Riding lizards and wererats in the bell chamber

After a bruising fight with a nasty spider, SWAG fled to the hunting lodge for some rest and recuperation. All were healed (except 1 point of Str damage to Red that remained from the spider's poison). During the night, Red heard occasional sounds of something scraping on stone from down below.

The next morning, on a bright and sunny Planting 17, the group ventured back down into the depths beneath the lodge. A 4' high coffin had been placed in the entrance room, and from behind it lept two female drow. Red charged the drow, who responded with a spiked chain attack and a fireball from a scroll that hit others in the group. As the others moved to enter the fray, Red cleaved through the drow, hacking them to pieces.

The gnome team then disabled the violet demon arch, revealing a drow in full plate on a riding lizard who came charging down the hall with a lance. Three other riding lizards sniffed mushrooms in the room beyond the arch. The charging drow hit Carrack for double damage and then backed up to charge again. The group assembled for another attack, while Red stormed down the hall, getting hit but striking down the lizard. With both the drow and Red at 0 hp, the drow was defeated and the battle was won.

Carrack then successfully mounted the lizard and the party moved on. In a nearby room, the group returned to a flaming demon arch, which the gnomes disabled. Beyond were two wererats in a bell chamber. The wererats attacked while jamming the bell mechanism, causing heavy bells to tumble into the chamber. Erlwyn silenced the bell's deafening roar, and after a lengthy battle the wererats were defeated.

Creepy crawlies and a near TPK

Late in the afternoon on Planting 16, SWAG searched the room of High Priestess Lanthurrae, finding several magic items and the following note:
The note was signed with only the following cryptic symbol,
resembling the symbol on the note to Noak the black dragon:

SWAG thoroughly searched the room and heard a humming sound coming from the south. Mosaic footprints on the floor entered the room from the south and exited to the west. SWAG barred the southern door and proceeded out to the west. In a room half-blocked by a cave-in, SWAG fought three spiders the size of wolves. After fending them off, three more web-spinning spiders attacked from the south. After a lengthy battle, all the spiders were killed and SWAG searched these rooms.

SWAG then proceeded south, following the mosiac footprints to double doors. SWAG opened these doors to reveal a room covered in webs, with a huge fiendish spider the size of a small hut patrolling the room, near an altar with a glowing green statue. Quintavian asked whether it might be better to just shut the door. Carrack entered the room and quickly became entangled in the floor webbing. Red and Petra stormed into the room, while the spider shot a web at Petra entangling her too. Quintavian and Erlwyn attempted to free Carrack, discovering that the webbing was hard and difficult to escape, while Red charged the spider and also became entangled.

The massive spider then began its direct attacks, causing large amounts of damage to the entangled Red and poisoning him, sapping his strength. Carrack fired multiple sound bursts from his newly found wand, occasionally penetrating the spider's spell resistance. The spider attacked Petra, biting her into unconsciousness. With most of SWAG entangled, Red badly wounded, Petra dying, and a mostly unharmed spider, Quintavian questioned why everyone went in the room while she waited safely outside. She and Erlwyn kept trying to free Carrack, while a lucky sound burst finally penetrated the spider's resistance and stunned it for a turn.

Red hacked himself free of the webbing and grabbed the dying Petra on his back. The nearly defeated group tried desperately to escape the spider's lair. Red hurled Petra to the ground near the exit and helped free Carrack. The spider then bit Red again, knocking him down to -8 hp. Who would rescue Red now? Carrack cast cure light wounds in a desperate attempt to save Red, and rolled an 8, healing 9 hp for Red. Carrack raced past the spider to freedom, discovering that his wand of sound burst was now exhausted of charges. Red stumbled up and fled the room, lucky to be alive. The group dragged Petra away. All ran away, to heal and fight on another day...

The Green Die, So Beautiful, It Calls To Me

On the morning of Planting 16, SWAG enjoyed breakfast at the small inn at the center of Surrinak village. PFOS summoned a mighty feast at a nearby table, and chowed down. SWAG noticed a magical scry sensor hovering in the air above them.

Horses approached, and four heavily armed men entered the establishment, along with a female elf and a strange figure hidden under a flowing cloak. A hush fell over the locals, who avoided glances with the new arrivals, while PFOS perked up and closely watched the members of SWAG.

The figure whispered to the elf in a language that appeared to be Undercommon. The elf relayed that Baron Surrinak welcomed the esteemed Professor Carrack and his group, but that unfortunately a tour of the castle could not be arranged due to Surrinak family illnesses. SWAG asked questions but received few answers, and most of the entourage left. Quintavian made arrangements to "visit" one of the guard later that night.

SWAG slipped out of town to the north, and then circled back through the forest toward the Surrinak hunting lodge. They noticed a hawk following them, but it later circled and departed. SWAG found a trail and located the stone lodge - meticulously clean but entirely empty. They silently approached and found a secret entrance with stairs descending into the depths, and noticed an abjuration spell hidden 10' beyond the door to the descending stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, female drow with bucklers bearing the Surrinak logo opened fire with bows and poisoned arrows, but Red uncannily dodged aside. The room had two sets of double doors heading north and south, and a glowing violet field covering a demon gate to the east. The group then entered melee, eventually taking out the drow. They heard a bar slam on the doors to the south, blocking that exit.

SWAG headed north, finding a hallway leading to a violet demon gate and another ending in a demon gate emanating a curtain of flames. Carrack remembered a bard tale of a similar device, enabling him and Erlwyn to disable the violet gate. The violet, shimmering curtain disappeared, revealing two more drow bearing hand crossbows and rapiers in a room with a stagnant, oily pool, sinister looking elephant statues, and yet another flaming gate. Petra then took out the drow with her mighty cleavage.

Carrack and Erlwyn disabled the flame gate, revealing an octagonal room with four altars bearing old women holding mysterious objects. In the room a powerful drow cleric and two grimlocks bearing mighty axes attacked. The grimlocks attacked, landing mighty axe blows while the drow cleric announced herself as the High Priestess Lanthurrae. She drew a wand of sound burst, repeatedly blasting SWAG with its cacophonous waves. Quintavian put one grimlock to sleep, while SWAG took out the other one. Red charged Lanthurrae, inflicting enough damage to force her to withdraw with an invisibility spell. SWAG blocked the doors and stumbled into Lanthurrae, dealing her final death blows.

All was quiet again in the room, save for the hum of the nearby demon gate. SWAG began to search, examining the mysterious objects on the altars and rifling the pockets of the deceased drow priestess...