as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Oathday, 23 Desnus

After a few more questions, we knew a bit more about the bandit problem.  There was a stronghold some fifty miles distant that at one time was a center of law in the area.  But times change, and the bandits had taken it over and made it their stronghold. The local daimyo seemed unable (or unwilling) to rout them.   Jiro mentioned that, should we be successful, there was a vault or safe that could only be opened by a member of the royal family, inside of which was another ancestral weapon.   Chances are good that after the orb’s actions, any of us could open it, but that’s fine – it will keep Ameiko’s identity secret a while longer while still revealing that an heir exists.  The logical choice to paint the target on his back, of course, would be me.  I carry the sword and the misdirection is one of the easier ways of keeping Ameiko safe.

Jiro had incomplete information about the bandits, but said from reports there may be at least one magic user among them.  Since the bandits regularly went out on patrol and harassed other residents, he insisted he stay behind to protect this group and others.  In fact, it was one reason he had not been able to personally fix this problem himself – he couldn’t be in two places at once.  Well, that, I thought, and the fact that ronin or not, he was still only one person and unless you’re talking squirrels, there’s a limit to how many battles he can carry on at once.

It’s only noon, and with some of us in Kali’s magic chariot, and some of us using windwalk we should easily be able to get there yet today.  Since windwalk is so much faster (less than an hour trip), those using it (Qatana, Radella, and Ivan) arrived first and did some scouting.  Since the windwalk spell had the capacity for one more, Qatana included me in the spell but I travelled with the chariot on the thinking that while it seemed reasonable to split the group for a short time, it didn’t seem reasonable to put all the fighters into one group.

[later]
The scouting revealed there were two high lookouts which would easily spot (and probably attack, by bow) anybody approaching by ground.  But if it’s one thing we’ve learned through Ravenscrag and the oni prison in the woods and countless other incursions – it’s always better to skip the front door.  And people often don’t look up.  The plan will be to observe when the shift changes and take over a lookout right after it changes, so that we have the maximum time before the incursion is discovered.

Beyond those lookouts set away from the main base, there appears to be a courtyard and structures which may be built into the surrounding cliff.  It is possible that we can enter right from a lookout if the stairs there enter the complex.

It got dark about 7:00.

Fireday, 24 Desnus

The watches tend to run about 5 hours, but tend to run longer during the day.  Sunrise was about 4:30am, and we’ve now decided to attack after the midnite shift change.  Which means we’ll be waiting almost 24 hours for the “right” time. It’s not my first choice, but so far as we know there’s no particular urgency so it’s not worth arguing over.

During the day we kept a low profile and saw one party of bandits return and another, separately, go out.  They clearly are still active but not with such frequency that we’d run into any when we take out the lookout.

Kali is preparing Nehali with a thunderstone or two in case we need a diversion; she can airdrop them over on the other side of the compound and the hope is that the bandits will split their resources to deal with that.  It’s unlikely they will find, let alone hit, Nehali at night with spells or arrows but her instructions, nevertheless, will be to drop and go.

Starday, 25 Desnus

And sure enough, midnite found Zos, Radella, and Ivan sneaking up on the southernmost outlook post just a few minutes after the shift changed.  It took all of six seconds for the lookout to be relieved permanently of his duty, and the rest of us ready to rush in were not necessary.  The burned and pincushioned body was placed to one side, and the team entered.

The lookout was small, with a descending stairway.  We went down to a large room that had water running through it – we think it is part of the stream we observed earlier when scouting – and was a trifle surprised to find nobody there.  The previous lookout had, fortunately for him, apparently continued and had perhaps left the area.  Oddly, there were carpentry tools on a table and an elaborate wooden chest in one corner yielded, after some manipulation by Radella, additional items one might find with a master carpenter.

[626] MW carpentry tools
[627] 2 sacks of shellac flakes
[628] ivory palm box
[629] 2 applications of slipperiness salve inside 628
[630] 3 oz of sovereign glue in bronze flask

There were stairs here going up (not to the lookout post) so up we went.  At the top we paused, and found basically a storeroom, with bales and boxes of things – but with a door to one end.  Listening at that door, we heard snoring. Ivan quietly opened the door, looked inside, and indicated “many”.  Kali got a strange look on her face, smiled, and stepped forward.  We all knew what was coming next – cloudkill!

As the cloud spread over about 60% of the room, we could see that while many were sleeping, three others were near the center of the room, standing, and talking quietly. They obviously reacted to this opaque cloud but before they could take any action beyond gaping, Kali cast another spell and suddenly they were surrounded by a wall of ice that reached almost to the ceiling.

Now of course while the cloudkill could have an impressive effect over a large area, it also made the area unapproachable by most of us since it was both poisonous and opaque.  Ivan seems to have a constant delay poison going on so he could move through it, but he also prefers archery and when you can’t see anything until it is right next to you, that’s not optimal.

Most of the bandits had to get themselves out of bed before they could even attack, and even then many had to try to run out of the cloud.  The surprise and even a brief exposure to the cloud certainly counted in our favor, and although it took longer than our “battle” with the lookout, it still took a surprisingly short amount of time. Qatana threw in an aura of madness, always a crowd favorite, as her contribution to the magicks.  One disappointing side effect of all this was that one bandit managed to sound an alarm by throwing a thunderstone out the window, which resulted in a large boom.  We were a little concerned but then we heard, from outside, another, more distant boom.  And it occurred to us – Nehali had dropped hers!  We’d intended it be a distraction, but we had no way of knowing that thunderstones were the alarm signal – the whole compound would now think there were intruders from multiple directions!  If we had to be discovered, this was the way to do it!!

I and a few others were injured during battle, of course, but never really near death.  We healed up using the CLW wands and took inventory:

[631] Scimitar (magic)
[632] composite short bow (magic)
[633] breastplate (magic)
[634] shield (magic)
[635] 20 arrows
[636] 5 whistling arrows
[637] dagger
[638] spear x 15
[639] studded leather armor x 15
[640] kokuri x 15
[641] oil x 15
[642] potion x 15
[643] thunderstone x 14
[644] MW composite longbow x 15
[645] 40 arrows x 15

We’ll identify these things later; we have to keep in mind that an alarm HAS been given and we can expect that sitting still too long will reward us with an attack, eventually.

It made me wish I could just go outside and see the confusion!  But first we had to clean up in here.  We took out many of the weakened bandits before the enclosed ones

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Fireday, 29 Pharast

We turned our attention to the double doors at the north. Radella performed her usual inspection for locks and traps and found none.  We had surprisingly little planning beforehand – surprising because we usually have a carefully orchestrated series of spells and buffs and a equally carefully choreographed entrance. We either getting better at this, or we are getting overconfident at this.

In this case, we were just better.  There were, still, six Sisters of the Broken Path in the room to protect her royal Leastness and they should have had some inkling we were coming.  Kali opened with some glitterdust that disoriented a third of them.  But Radella, Ivan (via air), Zos, and I all rapidly opened some wounds on them.  Dasi started singing and Qatana did that thing where she drives people batty.  Some of the ninjas immediately obliged.

Someone called out to keep one alive and I tried, but Suishen isn’t used to simply injuring enemies of the Crown.  In less than half a minute, five of the six were dead.  Dasi tried to interview the remaining one – tried to gain her confidence even – but on the heels of a significant whupping by the party, she wasn’t having anything of it.  Then to my surprise, Dasi gave her a sword and squared up opposite her.  I thought he was going to embarrass her by taking the sword back in midstroke and singing at her or something, but apparently he has some sword skill himself.  She was already near death, of course, but after trading a couple of blows he got through clean and honest and laid her down.

Reminds me we still don’t know everything about Dasi.

There were doors leading out of this room, but we still had possible danger to the south, so we turned there first.  But it turned out the only danger there was that some of our magic users would drool too much and dehydrate themselves.  It was a library with not just reference books but contributions from the Oni who’d lived there – and also the one who remained.  A journal of sorts started out nice and neat, and it noted when the Oni left, but having left Munasukaru behind, there was only one possible scribe after that.  The handwriting seemed to deteriorate with the state of her mind, and the last entries were barely legible scrawls.

There was also a jade plaque [613] commemorating the day when 99% of the Oni left.

After a half hour of library time, we returned to the north.  We anticipated meeting Munasukaru this time, so we did buff a little.  I asked Suishen for protection from cold, and we entered.

Munasukaru was poised over a bound figure – an arachnid similar to those we’d defeated several times before.  But it seemed to be alive yet, and Munasukaru was flaying it and eating the flesh even while it was alive and moaning.  For her part, Munasukaru cackled regularly.

Her first reaction was to drop the human form and fly into the air.  My air walk was still functioning so I nodded at Kali and she teleported me right next to her and I nailed her with a swing from Suishen (much to her discomfort.)  I swung twice more and hit, and saw that she was bleeding.  Zos tried to dispel magic on her weapon and seemed to have succeeded; she gestured with it and then briefly looked at it, a bit confused, before continuing.  Soon there was both izata and shadows fighting together – who could have seen THAT coming? – as Kali’s and Qatana’s summonings completed.

As with the six Sisters … the battle was over in under 30 seconds.  Injuries were mild on our side. She had called out something about Anamoron as she died; it sounded like she felt one of the Oni who’d left was pretty stupid.   Somebody told me later that there’d been more m’s in her scream (Anamuramoron I think) and she apparently had high thoughts of him.  I’ll bet he told her he was leaving the next day and he might not see her again and then left her hanging.  Or something; who knows how Oni work.

Suishen did tell me, after we’d killed her, that in the future I’d kill Oni easier.  Apparently another secret of Suishen had been that he was Oni-bane.  Can’t blame him given the history and all, but sure would have been nice to know earlier.  He apparently finds me highly acceptable now (my words, not his).

From Munasukaru and the sisters, we retrieved

[614] a naginata – Dasi recognized this as the Thundering Blade of the House of Sujamoto
It is a +1 thundering naginata that once per day can produce the effect of
a Shout spell by striking it on the ground.  It also imposes a -1 level loss if
you do not bear it with honor.  This is another royal house weapon.
[615] 9 screaming bolts
[616] MW repeating crossbow
[617] do-maru of broken flesh +2 – heals 4d8 + 9 and various afflictions once per
day, but also creates scars that cost you CON
[618] crystal ball
[619] clear spindle ioun stone (sustenance)
[620] ring of protection +2
[621] MW nunchuks (6)
[622] amulets of natural armor +1 (6)
[623] bracers +2 (6)

This was clearly the room the Oni had left from – our clerics said it radiated magic.  Around us, 20 golden figures in various expressions of agony indicated that the portal had likely been powered by torture and death.  It appeared to be sealed now.

With her quest completed, the spirit inhabiting Kali left – but not before bestowing upon her the knowledge of how to wield and expertly use a naginata.

Ivan sent a brief note to Ameiko, letting her know we had cleared the house of oni.  She replied the kami would leave immediately and be there as quickly as possible.

We had a quick discussion.  Given where we were we probably weren’t 100% safe, but the most present dangers seem to have been removed.  We discussed the various prisoners we’d discovered and freed that needed to be somewhere other than the middle of the forest.  We returned to the library, looking for value this time and retrieved

[624] antique gold lions ~3500gp
[625] hinged silver bracelet w/emeralds & turquoise – probably 1000’s of gp

Some of the documents seemed to indicate that Anamoron was obsessed with creating 1/2 human progeny so he could insert them into human society.  How worrisome – and I can’t imagine any part of that being consensual.

Zos used the flesh of our slain enemies – eeeyew – and some alchemical formula to create a treasure maps, to see if we’d missed anything.  These maps took hours to produce but ultimately didn’t lead us to anything more valuable than what we’d already found.

We returned to the surface, collecting refugees along the way.  The kami came quicker than I’d thought but then, this forest is their element I imagine.

We will set guards of course, but for the first time in a while, tonight our sleep may be both uninterrupted and quite restful.

Starday, 30 Pharast

The day seems brighter than I remember.

We returned to the magic clearing, and assessed all we’d found. We were running out of ways to carry all that we’d found.  I wish Kali hadn’t made us sell the extra bag of holding.  But the nearest town (Muliwan) is still pretty far away.  Kali will likely be the teleport master, and given the refugees we want to resettle there, she will be the teleport master for several days.  I’m looking forward to the rest here in the clearing so it doesn’t matter to – oh wait.

[…]

I just checked with Ameiko and she wants to go to town.  Which means there goes my rest.  I can only hope that one day will be sufficient for her; maybe I can relax on the other days.  I made the mistake of mumbling out loud and that gave Suishen leave to provide his sage advice about my duties and responsibilities. So I said to him, “What you’re taking so long to say is, it’s my duty as bearer of the royal sword to accompany her and prevent harm from coming to her.”

“Absolutely!” he proclaimed imperiously.

“Her safety – and really, at this point – her anonymity, is paramount,” I added.

“Paramount!” he agreed.

“You think there would be unnecessary danger if we were recognized?” I asked.

“It would be foolish if you did not change your appearance in some way.”

“Who do you think is more likely to be recognized in Muliwan – you or me?”

Suishen faltered and paused.

“I believe we will need to disguise YOU even more extensively than I.”

If it were possible to convey suspicion without a face, Suishen managed it. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

Koya had some very original ideas about how to modify and disguise Suishen’s scabbard, as well as, of course, his visible hilt, all of which involved some brightly colored fabrics and decorations.  At one point he suggested that an effort to hide him should involve a less flamboyant appearance, but I pointed out that attempts to hide him at the markets might draw attention to us as thieves or other kinds of troublemakers.  Only if he appeared to be a brightly colored prop – hiding in plain sight, as it were – would Ameiko be safe.  If I ever had to draw him, all of it would be for naught I imagine, but if I had to draw him I probably wouldn’t care.

For her part, thank gods, Ameiko smiled and fully agreed.  Suishen was as sullen (and silent) as a child caught stealing pastries the entire time we were there.  It made my disguise seemed all the easier to bear.  Koya couldn’t resist purchasing a brightly colored tunic and scarf for me.  I’d half expected this to happen, but I hadn’t expected the fabric to be so itchy.  I spent a fair amount of time scowling and ditched the scarf – er, folded it and put it away – when it was prudent to do so; the tunic touched less sensitive skin and I was able to wear it a little longer before doing the same. I hate “dressing up”.

Sunday, 7 Gozran

We have finished both our market and refugee duties and are leaving the clearing finally.  Oh, I forgot to mention we reunited the kami with his tree and he was quite grateful.  He told us if we continued to take care of it, we could take it with us on our trip and he would accompany us.  We could heal more quickly by sleeping near it.  Interesting.

Fireday, 26 Gozran

We’ve reached the river.  Ordinarily this would be an issue, but our magic users talked among themselves briefly and decided they’d simply create a bridge.  They’d done this in the city of the dead, but this seemed a larger bridge to make.  No problem for them.

It gave cause to chat with Miyaro about what we might find.  I was pretty sure we could not simply deposit the heir at the throne and expect the court to adjust.  She agreed – we would need to develop some grass roots support.  She had to be the people’s choice.  That may not be as hard as it sounds given the current state of much of the population but it couldn’t be skipped.  The people needed to know there was a viable alternative to the Jade Regent.

She has heard there was a ronin – an independent samurai – in the area who might be sympathetic to our cause.  Whether we could get his attention and support will be up to us.

Fireday, 17 Desnus

Today we emerged from the Forest of Spirits, and found ourselves entering what Miyaro called the Asogen Grasslands.  The area is sparsely settled and is part of northern Minkai, ruled mostly by northern barbarians.  Miyaro pointed out on our map where we’d be most likely to run into the ronin she mentioned,

Oathday, 23 Desnus

Near a river, we have come across a cluster of wooden huts.  The area seemed fairly inhospitable – this was not prime farmland nor did there seem to be an abundance of game.  Sharp hunting was probably important here, and as if to drive the point home, there were some youngsters training on bow and arrow nearby.  An older figure seemed to be their instructor – at least he was more imposing than any of his students.  Could this be the ronin?

But he was a she, and she noticed us observing his class, and came over to talk and check us out.  It was largely small talk with Dasi and I until Qatana blurted out, “we’re looking for the ronin.”  Sigh.

Hbesuta Hatsue, as she was called, recognized the royal weapon that Kali was carrying.  Still uncertain, she invited us in and sent off a messenger.  While we were hosted by her, a visitor arrived.

It was indeed the ronin, named Hiraboshi Jiro.  He slowly warmed to us and suggested that ridding a nearby fortress of its bandit inhabitants might both enhance our image and restore some hope to the people living here.

That, then, is what we will do.

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Oathday, 28 Pharast

Upon consulting with our magic users, we felt we were a little lighter on magic than we’d like. Additionally, we counted up our wands and their charges and discovered we were getting a bit low on darkvision – which could be key to most of us in a battle. Because of this, we set up a couple of simple traps behind us, used the flowing water in front of us as a natural barrier, and, after setting up the usual guard duty, rested.

We collected 7 sets of hobgoblin garb that we might later redeem at the Bank of Hobgoblin Haberdashery for some modest number of gold pieces and silently thanked the hobgoblins for their contributions to our fund.

Fireday, 29 Pharast

We decided it prudent to leave Nehali and the bonsai behind. Putting the latter into a haversack or bag of holding might well kill it in its current state of health, and exposure to one fireball or cone of cold could do the same.

It looked to be about 100′ down the ‘drain’. We decided some scouting was in order, so Kali called up an arcane eye and off it went. We discovered that the drain emerged into the ceiling of a small lake with stone pillars and cages that seemed to hold human captives. A couple of oni were poking them. The water here appeared to only be about a foot deep. That pool/pond itself emptied through another hole in the floor, dropping 20′ into another pool which seemed to be four-five feet deep and also had pillars – although no apparent prisoners here. We did see one or two naga which we presumed were Munasukaru’s daughters. That pool also led into a lower one, although, mysteriously, water apparently did not except in drips through the ceiling. This third chamber was moist and possibly muddy but seemed to have little standing water. It also contained some blue creatures which Kali called kite-ons. They are apparently known in the church for their affinity for torture and m
utilation (and chains!) but I’ve never run into them before.

The arcane eye could go no further, since all other egresses were blocked by closed doors. But we knew to prepare for water (Qatana had prepared some spells that could manipulate water). In hindsight this was an outstanding idea; many of us didn’t fully understand how fighting even in small amounts of water can make the battle so much more difficult.

As we prepared to drop into the first pool area, Qatana detected a magic field across the opening. We couldn’t tell for sure if it was simply an alarm, or if it would harm us. But Qatana was able to dispel it, making our arrival a bit more secret than it might otherwise have been.

Our ability to control water made it relatively easy to dispatch the two oni in the first pool. The 1-foot deep water was reduced to virtually nothing. They managed to hit us with a cone of cold but Radella, Ivan, Qatana, myself, and even Zos were more than a match. 15 seconds after entering the room there were two oni corpses. We recovered

[596,598] studded leather armor +2
[597,599] MW composite longbow, strung for +6 ST
[600,602] MW katana
[601,603] +1 rings of protection

With little delay we moved on to the next pool. Again Qatana detected a magic field across the opening, and this time Zos dispelled it. The nagas, giant snakes with women’s heads, quickly noticed the water disappear and also noticed Suishen’s flaming presence. The battle went a bit longer this time – the nagas had some magic at their disposal – but after suffering a couple fireballs, some magic missiles, and one naga’s annoying mirror image spell, “the usual suspects” defeated them in seconds, including an amazing series of arrows that Ivan shot in a single round that left that killed one of them. Qatana brought in a flamestrike on the other.

I would not call our entrance subtle.

Kali was concerned enough about the kite-ons on the next level that she threw a cloudkill down the hole before us. While the scrubbing bubbles cleansed the room, Qatana channeled new energy to we who were injured. A quick survey of what was on the nagas:

]604] pendant, inlaid with platinum and jade
[605] trio of porcelain pots
[606] carved incense burner w/gold edges (inside pot 1)
[607] pair of silver armbands (inside pot 2)
[608] feather token (swan boat) + over 1000gp (inside pot 3)

Figuring surprise was no longer on our side, we went down as soon as we calculated the cloudkill would have moved out of the way. We did not, unfortunately, find a large number of dead bodies, but we did meet a couple and several ashen and nauseous creatures. Before we could assist any of them to their version of afterlife, an oni claiming to be a representative of Munasukaru offered us riches just to stop now before there was any more killing. The offer was never formally withdrawn, but I’m sure that informing the “ambassador” that we represented the Amatatsu family and killing him on the spot may have voided it.

“I am the mouthpiece of Munasukaru. Welcome to these lands. When the storm breaks and the tide turns, you may go where you wish.”

That’s all I remember. It was a short conversation. The messenger actually challenged me! I challenged him back and it was on. I had mixed feelings, though, when Ivan fired five fierce arrows again and took him out in five seconds. Frustrated, I killed several kite-ons and other hobgoblins before it was over. and we freed the victims on the walls. We were able to heal their physical wounds but I fear their experiences down here may be far more difficult to make go away.

We retrieved

[609] MW katana
[610] MW silver wakasashi
[611] MW composite longbow strung for +9 ST
[612] MW tatami-do, large

and turned our attention to the double doors at the end of the room.

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Oathday, 28 Pharast

The strangest thing happened today. I seem to have gaps in my memory. I have to wonder if there isn’t some sort of foul magic involved. I’m not familiar with the intricacies of magic spells so I thought I’d consult with Kali. She told me there are spells that can take away a few minutes of your memory, but not whole hours. I consulted with Suishen, who thoughtfully described me as a “substandard but occasionally acceptable samurai-like warrior likeness.”

I clearly remember flying silently to the far side of the lake to take out the two guards there. I’m PRETTY sure we did; I’m pretty sure I remember the look on their face when we descended (they were looking horizontal, not vertical). And, having taken care of that, we … we …

… did something more. Gods! It happened only a few hours ago, but all I remember is finding myself near a river or body of water with the rest of the party and … and … oh right! Zos’s giants had just become fish food. Right! and yes, we had killed a monstrosity called a gorgon, and then there were more hobgoblins who foolishly challenged our right to be there! Dead in a minute they were.

While searching the rest of the area, we found little except for a door which seemed to be swollen shut physically rather than kept shut magically. Not surprising in this moist environment but Radella and I forced the door open anyway out of sheer stubbornness.

And much to my surprise we found inside a struggling bonsai tree.

We carefully continued on and eventually found ourselves in a wide hallway while approaching us were more hobgoblins and at least one giant. This did not look to be a painless introduction, but Kali had been itching to send cloudkill at somebody and could wait no longer. I still had airwalk going and thought I might be able to travel above it near the ceiling, but it was too high. Ivan, on the other hand, utilized his Delay Poison and simply walked through it – repeatedly emerging from the cloud like a gruff siren, to lure creatures back into the cloud and their deaths.

And then … and then … there’s blankness again. I’m sitting here now, getting ready to rest, but I KNOW more happened.

This is disorienting. I hope this doesn’t happen again. Maybe a ward or something.

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Oathday, 28 Pharast

It never ceases to amaze me.

When we first started this journey, I felt like Qatana acted randomly, with total disregard for her own safety (or that of the others) and it made my admittedly self-imposed duty to keep her safe that much harder.  As time has passed, though, either my understanding of her or her understanding of us has changed, and I’d been thinking of her more as medium strength warrior who can also heal.

And then Zos pulls out a tanglefoot bag and Qatana is like an elfling confronting a squirrel for the first time.  She asked Zos if she could have one to take with us as we went after what we suspected were trysting hobgoblins. He shrugged and gave her one even as I prepared to say, it would be a waste if we were about to confront some unarmored and unarmed hobgoblins.  I shook my head and wondered at her thought process.

So imagine my surprise when Kali casts web on the bed on which they were cavorting.  What?  What is this fascination with tying creatures up? er, down? With a web in place, and no ring of free movement, we couldn’t really do much to engage them.  And hobgoblins are strong enough that … yes, there we go.  They’re not really restrained by them very much.  The web is flammable, however, so we did set it on fire.  And there was a flaming sphere.  And flaming Suishen, also setting webs on fire,  It was not the battle I had anticipated.

The male looked different from your standard hobgoblin.  He was certainly treated differently – the women seemed as eager to protect him from harm as … well, as he was in surrendering.

Yes, just as Radella finally got close enough to slay him, he offered to tell us stuff if we’d spare his life.  He made this offer after I’d already challenged him, and since I wasn’t really expecting a surrender but WAS expecting a battle, I got one solid hit in before I reluctantly held back at Radella’s request.  He threw me a look but then got back to the business of surrendering.  The rest of us took care of his female guests (that is, by killing them.)

It turns out he was the son of the oni we were seeking (Munasukaru).  Even though that technically made him an oni too, with a father that was a hobgoblin he was not very powerful.  Perhaps that’s why he so easily surrendered, knowing he couldn’t win an actual fight.  Being an oni, though, we couldn’t let him live either. I was surprised and a little bothered at Radella’s acceptance of his surrender.  I guess we owe no honor to a foe that continually attacks us, but it still bothered me.  I’m not sure why.

He gave us very crude maps of what lay ahead, but I got the impression that cartography was not one of his dominant skills.  In fact, the only dominant skill he seemed to have – or rather the believed he had – was the ability to have sex with every female he encountered.  Well, except Kali, Radella, and Qatana – not that he didn’t suggest he would be willing,

As we were concluding the conversation, another one in our party seemed to feel that he’d been alive long enough. From somewhere behind me, Ivan unleashed his arrows and the Ichirou, the oni gigolo, went to that big bachelor pad in, er, well, probably hell,

Ichirou did tell us there were more guards ahead, but unfortunately either didn’t know or didn’t tell us any specifics.  Since we’d already guessed there’d be more guards, that wasn’t really headline news.  He mentioned that his mother was somewhere down “the drain” which we assume is some sort of description rather than an actual drain.  We checked out the hardware he and his guests had left:

[567] 2 more MW nunchuks for a total of 3
[572] studded leather armor [+2]
[573] MW composite longbow +6ST
[574] MW nodaki (great sword)
[575] ring of protection +1
[576] 3 lacquer screens
[577] silver ring w/Tien
[578] silver brooch
[579] interlocking jade rings
[580] silver hairpin
[581] carved ivory + coral bracelet
[582] 4 silver wedding rings

Ichirou had mentioned that Munasukaru liked fire AND lightning, and can “make you do things”.  She is all-powerful.  He had two sisters that looked more like snakes – apparently Munasukaru also used little discretion in who she mated with.  Yaasu and, what did he say … Daci?  The latter was known to be magical, whatever that meant to him.

Heading towards “the Drain” we put the reconstructed giants in front.  While it would be disappointing if they were destroyed, if something could destroy them it would likely cause us a fair amount of damage too so … better them than us.

It didn’t take long after we encountered what appeared to be a deserted barracks that a giant got thunked by three arrows.  That was the start of our battle against 8 hobgoblins, in which the giants proved very useful. This allowed us to recover 8 MW morningstars and 8 MW longbows, but while we left those behind, we definitely took up

[583] 8 potions of CSW

and distributed them among all of us.  We also picked up

[584] bearskins
[585] bronze daggers
[586] dagger in lapis scabbard

From here it was a short distance until we reached “the Drain”, which really was a hole into which the river fell.  A staircase seemed to encircle the perimeter and head down, but the spray of the water made it treacherous.  We had to go single file, and the giants quickly slipped and fell into the Drain.  A quick feather fall ensured they would probably not splat at the bottom, but they quickly left our range of vision.

With me in the lead now, I was able to spot another female hobgoblin like those from above, getting ready to attack me at a slightly wider area of the stairs.  She was able to get me with an arrow before I closed with her, but I gave her some incisions in trade.  Meanwhile, alerted now, several of our group noticed some trying to climb the wall and come up behind us.  Once spotted, though, they became easy targets for Ivan (arrows) and Qatana (casting hold person, which has predictable effects when you are climbing)

When we did safely reach the bottom, the giants were waiting for us (yay). After some healing (in which some persistent golem wounds finally closed over), we inspected our surroundings. Radella announced there was a trap here somewhere, but couldn’t really identify it or its trigger.  She thought it might have something to do with a major image.

There was a large underground lake here, and of course we were still limited by our magic-provided dark vision.  We estimated we had come 250′ down the Drain, making us pretty far beneath the surface now.  Radella quietly flew around the perimeter of the lake and scouted it, reporting back that there was a shoreline upon which two more of the monk-like sisters seemed to stand watch.  We guessed that was the preferred way to go, although it was pointed out that we rarely enter an area by the obvious entrance.

In this case though, we have decided we will.  We will fly in (or air walk in) and have Qatana, Radella (invisible) and myself drop on them quickly and, hopefully, silently so that they cannot raise an alarm.

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Oathday, 28 Pharast

While the water elementals may have thwarted our idea of traipsing across the water without using the drawbridge, the image of Munasukaru was actually accomplishing its purpose.  We entered with the image, who imperiously started ordering hobgoblins around like a child might command a pet.

“Which of you idiots are in charge?” asked the image.  The hobgoblins shuffled and looked at each other nervously.  “Get inside and line up for inspection!” it croaked.

The hobgoblins hustled to do so, and Qatana (to their surprise and discomfort) performed the inspection, taking each morningstar and frowning as they were found subpar and handed to an assistant. She looked at the image and shook her head.  The image then yelled, “Get your idiot commander!” and one hobgoblin (happily?) ran off to do just that.

By this time all 8 of the MW morningstars [550] were lying in a pile on the floor.

Zos and Dasi started checking out other doors in the room.  One led to a foul smelling (and looking) room that had all the ambience you might expect from a latrine.  The door that the errand hobgoblin had left through led to some stairs.  Another one led to a largish storeroom with food and other mundane stores in it. (Hobgoblin food, it should be noted.)

The image ordered all the hobgoblins into the storeroom.  They seemed a bit more surly and suspicious by now, but there was little they could do about it, having given up their melee weapons.

It has been over 20 minutes since the messenger hobgoblin had departed, but now it seemed he had returned, because from outside the north door we heard a commanding voice say in hobgoblin “To arms!  Intruders!”  The commander, looking every bit the samurai, had returned, with the messenger and four others. The battle wasn’t too challenging, having disarmed two thirds of the combatants already.  Well, that wasn’t entirely true – they did have bows yet, and several decided to take shots at us with those.  But those in the other room were somewhat limited in what they could do, trying to hit us through the open door.  The samurai was also a magic user of some sort (we discovered as he shot a cone of cold at most of us and even some of his own). Meanwhile, Kali summoned a dinosaur to deal with the new arrivals.

That seemed like overkill, but it turns out to have been a great idea, because there was an inactive clay golem out near the stairs which sprang to action when the dinosaur started its work.  Although the dinosaur gave as good as it got, the golem laid it down surprisingly quickly – not a good sign.  Radella, Qatana, and I were working through the hobgoblins pretty hard, but they were proving a little more difficult to put down than we’d hoped.

Ivan had done his usual volley of arrows, but I think all of us were surprised when a circle of fire appeared around the samurai. At almost the same time, Qatana brought down a flame strike on the same target, and while the circle of fire hid the samurai from view, we could certainly hear his distress.  A distribution of holy smite by Ivan took the fight out of most of the enemy.  Zos’s giant reanimated constructs were, one by one, de-stressing the hobgoblins in the storage room.

It was about this time, with most hobgoblins down, that we realized the clay golem was still an issue.  When I’d hit it, I’d get the sense that I was not delivering full damage.  The clay seemed to absorb some of the blow, or something, which kind of makes sense if you think about it. And when it hit ME … that was not pleasant.  Then, with a single arrow that must have been dipped in golem poison or something – I mean, after all, I’m beating on it with Suishen which is no slouch (don’t get a big hilt over that Suishen) – and with a single arrow there’s an explosion of clay and the figure topples.

We discovered that wounds from golem resisted magic healing, unfortunately.   But between what was on the hobgoblins and the offerings surrounding the golem, we had

[551] MW Katana
[552] MW silver wakashazi
[553] MW composite long bow [+7 ST]
[554] MW tatami-do armor (large)
]555] lacquer box set with pearls (contains two doses opium)
[556] 12 potions of CMW
[557] 5 alchemical fire
[558] 12 flasks of oil
[559] potion of invisibility
[560] magical feather (forms a flapping fan to increase or decrease wind at sea)
[561] brooch of shielding [13pts]
[562] scroll of spike growth
[563] MW artisan tools
[564] pair of good locks, w/keys
[565] gold plated merchant scale
[566] 11 obsidians
97+91 gp
203 sp

We headed up the stairs, only to find four more hobgoblins manning some arrow slits.  They aren’t, anymore.

From there we went through a doorway and down a corridor only to find .. what appeared to be hobgoblin lepers.  Disgusting.  Zos’s hill giant constructs are immune to leprosy, so several of us flew over them while the giants struck them down.  Eventually a Kali-issued fireball helped secure (and sterilize) the area, with the giants mopping up details.

Beyond this room was an odd looking room.  The “floor” was a series of pipes or narrow supports in a regular pattern, but they were several feet apart and beneath them was a pit with noxious gas and the occasional sound of grunting or bellowing.  Something was alive down there.  Somebody suggested a morgan, or a gorgon, or something.  I’d rather not find out for sure.  We took this opportunity to renew our dark vision and fly, for those who need them, but then 3 figures emerged from a north aperture and decided to taunt us, not knowing most of us could fly or air walk.  They were highly acrobatic and demonstrative, but swords, arrows, some magical chain of Qatana’s, and a little grease on the ground proved their undoing. One fell into the mists below, but from the others, we retrieved from their lifeless bodies:

[567] MW nunchaku
[568] potion of blur
[569] amulet of natural armor +1
[570] bracers of armor +2
[571] jeweled studs in their ears

Their skin seemed heavily tattooed.

We’ve paused to catch our breath and assess our next move. There are sounds of  .. pleasure? … coming from the south aperture which probably will be our first point of business.

as told by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Wealday, 27 Pharast

Examining the former belongings of the hobgoblins and giants, we found

[525,526] great clubs
[527] cure serious wounds (4)
[528] MW do-maru armor (6)
[529] MW heavy wooden shields (6)
[530] MW composite long bows ST +3 (6)
[531] MW morningstar (6)
[532] 74 arrows

We entered the hallway and discovered doors at each end. We piled the hill giant bodies in front of the south door to slow down anyone entering, and checked out things to the north. Radella took the lead, and I was by her side. It was not locked, and led to a short vestibule with another door in it. Caution again proved unnecessary, and it appeared to open into a corridor. To the north, we could hear voices – not alarmed, just talking. There was also a waterfall, which muffled a great deal of the conversations. We seem to be about 60′ above the activity below us, and a rickety ladder led down. Turning to the south, we saw the corridor seemed to have … decorations.

That is, if you can consider body parts “decorations”. It looked like more of the dishonorable behavior that had left two people impaled on the front door of this place, except nothing was left alive in this corridor. The smell was unnpleasant. As we moved south, it became apparent there was more than body parts here – there was another maimed body. A monk, perhaps, from the clothing …

Right then Qatana, Radella and myself distinctly heard the sound of breaking bones. At the same time, a spirit rose out of the body on the wall, wavered a bit and headed for Kali. Before anybody could take another action, it merged with Kali and her eyes went distant for a moment. We feared the worst.

We decided to use both the carrot and the stick. Radella said, not unkindly, “do you need help?” More directly, I said, “State your purpose!” Qatana looked annoyed and said, “it probably doesn’t know Common!” Then in Tien, she said, “Can we help you?”

Thru Kali, the spirit said, “I need vengeance” (in Tien, of course – Qatana translated for me.) Kali returned to us but said simply, “I’m okay. She needs to kill the oni.”

Well, we wanted to kill the oni too, so other than her taking over the body of one of our friends, we’re on the same page.

We continued to the end of the corridor where we found a small (1’x1′) iron grate. Nehali flew out and verified that this looked like the other end, in that we were about 60′ above the ground and various figures (including hobgoblins) were moving around below us. She also reported there being some stone house that apparently stood out.

We decided to rest, but Kali suggested that before we lie down, Nehali take a message to the people we rescued above us, to let them know that this was going to take longer than we thought. But Nehali returned fairly soon saying that there were hobgoblins heading towards them, so rest would have to wait.

We headed back to the entrance and encountered four hobgoblins that were apparently preparing to descend to us, but why take the chance? It looked like they might be using a magic rope to descend past the impossibly smooth portion of the opening, and while we were prepared to deal with that, Kali decided to hasten their descent by casting a sleet storm. Two lost their balance and fell to their death (or more accurately, to the party below that insured they were dead), one found themselves falling but at a very gentle rate (feather fall a la Kali). The 4th … I dispatched.

Qatana cast Hold Person on the gently fallen hobgoblin and Kali prepared to question him. But Dali, using, I guess, his thespian skills, convinced that hobgoblin that he was actually his commander, and we learned that this party was returning from a patrol and (to their knowledge) was the only one that had been out. Then we got him drunk on endless sake, and Ivan slit his throat when he passed out.

We again gained a few things:
[533] magic rope
[534] MW do-maru armor (4)
[535] MW heavy wooden shield (4)
[536] MW Composite longbows (+3 ST) (4)
[537] MW morningstar (4)
[538] 13 arrows

But no healing potions this time. Disappointing.

Returning, we discovered that Radella and Ivan had quietly pulled up the ladder to our level. And methodically destroyed it. Which I guess made us safer, but … how will we get down?

However, armed now with a little more information and a few less hobgoblins, we now at least felt safe in resting. We blocked off each end of the corridor and rested there.

Oathday, 28 Pharast

After a refreshing sleep, I arose to the sound of roosters crowing and a bright gleam hitting my eye as the sun rose over the edge of a cloudless horizon. The fresh straw beneath me yielded perceptibly as I shifted on one hip, shaded my eyes, and looked over the rest of our sleeping

Wait, what?

After a refreshing sleep, I arose to the smell of rotting body parts while in utter darkness. Virtually blind in the complete darkness, I listened carefully before cautiously sitting up. Since we required only two hours of sleep a night, many of the party were already up and doing something quietly. I strained desperately to hear crowing roosters or catch slivers of light, but lately, the dreams have been far better than the reality we are in.

Imagine my distress when I found Zos sitting next to a living, breathing, blinking, pale hill giant, grinning. “What???” I exclaimed. “You can create undead? What are you doing?” But he quickly explained, and Qatana confirmed, that this was neither living nor breathing. (It did blink on occasion, but far more slowly than normal.) “Think of this as a crude golem,” he said.

I expressed concern, but he said, “nothing to be worried about. It’s just alchemy!” and he headed off to the other hill giant corpse. I looked at Qatana, but she was following him as if ready to take notes. Nobody else seemed concerned, but it all seemed … wrong to me.

At one point, we heard a mildly distant voice complain beyond the north door, “Aw, they took the ladder again!” Nice to know you’re appreciated.

Once everyone was up, we made our plan. Everyone would need dark vision, and we’d need either fly or airwalk. Suishen could help me with the latter, and a few of the magic users could help themselves, but for the most part, we burned some more charges on the wands. Thus prepared, we would head directly for the stone house that Nehali had seen, on the assumption that our pig hobgoblin leader creature would be there. The strategy that had worked best for us so far was “don’t use the front door”. With that in mind, our target was the roof. The reanimated hill giants were left behind as possible deterrents.

With all of us present, Dasi concentrated for a bit and said that below us was about 10 creatures of average intelligence, and there seemed there might some mild dissension below. We figured the house had three levels, so there might be a few hobgoblins on each level. That should be quiet doable. Some disagreement or dissension among themselves was an added bonus. Radella quietly led the way down, and I followed.

Unfortunately, even though I was using airwalk and not touching the ground, I guess I must have brushed a wall or something, because all of a sudden the hobgoblins in the room spun and looked right at us sneaking down the stairs. Oops. Oh well.

There were 6 warriors, 4 lesser armed females around the chief, and the swine guy himself. Qatana threw up a stone wall to keep the chief and his concubines isolated, and the rest of us were able to dispatch the fighters in under 20 seconds of fierce battle. I made some strong hits on the chief, and his response was to scream, “Munasukaru, I know you’re watching!” and commit ritual suicide. I climbed over the stone wall to take care of the concubines, and suddenly it was over. Kali had summoned an earth elemental and Ivan reported giants and other bad smells below us, so we sent the elemental down there. The giants killed it, but then ran off on their own, unhappy after dealing with it.

We were left with bodies and quiet. The house was far enough away from other things that unless the giants raised an alarm, probably nobody realized what had just happened. Well, to be honest, we were also left with a few items …

[539] +2 o-yoioi armor (like plate)
[540] +1 thundering great axe
[541] gold hilted dagger
[542] MW composite longbow (+4 ST)
[543] 20 arrows
[544] belt of giant strength +4 (Qatana)
[545] leather cloak of resistance +1
[546] conical warhat +1 luck bonus to AC, 1/day negate critical or sneak (Olmas)
[547] bronze rice bowl
[548] carved box with 6 spinnets
[549] carved horn libation cup
[550] MW morningstars (6)
[551] MW composite longbow (+3 ST)
[552] MW armor (6)
[553] MW heavy wooden shields (6)
[554] 32 arrows
47 gp

That warhat would improve my increasingly insufficient armor. This mithril breastplate is nice and light but it’s starting to not be enough to protect me.

Back up on the roof, we could see a bridge that led to a passage down. And down. And down. It went down something on the order of 200 ft. There were, again, disturbing images on the wall .. more like a mural. As we descended, a dull roar was also getting louder. The corridor finally opened into a chasm which held a thundering waterfall.

Following the outflow we quickly discovered a stone house, with a drawbridge on the other side. How might we get them to drop the drawbridge. Here we got very clever. By the grace of the spirit inhabiting Kali, she knew what Munasukaru looked like. So she could create an image of her, and while we’ve no idea what her voice sounds like, it couldn’t be heard here anyway due to the waterfall. The figure could probably get them to lower the drawbridge just by gestures. Qatana and I could play the part of prisoners, but all simply float over the water, further demonstrating Munasukaru’s great power.

Clever idea. Would have worked if there weren’t two giant water elementals living in the water that were poised to simply attack anything passing over the water. Attack HARD. Qatana and I retreated hastily, but the image, of course, was unaffected and still indicated to drop the drawbridge.

And they did! So it half worked, although it was rather painful for me. Ivan did plug some with arrows, although I’m not confident that arrows can really hurt water elementals.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Wealday, 27 Pharast

Qatana and I went down what we believed to now be the unguarded spiral staircase. Dasi and Zos came with us, while the rest planned to enter by one of the grates.

Radella apparently found their way blocked by traps (which she successfully disarmed) while our way seemed free of such. (Which was good, since we were searching for them largely the old-fashioned way – by looking intently and whispering “TRAP!” when one was triggered.) It seemed maybe the architect of this place was more worried about attack from below than above.

We hadn’t gotten far, though, when Qatana found another of the organ-visible skeletons. Unknown to us at the time, Radella et al had found another as well. Our parties came together just as we made these discoveries and between us, we handily dispatched the creatures. One had some sort of prehensile tongue that snaked out at me and Dasi warned “don’t let it touch you!” He seemed to know something of these creatures.

We returned to the prisoners, both now conscious thanks to Qatana’s healing. They’d been lost in the forest, and had been captured by the aranea and brought here – probably eventually as food. They told us of nobles ransacking villages in Minkai – that’s why they had fled to the forest. They were also able to tell us there were troglodytes and hobgoblins in the pit below us.

We used our wand of CLW on them to bring them back to full, at least physically. I think I caught that their names were Junzo and Udtsetseg. Anyway, we armed them with some of the simple weapons lying around and told them to wait for us, as there was more we needed to do down below. I don’t know if they’ll still be there when we return, but we’ve done the best we could for them. We renewed our dark vision and proceeded to the pit.

As we descended, we encountered more webs, but apparently the aranea or spiders that created them had already been killed. Radella, as always, was trap-alert and found and disarmed one on our way down. Eventually we reached the aforementioned pit.

It’s hard to say how much of this was constructed and how much was natural. Clearly the stairs carved into the rock were not natural, but how much renovation continued below us remained to be seen. But we did run into some more spider-creatures which, while not terribly difficult to kill, were persistent and tenacious, as well as annoying magic users.

Having cleared them out, we could see the pit more clearly now, and with parts of it being quite smooth, it seemed that there may have been quite a bit of engineering involved. I doubt this was part of the original design for the “oni prison house.” Air rising from the hole was warm and fragrant in a bad, sweaty, dirty sort of way.

We carefully and quietly descended and found ourselves looking at an underground fortress. Maybe this HAD been where the oni had been kept. It stretched from wall to wall in this underground chamber, and was fortified as well as any city wall. There were guards patrolling and, to our horror, there appeared to be two humans impaled upon the obvious front doors. We quickly devised a plan.

It was apparent that the only surprise we could offer would be an overwhelming assault. Nothing tricky or clever was going to get us past the archers and massive front doors. The clear area in front of the entrance was an obvious kill zone; anything entering there needed to be prepared for an onslaught of archers and maybe worse. So the plan became:

1) summon an earth elemental to assault the front door
2) Have Qatana stoneshape an opening in the parapets while that was happening
3) Haste all
4) Bring in our more mobile strike force via that means
5) Hope for the best.

This plan proved fluid in its execution, and involved all of us eventually flying up to the opening in the parapet, an illusion of Akinosa scaling the outer wall, and the earth elemental giving his all in destroying the front entrance. But we eventually found ourselves inside, the guards dead, and probably a small amount of time until the next shift discovered the previous shift was dead. We collected

[516-519] Cure Serious Wounds

from the bodies of the guards, and turned our attention to the impalees. They were alive but unconscious, but a little healing made them more comfortable and able to answer our questions. There were apparently more inside, held as slaves, and something or somebody else they greatly feared.

Well, in it was, then. We had a bonsai to rescue.

We collected

[520] MW armor (4)
[521] MW shield (wooden) (4)
[522] MW composite long bows +3 (4)
[523] MW morningstars (4)
[523] many arrows

and started our incursion. Two doors to the north led to two kill rooms. Their only purpose was to lure uninformed visitors (such as we) into rooms with no exits and lots of whirling blades. The impalees had said that the hobgoblins never used those rooms and now we knew why. We approached the eastern door apprehensively.

We (Qatana, Radella, and myself) entered this room to find a torture chamber. No living creatures were here, but there was evidence there had been. Radella found several pit-traps, however, making this room seem unnaturally dangerous even for a torture chamber.

And then from behind the walls, something said “Fire”. And arrows came flying through holes in the wall, striking all three of us.
The Ring of the Ram burst through the door at the end of the room and allowed me access to the archers. Qatana cast one of her magics that make people behave strangely – and thankfully, many of them did. Two giants started hurling rocks from a mezzanine above us, but Kali installed a wall of force that thwarted that and also kept them from joining the fray.

It was chaotic for a bit, but when the dust cleared we again had dead hobgoblins and now dead giants to add to our resume. And a few arrow holes in several of us, but nothing a little healing wouldn’t take care of.

as written by the cavalier Olmas Lurecia, himself.

Toilday, 27 Pharast

We arose early – scratch that.  We were hiding inside a rope trick.  We descended early that day.  With the aid of the previous day’s scouting, we knew exactly what we were doing and how to prep for it.  We had decided upon a top-down approach … that is, we had spotted a hole in the roof yesterday and thought that entering there might give us more surprise than the obvious front doors.  Fly spells were cast upon those who needed them (I used airwalk from Suishen). We were also bestowed with dark vision, life bubble, and delay poison. All of these would last 3 hours or longer, which, our experience suggested, would be more than enough.

Quietly arriving at the roof, we peered down.  What greeted us was a tangle of webs below.  Well, we were warned there’d be spiders.  Zos thought a vial of alchemical fire might help clear a path, and nobody disagreed.  Dasi began to sing and we all felt a bit more confident about our chances.  Nothing like a bard singing around a fire atop a deserted prison to inspire a bunch of travellers.

Meanwhile, below, a disoriented voice said, “Get that.”  Another voice responded lazily, “Why?”  I stood near the hole, waiting for something to come out so I could smack it.  Kali cast resist fire on herself, apparently a little concerned in view of our increasing use of fire.  Below us, the fires continued to burn the webs, unimpeded.  Peering over, we could see it was now a longer drop to the “floor”.  What we’d previously thought was the floor had simply been a thick layer of webs. “Intruders!” rose lazily from beneath us.

And a dagger flew up to hit Qatana. Ah!  Finally a battle!

But still nothing tried to climb up.  We could see figures moving around below, though, and I was sorely tempted to descend.  I was stayed by the fact that while the daggers wouldn’t hurt me much, I wasn’t sure what else may be in play down there. I reluctantly held my position at the top of the jagged hole.  Qatana pulled out one of our old fireworks and shot it down there, creating more fire and flashes of light. Looked like there might be 5 or 6 spiders down there, but between the flashing and their skittering to the shadows, it was hard to say.  Radella and Ivan broke out their bows and sent some pointed greetings down at the dagger-thrower.  Ivan also found a simple Spark would ignite webs, while Qatana continued to find more fireworks in her bag.

One spider died and audibly fell to a stone floor 20′ below.

Radella, Qatana, and I felt it was time to take the fight to them.  We had the delay poison still operating, so whatever poison they may have would not slow us.  This allowed all of us to clearly see that when the spiders skittered to the shadows …

… there truly were Shadows there.  They came at us as soon as we were on the floor, and as two of them touched me I felt barely half as strong as I had before.  Bad time to not have my distance weapon close at hand. Radella and Qatana were also affected and we all immediately returned to the roof.

It looked like Qatana might be attacked again before she could make it safely to the roof by creating a circular wall of fire with Qatana in the middle and the heat facing outside.  We suddenly realized this was a wonderful way to clear the room of creatures.  We used the wand of lesser restoration to get our strength back while the room below us was cleared of webs and sterilized. Kali sent down two fire elementals to help “attack the spiders”.  This seemed like overkill, but Dasi did remark that he could sense there was still things alive below us. As if by cue, a scream came from below and was cut off.

Ivan ended the wall of fire and we descended en masse.  As we expected, we found very little webbing and heavily charred bodies, as expected.  However, we did not expect, or rather forgot to think, that some valuable items on that level were also nothing but ashes or at best, charred lesser versions of their former selves.  We retrieved

[467] magnificent screen (charred)
[468] bolt of charred fabric
[469] charred tapestry
[470] pair of charred shoes
[471] pile of soot
[472] porcelain tea set with silver and platinum (400-500gp)
[473] jade dragon brooch
[474] 4 jade hairpins
[475] carved soapstone pig
[476] jade belt buckle with demonic face
[477] jade belt hook in the shape of a heron

We found the body of a female spider who had crawled away from the flames a little (and thus less badly burned).  She also had some things.

[478] potion of blur
[479] potion of CSW
[480] 8 MW daggers
[481] black porcelain mask

There was an opening leading down to the next level, and a quick glance suggested more webs.  Much to my surprise and almost delight, large spiders started coming up to attack us.  THIS is something Suishen and I could handle!

There was a brief but active battle, and words were exchanged.  It was hard to tell when we were being spoken to, and when we were simply overhearing parts of another conversation.  But I did discern that apparently the oni and the spiders had some sort of arrangement – the spiders lived here and a little below, while the oni lived farther below.

This time, though, a reply came up from below: a pretty nasty bolt of lightning hit Qatana, and then arced to the rest of us.  This inspired us greatly, and we redoubled our efforts by sending down spiritual allies and firebombs and the occasional flurry of arrows.  In response, Kali set up a lesser globe of invulnerability to block other rude surprises, and then installed another  wall of fire.

The mighty wizard then teleported up to our level, and this quickly became a strategic error.  Although he cast mirror image, those images fell quickly.  Kali did something new where she moved me right next to him and I was able to immediately smack him (well, his image.)  But ten seconds later I  unleashed a flurry of swings that put him down … and when he died, he took on this bizarre form of another spiderlike creature.  This time, at least, the goodies weren’t charred.

[482] wand, lightning [23]
[483] 4 doses of med spider venom
[484] dagger of venom
[485] MW blowgun
[486] 10 darts
[487] cloak of resistance +2
[488] endless flask of sake – 1 gallon/round, plus once/day drink for random potion
[489] silver sake cup
[490] magnificently carved Earth being eaten by a dragon
[491] silver mirror (~1000gp)
[492] 2 doses of opium
[493] set of keys

The fires had created a sharp drop to the floor below which, we could see now, and on the solid floor below there were spikes. Fortunately we all had fly or air walk running yet so we could easily avoid them, but falling from the opening above down to the floor would have been nasty indeed.

At this level, which appeared to have maybe been the corpse storage level, we saw a number of grates in the floor which allowed us to look into the level below us.  It was while quietly looking through these grates that we observed two creatures which looked to be some form of undead: skeletons that seemed to still have some intact organs.  Down below us, they seemed to be hunting, or maybe on aggressive guard duty for something.

Meanwhile, up here, we were finding miscellaneous items and gear among the corpses. In some broken cabinets we found

[494] 3 flasks (magic)
[495] saffron (~200gp)
[496] 4 opium pipes
[497] 8 doses of opium
[498] 3 bamboo chests
[499] string of ancient coins

Among the bodies we found

[500] MW nunchuks
[501] potion (magic)
[502] fine teak carving of a Tien nobility
[503] battered breastplate
[504] fine leather shoes, one with [505] small opal inside
[506] delicate silver snuff box in the shape of a turtle
[507] rhinocerous horn drinking vessel
[508] jade belt hook
[509] silver altar set with lotus flowers
[510] red lacquered trunk with 3 bags of silver and 2 of gold
[511] leather document case
[512] scroll (magic)
[513] plain wooden box with 10 opium doses
[514] elaborately carved jade and ruby pipe
[515] huge drum (magic)

We determined we could probably unleash quite a few arrows from above before a target could move away. Based on that, we decided to ambush one of the skeleton things at a time, while I stood by the circular staircase near the middle of the room in case anything decided to come up.  This worked marvelously; we were able to kill them both without danger, and (apparently) without anything else raising an alarm.

With the apparent danger removed, Qatana and I headed for the staircase to head down.