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DM:
Sephora

Party:
Sneks (Fighter 4) Leader
Antonio (Pugilist 5) Scout
Rose (Cleric 1, Warlock 3) Trailblazer
Yatari (Bard 7) Diplomat (?)
Eight (Monk 5, Wizard 2)
Snail (Rogue 4)

Mission:
Recover the bodies of lost friends

 

Rumours around town goes that the portal might still be functioning and after talking it out with Beholder-Mom we got a chance to recover some of the bodies left behind after my last excursion into the mines.

Where the rumours of the portal reopening came from I don’t know, but it did help gather more people to the cause.

The journey to Spider Reach Outpost went well, though we did have time for a bit of sight-seeing seeing a meteor that almost crushed our diplomat on her last trip along the plains. I was surprised to see the portal with which I escaped the mines were still open behind some demonic altar. Might need to look into that later.

 

During our night at the outpost we discussed the plan and prepared for battle. Halfway through the discussion the roar of some creature best forgotten came all the way from the mine.

The mine was quiet, last time half invisible tentacles had been drifting around the opening, but there were no such thing this time.

Scouting inside I found the skeletons of old friends, or rather, they spotted me first. Something had animated their bones and we had to bring them down along a few nasty rabbits, one of which had digested a shard of power to evolve further.

Thankfully not even the power of a shard could compete with the fist of my new favourite barber.

 

The fighting concluded with minimal injuries and we set to gather bones and carry them outside, where Song-Gnome Maze-Master waited patiently. He threw a short fanfare giving congratulations on our survival before yells of combat brought the conversation to a close.

Giant spider-creatures, which were quickly brought down, had closed in on the group, as the last fell Beholder-Mom had been grabbed by a flying stalagtite with maw and tentacles. Had our roles been reversed I might have taken it with a bit more panic, but being a master of monsters she just started conversing with Maze-Master.

Not understanding everything that went on I did get answers to some of my own questions. Appearently the gnome wants to use the mine as another of his mazes or at least the magical circle to bring a godlike being to this plane. Should be fun.

Before leaving through another portal, Maze-Master did tell us there were treasure hidden elsewhere in the cave. The thought of shinies did motivate us to go looking.

We found monster rabbit eggs, which Beholder-Mom quickly incinerated, then a demonic statue with red glass eyes, which yes I did take. Hopefully that would disrupt some of the bad energies raising the dead. But here is a warning for the future. Don’t do what I did.

Deeper in we found a pit or well at least 200 ft deep and an Ankheg that tried to acid melt the new shard-bearer. It didn’t take long to kill.

At last was the treasure and a track back to White Moon Cove to split it between us and bury the bones.