Varus' Journal: Entry #8, The Summoning of Tiamat

Episode 8, The Summoning of Tiamat (or, Game Over, Man, Game Over!)

As we prepared to descend the stairs and get to the ceremony on time, Varus ran into Unagi in the hallway!

“Uh, Unagi? What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were guarding the carriage with Valentia?”

“She has that under control. I decided to lend a hand and made my way to the clearing. I snuck by the golem and into the temple. Then I just followed the path of destruction and there you were. Had to dodge a few traps, but most of them were deactivated,” he grinned. “No problem.” Varus took him to surprise the others.

The rogue and the bard put on cultists robes and disguises and we headed down the stairs. At the bottom of the stairs were double doors. Tyala checked them and found a dart trap. She retreated around the corner. Tomeck opened the door with mage hand, and ten darts shot out down the hallway. On inspection, they were poisoned.

Down this hallway we found a large ornate tapestry covering the wall. On it, a dragon was being born from a man’s body, bursting out of his chest. The man wore the green dragon mask; his chest was split open, and black ichor oozed out. Varus inspected the tapestry and found that it was very high quality; it would fetch a nice price at any market. While inspecting the tapestry, he found a secret door behind it. Basel went to bash the door, but Tyala grabbed his axe before he could swing, pointing out a trigger for a trap.

“That would have exploded if you struck the door, Basel.”

We decided to check out the other, untrapped door, and found a narrow corridor that led to a small room. Here we found two chests and a pile of treasure! Tyala tried the first chest, but the lock was complicated. The second chest had a trap that she easily disabled. It contained 94 gp, 152 sp, and 91 cp. In the pile, Basel found seven 50 gp gems, a potion of greater healing, 327 sp, and 7 pp. Tyala finally figured out the lock on the first chest, which seemed empty, but on further inspection she found a fake bottom that contained a cloak with blue metallic sparkles. We inspected it, and Flidais discovered a tag. It was a cloak of protection that provided +1 to AC and +1 to saving throws. Tomeck put it on; he thought the sparkles were fabulous.

We came to a stone slab door in the shape of a dragon’s mouth with a lever on the side. Basel decided to pull the lever, and the door opened to an octagonal room. There were doors on each of the eight walls, and there was a different color light above each one. In the middle of the room was a dais that contained a glowing globe that looked like it contained lightning. When someone touched it, one of the doors opened. This room had a red lightning globe.

Unagi touched the red globe, and the lights above that door changed. The door directly across from that one opened. The monk released the red globe, and Tomeck was blasted with force damage as the door closed. The sorcerer went through the newly-opened door and found a green globe. When he touched it, another door opened. The pattern continued as Flidais found a white globe and Tyala found a blue one. When she touched the blue one, a different type of door, an aperture, opened onto a northern corridor. Varus took over at her station and Tyala activated her ring of invisibility and went through the aperture to scout ahead. This corridor was surprisingly clean, as if it had been thoroughly scrubbed recently. Perhaps the cultists were meticulous housekeepers.

Unagi spoke up. “My arms getting tired and I need to pee. Are we finished yet?”

Tyala came to a 4-way intersection. The through-passage led to door, beside it was a panel with six lights. Five of the lights were lit. The left passage ended at a wooden doorway. The right passage led around a corner to an alcove. There was another dais, and this one had a peach-colored globe. Tyala inspected the dais and found no traps, then touched the peach globe. There were two distinct clicks, and two trap doors swung open from the ceiling. As she watched in silent horror, two nearly-transparent gelatinous masses slid down out of the openings and filled the corridors. If she hadn’t seen it, she wouldn’t have believed it, and she could still barely see them! One appeared on the other side of the dais, the other in the hallway before the now-open door with six lights. She froze and did not make a sound.

Varus sensed that Tyala needed assistance and sprinted for the aperture.

“Something’s wrong. Flidais, to me!” We both dashed to the aperture and dove through as it closed. When we got through, we looked up to see a bizarre sight. A skeleton jiggled towards us, its bony feet floating above the floor. We weren’t sure what we were seeing. Then Tyala became visible as she struck, and her flaming sword illuminated the gelatinous cube. The ranger and bard could now see it with a sense of mounting horror. An almost cubical mass of gelatinous goo filled the corridor. Inside it, we could see the skeleton and other bones, small, partially-dissolved animals, and other detritus. Varus tossed an alchemist’s fire into the cube and Flidais blasted it with an arrow. It quivered from the attacks, and then reformed.

On the other side of the aperture, Basel prayed for us. Unagi had been inspecting the strange lighting sources in this area and noticed they could be detonated as explosive devices. He grabbed a couple of them and attached them to the aperture.

“Screw trying to solve this puzzle! We’re going through. Light ‘em up, Tomeck.”

On the other side of the aperture, Varus tossed another alchemist’s fire into the evil gelatin and Flidais hit it with another arrow, but now we had to back up to the closed aperture and could not retreat any further. The gelatinous cube rushed forward and engulfed both of us. We could not breath, and the goo burned our flesh.

At that moment, Tomeck held the explosives in place with mage hand and ignited them without warning anyone. The explosives detonated with a thunderous blast. Flames washed over Basel, burning him badly. When the smoke cleared, there was a large hole in the door. On the other side, the explosion blasted the ranger and bard further into the gelatinous cube. Fortunately for them, the cube could not absorb the shock wave, and disintegrated into a puddle of goo. The second cube appeared; Tyala grabbed an arrow from the random quiver and fired. In flight, it enlarged to the size of a ballista bolt and blasted right through the cube! Varus shook off the effects of being burned and suffocated, and critically blasted it with an arrow, and Tomeck finished it off with missiles of magic. Basel healed and laid hands on Flidais, who was in bad shape. We inspected the puddles of goo and found a longsword that was obviously magical; the cubes seemed to be able to dissolve most metals, at least over time. Tomeck claimed that. Unagi grabbed some more explosives; those things could come in handy!

In this hallway, Basel checked out the nearer wooden door, which was unlocked. There was a lever, and when he pulled it, three of the lights over the next door lit up. Basel went to the other door and found another lever. He pulled it, and the other 3 lights came on. The door unlocked. He also laid hands on Varus to heal him up from the effects of the cube.

Ahead, we heard the chanting of the ceremony. We decided to gird our loins, so to speak, before this challenge. We hit the flask of many flavors. Basel drank the lemonade and received advantage on his next five attacks. Flidais drank lemon lime for max damage on her next attack. Tomeck drank the last dose, cola, and his senses were sharpened, +10 to initiative for one round.

“Don’t be a bigot, drink from spigot,” we heard a faint voice in the distance.

Basel cast Thunderous Smite on his axe and Shield of Faith on Tyala, Varus inspired several people and cast invisibility on Basel.

We entered the room to find a frightening sight. Five large stone columns surrounded a central raised stone platform. There was a magical gate in the middle of the platform; smoke and flames belched from it, a gate that connected to the Abyss. We could feel that Tiamat was near. There are many kobolds, some living, most apparently sacrificed. Dragons scales of all colors litter the floor, as well as the robes of many cultists.

The man in the green dragon mask strode out of a group of kobolds and glared at us.

“Tremble before her, you fools! Soon she shall be free to set loose what had been!” he cackled, “Kill the interlopers! They are here to spill their blood for us for the summoning!”

“I came for the cake!” said Basel.

Some of the kobolds charged and the rest unloaded with their slings. Two of them bounced off Basel’s shield. Flidais blasted the high priest with an arrow that did maximum damage and a hail of thorns. Tomeck webbed the high priest and two kobolds, then blasted him with a magic missile.

“Wait, stop, don’t kill him! Stand down.” Unagi shouted. “Killing him will complete the ceremony! That was the meaning of the last mural!”

“So why are we…whoa…”

The effects of the summoning washed over us. Flidais’ tongue swelled, and she could not speak. Tomeck felt a magical link to the high priest, and he knew that would share any harm inflicted on him. Varus was commanded to attack his nearest ally. Tyala, Basel, and Unagi managed to resist the effects of the chaos as the kobolds attacked and slammed into Varus.

For some reason, perhaps the effect of the chaos, Unagi hurled one of the lighting/explosive charges at the high priest.

“Unagi, no! You said…"

The resulting explosion washed over the dais, and when the smoke cleared, the high priest was no more. The magical energy in the room crackled; the monk had been correct; the death of the high priest completed the ceremony. The gate was now fully open. Tiamat became visible in the opening, and her red and white heads entered the room! We unleashed our attacks on the dragon heads of fire and ice, but they had little apparent effect. She was about to emerge, and we would all perish as her first act of subjugating this plane of existence. Varus had a sudden insight…we could not defeat her…but the pillars were weak and could be destroyed. That might be enough to close the gate.

“We can’t hurt her. The pillars! Take out those pillars! It’s our only chance!”

The kobolds attacked but did little damage. Tomeck blasted 4 pillars with magic missiles, but then the magical side effects from the gate hit us. Flidais’ nerves were warped, and she was at a disadvantage. Unagi felt a magical link form with Tiamat, and knew he would suffer any damage that she suffered. Varus got knocked back by another kobold and was bloodied.

Unagi studied one pillar intently, and then unleashed an amazing serious of attacks faster than the eye could follow. He stepped back from the pillar…and then it slowly fell over into the gate. It collapsed on the neck of the white dragon head and knocked it back through the gate. Varus ran up and slept 4 kobolds that were attacking Flidais. Tyala dashed up and attacked a second pillar, then Basel followed up with a mighty blow of his axe. The second pillar tottered and fell onto the red dragon head, crushing it and knocking it back through the gate.

Now Tyala and Unagi found they could not talk, and Flidais felt herself linked to Tiamat, while Basel was at a disadvantage. Green and black dragon heads appeared through the gate. Distracted by their appearance, the kobolds hit Varus again, and he went down. However, he was not out. He cast Suggestion on the kobold next to him and told it to attack a pillar, then ran over towards the last pillar. Tyala grabbed an arrow from the random quiver and a boxing glove arrow slammed into the last pillar as well. Unagi and Basel coordinated their attacks perfectly and demolished the third column in short order. It crashed into the black dragon head and knocked it back through the gate. Unfortunately, with her link to Tiamat, Flidais suffered that damage as well. She went down hard and was near death. 

Tomeck cast magic missiles on the fourth column; his tides of chaos interacted with the chaotic magic of the gate and amplified his magic. Fifth-level magic missiles slammed into the fourth column and ripped through the kobolds. He ran over to Flidais and gave her a healing potion.

The chaotic magic linked Varus to Tiamat, and Tyala was commanded to kill her nearest ally, which just happened to be Varus. The bard saw her turn and look at him with a blank stare. Basel and Unagi’s tongues swelled up, and they could not speak. The whole room was shaking. Cracks appeared in the floor. Unagi charged the fourth pillar and slammed it with all his might with a flurry of blows. It collapsed.

From her stare, Varus could tell that Tyala was under the influence of the chaos magic. He sang a spell and suggested that she attack the last pillar. He dashed around the pillar and used it for cover and ran over to help Flidais. The bard’s plan appeared to succeed. The spell of suggestion did work, and Tyala turned, drew an arrow, and fired at the last pillar rather than the bard. Sadly, the arrow she drew from the quiver was an arrow of phasing. It phased through the stone of the pillar, and struck the unlucky bard in the chest. He staggered, teetering on the edge of consciousness. 

Tomeck blasted the final pillar with Burning Hands, and then the charmed kobold bashed it, and it seemed to totter.

Three dragon heads erupted from the portal, Tiamat’s visage more terrifying than anything we had witnessed before. Her presence was overwhelming. Sythren’daal was as nothing beside her magnificence. Basel and Unagi froze in fear, which was hardly surprising. We could not stop the summoning. We were going to die; nothing could stop her now.

Varus grabbed his fiddle and started playing and singing with all his heart, summoning the magic of music to fight the chaos. He called on Celestian to hear his song and help them. The bard’s song pierced through the chaos, inspiring, imploring his companions to strike. Tyala, Flidais, and Tomeck focused their last attacks on the final pillar…and it collapsed into the gate, somehow knocking Tiamat’s heads back through it and back into the Abyss. The gate erupted with chaotic magical energy and engulfed the room and all of us. Before any of us could resist, the magic sucked us through the closing portal. We saw layers of the Abyss (shudder) and feared the end, then disjointed impossible images and what seemed to be other planes of existence flew by. The multiverse opened to us for a split second, then we slid sideways across it in a dizzying ride like a bad trip that lasted too long before it ended abruptly and we spilled out onto the ground. We found ourselves beside a road in the woods. We could see a large city in the near distance. There was a sign beside the road.

Welcome to Neverwinter

Aftermath

90 days of downtime

94 gp, 152 sp, and 91 cp. Seven 50 gp gems, a potion of greater healing, 327 sp, and 7 pp. Cloak of protection +1 to AC and +1 to saving throws.

+1 magical longsword.

Foe of Green Dragon Flight feat.

Choose who gets a new special feat:

Hem of the Fey wild. Call back the soul of a fallen ally once per session. At the cost of receiving -2 Con penalty. 20 days of rest to restore.

Varus' Journal: Entry #7, The Dungeon of Sythren’daal

Episode 7, The Dungeon of Sythren’daal

The next morning, Unagi and Valentia stayed to guard the wagon and intercept anyone approaching the temple, while the rest of us headed deeper into the woods. We soon came to a clearing with a temple in the middle; it was surrounded by huge briars and brambles. The temple was a simple ziggurat style with three levels. There was a door on the second level, and steps led up to it. Pillars surrounded it; the ones near the temple were still standing, while those near the edges of the clearing were broken or in disrepair. Basel broke the silence.

“I believe that inside this temple is a burial chamber. Below that might be an entrance to the dragon’s caverns!”

“Why do you think it’s a burial chamber, Basel? I thought it was a temple.”

“I do not know! But we will find out.”

The door on the second level of the temple was made of stone, with no apparent handle or lock. We inspected the grounds to see if we could discern a way in. On top of one of the short columns was a pair of stone feet, as if a statue had been knocked down and only the feet remained. Basel climbed up and inspected the feet, and found they were actually hollow, like a pair of shoes. There was a pressure plate inside. Basel pushed it down, and heard a noise, but did not have the strength to keep it pressed down. He announced his findings to the rest of us.

We searched the grounds, and Flidais found a pair of stone feet on the side of the temple. Each one was quite heavy, weighing over 100 pounds! Basel came over, and with a mighty heave, got the first foot across the grounds and up on the pedestal. He came back for the second one, but couldn’t budge it, even with Tomeck’s help. A loud rumbling started in the dense forest and the ground started shaking. After a moment, a huge stone figure crashed into view from the back of the clearing. There was a symbol on its chest, but it was dim and had been scratched over. The symbol of the Cult of Five blazed on its forehead. This must be the stone creature that Valentia described, the golem. Now controlled by the cult.

It started across the clearing and Tyala and Varus hit it in the forehead with prepared arrows, to no apparent affect. Flidais jumped up on the pyramid and headed to the door. The golem gestured…and cast a spell that slowed the agile bard. Varus could not resist it. Slowly he turned…and headed for the temple door.

With a mighty effort, Basel managed to lift the second stone foot, and placed it on the pedestal. A magical statue started to form from the feet up. It soon reached full height, and resembled the golem. The door opened by sliding down into the floor. Tomeck cast a web spell over the golem, webbing it to two of the columns. It tried to break free, but could not. Varus activated the ring of invisibility as he moved slowly up the stairs; then his concentration broke the effect of the golem’s spell. Flidais dashed through the door, followed quickly by Basel and Tyala. Tomeck shot a firebolt, but it deflected around the golem. He dashed through the door, followed by Varus. The golem did not try to pursue us. Inside was a small chamber with a stairway leading down.

We walked down the stairs for a long time, descending at least a half a mile underground. We started seeing ancient frescoes on the walls; a history lesson unfolding as we descended. A view into an ancient culture, where the lizard men evidently ruled above all, and elves were the first slaves. It was the lizard men that first summoned Tiamat, and these frescoes showed her terrible reign. The subsequent frescoes showed the good dragons and their allies overthrowing Tiamat and banishing her to the Abyss.

After that, we reached the bottom of the stairs and a huge 20’ by 20’ stone door. The painting on the door showed a maelstrom of chaos and a giant hydra figure emerging from it. It looked like it had been painted much more recently than the frescoes on the stairs. We noticed that one corner of the huge door had been broken into, and we carefully squeezed inside.

This room was in bad shape. The walls of the room were deformed, as if under pressure. In place, briars pushed through cracks. There was a large pile of rubble in the middle of the floor. Above us, there had been a glass ceiling. The glass was broken, and soil and roots were visible. It seemed the forest was intent on taking over this room. There were two doors, one across from where we entered, and another one on the right. A large statue of a lizard man stood in one corner.

Varus thought it looked like the walls or ceiling could cave in (further) at any minute. He quietly moved in and found kobold graffiti and symbols on the walls. He inspected the door to the right. It once had a lock; now there was a rope handle with a knot in it. He was no rogue, but kobold handiwork seemed likely.

Tyala quietly moved to the other door and found it did not lock, but was braced from the other side and would not budge.

Basel decided to check out the pile of rubble and found several boulders in the pile. He looked up to see rocks in the ceiling.

“I say, this ceiling looks unsafe!” His voice was enough to send boulders falling from the ceiling, and Basel had to jump out of the way to avoid being crushed. Fortunately, it did not bring the whole ceiling down on us.

Tyala chuckled as she came over and checked out the rope lock, and said it was recent. She asked for a volunteer to pull the rope but to leave the door closed, then looked at Basel. Basel did so. There was a twang and an arrow point burst through the door. He opened the door safely. Varus grabbed Basel’s shoulder and signaled for him to wait, and he and Tyala moved silently into the hallway. We moved up to a door and peered inside. There was a long table full of delicious, mouth-watering food that smelled wonderful, a veritable feast! It was lit by torch and candlelight. Varus was astonished. This must be an illusion for some sort of trap. While they were inspecting it, Flidais suddenly ran right by them and into the room. She activated a pressure plate. Holes opened in the floor outside the room, and darts shot out. Tyala dodged but Varus was struck and poisoned. Basel came up and cured the poison. Then he went into the dining room, touched the food, and started eating. Varus and Tyala looked at each other and then had to laugh. We were surely going to die in here.

“Tyala, I don’t think you have to disable any more traps. Just let Flidais and Basel go first…and stand far back!” he laughed.

Tomeck searched the hallway and found two pressure plates in the floor. Tyala investigated and found one of them had been wedged shut. She then wedged the other one shut. While she was working on this, however, Basel decided to proceed through the mess hall after finishing his repast. The floor opened beneath him, and he had to jump backward to avoid falling in. The loud crash clued us in. Basel was quite good at discovering traps!

While searching the area, Tyala found a secret door and successfully picked the lock with her thieves’ tools. There was a small room, and inside there was a gnome. Not a live gnome, but very strange one made of brass and bronze and other materials. The stomach was a large glass container that contained some type of liquid. Below the glass sphere, there was a spigot at crotch level.

The robo-gnome animated and talked to us.

“Hello, I’m Tipsy 3000! Don’t be a bigot, drink from the spigot!”

Basel went over to the gnome, grabbed the spigot, and drank deeply. Really, Varus would have been surprised it if Basel hadn’t drunk from the spigot. Maybe Rao was also a god of luck.

“I feel inspired!” announced Basel.

“Thank you for enjoying Tipsy 3000.” Varus could have sworn the gnome said it with a smile. Several others drank from the spigot and received different magical benefits.

Fascinated and creeped out, Varus inspected the artificial gnome more closely. On its backside, there was a plaque with an inscription. Halaster Blackcloak. Something seemed familiar about that name, but Varus could not place it. He noted it for future research. It must have taken significant magical knowledge to create something like this. Further below the plaque was an opening of some sort that seemed to access the inner workings. Varus manipulated it until he could feel a release valve. He emptied his water bag and held it under the opening, and then triggered the mechanism. Different colored fluids flowed into the bag. Red first, then green, turquoise, grape, and cherry mixed together in his water bag. He wondered why he felt so dirty.

We moved on, and Tyala came to a T-intersection. To the left was the door to the first room that had been blocked. It turns out it was blocked by a huge column. To the right was a hallway riddled with holes in the wall. The rogue started looking for a trigger to this obvious trap and found a lever. She pushed it up and heard the trap fire. Then she heard voices in a room near the switch. She peeked in. There were two half-dragons, one green, one black. There were arguing over a card game. She retreated and reported back. We decided to lure the half-dragons past the trap. Varus and Tyala would hide around the corner past the door to attack them from behind.

When we fell back to our positions, temporal portals suddenly open beside Basel and Tomeck. Giant dragon claws slashed out of the portals barely missing them. To their horror, they also saw a five-headed dragon. Tiamat was starting to come through to this plane. The ceremony must be underway!

Varus created the sound of human voices to lure out the half-dragons. The first half-dragon turned right, towards the rest of the party. The second half-dragon turned left and headed towards Varus and Tyala. Varus saw him coming, grabbed Tyala, walked up the wall to the ceiling, and froze. Tyala covered them with her cloak and hid. Being a wood elf has its advantages. The half-dragon, intent on executing a planned pincer movement and not expecting anyone, ran right past them.

The effects of the summoning harassed our party. A large, monstrous roar was directed at Basel and Tyala that could have scared even the bravest. They resisted the effect, but were still shaken.

The first half-dragon charged the group. Basel, Tomeck, and Flidais missed, and the half-dragon breathed deadly gas on Basel and Tomeck. Flidais was otherwise occupied. The ground underneath her feet seemed to disappear, as smoke billowed and flames shot out and burned her. The black half-dragon ran down a parallel hallway. It ignited its flaming sword and yelled its battle cry and kept running.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” The yell stopped as he was distracted by Tipsy 3000.

Flidais missed and Tomeck hit with acid spray, but it seemed to have no affect. Tyala and Varus came around the corner at that point. Tyala’s arrow missed, but Varus sang a song of holding…and the half-dragon froze in place.

As Basel managed to miss the frozen half-dragon, Tiamat roared again. Flidais dropped her bow ran down the hallway. She triggered the pressure trap, burning herself and the approaching half-dragon, but the burn allowed her to break through the fear.

The frozen half-dragon could not break free from the bard’s spell, and Basel struck again. This time he struck true with a might blow of the axe, and smashed through the half-dragon’s armor. Tyala hit it with a sneak attack, and Varus finished it with an arrow through the neck.

Flidais activated the fire trap, grabbed her bow, and ran. Another temporal portal opened and she saw Tiamat! A beam shot from one of her eyes and hit the wall beside Flidais as the portal closed. We fell back towards the half-dragon’s room and readied our attacks. Tomeck spread some ball bearings in front of the room.

Another portal opened; dragon heads glared at Basel and Tomeck. Your muscles have turned to stone. They just said no. The black half-dragon hit the ball bearings and did not fall, but wobbled in front of Basel, who unloaded with his axe and slashed the half-dragon. Nicely played, Tomeck, nicely played. We quickly finished him with our attacks.

Between the two of them, they had a metal shield, a magical (obviously flaming) short sword, a magical morning star, and a few coins. A deck of cards in a wooden box and glass lid was on the table. Tyala requested those.

We crept up to what appeared to be a kobold bunk room. Varus disappeared and sang a lullaby on four of them. Tyala rushed in and blasted a fifth. Tomeck missed the last one. Another portal opened, and the gaze of Tiamat was on Basel and Tomeck. Basel could not resist and was frozen, but called upon Rao (the god, not the horse) and he resisted. The last kobold turned towards the wall and pushed something on the wall. Giant pendulum blades swung out in the hallway and sliced Basel and Flidais. The ranger drank a healing potion and dashed out of the hallway, then Varus took down the last kobold with an arrow. We found 4 garnets and some lembas bread. Those that ate the lembas bread found that they could cast another spell that day!

We decided to take…a short rest. Varus sang a set of elven swing music to help everyone heal up. Basel drank from the flask of many potions and was inspired. Varus then drank and recovered a spell!

We move on to a large room filled with books, obviously a library. A statue of minotaur drew our attention to the center of the room; upon further inspection, there was a pit on the right side of the room, which Varus thought seemed strange for a library. Most of the books appeared to be in bad shape unusable. When Basel instinctively went over to inspect the books, the minotaur statue animated with the sound of clanking gears. It rushed Basel and tried to bull him into the pit. Basel met it his shield, and then dug in, exerting his full strength. The minotaur slowed, then stopped. The smell of smoke and sound of grinding gears, and he stops it.

We scoured the bookcases and found one small section that appeared undamaged. It seemed these must be magical to still be intact. There were several titles. The first book was It's A Trap!; second, Cockatrice Writer, third, a spell book with wizard spells, fourth, a Manual of Constitution; fifth, Patronage: A Warlock’s Choice, sixth, five crafting recipes. Quite an impressive collection, and quite valuable. We carefully put them in the bag of holding.

Down this hallway we found another large room. A statue of a large bird with lights on its wings dominated this room. Braziers burned on either side. On one side there was a table with several items. Tyala inspected and found a scroll of magic missile, as well as a switch.

Varus inspected the statue, which turned out to be a roc. He knew the legend of roc, pulled out his dagger, and cut himself. He healed a hit point and received inspiration! Tyala tried it but took damage. Tomeck tried it, and felt lucky that he was not judged for his dwarven background. We retreated out of the room, and Tomeck and Varus used their mage hands to pull the lever. The room filled with electrical energy discharges, which finally dissipated, and the door opened. 

This room was square with a huge square hole in the middle. Purple light glowed from the pit and we could see the vines disappearing into the darkness. A narrow walkway skirted the room, and we carefully crept around it and headed down a long hallway. This ended in a room with a fountain and two chests. At the bottom of the fountain was a large stone. Tyala checked out and opened the first chest, which contained a few coins. The second chest looked strange to her. She investigated further and found openings in the floor in front of it. Varus and Tomeck tried to open it with mage hand, but it was locked. Tomeck tied a rope to it and we tried to haul it down the hallway. Then something pulled back. He pulled again, hard, and felt something move. He pulled harder, but it pulled him forward…along with everyone else. He threw the rope away, and we saw it slowly being pulled into the room. Varus had heard of creatures that “fished” for prey and shuddered. No one was anxious to investigate further, and we pushed on.

We soon came across two dead cultists that seemed to have sacrificed themselves. Another seemed to be partially transmuted to stone. Part of the summoning ritual, no doubt. Just beyond that we came to a 20’ by 15’ room with circles, squares, and triangles in the floor. Flidais found corresponding buttons on the wall. She pressed a circle on the wall, and a jet of black energy shot up and enveloped Basel, seriously reducing his maximum hit points (to 25). We pushed several combinations, but could not deactivate the floor. Finally, Varus used the ability of his spider climb leather armor to move across the room on the ceiling and to the other side, where he found another a panel of buttons. He and Flidais tried different combinations, but could not deactivate the floor.

Varus conceded and decided to send his leather armor back by mage hand, and everyone had to don it and walk across the ceiling to get across safely. We gladly left room of geometric doom behind, and Tyala found a secret room. Inside, on an altar, was the fifth and final green gem. We took it, of course. After that, we found another staircase, leading down. We prepared to descend and stop the summoning ceremony.

Loot

·        4 garnets

·        metal shield, magical flaming short sword (+1?) (Tyala), magical morning star (+1?) (Flidais),
90 cp, 40 sp, 9 gp

·        Magical tomes!: The first book It's A Trap!; second, Cockatrice Writer, third, a spellbook with wizard spells, fourth, a Manual of Constitution; fifth, Patronage: A Warlock’s Choice, sixth, five crafting recipes.

·        8 pp, 6 gp, 4 sp