The Airship

Back in the caves, we headed down a passage to a store room. It was empty, so back-tracked to a locked door. Since all was quiet behind, Light Touch opened and we glanced inside. It was a large chamber, in which was thirty to forty coffins and sarcophagi. Investigating further, many of the coffin lids had frightening images, frozen in the stone, of the suffering occupants struggling to get out - a la Han Solo in his Jabba's carbonite coffin.

There was an ominous slopping sound out in the passage. A gelatinous cube, presumably from the "empty" store room, was working its way up the passage. We beat a hasty and well-formed retreat, to avoid being trapped in the coffin room, and returned back to the steps, where the cube could not follow.

There was now only three viable routes: the first was outside to the valley filled with humanoids, the second was through the new one-way portal that had formed in the outer passage, and the third was back to the throne room with the twelve skeletons and skeleton lord.

We took on the skeletons. After a difficult battle, all twelve were downed. The skeleton lord, on the throne, turned out to be just a non-animated skeleton. But as we were about to leave, three tough skeletons arrived. These were the skeleton lord and his two lieutenants. It was a tough battle, but we vanquished them. I cured everyone up, we rested and recharged, and then ...

...went into the other one-way portal.

We arrived in a small metal room filled with hundreds of animal cages, stuffed with animals of different sizes. Right from the smallest vole to large salt-water crocs. The room had port-holes, and outside it showed we were hanging from a huge dirigible, and were flying high above the clouds. We could hear the engines droning away the whole time.