Campaign Date:  16th to the 17th of the Tomb (December), 862
Mundane World Date:  March 29th, 2002
Experience Points:  +3,310 per character
In Character Journals (Optional, worth 200 EP): 
Summary to be provided by Cupric (+1,000)

Experience Points Allele'a +3,310 25,922 Brass Absent 23,112 Brendan +3,310 25,922 Cupric +4,310 28,620 Solera +3,310 26,922 Wyn +3,310 22,635

Nicolan Regilis

The adventure opened with everyone rested and recovered from the events of adventure 4 after staying a night in the church provided quarters. Before departing Brass was called away on Sage business for an unknown length of time, but the rest of the group decided to soldier on into the Banewarrens to seek those who had unlocked it. Just prior to leaving Father Fabitor Thisk brought in Nicolan Regelis, the Knight of the Chord who had been questioned about House Vladdam the night before the key was stolen.

Nicolan had been caught and interrogated as a suspect of the theft by the forces of House Vladdam. During interrogation she held to claiming she had no knowledge of the theft, but upon rejoining the party she acted as though she thought the PC’s had obtained it. Surprised to find it was not in the PC’s possession, she decided to accompany the group into the Banewarrens.

The trip into the Banewarrens was rather uneventful. Upon entering the now unsealed main entrance the party, in an effort to assist in catching the others that were most likely in the warrens with the PCs, decided to alarm the 4 passages the party did not take at the 5 way split. This done the party proceeded up the northeast corridor (Allele’a was much more careful this time, not eager to be frozen again). Skulking ahead and rounding a corner yielded Allele’a a rather painful encounter with some sort of mechanoid with drill appendages. Several well aimed shots from Solera, and miscellaneous pounding, later the machine lay in ruins. At this time one of the alarms went off in the 5 way split passage. Cupric and most of the others rushed back to confront the interlopers and a fierce battle began.

Arriving within sight range of the intruders it was discovered that an ogre, a great lion/bird thing, a huge spider and a spider-like humanoid were the culprits. As the party grouped to make an assault the ogre let loose with a wave of fierce cold energy. Most were able to dive away and minimize the damage, but Allele’a, still stunned from her earlier wounds, took the full brunt of the frigid storm. For the second time in as many days the elven thief dropped from extreme cold. Cupric was able to restore some of her vitality and she retreated to recuperate before rejoining the fray. Solera, Wyn, Nicolan and Brendan engaged the enemies in ranged and melee combat. Cupric was able to charm the ogre into attacking its companions for a short while, but the enchantment was quickly dispelled. The lion creature went down first, followed by the spider creature and the spidery-humanoid. The battle was going ill for the ogre so it became invisible. Cupric pursued, and ran into the invisible ogre. Dropping a handful of readied marbles, Cupric caused the ogre to lose it’s balance. By this time Allele’a and Nicolan had take flanking positions next to the ogre and did horrendous damage to it in some very carefully aimed strikes (aimed by naught but sound). Blood flowed freely from the enemy and it went limp. Allele’a then relayed the fact she had seen a creature that Cupric called a mind-flayer who had retreated from battle.

The group took a few moments to regroup and heal. During this brief respite the still-invisible ogre got up ran away up the central passageway. A decision was made to pursue the mind-flayer, so the group progressed down the western passage. This passage eventually let to a room with two exits. One exit led to a room bisected by a wall of force that was impassable, and the other room led to a large circular chamber that the group had previously come to by traveling the north east passage from the initial 5 way split. A bit of poking around in the circular room led to a previously undiscovered passage. This passage had a couple doors in it. Allele’a eventually picked the far western door and was greeted by a large mechanical scorpion. The door behind the party in the same hall (previously un-openable) opened at the same time and spilled out 4 smaller versions of the mechanical scorpion. Battle ensued in which Wyn laid waste to the smaller scorpions and a team effort destroyed the large scorpion. Beyond the room that held the large scorpion was an armory filled with weapons of foul design. A strong magical energy was detected in the room so the party retreated, re-locking doors as they went.

Having found a loop in the design of the warrens it was decided it would be unproductive to chase the mind-flayer in circles and splitting the party to trap it was not desired. After much discussion it was decided to explore the northwest more thoroughly. Allele’a was able to unlock a door at the top of the stairs that had been guarded by the drill creature. Inside two giant squid were suspended in floor to ceiling glass cylinders filled with water. In between the symmetrically placed cylinders was a metal cylinder that extended from the ceiling almost to the floor. At the very bottom of the metal tube was a valve that no-one desired to turn. Exploring the room Allele’a discovered a secret door which bypassed the wall of force which blocked an earlier passage. A huge block of stone was the new block and no further progress in that passage was possible, despite the bypass of the wall of force.

Retreating from the squid room another room was unlocked by the pointy eared rogue. This one slammed the door shut just after Allele’a entered and rained poison gas on her. The party forced the door open as Allele’a worked her way into another locked room to escape. Inside the new room Allele’a encountered a mechanical construct resembling a thin human. This construct was pinned to the floor by a barrel (which filled the room) that had fallen on his crotch and destroyed one of his legs. He was also missing an eye and speaking in old Imperial. Cupric stepped in and translated for a while until it was discovered that the construct spoke at least one language of most of the characters.

It turns out the construct was Geristranomos the janitor of the Banewarrens. Geristranomos who had been created by Danar Rotannison himself had a great knowledge of the traps of the warrens. Unfortunately he seemed to have suffered some damage to his memory over the long years as he was less than coherent often. The party assisted in repairing the damaged automaton, and decided to take him to the surface to gain information from him. A trip to the surface was needed due to the exhausted state of the party as well.

Just before the exit of the Banewarrens the group was ambushed by the mind-flayer, a phase spider and a female dwarf. The mind-flayer let loose with a mind blast that stunned more than half of the party. The phase spider and dwarf seized the stunned Allele’a and kidnapped her despite the best efforts of Allele’a and Cupric to prevent it. The dwarf left behind a ransom note that indicated that the party had to leave the Banewarrens and wait to be contacted. After the kidnapping the mind flayer retreated and so did the party.

On the surface it was decided the first priority was to rescue Allele’a. The party sought the assistance of the Sages and the Church through divinations intended to locate Allele’a. Swords were sharpened, armor straps tightened. The party was preparing for a fight, but this time they were the hunters.