Luh Kranky Krank couldn’t make it, initially because he was going to go play in the sunshine, but found out later he was down with a migraine. 🙁 Lexy, Savannah, and Ben came to play.

Given it was a super sunny and 70 degree day we BBQ’d burgers and had a little picnic and hung out for a little. Lexy and Savannah played some cards first.

The session started off with a very brief overview of the previous session. I reminded them that they were standing in the hallway having just exited the room where they defeated all the zombies. Gendithas Firpride was standing over the body of a giant spider he had cut in half, and was making sure the crew was silent.

They decided to go down the hallway that Reo Grayrlock had gotten such a bad feeling about. As they approached the hallway this time, both Elitacee and Quelenna Amastacia were hit with a wave of fear that was almost paralyzing. The further down the hallway they walked, the more visions ran through their heads, and the more unsettled they became. Reo Grayrlock took point and went into the room first. She scouted everything out and saw nothing. The rest of the crew came in once she declared the room as safe as it could be.

The ceiling was close to 40′ high, and very dark. Stalactites hung from the ceiling. There was a book shelf that was being used as a room divider. On the side they crew was currently on, there was a sleeping area with 4 beds, and a round wood table with 4 chairs. Four crates stood behind the iron gate that gave entry into the room.

Elitacee went over and checked the beds and found nothing, and checked the bookshelf and discovered nothing.

The crew investigated the crates and found several useful items. There were 4 moon-touched-sword-xge (shortsword) in fancy leather scabbards. There was an immovable-rod , an odd looking dagger , and 6 sets of super lightweight chain-mail. There was a 4th chest that was empty but was lined in fine linen; there were 4 divots in both the top and the bottom of the case, which was obviously meant to hold 4 spherical items.

Upon a close investigation of the rod, Quelenna Amastacia noticed the button, and pushed it – expanding the rod to its 5′ length and locking it in to place – much to their delight. They then sent Reo Grayrlock over towards the bookshelf where she jumped and extended the rod at the top of her reach. She then pulled herself up on the rod to get a better view of the cavern ceiling to see if they could discover anything. She was able to see that there was a ledge that ran all the way around the cavern, as well as stone bridges that crossed all over from edge to edge. This was all she could really see from there, so she got down.

They left Luh Kranky Krank to guard the door, and they all gathered towards the end of the large bookshelf so that they could head in to the other side of the room. The feeling of dread continued to grow for Quelenna Amastacia and Elitacee.

They ventured through into the other side. Immediately to their left they found a side room that had multiple weapons racks and additional chests, which they explored. In the chests they found: On the staff rack they found 4 staffs. One is an old gnarled piece of wood. One was an obsidian staff, smooth and black, with three pointed prongs off the top. The 3rd is a basic wood staff with a metal wrapping at each end. The fourth was a staff that tapered at the bottom, and had entwined metal like substance that wraps its way up the top of the staff and culminates in tangled, electricity-like tendrils coming up off the top. They also found a longsword and a shortsword on the weapons rack, which they left.

From this point, they ventured out more in to the middle of the room. Reo Grayrlock used the rod to climb up near the ceiling again, holding her moon-touched-sword-xge up high to illuminate the ceiling area, where she saw nothing, despite the feeling of being watched.

Quelenna Amastacia lit the large torch sconces on the walls – there were 3 of them – and they found themselves in the middle of a office workshop. At the far end stood a large, imposing desk. To each side of the desk was a locked glass cabinet, and immediately across from the side room was another, short bookshelf.

Elitacee went to the bookshelf, and found a case with three scrolls in it (2 of which could not be read by anybody in the party, and one that was some sort of star chart).

Reo Grayrlock and Quelenna Amastacia went to the desk, and on the way by noticed that the one cabinet was filled with jars, vials, and containers of some sort of ingredients, and there was a leather case in the bottom of it. The other case had filled vials and flasks. Both cases were locked.

On the desk was an odd jug that had multiple spouts, and was covered in symbols. A pedestal with a glass cloche over it held a folded white cloth. There was a handful of scrolls, and a ink pen with a dried up ink well. A strange, jet black box sat in the middle of the desk. Black metal bands wrapped the box, and also made up the latch for it. When they opened the latch, the box was finished inside with a fine, rich black fabric lining and contained 3 rings.

They pulled the cloth out and unfolded it, to reveal a 6′ x 6′ square with a large, black circle in the middle. Holding it up the fabric, they couldn’t figure out anything about the cloth, and decided to move on. They unsuccessfully attempt to figure out the jug. In the meantime, Elitacee unfolded the fabric again and put it on the ground – at which point the circle became a hole in the ground, much to the surprise of Reo Grayrlock and Quelenna Amastacia . They tried to figure out how to get down into the hole safely – until they looked over the edge and realized it was only about 10′ deep. So Reo Grayrlock jumped down into the hole – and found hanging on the wall a set of keys, which she grabbed. Unsurprisingly they figured out the keys unlocked the two cabinets, which they then packed up.

They used one of the empty chests to pack up all the vials and flasks, and they packed up the leather case and all the components they could fit from the other cabinet, and placed it all in the bottom of the hole, along with the staffs.

After having packed everything up, they folded the cloth up and Elitacee put it in her storage compartment. They then turned their attention to the ceiling to see if there was any way to get up above and explore – at which point they started seeing movement. Quelenna Amastacia through a produce-flame up into the ceiling – and the light reflected off of a whole lot of eyeballs. Followed by chittering, and a rush of huge spiders coming through the crevices in the ceiling. Gendithas Firpride yelled for everybody to run, which they were all already doing. As they rushed through the room, Luh Kranky Krank ran out into the hallway with everybody following. Reo Grayrlock brought up the rear, and pulled the iron gate shut just as an enormous spider crashed against it, reaching through the bars and trying to grab her. The crew ran down the hallway, and as soon as they breached the entrance Harry and Precious came barreling down from the entrance, with Precious carrying the unconscious gregornie the camel which he had knocked out. They were yelling that the airship had landed outside and those on the ship were coming into the cave. As they barreled towards the rest of the crew, everybody turned to go deeper into the caves, and all of the floor traps were sprung releasing darts which flew back and forth across the hallways behind the fleeing party.

They came to the end of the tunnel they were in to another large cavern – to find giant spiders pouring out of the crevasses in the ceiling and coming down the walls. At this point everybody could hear yelling from the entrance to the caverns from the airship crew. A bunch of the spiders broke off and headed up the passageway to confront the new group. Reo Grayrlock and Quelenna Amastacia rushed deeper into the cavern and found the lair of the owlbear – complete with all the bones and remains. This end of the cavern had piles of rubble, and a large, clear pool of water filled with bioluminescent creatures. The middle of the pool held a hole that had a current rushing through under it, which was visible by the fact that the bioluminescent creatures that were waving in the current. As they watched (all while the spiders were advancing on the rest of the party) the lake started to get darker, and large bubbles started coming up and breaking the surface. As the surface got more violent with whatever was happening both Reo Grayrlock and Quelenna Amastacia rushed back to join the main group. Gendithas Firpride and the rest of the group had backed down a crevasse with only one way in, with the logic that it was easier to defend a single point. As Reo and Quelenna made it up to the entrance and rushed inside, the owlbear broke the surface of the lake and let out a horrific screech and barreled out of the lake. The spiders vanished almost instantly as the owlbear rushed past and up the tunnel, leaving the party stunned – and both euphoric and panicked. They all very quickly decided to head into the lake and down that hole, since the owlbear had to come from somewhere. While they listened to the battle up the tunnel, they opened the fabric piece, knocked the camel out again who had come to, dropped him in to the hole, folded the cloth back up, Elitacee stowed it in her body, and then they all jumped in to the water and vanished into the hole, where the current grabbed them and sucked them down into the hole.

And that’s where everything left off.