After Action Report: Cauldron, Session 3

The last time we saw our band of explorers, they were listening to the rantings of an enormous wooden chest with teeth. Its' speech was completely unintelligible and after feeding it some coins, the group decided to seek their fortunes (and the children-- don't forget about the children!) elsewhere. Their investigations led them next to a long hallway supported by massive pillars and filled with dancing lights and a large fountain at one end. While going to check out the water, they were attacked by a couple of the humanoids they'd seen previously. Tenkar took a bolt to the body before he was able to fling himself to safety behind a pillar. The party advanced steadily forward. Locke decided to charge one of the humanoids, and managed to run him through with his rapier, killing the mysterious creature with a single blow. On the other side of the hall, Kurgan and Tenkar were making short work of the other humanoid when it fled to a tunnel in the south wall. Kurgan and Locke gave chase. Kurgan eventually caught up to it and chopped it down. Fonzig, poking around in one of the rubble piles, found an elaborately decorated box. While Camlin helped the gnome determine that it was a music box, another one of the humanoids snuck up in the shadows and attacked the gnome. The party quickly recovered from their surprise and Kurgan managed to deliver the killing blow by swinging his axe around a pillar and lodging it in the creature's back.

Chastened by their lack of vigilance, the party resolved to do a better job of watching their backs. They set off to explore the tunnel where the humanoid had retreated to and found that it led to a small room. Aside from small armor, the main thing in the room was a dead worm-like creature. They were going to leave it, when Kurgan gave it a poke with his axe. His efforts uncovered a couple of strongboxes that had been hidden inside the remains. One of the boxes contained coins, while the other held potentially magic items. Heedless of previous warnings about handling magical items in Jzadirune, Camlin let his curiosity get the better of him as he examined the scrolls. Having stowed their booty, the party continued their search. They came upon a fountain that had a body wrapped in webs above it. Cadfan, while approaching the basin of the fountain, had a medium spider jump up and attack him. The party managed to fight it off successfully. They then nominated Cadfan to cut the body down from the webs. He was in the process of doing so when 2 more smaller spiders attacked him. He was bitten and has felt weakened ever since. The spiders were killed, but the adventurers decided not to explore the body further.

The explorers completed a loop that took them back to the hall of the dancing lights and they crossed it to investigate a different section of Jzadirune. This led to a theatre. As they moved about the room, a play began. Not really connoisseurs of Gnomish Theatre, the party was left non-plussed by the performance. When they went to talk to the actors, they couldn't find them. Was it all an elaborate illusion? They noticed a trapdoor in the middle of the stage. After Kurgan failed to dwarf-handle it open, Locke gave it a go and succeeded. Fonzig was nominated as trapdoor investigator and was sent to explore the 3-foot high storage space under the stage. No sooner had he entered than he was attacked by a critter with tentacles and long arms. The creature closed the trap door and the danger of never seeing the gnome again was a real possibility. Fearing for the safety of his companion, Kurgan wrenched the trapdoor open and Fonzig was able to scramble out of the hole before the creature could attack again. Wary, the party asked Camlin to try to put the thing to sleep. Kurgan went down the hole to investigate and found the creature asleep. He also found a wooden chest and a fine-looking mandolin. The chest held a cloak, a locked spellbook, a wand and a key to some of the gear doors. Where to next? The children await rescue....