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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Teneb" data-source="post: 1528027" data-attributes="member: 3572">Dude, you’ve looked better    The half-ogres had been using a cave nearby as a base of operations it seems.  Oskar and I examined the stonework and concluded this was likely a naturally sealed former entrance to the mine.  We decided to camp and recover from our previous battles.    The respite didn’t last long.  Our sentries noticed a figure running from the cover of the surrounding woods towards our position about fifteen feet above the forest floor.  The man gained the summit and we noticed he was horribly misshapen, arms ending in tentacles.  Fearing for our safety, we warned him to stay back and explain who he was.  The man (understandably) was nearly mad, gibbering about “them” and begging us to help “the others”.      Focused on the stricken human, we didn’t notice the four ogres emerge from the woods.  The walked up behind the cowering man and felled him with one terrible blow.  We scrambled out of the cave and engaged the brutes, our wounds and exhaustion hanging heavy upon us.  Nevertheless, the monsters were defeated and we all survived.    Realizing there was no rest to be had at the mine, we scurried back to town, luckily without incident.  We left Gabby and the wagon behind for their own safety.  Fully rested (and with a full complement of spells) we made our way back to the cave, avoiding a roving band of trolls.    After some heated discussion, we decided I should scout the mine entrance.  In bat form, I discovered the mine was hastily bricked up about eighty feet in.  We opted to climb to the top of the plateau where I had noticed a bit of a crevasse on our earlier trip here.    Sam and Tarrick climbed a number of ledges to the summit one hundred feet above, with me keeping lookout still in bat form.  An otyugh appeared out of thin air and began flailing at Sam.  It was soon joined by a number of ettercaps.  I flew around hurriedly, trying to find the caster with my echolocation.  Oskar airwalked Gruck who made the summit.  Meanwhile, Sam killed the Otyugh with an assist from Tarrick.  Ettercaps threw webs at both for their trouble, snaring Tarrick.  Three rust monsters appeared around Tarrick and lashed out at him.  Tarrick’s mithril chain armor disintegrated into nothingness (Touch attack, and Tarrick was flat-footed).  Gruck waded in, smashing rust monsters with the haft of his axe.  Three more ettercaps appeared, surrounding the half-orc and webbing him.  At Gruck’s signal, I reluctantly dropped a flamestrike on him.  He weathered the assault well, though the ettercaps did not.  The spell had the added benefit of burning through the webbing, freeing Gruck.  Tarrick was forced to attack the nearby rust monsters with his sap, while Sam made good use of his fists.  The battle ended soon thereafter.    I flew down the crevice as Gruck airwalked down carrying Sam.  Linder featherfall’d  the rest of the group and we all descended.  Upon reaching the floor eighty feet down, we were confronted by a bug eyed human with tentacle arms.  Sam tried to knock him out, but the bug-man would have none of it.  Oskar’s mace decided the matter.    Two doors led from the unremarkable room.  One opened into a bedroom.  After a cursory search, Tarrick located a concealed lever in a bookshelf.  Not finding any traps, the rogue pulled the lever and triggered a good sized fireball.  Tarrick was unscathed, but everyone else in the room (i.e.. everyone but me) was fairly singed.      Inside the secret panel we discovered a spellbook with “Mildridge” embroidered on the front.  Could this be the name of our mysterious caster?  We also discovered a number of papers which might shed light on what’s going on.    A person named Fluopollith, presumably communicating with Mildridge, talks about the Ethereal Diadem.  Also mentioned is the Heterochilet portal, which Linder indicates is named after some sort of arcane society.  Putting the pieces together, it seems that whoever controls the Ethereal Diadem and takes it to the Chaos Obelisk (located in the mine?) can open the Heterochilet portal and warp normal creatures (including people) into abominations.    As most of us were reflecting on these revelations, Tarrick located a secret door elsewhere in the room.  Trying to open it, he set off another warding spell and was polymorphed into a fledgling carrion crawler worm.</blockquote>

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