Campaign Date:  11th of the Tomb (December), 862
Mundane World Date:  December 4th, 2002
Experience Points:  +2,000 per character
In Character Journals (Optional, worth 200 EP):  Cupric's Adventure 2 Journal, Brass Adventure 2 Journal

Experience Points Allele'a +2,000 20,737 Brass +2,200 21,037 Brendan +2,000 20,737 Cupric +2,200 21,037 Perianor Deceased Solera +2,000 20,737

With the escape of the mysterious armored squatter at the house owned by the dwarven smith named Rinner Silverfind, the party began a search of the house and the area around it: an enclosed yard surrounded by an eight foot privacy wall.  Sir Perianor spoke with several local guards and assured them the situation was under control, as well as made certain the two civilians wounded by spells were healed.  A search of the house and yard revealed little except that the furnishings were more or less untouched, except for a second floor bedroom that overlooked the front yard: there was a pack, lantern, and signs that the mysterious guest had evidentially spent at least a few days in the house.

Cupric and Allele'a searched the adjoining stables to the house and found a secret door in the floor: actually little more than a roughly made wood covering concealed with dirt and straw.  Rinner confirmed that it was not a part of the original construction of the house but got of track in (rather humorous) talks with Brass about the young sorcerer possibly renting or purchasing the property.  Removing the rough wood covering revealed a dirt tunnel heading down an incline and to the north, possibly "the work of giant moles" according to Rinner, although the dwarf was eager to have the party investigate the situation.  They collected the lantern from upstairs and entered the caves, following them for around fifteen minutes until they branched: one path continued on while a second tunnel led to the right.  There were also tracks leading down the main tunnel, deeper underground.

The party was cautious although their use of light sources and conversation did little to help their efforts at concealment, yet nothing took interest in the group as they neared the secondary cave and explored.  Perianor readied his weapon and shield as he led, but stumbled into a well concealed covered pit trap, falling thirty feet and landing on a number of rocks that were obviously roughly sharpened and placed to further wound anyone with the misfortune of falling for the trap.  As the party worked to free the knight, Cupric noticed a concealed door that seemed to circumvent the pit trap.  The party opened it and explored another set of caves, discovering a decaying body of a man who looked to be partially devoured by something--certainly not giant moles, however.  Allele'a discovered another trap in the next cavern but there was a second secret door, presumably to avoid the second trap.  The party pushed on it and the door opened easily, revealing a waiting creature: an insect-humanoid, easily eight feet tall and covered in armored plating.  The creature quickly attacked, attempting unsuccessfully to use its' Confusing Gaze on Solera and Cupric, but the combined attacks of the party killed it quickly and without serious injury.

Behind the Umber Hulk, the party discovered the last of the caverns with several piles of loose rocks, mud, and dirt.  Allele'a searched the room for traps, Perianor and Brass kept watch, and the rest of the party searched the piles finding a number of valuables in a sack, including hundreds of coins (230 gp, 492 sp), three gold and silver necklaces, a small silver picture frame (without a picture), a black pearl ring, and a gaudy jeweled cup.  Confident nothing else remained in the caverns, the party returned to the main tunnel.  While no one in the group was skilled at tracking, there were obvious tracks continuing on (the same the party followed from the stables), leading to another branch in the tunnels.  There was a large pack plus several digging tools near the wall: an inspection revealed the tools did not seem to have been used and the pack contained mostly food (dried meat), a lantern, two flasks of oil, two ceramic flasks of an unknown substance, a large waterskin, and a handwritten note:

Kikanuile,

Once you get inside the unsealed portion of the Banewarrens, you will have to find a massive iron door.  This is a warded door.  It may be trapped, we do not know.  It is, however, sealed beyond your capacity to breach.  Therefore, you ill use a wish form the ring to open it and even that will keep it open only for a moment.  On what lies beyond that door, our spells are silent, except that you will find the Grail within Tremoc Korin.  The last wish will be your key to get out.

--Yuinthu

Little in the note made sense except mention of the Banewarrens.  All in the party had heard of a place by that name: it was a rumored stronghold created around eight hundred years ago by the combined efforts of the Reliquis Church, and possibly even elves and dwarves, to hold various "banes" in safety from the rest of the world.  It was supposedly built at what was then the edge of the "civilized world" in the Northdown region, an area that encompassed what is now known as the duchies of Bruinsblood and Falconmoor, as well as the Empire of Shal'Theran (the elven nation) and Hygard (the dwarven nation).

The discover of the note put the party on edge, but they continued on cautiously and ready for anything.  They followed the tunnel to a stonework room with a breeched door, once covered in warding runes by now faded and not functional.  The room had three exits: a similarly warded doorway but with a slightly open door, a narrow hallway to parts unknown, and a thirty foot wide opening to a larger room beyond.  Concerned that there might be enemies about, the party quickly decided to investigate the open door first, sending Cupric in to investigate.  He found a stonework chamber devoid of any features of interest aside from a stonework slab with a strange purple-red crystal atop.  The slab was covered in writings in Pious: wards and warnings of danger.  He rejoined the party and the group decided to investigate, entering the room cautiously and approaching the slab and crystal. 

Suddenly a shadowy form appeared between the party and the crystal and struck out at Sir Perianor as he neared the stone slab to better read the writings.  The creature, a Wraith, struck the knight and drained him of his stamina, but the party quickly attacked it as Sir  Perianor and Father Brendan attempted to dispel it with the power of their faith.  Solera launched arrows at the crystal, cracking it badly, but as her arrow hit home, the floor of the room suddenly electrified, wounding nearly all of the party.  She fired again, destroying the crystal as the party destroyed the undead apparition.  Perianor inspected the inscription careful and realized it warned that the crystal could not be permanently destroyed: he quickly inspected it, noticing that it was indeed regenerating.  The party decided to beat a hasty retreat, back into the entranceway.

The group decided to explore the smaller doorway first, which opened into a room with a huge iron vat, pocked with patches of rust, although the rest of the room was empty.  As the party approached the odd cauldron, a pair of hideous creatures emerged from behind it: they were comprised of worms, insects, and rats in a writhing mass that stood upright with the vague form of a humanoid.  The two creatures eagerly attacked the interlopers and wounded Father Brendan, although he suffered more when Solera fired an arrow that hit him instead (as he was providing cover to the hideous creatures by virtue of his position between the archer and her target).  Brendan was forced to retreat but the two vermin creatures were quickly destroyed.

The party was overall in a weakened state, but decided to press their investigation further.  Perianor was perhaps the worst off from the attacks and elected to remain in the entrance chamber and keep watch while the rest of the group explored, discovering an odd iron tower topped with a brass sphere, covered in ancient runes, through the larger doorway.  Continuing past the cauldron room, Cupric and Allele'a found a room empty aside from a large pit in the center: as they entered to explore, a massive giant lifted his head over the edge of the pit, causing the pair to promptly retreat.  Cupric was convinced that the giant was an illusion as the doors to the room were simply too small for it to fit inside, but when he made a closer inspection of it, he could see no signs of it being an image.

Meanwhile, Sir Perianor noticed a pair of goblins entering the main chamber from the dirt tunnel and called out an alarm as he charged, rounding a corner to discover a total of four of the foul little creatures in front of a Minotaur with a massive blade and potion in hand, as well as a strange creature by its' side.  The other creature had the body of a lion but the torso and upper body of a man (similar to the centaurs of legend): it wore no armor but also held a potion.  As Perianor quickly cut down a goblin, the two unusual creatures drank their potions: the Minotaur was obviously Hasted but the lion-man showed no obvious effects. 

Cupric and Allele'a did not hear the initial start of the battle and as Cupric tried to sneak to the edge of the pit, he fell pray to a Suggestion that he should jump in.  Cupric jumped forward, intending to land on the back of the giant and slide down to break his fall, but fell through the illusion to the ground, next to another of the lion-humanoid creatures.  He and Allele'a quickly drew weapons and fought with it, resisting several spells and killing it, but the fight took nearly a half a minute.  While they fought, Perianor bravely held off the attackers and Solera assisted with a volley of arrows, a few of which bounced off the knight's armor as he provided cover to the attackers.  Brass and Brendan also assisted, but the powerful Minotaur quickly moved up to Sir Perianor and brought a pair of blows down on the knight, killing him.

Brass began to pelt the area with spells, including a Fireball that killed off the remaining goblins and gave the two creatures a moment's pause, as Brendan attempted to engage with his blade and Solera with her bow, but the Minotaur and lion-humanoid were both powerful and forced the party to retreat, nearly killing both Brendan and Solera.  However, the sustaining volley of spells from Brass along with the combined attacks of the party killed the Minotaur and forced its companion to retreat, but not before it created a Wall of Stone over the entrance, sealing the party within and locked away from the body of their slain companion...

DM Musings:  Overall a very good session, particularly for a dungeon crawl.  Perianor's death was very unfortunate although the party pushed their limits with continuing to explore when their resources were low.  I had a lot of fun running the adventure and am still getting use to running a "canned" adventure rather than something of my own creation, but I'm finding I really enjoy the experience.   I unfortunately did not write this summary the next day so I did not do as good of a job with this one as I would have liked: hopefully a character journal or two will flesh out the details.