random Broadbean. Munch lost money at dice against some guys from Porn City. 

Fillet Homeshoe

We followed up the river to Cynic. There was a gnome, Fillet Homeshoe wanting along the bank. Fillet joins us on the boat. He smoked the whacky-backy and shared it with Munch and others. We arrived at Cynic and stayed at the Wyvern and Husk.

The following day was rainy. We followed up to Vesper. Not so many barges on the river. Towards the middle of the day we were ambushed by some gnolls. Tom dodged an arrow but Ardern was hit in the stomach for 7 points in the stomach. Various of us cast protection from normal missiles on ourselves.

Gnoll

Cody, I and Esme stood up. Lois was restraining the horses. Arrows flew in but none hit as they drop from the air near people. Two of the gnolls were hit. The gnolls all dropped. We charged into the bush and got first hits on the two gnolls. The second round the gnoll whacked Tom (critical). And Esme took a wound. Next round I stepped in but got cut down and knocked out. Esme also got cut down. Ardern healed Tom and he stopped bleeding. Cody hit a couple of gnolls with a fireball on the bank. Munch fired at a gnoll and injured it. Things looked really bad. The gnolls were about to take us out when Cody hit the area with a fireball, killing 3 gnolls and blasting Ardern and Tom. Esme was slowing bleeding out. I lay unconscious but unburned (as was Esme). The remaining gnoll was hit by a magic missile and ran off.

Lois rushed over stopping the bleeding on Esme. Once people came up we used lots of heals to get people back up. The wand of cure major wounds was run down by three charges (Ardern, Tom and Esme).

Them gnolls are mighty tough. Some how we survived the battle. Munch suggested that we should have fireballed the gnolls but we really couldn’t see them. We sailed on to Vesper. We stayed in the Gnome Cravat.

We waited 4 days to recover health and magic points. We went up stream to Amyst and there is a portage called the dead falls. Undead live in falls but we avoided them. We stayed at Bicep and Torso in Amyst.

Run gnoll, run.

The following day we followed up the river to Le Brun. We got attacked by gnolls again. Munch was just sitting there when an arow shot him. Esme was shot at but the creature actually shot into the other Gnoll. Cody fireballed the gnolls. One collapsed and the other fled. We survived this time but I think we should stick to areas with roaming dragons instead of these gnolls.

Without a further problem we arrived at Le Brun.

Trouble with numbers

Present:

• Cody Dieback. Human Male Wizard from Highport – Andrew
• Jack "Blocker" Jones. Human Male Temple Fighter of Aquamarina from Porn City – Jamie
• Tom Eade. Human Male Fighter from Porn City – Jeff
• Esmeralda "Ezme" Abernathy. Human Female Temple Fighter of Soixante Neuf from Scabport – Shane
• Ardern. Human Female Priestess of Mr Quail from Porn City – Kevin
• MARMALADING: Rock Hammer. Human Male Barbarian from Central Plains – Steven
• Willow. Half-elf Male Caribou Gorn Priest from Porn City - Chris
• Lois Price. Human Female Wizard of Porn City – Ian
• Munch Ease. Human Male Thief from Porn City – Darryl

by Jeff 

"Now go and crack that code!" was Julius's instruction to Lois and Cody.

Joining the rest of the party back at their inn, Lois passed on the instructions.

"And why should I?" questioned Ezme. "He's never done anything for me"
"We are indebted to the Guild," reminded Cody. "They've actually been quite easy on us"
"And" added Tom. "I got a nice mace"
"And you got the magic ring too" grumbled Jack.
"Yeah, but I saved you all with it" stated Tom.

Of course, the party returned to the sewers and were soon clustered around the shallow shaft containing the metal dome and its trapped hatch, surrounded by Cody's five-metre diameter Airy Water spell.

"Hang off the magic rope?" suggested Ezme. "That lightning only flashed across the dome surface"
"You'd need to be pretty dexterous" stated Jack, looking over at Munch.

Munch descended the short drop, but before he clambered up onto the top of the dome, he noticed some movement around the small annulus between the dome and the smooth wall of the shaft and bent down for a closer look. 

There was a consistent gap of about an inch between the side of the dome and the stone wall, and a green gas was swirling up from below the dome and squeezing up the outside of Cody's Airy Water barrier before dissipating somewhat to the tunnels above.

"That horrible gas stuff is coming from down below" reported Munch. "I can see it"
"Don't worry about that" instructed Cody. "Just get up to the hatch"

Munch clambered up the side of the dome, past the headless body of the creature, and located the hatch, and the much more important "keypad". He activated his magic rope directly over the "keypad" location so he could hang there and punch in the combination. 

Now Munch wasn't the brightest of chaps, but he had rehearsed long and hard with Cody on the combination numbers to enter. 1,3,4,7,2,9 (six numbers) and was all ready to press that sequence in from the top right, the bottom left, and the bottom right (the top left starting position having been ruled out after a field of lightning had erupted over the dome on that starting position). But he was still nervous and sought some confirmation.

How many numbers?

"So, the six numbers in order?" he called up to Cody.
"Sure" said Cody confidently.
"Shall I start at the top right then?" Munch queried.
"Sure" said Cody confidently.
"Six numbers, yeah?"  questioned Munch again.
"Sure" said Cody confidently.
"How come there are eight symbols marked out around the hatch then?" asked Munch.

"No, there are just six" stated Cody. "We saw them before"
"NO" yelled Munch. "There are definitely eight"
WHAT?" called Cody. "Wait, I'm coming down"

Munch had spotted that the six symbols previously deciphered via the Comprehend Languages spell, also had two extra symbols off the end of the first six, but that these two had been scratched and partially rubbed off. They were illegible!

"Bugger" grumbled Cody after taking a close look. "I can't use the spell on those"
"There are two other numbers in the combination" Cody yelled back up to everyone else.
"But we have no idea what they are!" he concluded.

"It's a sequence puzzle" noted Ardern. "What were those first numbers again?"
"1,3,4,7,2, and 9"
"Simple" replied Ardern after a moment of contemplation. "The next two numbers are 2, and 2"
"What?" queried Cody. "How do you know that?"
"1+3 is 4" responded Ardern confidently. "And 3+4 is 7, etc."
"But 4 + 7 is 11" said Jack.
"Sure, but 1 + 1 is 2" said Ardern. "And 2 + 9 is also 11, which is 2"
"Ah" grinned Cody. "And 9 + 2 is also 11. Brilliant"
"I know" said Ardern with a grin.

Munch took a bit of time to practice with the new sequence of 8 numbers and then dangled upside down from the magic rope and punched in the code.

"CLICK - ZZZZZ - WHIRRR" went the dome, and then the hatch opened to reveal a dimly glowing spherical chamber.

"What's in there?" called Lois.
"Nufin" called Munch, trying to peer down into the chamber from the end of the magic rope.
"No creatures, no seats, no nufin" Munch continued. "Maybe some lights, and a bunch of that web-snot"
"Get in there and have a look" called Cody.
"NO WAY" yelled Munch. "You get in there and have a look"

Everyone climbed down onto the top of the dome, and then Lois slowly and carefully lowered herself down into the chamber below the dome.

"So, there is quite a lot of that web-snot in here" Lois called up. "But the air is actually quite fresh and I feel fine. No increased congestion or anything. The inside is indeed a spherical chamber with metal walls. There are nine darked windows around the central perimeter, equally spaced, a series of about 36 buttons scattered around below the windows, a bunch of small blinking lights, 3 levers. And the whole chamber is vibrating"

Casting a quick Detect Magic, Lois also reported "No magic in here either"
"And no Evil" stated Jack after casting his own Detect Evil spell.
"Toss in a big bag" requested Lois. "And I'll gather up all that web-snot stuff"

While Lois was clearing up the inside of the chamber to make it safer for everyone to access, Tom was peering at the body of the creature which was still lying headless across the domed roof of the chamber. He had noticed something odd!

"Hey" called Tom. "This thing's wounds are healing up!"
"What" squawked Jack. "Are you sure?"
"Yup" replied Tom. "Look at this cut here"

Tom was right. The wounds we had inflicted a few days ago were definitely closing up, and it even looked like a new nub of a head was sprouting from the centre of the open neck.

"Holy crap" stammered Willow. "I've never seen that sort of healing before"
"Don't worry" grinned Tom. "I got this"

Tom drew his mace from his belt tag and began pounding!

Back in the chamber, Lois had scraped all the web-snot into the bag and thrown it out of the chamber, allowing everyone to climb in for their own look around. Well, everyone except for Willow that is. His wide girth proved a little challenging to fit through the circular hatch, and he had got himself stuck in the opening! His legs were dangling inside above everyone's heads, and only a muffled yelling could be heard.

After a lot of squirming and pulling from below, Willow dropped through with a PLOP, right on top of Ezme.

Willow drops in

"Get off, you fat bastard" grunted Ezme, as Willow tumbled off her to the dish-shaped floor.
"That wasn't a 3m fall" Ezme noted.

"You're right" replied Lois. "It appears there is a void below the floor here of about 0.5m down to the outer shell of the chamber, assuming it is actually spherical"

Much poking and prodding didn't reveal any way to access said void, so we turned to the other things of potential interest, buttons and levers etc.

"What if I just pull the hatch closed?" wondered Munch aloud.
"NO" yelled Cody.

But it was too late; the hatch clanged shut with a thud and we were all sealed into the small chamber.

"I'll just give it a push then" grumbled Munch with a sheepish grin.

But the hatch didn't budge!

"I'll just use the code thing again" muttered Munch worriedly.

After entering the numbers into the keypad (which was fortunately duplicated on the inside of the hatch, with all eight key code symbols marked around the perimeter of the hatch), Munch jerked back his hand [Successful roll vs. Dexterity] just before a bright flicker of lightning flashed across the hatch.

"Ohhh shite" Munch swore.
"Backwards" commanded Ardern confidently.

Munch punched the code in reverse; 2, 2, 9, 2, 7, 4, 3, 1 and the hatch folded open again.

"Phew" exhaled Munch feeling very relieved and then went and closed it again!

But it was fine. Having solved the exit combination, the hatch could be opened and closed easily, and everyone began looking closely at the windows, lights, buttons, and levers.

"Two up, one down" muttered Munch quietly as he reached to push the down lever to the up position.
"NO" yelled Cody.

But it was too late; the lever slid up with a "click", and one of the windows opened.

Well, it didn't really open. It just flickered on like a dim light was glowing on the far side, shining through a dark grey plate of glass. There were three brighter sections though, like tiny lights of different colours flashing on and off. One was red, one was a bright green, and one was a dull green.

"Oh, pretty" exclaimed Munch, then pulled the lever down.

The window went dark again, and everyone turned to Munch and frowned.

But Munch didn't care, he was having fun. He grabbed the centre lever and pulled it down.

Nothing happened, so he pushed it back up and moved to the final lever. 

"Click" and all the lights went out.
Pitch black and silent.
Just the grunting of Willow as he jostled another of the party.

"Um, the vibrations have stopped too" noted Lois from the darkness.
"Off switch" decided Munch as he pushed the lever back up.

The lights came on and the vibration started up again.

A little experimentation with the levers confirmed they were independent toggle switches. One for the power to whatever this chamber was, one with no apparent function, and one to activate the window.

"That ain't no window" declared Ardern. "Let's try shining a light through it"

Opening up the hatch, we lowered one of Cody's Continual Light croquet balls down the side of the exterior dome till it should have been directly outside the functioning window. No light shone in, nothing when the window was "open", and nothing when it was "closed".

But we did find that the second lever did have a function after all. With the hatch open, toggling the second lever activated some form of Real's magic Light. Shafts of brilliant white light burst upwards from around the perimeter of the dome, lighting the whole shaft like it was midday.

"Oh" exclaimed Munch. "A Real lantern thing"

Some further investigation with the "window" and the levers revealed that the green gas wasn't being generated by the chamber (It still flowed up past the dome perimeter even with the chamber power off), the bright green flashing light on the window acted like a toggle button that opened and closed the roof hatch, the red flashing light was another power switch that turned the chamber off, and the dim green flashing light didn't appear to do anything.

"I think that the vibration is stronger now" noted Ardern.
"OK, maybe that dim green light does do something then" noted Cody.
"What about this button?" asked Munch, reaching for one of the buttons below the operating window. "NO" yelled Cody.

But it was too late; the button depressed with a "click", but nothing happened.

"I think it's time to report back to Julius" suggested Lois, worried about what all the buttons might actually do if randomly pressed by an eager Munch, or anyone else.
"But we don't know much yet" retorted Cody.
"Yeah", grumbled Ezme. "You know he'll just send us back to explore everything, and not pay us" 
"Like this button" exclaimed Munch, reaching for another random button below the window.
"NO" yelled Cody.

But it was too late; the button depressed with a "click", and a small drawer slid open from the wall.

"Oh" exclaimed Munch. "Look, a book. And a ... giant pen?"
"How did that draw even fit inside that skinny wall?" asked Ardern.

Munch picked out the book and flipped it over a few times; heavy, made of metal, no pages! 

"This is a weird book" he stated. "It's a button book, with four silly buttons around its edge"
"Let me see" requested Ezme, holding out her hand.

Munch tossed the silly book over to Ezme and reached for the giant pen. Pulling it out of the drawer, he flipped it over a few times too; heavy, made of metal, with two small nipples on one end, and a side button, just where your thumb would want to press.

"This is a weird pen" he stated. "It's got no nib. But I like it"

The giant pen was a heavy metal rod, about an inch in diameter, and a foot long. The two nipples were on one end, raising up 2-3mm from the slightly domed surface, and the button in the side was about 2/3 the length from the nipple end. Along from the button, the surface of the pen was knurled to give the end away from the nipples a nice gripping surface. Munch waved it around a bit, pressing the button randomly, but nothing happened.

While Munch was playing with the pen, Ezme was fondling the book. She peered at all the sides and edges, stroked the sides, and then considered the buttons. Three sat along the left edge, while one was on the right. Ezme pushed on the right-hand button, which depressed slightly and then sprang back when it was released. Everyone watched worriedly, but nothing else happened. 

"Two at a time" commanded Arden confidently.
"Hey" called Ezme. "It lights up, and it has pictures!"

A little later, after some button pushing, the book began to talk! Ezme shrieked and shut it down, but after Cody cast a Comprehend Languages spell, she got it talking again.

"Why did you hang up on me?" a voice asked from the book.

Ezme shut it down again but continued to push some of the other pictures that appeared on the front of the book. Eventually, a list of writing appeared, names and numbers.

"Some form of code" suggested Ezme.
"No" stated Jack. "It's an evil book and has captured someone's soul"

But a Detect Evil spell didn't indicate evil at all.

Munch, bored with the activity surrounding the book, went back to pushing random buttons around the wall of the chamber, with all sorts of results. One opened and closed the chamber hatch, like the lever, and one started all the windows and lights flashing with a horrid cacophony of piercing wailing. Munch used the Power lever to shut everything down. That fixed than one!

"Hey" called Tom. "I just saw some form of map flash up on the window thing"
"Well, our air is running low" stated Cody. "We can't linger here anymore!"
"OK" said Munch. "But just going to try one thing with this giant pen"

My arm!

Munch pressed the nipples of the pen up against his bicep and reached for the button.

"NO" yelled Cody.

But it was too late; the button depressed with a "click" and with a loud "CRACK" Munch was thrown across the chamber, smashing into the chamber wall and slumping to the floor. 

His arm, where the nipples of the pen had rested, was gone, shrivelled away to just a blackened husk of dried skin.

That was enough! A quick Cure Major Wounds from the wand got Munch back to his feet, and then everyone shoved Willow up through the hatch and followed him back up through the tunnels to the surface where they retreated back to the Inn. Lois and Cody went off to the Guild to report to Julius.

Munch bemoaned the state of his arm but was quite excited about the potential of his new toy and waved it around threateningly. He even tested its repeatability on a chunk of raw steak from the kitchens, which was reduced to a shrivelled and smoking pile of charred dust.

Munch quietly chuckled evilly to himself.

Lois and Cody also had an "interesting" experience with Julius. He was very agitated and anxious when they reported to him and told them that he needed the communication device handed over to him immediately. And that was before they even told him anything! How was this possible? The party had only just returned from the sewers, hadn't spoken to anyone, but Julius already knew they had some form of communication device. He obviously meant the book that Munch had found in the hidden drawer, and which Ezme had experimented with and carried back from the chamber.

"GET IT NOW" yelled Julius at Cody and Munch.

"That was weird" noted Lois. "I think I'll just check in with my contacts"

Lois slipped off deeper into the Guild while Cody returned to the Inn.

"He knows you have that thing" Cody told Ezme. "You better hide it somewhere safe. And don't tell us where you hid it."

Much discussion and argument ensued.
Hand the non-magical magic book over to Julius.
Return to the chamber and search for more treasures.
Leave town, never to return.

Lois eventually turned up at the Inn and reported that Julius had long been suspected by the Guild of having an unhealthy interest in the egg creatures and the spherical chambers, for more than twenty years!

"So, he already knows about all this stuff" muttered Cody. "I knew he was a prick!"

That information soured our relationship with Julius and the selfish choice won out; back to the chamber we went. Although Ezme did disappear for a while before we left and reported that the "book" was now in a safe place.

Back in the tunnels and before heading into the gaseous area, Cody cast his Airy Water spell [two attempts required to succeed, dropping his available magic points to zero] and Lois cast the Transfer spell to give Cody some of her own magic points, just in case.

The headless creature was showing further signs of regeneration, so Tom hauled it up off the vibrating dome and onto the ledge above before pounding it further with his magic mace. Then it was all-hands-on-deck so to speak for a systematic exploration of all the buttons. Cody marked them all with a number, and we already knew what some of them did: the (now empty) drawer, the hatch control, a few with indeterminate function, and the one that flashed all the lights and set off the siren.

Starting with the next button, number 6, we began our investigations. This one popped open another small drawer, containing what looked like medical supplies, which Willow scooped up into his container.

Number 7 didn't seem to do anything.

Number 8 set off the flashing lights and all the noises, so Munch yanked the power lever. But when he turned it back on, the lights kept flashing and the noises kept noising. 

"Oh bugger" Cody muttered.
"The vibrations are increasing too" yelled Munch.
"It's all good" suggested Ezme. "It'll be fine in here"
"No chance" yelled Tom. "We got to go, NOW"

Tom forcibly ejected Willow out through the hatch and then chased the others out too. Once everyone was up on the landing we all began jogging away from the shuddering and screaming dome, Tom at the rear keeping us all moving quickly. Up through the smooth tunnel we hurried, out into the first large chamber, and on through the sewers towards the exit. The stone walls were vibrating, and a strange pressure built up in everyone's head.

Suddenly there was a massive "CRUMP" from deep in earth, the ground shook violently, bits of stone and rock spalling off the walls and roof. Then a powerful blast of air thundered along the tunnel from behind, throwing everyone off their feet and tumbling us forward. The massive concussion must have dislodged the ground in a significant way, because a fall of rock and stone crashed down all around us.

[Individual saves vs. CON as the tunnel collapsed around us, a failure delivering thirteen points of damage, while a success limited the damage to only six points] 

Ardern, Lois, and Jack all failed and were crushed into unconsciousness, with Lois spurting blood from a critical wound. The wand of Cure Major wounds was used to stop Lois's bleeding, and stabilize her, although she was still unconscious. While Cures were cast on Jack, Ardern, and Lois, Tom managed to push through the rubble to a clearer section of the sewer, and once the previously unconscious were able to move under their own power, we made our way out of the sewers into the city above.

The Porn City sink-hole disaster

All was not well there either. The explosion (some form of self-destruct mechanism we figured) had created a large sinkhole in the centre of the city. There were a significant number of buildings that had collapsed, a huge dust cloud billowing up from the area, with hundreds dead and missing. The militia were out in force, and some people were fleeing the area while others rushed in to help.

We slunk off to the Inn to regroup, with Tom and Ezme heading back out to assist where they could. Cody hastened to the Guild to recharge his magic, and Lois received a message to report immediately to her contact.

It turns out that Julius had been killed, inside the Wizards' Guild, hung, in his own room, then drawn and quartered! And he had known where the "book" was; the Guild had heard it was in the Soixante-Neuf Temple. Which does make us wonder if the Guild had any part in Julius's death. But hey, what happens in the Guild, stays in the Guild! Even the funeral. The reading of his will would be happening in a few days, and Lois was invited.

We all rested up, helping with the city's disaster response as we could, while waiting for the reading. Lois figured she would get a message at that point about what the Guild wanted us to do now. Sure enough, at the reading Lois was surprised to receive the deed to Julius's holiday villa in Le Brun, a week-long journey from Porn City near the upstream forks of the Broken River.

Looks like we are off to Le Brun.

The Guild wanted us to head over there, search the place, and locate any evidence that linked Julius to the metal chambers. Various rumours held that there had been three of these spherical metal chambers located in the general Wild Coast region! 

And even better, we are to be paid 3000 gold and a magic item, each! 

Getting to the bottom!

New party motto courtesy of Ezme

Present:

• Cody Dieback. Human Male Wizard from Highport – Andrew
• Jack "Blocker" Jones. Human Male Temple Fighter of Aquamarina from Porn City – Jamie
• Tom Eade. Human Male Fighter from Porn City – Jeff
• Esmeralda "Ezme" Abernathy. Human Female Temple Fighter of Soixante Neuf from Scabport – Shane
• MARMALADING: Ardern. Human Female Priestess of Mr Quail from Porn City – Kevin
• MARMALADING: Rock Hammer. Human Male Barbarian from Central Plains – Steven
• Willow. Half-elf Male Caribou Gorn Priest from Porn City - Chris
• Lois Price. Human Female Wizard of Porn City – Ian
• Munch Ease. Human Male Thief from Porn City – Darryl

by Jeff

We all huddled together around Cody’s light in the sewer tunnel and discussed our current predicament. The creature was back in the chamber, presumably to recover the remaining eggs from the Throak warehouse located directly above. It could potentially break through at any time using its vibration powers, but our own power was significantly diminished. 

And it was tough, bloody tough. 

Its piercing scream had toppled Lois instantly, and its first blow had immediately smashed Tom to the ground.

We were in need of rest and healing! But where?

“It’s much more efficient to rest up comfortably in the guild,” stated Cody.

“But what if that thing gets the eggs, and we aren’t even here? "countered Willow.

“So what if it gets the eggs?” pondered Ezme, “Maybe we should just help it get them, and then it’ll leave everyone alone”

“Yeah right; and what about our web-snot infections?” countered Lois, “That’s potentially going to kill me. Not to mention Jack, Tom, and all those other town folk”

“Anyway, it’s gone now” interjected Munch, who had been keeping an eye on the creature back in the chamber.  “The vibrations of the chamber ceiling just died out, the creature stared angrily at the ceiling in there for a few minutes, then retreated back down the spiral shaft”

"See Willow," crowed Cody, "back to the guild will be fine!"

So, we followed Willow to the nearest manhole exit to the city, cracked the manhole lid slightly to check where we were and to make sure no one was around, and exited the sewers. First stop was to view the Throak warehouse to see if there were any obvious signs as to why the creature had stopped his vibration attack, but it looked just the same as last time we were there.

Then we split up for our well-deserved rest. The wizards made their way to the Wizards' Guild; the priests made their way to their respective Temples (Jack decided not to try and sneak in through the cordon to the Aquamarina Temple and joined the rest of the non-magic folk); and the non-magic folk made their way to a nearby Inn.

"Let's just test something on the way" declared Ezme.

Ezme figured that if fire and lightning were helping the creature, then perhaps ice would not. A small experiment with a bucket of ice and a sample of the web-snot appeared to show that cold "burnt" away the snot, success! At least, success until about 15 minutes after the ice melted and dried out, at which point the web-snot slowly grew back to its former extent.

"But not larger!" noted Ezme hopefully, "This is brilliant. Let's try acid too"

But no one could locate any acid, so this additional experiment was put on hold.

Rest and recovery was performed, with spell points and hit points somewhat restored.

In the wizard's guild, Julius turned up at Lois's door.

"Why didn't you report straight to me yesterday?" he demanded grumpily, "And what have you discovered?"

Lois gave a report of the party's efforts and discoveries, to which Julius only had more questions.

"What is the cause of this strange vibration effect?"
"Where is the creature now?"
"Why did it stop trying to recover the eggs?"

"Don't worry, we are onto it immediately" Lois stated, "But could you perhaps check with the Throaks if anything happened in the egg storage warehouse yesterday"

Julius confirmed he would try and find out, and Lois and Cody returned to meet up with the rest of the party and prepare for their next sojourn down to the depths of the sewers below Porn City.

"First, let's test out the acid theory," suggested Ezme.
"And I'll try Healing" added Cody.

Acid didn't work; in fact, it accelerated the web-snot growth by 100%.
Healing did work, albeit temporarily, and was deemed a potential measure against the creature.

"What's the opposite of acid?" wondered Ezme, "Do you think urine would work?"
Despite being pretty keen to watch Ezme produce some urine for a test, Jack confirmed that urine was acidic, and as such would probably not be a good idea.

"Baking soda you losers," muttered Munch, "That'll mix up to a weak alkaline"

Willow leads the way

Then it was back through the manhole into the sewers. Willow led the party back towards the chamber where we had found the creature yesterday, and once we were close, Cody and Munch crept down the final length of tunnel to see if there was anything there. There wasn't.

"Now what?" wondered Jack.
"Down that spiral tunnel, or back to the metallic smelling pit," noted Cody.
"The spiral tunnel," suggested Lois.
"I'm not going down there!" stated Tom.
"Back to the metallic smelling pit" countered Munch.
"I'm definitely not going down there!" stated Tom.

[Tom's character fault is "Stubborn", once he has made a decision, he sticks to it. After Tom had climbed down into the metallic smelling pit and immediately fallen unconscious, he had decided that the metallic smell was unable to be fought and so he wouldn't be going anywhere near it] 

"Well maybe it isn't too smelly down the spiral tunnel" suggested Willow, "I'll go first"

Turning himself into a fat rat, Willow slid off down the spiral tunnel, and the rest of the party followed after ten or so minutes.

Tom stays and stands guard

"I'll keep guard here" stated Tom, settling himself down near the top of the spiral shaft.

After about 30 minutes, Munch popped back up from the tunnel.

"Willow found increasing numbers of dead rats down there, and although the metallic smell got stronger and stronger, Cody's magic totally eliminates the smell and any of its effects. You'll be fine and won't even notice any metallic smells"

"No" said Tom.

"Oh, come on" pleaded Munch, "We really need you. You are our best fighter; you have the best chance of overcoming the creature's horrible scream; and have the magic club!" argued Munch.

Eventually, after a lot of cajoling and promises, Tom reluctantly agreed to follow.

Cody had successfully cast an Airy Water spell, creating a large bubble of fresh air that the whole party could crowd into. Proceeding slowly and cautiously, they continued forward along the smooth tunnel, which had flattened out and was heading towards the location of the metallic-smelling shaft. 

"I think we are deeper though," noted Willow, who never forgets anything.

Passing a scattering of dead rats on the floor of the tunnel, they approached a vertical shaft that cut down in front of them. It looked like the horizontal tunnel they were walking in T-ed off the side of the vertical shaft, both about 3m in diameter, with the vertical shaft extending up and down ahead.

The strange "singing" effects previously observed near the metallic smelling pit could be heard clearly here, and Tom, Jack, and Lois all noticed that the web-snot infection could be felt thickening up through their respiratory systems.

Peering into the vertical shaft, Cody noticed a bulbous mass blocking off the shaft about 5m above, and an odd domed surface blocking off the shaft about 5m below. It appeared to be metallic, quite smooth, and was vibrating at a high frequency! And there was another odd blur of motion from the centre of the raised dome below.

"Watch ou..." Cody yelled, jerking backwards.

The fight begins ...

A horrendous squealing screech rang out from down the shaft, just before the creature leapt up out of the shaft and landed on the tunnel floor in front of us, tentacles flailing wildly towards Tom and Jack. Munch crumpled to the floor, overcome by the squealing noise that penetrated right into his brain. [Failed his saving throw against Arcane magics, and fortunately the only one who did]

The tunnel was relatively confined, so only Tom and Jack with their one-handed weapons could engage. Ezme had drawn her double handed sword but wasn't able to get in a swing without potentially striking the others by accident. Cody also let loose a Magic Missile, confident that it would damage the creature. "It did the last time we fought it," he reasoned.

Tom and Jack made successful hits, as the creature's tentacles swung harmlessly over their heads. But as Cody's magic missile struck the creature, the magic was somehow absorbed, and the fresh cut from Jack's strike immediately closed back up. 

"Bugger" muttered Cody, as he backed up from the combat zone, as Tom and Jack went in for another round, both striking again, and Willow wielded the magic wand of Cure Major Wounds on Munch.

 Tom managed to hit again on his backswing [Tom has the Heavy Hitter talent and is able to make an additional damage roll if expending 2 points of Luck] but the creature's arm (its secondary but heavier attack) struck Tom across the side of the head and sent him reeling backwards [The creature dealt 3D6 + 6 damage with this secondary attack, and Tom wisely expended another 3 Luck to reduce the inflicted damage by D6. Tom was still conscious but was on very low hit points. Another strike like that would likely take him right out!]

Jack gulped, stepped up, and prepared to take the creature. Ezme boldly leapt past Tom to join the fracas, and it was all on again. Jack's sword cut through the tentacles, slicing sections off, and hit the creature in the chest. Ezme's sword swung nimbly over Jack's shoulder, also clipping off a few tentacles, and smacked the creature soundly in the head. The creature's eyes glazed over, and it began to topple backward. Unfortunately, its arm strike slipped past Jack's sword and thudded into his face. Staggering back, Jack groaned, slumped down onto the floor, and watched the creature tumble back into the shaft.

"One hit" boasted Ezme.
"Heelllpppp" slurred Jack, saliva frothing out from his mouth and his limbs writhing uncontrollably.
"Oh shit" called Willow, "Looks like poison. Stand back"

[It was indeed some sort of poison. After the strike, Jack failed his saving throw against Poison and was suffering a D6 of damage each round]

As Jack slumped into an unconscious state, Willow immediately cast a Slow Poison spell to halt the ongoing damage effects, then attempted to cast Neutralize Poison. That was unsuccessful (i.e. he failed to get the spell off, not that the spell wasn't effective against the poison). Ezme uncorked her flask of alkaline baking soda slop and dribbled it over Jack's wound. It fizzed and bubbled but Jack himself did not respond. Willow then managed to successfully cast his second attempt at Neutralize Poison, phew.

Cody and Munch (conscious again but with only half his original hit points) peered over the edge of the shaft to see the creature sprawled across the top of the dome below. Both the dome and the body were vibrating up and down. Munch turned towards Cody.

"Is it dead?" Munch asked.
"Looks like it" noted Cody.
"Could the magic dome thing down there regenerate it?" Munch asked.
"Looks like it" noted Cody.
"Shall we go down there and make sure?" Munch asked.
"Definitely" noted Cody.
"Will your breathing spell thing still cover everyone?" Munch asked.
"Definitely not" noted Cody.
"Bugger" muttered Munch.

The party hastily retreated back down the tunnel to where the air was clear, leaving Munch, Willow, Lois, and Ezme there, while Cody and his Airy Water spell hastened back to the shaft with Tom and Jack. They jumped together down the shaft onto the top of the dome, hacked off the creature's head, and looked down at the surface of the dome.

"Zumding wong" mumbled Tom, his throat closing up with active web-snot.
"Eeling ick" mumbled Jack, his breathing laboured.

Cody realised that both Tom and Jack were suffering from enhanced respiratory ill-effects from their web-snot infections, somehow accelerated in the presence of the strong vibrations generated by the strange metal dome beneath their feet.

"Climb" commanded Cody, sending Tom back up first, himself following, and Jack at the rear. They all hurried back down the tunnel to meet up with the others, where Willow treated them to a large dose of the baking soda slop. That seemed to help immensely, with both Tom's and Jack's breathing returning almost to normal.

"Can I look at that dome now?" asked Munch.

Cody, Ezme, and Munch returned back to the dome to investigate further, leaving the web-snot infected with Willow.

Back at the vibrating dome, Cody, Ezme, and Munch went through the usual investigation tricks.

"I'm picking up good vibrations," hummed Munch.
"I'm hearing the rock walls sing," commented Ezme.
"The metal surface of the dome is cold, and hollow," noted Cody, "And its riveted together".
"Stand back a sec" commanded Ezme, lifting her two-handed sword.

Ezme's Accidental Lightning

"WAIT" yelled Cody, but it was too late.
"THUD" went Ezme's magic sword against the metal surface of the dome.
"BOOM" echoed the huge electrical discharge from the dome's surface.

[3D6 lightning damage, save against Arcane magic for half. Cody saved and took 3 points of damage, but Munch and Ezme both failed and took the full 7]

"Oops" stammered Ezme, immediately casting a Cure on herself. And then on Munch.
Cody cast a Detect Magic spell, but nothing obvious was revealed.

Munch spotted a small circular disk shape on the top of the dome and peered closer.

"Look," he called, "This has writing stuff on it."

Ezme tried to push, pull, and twist the small disk, while Munch tried to copy down the symbols. Nothing happened for Ezme, and Munch made a mess of the symbols.

"Dolt" laughed Cody, "Those are runes, but not in any language I recognize"

Cody then cast the Comprehend Languages spell and read off a series of numbers.

"1, 3, 4, 7, 2, 9" Cody recited. Nothing happened.

Munch then noticed [Having made a Spot Hidden roll] that there were nine faint raised "buttons" on the disk, arranged in a three-by-three grid.

"There" suggested Cody, "It's a lock. Starting with 1 at the top left, push down on those buttons in the sequence 1, 3, 4, 7, 2, 9"
"Why top left?" asked Munch.
"It's always top left with magic" replied Cody smugly.
"You do it then" said Munch, backing off.
"Pussy" huffed Cody, bending down to push the buttons.

"BOOM" crackled the massive lightning discharge, throwing everyone back and down the sides of the dome shaped seal.

"Oops" squeaked Cody from one side of the dome, "Maybe not magic then"
"You presumptuous git," muttered Munch, picking himself up from the other side of the dome.

Nothing from Ezme though, she was unconscious, having failed her saving throw and taking the full 13 points of electrical damage.

"How are we going to lift her?" wondered Munch aloud, "She'll be 70kg if she's a pound"
"Can't leave her to get help either" mused Cody, "She would die from that bad metallic air"
"What about that magic floaty thing?" asked Munch, "Make it under her and lift her up"
"Yes, but 'up' being the issue with that plan" grumbled Cody, "Good thing I have a Healing potion"

The Healing potion was trickled into Ezme's open mouth and proved sufficient to raise her to consciousness. Then they all climbed up Munch's magic rope and beat a hasty retreat back to the rest of the party.

"Don't tell them" whispered Cody.
"Nope"

Gathering up the rest of the party as they passed, they all retreated to the surface, the creature's decapitated head wrapped in Ezme's cloak, where Lois and Cody went off to the Wizards' Guild to report their amazing discoveries to Julius.

"Verry interesting" replied Julius, after getting a full briefing from Lois.

"And I found out that the Throaks moved the eggs out of the warehouse after they noticed the floor vibrating" Julius continued.

"Why didn't you tell us that earlier" grumbled Cody, "You dick"

"PZZZFF", and Cody made his saving roll against Arcane magics and Julius's spell spluttered out.

"Know your place boy" Julius glowered, "You're just ugly, incompetent, and offensive"

"Cunt" muttered Cody under his breath.

"PZZZFF", again Cody made his saving roll against Arcane magics and Julius's spell spluttered out.

"And lucky" Julius concluded, "Now go and crack that code!"