The Maze

From Lexicanum

Minotaur Madness

After resting up, the party finally braved the portal at the bottom of  Belkram’s Fall, finding themselves standing on a rocky shore by an underground river. Moving forward Cidric spotted three minotaurs fishing, and called out a greeting. His attempt a good manners was met in the usual method, by the minotaurs bellowing and charging them - horns lowered. Zeb and Karl bell back , using spells and bows and leaving the others to bear the brunt of the minotaur’s fearsome blows. Eventually two of the minotaur’s were slain and the third took to his heels,  Karl took the opportunity to fire off a final shot, but this only seemed to enrage the minotaur, who reversed course and charged Cidric, almost killing the paladin before he was slain.

Once everyone was (more or less) healed, Cidric picked up a basket of fish and headed off for the tunnel the fleeing minotaur was heading for, quickly finding himself lost in a maze of tunnels. The otrhers, lagging slightly behind, soon lost sight of their friend and they too soon found themselves lost in the maze of tunnels. Eventually Thorik worked out they were going round in circles, and decided to start trying to mark where they had been. Taking out a crowbar he began trying to gouge a mark in the tunnel wall as they reached an intersection. Unfortunately the noise he made attracted three minotaurs who charged at them. Things were going very badly for the Party with Silverbeard  being quickly killed, until suddenly Cidric blundered out of a nearby tunnel and swung the balance of the combat. As they recovered, Thorik dealt with their fallen comrade (after stripping him of anything of value) using soften earth and stone to create a tomb for the fallen dwarf.

Moving forward, this time at Cidric’s urging making sure no one got out of sight, they defeated three more minotaurs who were mining strange crystals from the cave walls. After briefly resting they eventually found themselves in the minotaur’s home. Fortunately the minotaur’s chief spoke a smattering of common and Cidric and Thorik were able to agree a truce and, on handing over Silverbeard’s flaming maul, also negotiated passage out of the monotaur's maze.

Next morning after a breakfast of fish and edible moss washed down with fermented rothe milk, they set out following one of the minotaurs. He led them out of the maze and pointed them in the direction of where they could find the drow.

As they headed down the passageway they were suddenly confronted by the ghost of what looked like  a paladin of Tyr . The ghost informed him that they must accompany him, and if they denied him, they would be stripped of all possessions and abandoned in Undermountain. At which point his form became more misty and insubstantial and flowed around them.

Suddenly they found themselves elsewhere!

The Water-lock Sword

The Party found themselves in a windowless vault where a lone elf sat in a corner munching disconsolately on some waybread. Introducing himself as Leafwind and told them that Fidelio – the ghostly paladin – had grabbed him a couple of days ago, and there was no apparent way out of the vault. Zeb suggested using her ring, but the others were a bit concerned that this would mean that following Fidelio’s promise they would found themselves wandering some remote part of Undermountain in the smallclothes armed only with a dagger. Cidric tried seeking guidance from Torm but did not get any sense of wrongness about the path they were on, so they decided to wait.

A few hours later Fidelio returned, advising them he had their first quest – to retrieve the sword, which he referred to a the water-lock sword, from a Helmed Horror. He teleported them outside a chamber which was dominated by a large stone tank of water which was indeed guarded by a helmed horror. They deployed cautiously into the room, Leafwind readying a sling and Karl his bow, but the helmed horror ignored them until Thorik began acceding the steps set in the side of the tank. As battle was joined, the party quickly gained the upper hand with their superior numbers, suddenly Cidric noticed that water in the tank was becoming more and more agitated until a huge water elemental burst forth and attacked the helmed horror, destroying it! The helmed horror gone the elemental turned its attentions to the Party, nearly killing sever of them before a combination of spells from Zeb and Thorik and Cidric picking up and using the helmed horror’s sword enabled them to kill it.

Returning to Fidelio he offered to return them to their path until he required their services again or said he would take them to the Vault where they could rest safely. They chose to rest, and next morning Fidelio took them to the outside of the drow outpost they had been heading for. Cidric led the way in and they quickly cleared a nearby guard post. Shortly afterwards they found their way into a huge cave where slaves – goblins and doppelgangers – were harvesting mushrooms.

They quickly overcame the overseers and just had time to free the doppelgangers when Fidelio appeared!

The Cauldron

Fidelio dropped them in an empty room and instructed them to retrieve a cauldron from an Annis Hag located nearby, after which he would return them to the drow compound where he had taken them form. Helpfully before they set off, he warned them that the hag had four ogres with her. As ever Cidric led the way, optimistic that he could avoid combat by being nice to people, and as ever was quickly proved wrong! As the ogres attacked, the others, reacting to what by now had become Cidric’s battle cry – a friendly “hello” – charged forward to help.

A fearsome battle ensued, hampered further when someone cast a fog cloud  into the already dimly lit conditions. Leafwind used summon nature's ally to bring a dire bat to assist them, while Zeb manoeuvred to get best position for his spells.

Frank meanwhile, desperately tried to get into flanking positions with little obvious success. Cidric badly injured by the ogres assault moved out to try to heal himself only to be attacked and nearly killed by the annis hag. Fortunately as the ogres fell one by one, Thorik was able to find time to cast vigor, mass and save the stricken paladin. Once the ogres were disposed of it took little time to finish off the hag.

They stripped the body of the hag of a considerable number of potions and then retrieved her cauldron from the campsite,. Returning to Fidelio he dropped them back in the drow compound where he had taken them, despite Zeb requesting that he take them somewhere to rest. Unfortunately ( for the drow that is) there was a drow partial in the cave investigating the escaped slaves.

The drow, and two accompanying large spiders were swiftly dealt, with, after which Zeb used the horned ring to teleport to the doppelganger merchants and a well-earned rest.

The Temple

Next morning after a quiet night’s rest with the doppelganger merchants, Zeb used the Horned Ring to teleport them back to the drow outpost. After once again clearing out the guard room, they continued their exploration of the complex, eventually finding themselves at the entrance to a temple of Lolth. Cidric was first in, only to find himself entangled in a web and covered in a darkness spell. As he stood there helpless he felt several other spells hitting him, but he managed to shrug off most the effects except for a spider swarm. As the paladin struggled to free himself, Zeb  came to his aid using a wand of burning hands to clear the webs.

As they entered the temple, which was lit by a dim violet light emanating from several large statues, they were confronted by two drow priestesses and an aranea. The confrontation that followed was complicated slightly when Cidric fell victim to a command  spell and decided a dip on the temple pool was just the thing in the middle of combat.

Karl fired off several arrows while Leafwind summoned a bat swarm that distracted the aranea for a time while Zeb and Thorik cast numerous spells filling the air with, lightning bolt,  fireball, sound burst and searing light spells,  easily overcoming the drow’s spell resistance.

As they were ultimately triumphant, Fidelio appeared before them summoning them once more to his aid. He told them for their final task they must retrieve something called a psi-crystal from the carapace of an umber hulk located nearby. He also told them that the drown and doppelgangers were actually engaged in a covert war to control a the device Halaster was working on at his death – The Runestone. This device was crucial to securing the safety of Waterdeep and it was also crucial that neither side get control of it.

The Runestone was located in an almost inaccessible part of Undermountain, but Fidelio promised if the Party helped him one more time he would take them to it.

Hulk Smash!

Fidelio transported them to the shores of an underground river and pointed to a series of caves in the cliff wall. As ever, Cidric led the way, using his sword for illumination while Leafwind lit a torch and brought up the rear. As he went forward, Cidric though he heard a sound as in grinding rocks, a split second before an umber hull bust out of the cave wall next to him. Leafwind and Karl immediately fell afoul of the umber hulk’s confusion gaze attack, while Zeb and Thorik rallied to Cidric’s support unleashing a barrage of spells.  Although Cidric was badly wounded the Part prevailed, despite Leafwind trying to brain Thorik with a torch!

After briefly resting and healing the wounded they pressed on into the network of caves. Ahead Thorik could see what appeared to be a pair of wriggling legs sticking out of a cave wall, but as he went forward he fell down a camouflaged pit. Before the others could move to help, two umber hulks bust out of the rock and attacked. There was a brutal fight, made more difficult as Karl, Cidric and Leafwind all fell afoul of the umber hulk’s gaze at various times. Thorik managed to haul himself up out of the pit to re-join  the fray and once again, the Party triumphed.

They barely had time to enjoy their victory when the ground beneath them collapsed tumbling Leafwind down into a cave below, where he was attacked by a crystal-skulled umber  hulk. While Zeb began unleashing lightning bolt spells, the others dropped down into the cave and faced off against the beast, which charged Cidric injuring him badly. As the battle raged, the umber hulk’s gaze attack complicated matters somewhat again, and Leafwind was very nearly killed before a vigor, mass spell from Thorik stabilised him. But eventually the beast was slain, its body disintegrating to dust, leaving only its crystal skull behind. Searching the area, they found some treasures including a magic ring, sword and staff, and returned with the skull to Fidelio.

Fidelio, offered to transport them one last time, either to the Runestone level or to a place of safety and Cidric insisted on heading to the Runestone level. Fidelio transported them there, before he performed a simple ritual releasing himself from his fate.

The Runestone

Proceeding gingerly forward, Karl spotted an area of pale light on the floor. Looking up he could see an illuminated shaft in the celling and unmoving within it were several figures both of drow and doppelgangers. Zeb and Cidric speculated this was some kind of stasis field and  everyone conspicuously avoided stepping in the pool of light. A gigantic cavern beyond contained a hill in the centre from which several huge crystals jutted out the top. The crystals glowed with different colours, eerily lighting the cave and occasionally discharged lightning bolts into the ceiling.

A winding path led round the hill towards the top, but as Cidric led the way towards it, Karl spotted a side cave nearby. Moving over to investigate it appeared to be some kind of campsite, though it was clear it hadn’t been used for some time. Cidric and Karl headed in to investigate only to be attacked by two large earth elementals that emerged from the cave walls. The rest of the Party rallied to help, Leafwind peppering the elementals with slingshot while Zeb and Thorik unleashed spells and in short order the two elementals were slain. The party took breath and began to relax when suddenly the remains of the two earth elementals flowed together, combining to form a huge earth elemental. Battle was once more joined and ultimately the Party triumphed.

Searching the area they found some potions, before heading for the hill, about 20 yards up the path they found a cave where four scorched row corpses lay. As they examined the cave Cidric could see magical text on the walls which appeared to be some kind of instructions for the Runestone. Strangely, none of the others could see the text, though Zeb, after casting Read Magic¸ could. Leaving the cave they were attacked by two flameskulls who, despite dropping an avalanche on them, were swiftly death  with by turn undead from Thorik.

On the way up there were three more caves with strange instructions. Studying them told them some of the Runestone’s capabilities , including its ability to charge magic items. By the time they reached the top Cidric felt like his brain had been put through the wringer, though he felt he had a fair understanding of the basic operation of the Runestone.

The cave at the top contained many crystalline controls   as well as various slots and alcoves where items could be placed. Zeb had a few attempts at creating magic items and though he managed to charge Thorik’s spare Warhammer with a non-detection spell, and create a Scimitar of Heal for Leafwind, but failed singularly to make himself a magic hat! Eventually frustrated he went back to the instruction caves to read up some more! While she did that the others pondered what to do now they had secured control of the Runestone. No one really wanted to cede control to the drow and they felt they could not fully trust the doppelgangers. Karl was keen to drop the whole problem  in the laps of the Lords of Waterdeep , but the others were keen on destroying it to ensure no one had control.

Several hours later, Zeb returned and finally managed to make himself a hat of fox’s cunning, after which they prepared to set about the Runestone controls with hammers! As they did, one of the crystal-encrusted  walls started glowing and a Crystal Stone Golem flowed out from it. The Crystal Stone Golem proved a formidable opponent, and as Zeb called on everyone to retreat so he could teleport them away, Karl’s idea of tuning the problem of the Runestone over to the authorities in Waterdeep now seemed strangely attractive. Cidric, whom for some reason the Crystal Stone Golem would not attack, held it  a bay for a moment allowing the others to congregate round Zeb at the cave entrance, whereupon he activated the horned ring, taking them to the exit to the Yawning Portal and safety.