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[Plane Sailing]

...but no sooner is the cover removed when a fearsome giant sits up and steps out of it. The gangling arms of the creature have a tremendous reach, and in the close confines of the tomb it is difficult for the party to move without being caught by the swinging arms. Suddenly Blodwyn is down and dying! Miranda backs into a hidey hole, but is also caught by a claw and lies dying! Severely injured, Graculous leaps back across the pit and is horrified to see the creature, all its wounds healing, stride towards him. Thinking tactically he bull-rushes the creature and knocks it back - straight into the pit where it is impaled on spikes! He jumps in on top of it, along with Ynnsfeardh who has been summoned from his position on watch by the sound of fighting. The creature is burnt with torches, and expires. A quick survey of the companions reveal Miranda at deaths door but just stabilised. Not so with poor Blodwyn. Saddened, the party loots the tomb and then retires back home to Knightsbridge, carrying the body of Blodwyn with them.

They present Blodwyn to Alkanar the High Priest at the Asuran temple in Knightsbridge. For reasons he is not yet sure of, Alkanar agrees to ask Asura to raise Blodwyn back to life on Holy day, in three days time. Word gets around, and the Holy day ceremony is one of the best attended for several seasons. To everyones amazement, Blodwyn breathes again! There is great rejoicing, and Alkanar exacts a promise from each of the party - they owe a favour to the priesthood of Asura now.

After a weeks rest and reequipping, and with a new friend, the witch Auriel (who is following rumours of a wicked witch named Belak), the party returns to the sunless citadel. The goblins may have been dealt with, but there is still the renegade witch to deal with. The kobolds seem to have abandoned their rooms and returned to the underdark. In the goblins inner sanctum there is a mysterious vine-filled shaft that descends into the earth.

With some trepidation Miranda climbs down, followed by her companions. They alight in a compost-filled room, suffused by a dim violet light which emanates from fungus growing on the walls. Two skeletons engaged in muck-spreading are dispatched quickly. Investigating the southern door leads to a crevasse which has cut through some of the dungeons, and a room with a mysterious dragon plinth, which doesn’t appear to do anything.

Turning to the eastern door is more productive. There is another hall of columns, and sneaking from door to door the party is able to ambush a number of goblins, in each case slaughtering them before an outcry can be raised! Their superior experience is really starting to tell now, and Graculous is particularly deadly when fighting with two weapons and cleaving left right and centre!

Pressing on through further halls, which seem to have been transformed into strange, stunted gardens, there are a couple of worrying fights with bugbear gardeners - scythe wielding gardeners! Once again the party triumphs without too much difficulty, and once again the healing power of Asura readies them for further action. Or so they think.