The House of the Beast Whispers of War One mid-morning day, a stranger stalked into the Battlemarket - a tall gangly man clad in the robes of a priest. Ardeth, who was lounging about in the bar, after coming in from the morning patrol struck up a conversation with the man who introduced himself a Zafiyid Zafiyid told them he needed an urgent audience with Lady Almah as he had news of import for her and the Heroes of Kelmarane. Ardeth agreed to set up a meeting and headed off to the Palace. After arranging with Garavel to meet with Almah after the midday meal, he went off to round up the other Heroes. Around one o’clock they assembled in the Lady Almah’s reception chamber – Barid somewhat reluctantly. Raschid, as Abbot-Protector of Sarenrae, also brought his new acolyte, Kaliel, a monk recently arrived at the Temple.   Zafiyid told Almah that he brought a warning - the Carrion King was uniting all of the gnoll clans in the area for a strike against them. With the paltry forces based in the town, even with the help of the Heroes, Kelmarane could not survive such an all-out assault by the massed gnoll clans. After the cleric withdrew, the lady Almah asked for counsel – Ardeth immediately suggested a surgical strike to take-out the Carrion King and thus remove the unifying force behind the gnoll army. In the absence of any other suggestions Lady Almah agreed. Dakshi was summoned to the meeting and asked what intelligence he could provide about the Carrion King. The scout told them the he was a gnoll worshiper of Rovagug, initially exiled from his tribe for his beliefs; he had found some source of power beneath Pale Mountain and emerged as a powerful force amongst the gnoll clans. The Carrion King was based in an abandoned temple on the northern slope of Pale Mountain , and he gave Ardeth directions on how to get there. Lady Almah agreed to fund basic supplies for the mission and early next morning the party set off.   The six-day journey to Pale Mountain proved eventful. The first three days were relatively quiet, but on the third night, as Neryl stood watch, they were attacked by a small pack of blink dogs. The blink dogs proved more of an irritation that a serious threat and  were soon slain. On the fourth day as they followed the river, Sparky spotted a creature he identified as lamia on the opposite mountainside, but rather than confront the beast they avoided a battle by hiding in the undergrowth by the riverside.  Again, that night, as they slept by the campfire, Raschid was attacked by four chupacabras. He was badly wounded before his comrades roused themselves and joined the fray. Fortunately Gromrelda and Neryl were on hand to provide healing after each of the attacks; the cleric was also able to help with the debilitating blood-loss caused by the chupacabras.   At the end of the sixth day, as twilight fell, they arrived at the foot of Pale Mountain  and while the others found a relatively secure hiding spot near the temple, Barid went off on a scouting mission. An hour or so later, he reported back - the eastern entrance was guarded by gnolls accompanied by hyaenadons, but there was some broken areas of the perimeter wall where they might be able to gain access. One by one they sneaked their way round to the broken wall – Neryl and Gromrelda making judicious use of Sanctuary.    The Gatehouse  Ardeth, Gromrelda and Barid were first to scramble over the broken-down wall and peer into the temple compound. Fortunately there was no sign of activity and they ghosted across the corner of the courtyard to the northern gatehouse. The dome that had once graced this low building was creaked and broken so Ardeth levered himself onto the roof and moved across to peer down into the darkness. He could see vague forms moving around in the gloom below – but they looked like human rather than gnoll. Gromrelda and Barid joined him and the dwarf’s darkvision confirmed that they were indeed humans and judging from their general poor condition and the remains of manacles hanging from their wrists, they appeared to be escaped slaves. Ardeth and Gromrelda dropped down into the room and quickly reassured the slaves that they meant no harm. A few minutes later they were joined by Barid and the others and the clerics began distributing food and some basic medical care.   The slaves were pathetically grateful to see them, telling them they had taken advantage of an attack yesterday by a tribe of troglodytes on the gnolls to make their escape. At one end of the gatehouse a partially buried stairway led down below the compound – the slaves pointed out that they had used this to escape from “the Warrens” below, but were had holed up here as they had no supplies or weapons with which to undertake the long trek back to civilisation. Gromrelda led the way down into the depths. Where the stairway ended abruptly in a collapse, she fixed a knotted rope to the banister and dropped down into the tunnel below – the others followed. Gromrelda cautioning them to keep any light-sources covered until they were sure what they were facing.   Moving on down the rough-hewn passageway, they passed an area of worked stone where a wall had been broken down and hastily repaired with boulders cemented into place with mud. Passing further down Gromrelda could see a hallway – clearly the scene of a fairly recent battle – where a hulking gnoll stood guard. Gromrelda hastened back to the others to inform them and they decided that a direct assault was their best recourse. The sneaked forward into position in darkness, while Kaliel prepared to uncover his everburning torch to light the battle. With a cry Gromrelda charged forward-as she did she noticed another of the hulking gnolls standing off to one side and hastily called a warning. Ardeth immediately changed the focus of his attack to the second gnoll and battle was joined. Neryl cast spiritual weapon and joined the attack on the first gnoll, as Raschid too danced in to attack. Barid moved to support Ardeth while Sparky launched magic missiles hither and thither. The gnolls proved fearsome opponents and very difficult to kill, but eventually the party prevailed.   As the party paused to take breath, heal, and search the area, Sparky noticed that, curiously, both the gnolls had curious lumps of scar-tissue on their foreheads. There were three exits from this room – on a door that was sealed with an arcane lock. A second doorway led to a passageway which headed west while a pair of tunnels led off to the south-east. Gromrelda decided to check-out the south-eastern tunnels and immediately ran in to two more of the hulking gnolls. Another tough combat followed until the gnolls were slain. Sparky again noted that the two gnolls had the same curious lumps of scar-tissue on their foreheads.   After resting form their second grueling combat in such a short time, the party decided to head back an check out the broken down wall they had passed earlier. Ardeth moved to the front and began to shift one of the boulders blocking the gap – unfortunately he also tripped the trap that had been set there! A jagged portcullis swept down, winging Raschid and impaling the barbarian beneath it with a sickening crunch. They portcullis proved impossible to budge, but eventually Gromrelda used soften earth and stone on the ground beneath Ardeth to enable them to dig their friend out. After this disconcerting episode they decided to head back to where the slaves were hiding to rest. Grundmoch's Lair After their abortive trip underground, the party decided to check out the upper levels of the House of the Beast. Their first target proved to be an empty storeroom of some kind and they found little of interest. As they moved across the compound both Sparky and Gromrelda though they spotted movement at the top of the tower that loomed over the North Gate - but decided not to investigate yet! Gromrelda and Ardeth headed towards the westernmost of the three minarets in the centre of the compound. There didn't appear to be an entrance at ground level, so the barbarian began shinnying up the sheer walls to a window about 40 ft up. Ardeth found the minaret to be completely clogged with spider webs, he had a half-hearted attempt to burn some of the webs away but soon desisted as the huge bulk of a monstrous spider heaved it's way towards him. Barid decided to head towards the  West Gate, sneaking along the wall and then finding the doorway mysteriously blocked he hauled himself up onto the roof and made his way to the front of the building. He found that the entrance on this side was guarded by strange lizard-like creatures carrying javelins. Heading back to  the compound, he dropped down to the ground and the others moved across to join him. Sparky identified the lizard-like creatures as troglodytes - probably the ones the escaped slaves had mentioned. Ardeth speculated that it might be worth attempting a parlay as they had a common enemy in the Carrion King. At first the idea received a somewhat cool reception, but Ardeth and the Barbarian, ever impetuous, decided to set out on a diplomatic mission anyway. Unfortunately his embassy fell at the first hurdle as a was unable to understand a word that the troglodytes were saying to him. Eventually conceding defeat he came back to fetch Sparky and Neryl. As both the sorcerer and the cleric spoke Draconic, the negotiations went somewhat smoother, and soon they were ushered into the presence of the troglodyte chieftain - Grundmoch. Although the troglodytes were initially suspicious of adventurers, some smooth talking by  Sparky, brought the chieftain round and, although he would not agree to help directly he did agree to provide the party with a relatively safe place to rest should they need it.  Grundmoch also warned them that the North Gateway was home to a nest of gargoyles and that a huge serpent laired in the building along the South Wall. Reporting back to the others, and having secured their rear the party decide to press on at attempt to investigate the ancient Temple itself. They made their way towards the western entrance, discovering it guarded by a group of eight gnolls, Ardeth and Gromrelda charged one guard while Raschid and Kaliel another  - a fireball from Sparky took care of the other six! Once the gnolls were taken care of Barid and Kaliel rushed forward to investigate. Unfortunately in their haste they both failed to spot the area was liberally strewn with poison smeared caltrops and soon both were hopping around clutching at sore feet as scorpion venom lanced it's way through their veins ! The Great Dome After Barid confirmed that the doors were not trapped, Raschid and Gromrelda thrust them open to reveal a  narrow passageway curving round the perimeter of the dome. In front of them was another set of double doors, in front of which was a coiled rope with grappling hook attached. Closer inspection of the rope revealed it to be coved in old bloodstains. Barid once again checked the door for traps and after declaring it clear, Raschid and Gromrelda led the way. The dome rose high overhead, it's inner ceiling had collapsed at some point leaving a rubble-strewn floor that was cluttered with heaps of animal skeletons and countless bloodstains. Entering cautiously into the room, Gromrelda and Raschid were attacked by two huge scorpions which dropped down on them from the walls. As the two engaged, their colleagues rushed in to help. Sparky started slinging spells before leaping into combat with his magical punch-dagger. Kalie hung back for a while providing light with his everburning torch before leaping towards one of the scorpions and administering a punishing series of kicks. Ardeth swung his mighty axe, and even Barid got in on the act.  In the ensuing battle Raschid was badly hurt, but eventually the huge beasts were slain. After Gromrelda had headed what wounds she could and various potions were drunk, the adventurers proceeded across the rubble-strewn floor to another set of doors. This set of doors led back into the perimeter corridor and then on to a wide hallway that showed little sign of use,  and led to a set of external doors that had rusted shut. Kaliel wandered round the  corner and reported back to the others a stairway that led down to the lower levels. Gromrelda led the way into a large hallway that was guarded by three of the hulking Unchosen and three hyaenadons. A brutal combat ensued, but eventually the party secured the area.  Howver the party was so badly bruised and battered by the ferocity of the encounter that it was decided toi retreat back to the  safety  of Grundmoch's lair and rest up. Before they left however, the bodies of the Unchosen and the hyaenadons were dragged up to the scorion chamber and arrayed as if there had been a great battle there. Coils of Flame  After resting up with Grundmoch and his tribe the party decided to head back into the warrens. The bodies had been removed from the room where they had first encountered the Unchosen but he spattered bloodstains remained on the walls. The spent some time pondering the wizard-locked door but eventually decided to head for the western passageway.   Barid spent some time searching the passageway for traps, but it was clear. The door at the end was not locked but something seemed to he stopping it opening – Gromrelda and Raschid pushed the door open, finding that what had been obstructing it was a tangled mess of spider webs. The party edged cautiously into the room, Ardeth speculating that this might be where the giant spider he’d seen in the minaret came from. Sure enough, the huge spider dropped down and attacked, in the combat that followed Ardeth was bitten and poisoned by the spider’s venom.   Searching the spider’s lair, Barid discovered a desiccated corpse that wore brightly shining chain mail and sported an amulet round his neck. While the rogue searched the others headed out the southern entrance finding a long curving, web-entangled stairway that led up to the minaret.   The northern exit from this room was partially blocked by boulders on the other side. Raschid and Gromrelda managed to force it open revealing it led to the hide-out of the escaped ogrekin slave Lazrul and those that had remained with him out of fear. Lazrul was less-than-pleases at the interruption and charged to defend his domain, smashing into Raschid with what looked like a small uprooted tree. Raschid dropped pole-axed and Gromrelda and Kaliel both went to help with healing. Sparky tossed a fireball into the room which handily disposed of most of Lazrul’s followers, Ardeth then moved in to help Gromrelda finish off the raging ogrekin. The ogrekin disposed of, Kaliel took the last surviving escaped slave up to join his fellows aboveground.     Discovering there was little of interest in Lazrul’s hideout they headed back the way they’d come heading for the south eastern exit. A passageway to the south led to the huge room where they’d faced-off against the Unchosen and the Hyaenadons the day before, but as the guards there had been reinforced they decided to head elsewhere. They found one tunnel that appeared to head upwards toward the tower the gargoyles occupied, but the stairway was blocked by a rock-fall. A third passageway led northward to where a shaft descended down to a lower set of tunnels. Kaliel seized the in initiative and headed down into the darkness, the others following somewhat reluctantly. Kaliel led the way through the tunnel for some time , noting as he did the increased warmth of the air. The passageway abruptly ended with a solid-looking trapdoor in the floor.   The trapdoor was forced up, unfortunately releasing cloud of poisonous and even more unfortunately, flammable gas - which was ignited by Barid’s torch. After dusting themselves down from the explosion, Barid headed down in to the vertical passageway. In an alcove at the top he recovered some arrows from the skeleton of a halfling adventurer.  Once Barid had arrived at the bottom, Ardeth dropped a rope which the others used to descend. Kaliel scorned the rope and just dropped the 20 feet landing lightly and heading up the passageway the led northward. After some time the passageway ended in a wide cave with other passages leading off from it. Kaliel noticed fresh air coming from the western passage and headed that direction, followed by the all others except Barid.   Barid explored the large cave noting that there was a table near the centre upon which stood a cracked ceramic bowl and several baskets. As he perused the table a voice called out asking if he had come to make an offering to the masters.     Looking around, the voice came from an earth mephit lounging on a pile of rocks. The mephit introduced himself as Andgronakraks, seneschal to the masters, and asked if they had any shiny rocks or metal to offer. Barid offered the mephit a crystal ball which he began munching on as if it  was an apple. The others arrived back having ascertained the passage did lead to the surface. They offered Andgronakraks metal coins of various denominations which the mephit munched contentedly on. After he had finished, he offered to go and fetch one of the masters, to which the party readily agreed. The earth mephit returned a few minutes later with a couple of salamanders who asked what their business was? When told by the party they were seeking help in the battle against the Carrion King, the salamander offered to take them to Lesaar.    Lesaar turned out to be a salamander cleric who seemed friendly enough, offering them tea and chatting comfortably about events in and around Pale Mountain. He told them that he believed Ghartok (the name of the Carrion King) was actually seeking a powerful artefact called the Scroll of Kalikshon in the ruins of the temple. He believed the Scroll would give him sufficient power to conquer the surrounding area and then all of Katapesh.   Lesaar also offered an observation that Ghartok’s adviser Rokova had an agenda of his own and indeed it was he who had brought Ghartok’s attention to the existence of the Scroll. On being questioned by Ardeth about the monstrous gnolls, Lesaar advised that they had been created by the self-styled Madfang the Holy Ascensioner, an ex-cleric of Lamashtu in Ghartok’s service.   Ardeth asked the salamander if he could offer any more help in their struggle against the Carrion King. Lesaar said he could offer what small clerical abilities he had, then sighed and said that unfortunately he was not in a position to offer more help as he was but a simple cleric, not the leader of the tribe. However he did offer the observation that should the currently leader of the tribe, Thratnias, ever suffer an unfortunate accident, then he might find himself in a more powerful position and thus able to render more aid.

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