After Action Report: Cauldron, Session 6

Come closer, friends. Embrace the light.

The ensuing flash left Camlin and Cadfan unconscious and burning.... The day began with the company getting ready to return to Jzadirune. While they were in Ghelve's Locks, a halfling came rushing in. He introduced himself as Alton and asked if he could join the group. He's trying to find a halfling kidnap victim named Maple. Using wine and cakes as a bribe and enduring some harmless halfling jokes, Alton (and his raccoon, Rawk) won the good graces of the delvers and was allowed to accompany them. The company quickly made its way back to the dining room where they almost lost their lives previously. Their investigations took them to a strange forest growing in the middle of the ruins. There were four great trees, birds, brambles and sunlight. Very odd. Passing quickly through this room, the adventurers heard a shout in bad gnomish in the next one. 'Attack!' This didn't sound good....

The problem was there was nothing in the room! The party advanced carefully and suddenly various members disappeared into thin air. They could see the others, but could not themselves be seen. More gnomish magic apparently. After a few rounds in the room, the party heard the sound of a machine starting up. It seemed to appear out of nowhere and attacked Camlin with its two whirring drills. The wizard was on the deck unconscious almost immediately. While Tenkar bound the young human's wounds and brought him back to life, the rest of the party attacked the machine. Their weapons proved to be almost completely useless against the machine's hard exterior. Kurgan was the next to suffer from its rotating drills. Fortunately, the newcomer (Alton) could read Gnomish. As he approached the machine, he noticed that there seemed to be command words on its exterior. Saying, 'Deactivate!' Alton was able to get the machine to shut down, possibly saving the party from a grisly end.

The party noticed that their key fit the gear door leaving this room. Excited to be able to continue their search for the missing children, they opened the door and saw two figures (a small humanoid and a larger one) before everything went dark. Heedless of his own safety, Cadfan rushed into the room and attacked the smaller creature directly. The others backed out of the room. Cadfan's fighting skills were not so useful in the magical darkness and the creature used his abilities to wound the fighter. Hearing his friend's manly scream, Camlin blindly cast a sleep spell into the room and hoped for the best. The sound of weapons and bodies hit the floor. Kurgan was tapped to go in and see if he could find Cadfan and drag him to safety. The dwarf grabbed ahold of the human figure he found inside the gear door and dragged him into the light-- only to find that it was some other kind of humanoid! This one was different from the others the company had seen. With this one tied up, the party was able to find Cadfan, drag him to safety and lock the door behind them. Now who was this new figure?

Kurgan and Fonzig took an immediate disliking to the robed figure and argued for his execution. Alton relieved the humanoid of his weapon, potions, gear key and gem pouch. Camlin and Cadfan seemed to want to hear what the figure had to say as it tried to negotiate for its life. Something about helping the company if they helped him and his mates...a tentacled beast...pointing out the number and location of the skulks...an elevator that leads to a fortress... Enough! Kurgan was adamant that the creature had to die. He swung his axe and the creature exploded in a fireball. When the flames had died down, everyone had been injured and Camlin and Cadfan were dying on the floor. Tenkar was able to stabilize the fighter, but the wizard was in bad shape. The party would have to return to Cauldron....