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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Menexenus" data-source="post: 3679393" data-attributes="member: 8951">Session 39: Rescuing Allustan (Take 2)12th of Harvester.  After spending all of the morning and most of the afternoon identifying what the party looted from some doppelgangers and Loris Raknian's crew, they went out together to sell what they chose not to keep and then went their separate ways to buy much needed equipment.  When they were done, they returned to Eligos's house.  After Thorash prayed for spells at dusk, Alexander teleported the party (with Alees in gaseous form, Grimlock shrunken, and Killick in bird form) back to Diamond Lake.  Killick and Alees hurried to Venelle's to catch her before she closed her shop for the night.  She was indeed still in her shop.  Killick had decided to purchase a masterwork cloak and Alees had decided to purchase a masterwork shield, both made from Ilthane's dragonscales.  Venelle said they were in luck, because she had already crafted those items.      As they were transacting their business, Killick asked how the town was faring.  Venelle warned that trouble was brewing.  She said that the mine managers had returned to town soon after the party left, but the political situation had changed drastically in their absences.  Since every family in town had received a gift of 50 gp, many of the common people were refusing to work the mines.  So the mine managers were finding it impossible to keep their mines fully staffed.  In addition, when all the authority figures in town were gone, Killick had told the townspeople to keep a mine open to ensure Greyhawk's defense of the town.  The miners had selected Dourstone's old mine and had been working it collectively.  But when the mine managers returned, they did not permit Gelch Tilgast (the mine manager who had bought up the lease to the mine after Dourstone was imprisoned) to resume control of the mine.  The townspeople claimed that Dourstone's mine was their mine now, and they cited the party's authority for support of their position.  Since most of the members of the old Greyhawk Militia garrison were either wounded or dead, none of the traditional authority figures in town had sufficient muscle to enforce their will over a large percentage of the townspeople standing together in solidarity.  So for the time being, Dourstone's mine was being run collectively by the townspeople while all the other mines in town were barely producing anything.    Killick told Venelle to relay to the workers that he had not intended for them to commandeer a mine in violation of mine managers' legal rights.  Venelle told Killick that they certainly wouldn't believe it coming from her, and she guessed that they might not even back down if they heard it coming directly from him.  Besides, Venelle concluded, she couldn't help but root for the underdogs in this situation.  Killick conveyed that he and the party would return to help sort things out at a later date.  As he and Alees were leaving to rejoin their partymates, Venelle told them that Ilthane's head would be mounted and ready for pick up in two days.  She mentioned she was also working on something special for the party - a token of her gratitude for all that the party had done for the town.    The party trekked out to the Whispering Cairn, reaching it about an hour before midnight.  They entered the portal and emerged in the loud hall howling with wind.  They moved into the next room containing the barricades and gas traps.  Alees attempted to disarm the one in front of the door that Allustan had passed through.  She thought she had done so successfully, but when Tarric and Killick walked across it, the trap was triggered anyway.  Still, since they were both ready for the gas, they successfully held their breath until the danger had passed.  When the gas had expended itself, the party moved on into the cross-shaped hallway with an 8-foot statue of a Wind Duke standing in the middle.  They carefully avoided the arcane word traps that they had triggered previously and moved into the room where Thorash had been devoured by the black pudding.  After Killick determined that Allustan's tracks led to the southern doors on the balcony level, the party prepared to enter new territory.  While Alees carefully checked these new doors for traps, Killick noticed that the fine craftsmen who had created the chandeliers in this room had produced scenes in miniature, and that all the lights of the chandelier were emitting from miniature Wind Dukes.    Finding no traps, the party opened the doors and found a dark hall that turned to the left about 20 feet ahead.  They advanced slowly, giving time for Alees to check for traps.  Once they turned the corner, they saw a long hall that inclined downward.  Using his darkvision, Thorash informed the others that the hall eventually opened into a large room with pillars.  Then Thorash reported that he heard spellcasting coming from that room.  The party began moving forward more quickly.  Alexander cast a spell that made everyone in the party faster, while Killick and Thorash cast preparatory spells of their own.  When they entered the shadowy room up ahead, they found old stringy cobwebs hanging from the pillars, doors on each of the other three walls flanked by statues carrying a longsword in each hand, and a huge spider in the far corner that seemed to be arching its back in the process of doing something.  Soon thereafter, the spider sprayed a smooth silky substance over the entire floor of the room.  As characters began entering the room, they found it difficult to keep their footing.  The spider advanced towards them, climbing along the pillars (staying off the floor).  Tarric stepped up to the spider (barely keeping his feet) and cut into the giant creature's carapace.  Katawan moved around behind it and attacked from the rear, but missed.     The spider turned its attention to Katawan, the lone flanker.  It struck him with 3 claws and a bite, wounding Katawan severely.  It picked up Katawan's struggling body with 2 of those claws.  The spider seemed somewhat preoccupied with its new tasty morsel.  Killick cast a spell and a column of flame erupted around the creature, causing it to squeal in pain.  Tarric stepped forward and sliced into the creature's carapace again, slicing much deeper this time.  Recognizing that the creature was less mobile than it had been before, Alees dropped her new dragonshield, drew her crossbow, and fired it at the creature.  The bolt entered the wound created previously by Tarric and ripped into the creature's vital organs.  It slumped to the ground dead.  The party recovered Katawan from under the creature's bulk.  He used his monk abilities to heal his own wounds and he also received some healing from Killick.    While Killick spent some time trying to determine which way Allustan had gone from here, Alees checked all the doors and the statues for traps, finding none.  When the silk on the floor suddenly sublimated away, Killick's job became much easier.  He determined that Allustan had gone through the blue double doors directly across from where the party had entered.  The party passed through these doors finding an empty room with a rotted carpet on the floor, an altar with a 4 foot tall golden idol of a Wind Duke, bas-reliefs depicting a victorious army on the walls, and a door to the south.  Killick used his walking stick to try to lift the rug.  The rug disintegrated with his touch, and he found nothing but stone underneath.  Meanwhile, Alees walked up to the altar with the golden idol and started looking for secret compartments.  She noticed that the eyes of the statue were made of blue gems.      When she touched the statue to check it for secret compartments, two of the soldiers depicted in the wall relief emerged from the stone and moved to attack Alees.  She tumbled nimbly out of the way.  One of the stone warriors pursued Alees while the other moved towards Killick, who was nearer to it.  Both warriors successfully struck their targets with mighty blows from their fists.  Alexander and Thorash both tried casting spells at the stony warriors, but the arcane and divine energies flowed around these constructs without having any effect.  Since Tarric was the only member of the party who seemed to be able to do serious damage to the creatures, the party moved back into the doorway and allowed Tarric to go toe-to-toe with the constructs one at a time.  Killick occupied the other spot in the doorway and aided his friend Tarric.  Just when Tarric was about to collapse from the wounds he had suffered, Thorash cast a spell that completely rejuvenated him.  Tarric attacked with renewed strength and destroyed one of the creatures, which collapsed into dust.  Then the rest of the party entered the room to surround the second one.  Killick, Alees, and Grimlock found that their attacks were useless against it.  Although Tarric's blade did most of the damage, it was Katawan's fists that felled the second creature.  (The party members could not help but notice that since Katawan bought his Monk Belt in Greyhawk, the damage that he could deal with his fists had increased significantly.)  While the others took stock of their situation at battle's end, Alees returned to the golden idol on the altar.  She used her dagger to pry out its eye gems and began investigating the gold content of the statue (and was disappointed to discover that the statue was merely gold-plated and not solid gold).    However, the party cajoled her into leaving the idol for a moment and checking the next door for traps.  She found it to be untrapped.  The next room was circular with a downward sloping floor leading to the middle of the room where there was a large sphere of bluish energy.  Inside the sphere was a heavily wounded Allustan in an awkward pose with cuts that did not bleed.  After trying briefly to interact with Allustan unsuccessfully the party concluded that he was somehow frozen in time.  The party noticed that there was a steel pin emerging from the ceiling which barely made contact with the top of the blue ball of energy encasing Allustan.  Curious, Alees stepped inside the room, and a bolt of electricity arced from the sphere toward her.  It seemed that the lightning bolt was surely going to strike her, but, calling on Fharlangn for aid, she managed to jump out of the way just in the knick of time, taking no damage.  Alees retreated back into the previous room and began looking for secret doors.  The party discussed how they might free Alexander's former master.  After a bit of thought, Alexander cast a spell that teleported him and Alees to the downward-leading stairs on the far side of the room.  There they both searched for a release mechanism, but found nothing.  They saw that the stairs led down to a 40-foot deep shaft, at the bottom of which were two passages.  Alexander was about to descend the steel rungs on the side of the shaft, but Alees stopped him, warning that the rungs might be trapped.  She volunteered to go down and check them out for him.  She drank a potion and then began crawling on the wall next to the rungs, inspecting each one closely.  When she got to the bottom, she found a pressure plate at the base of the shaft.  She attempted to disarm it by jamming it, but she heard a click and realized that she had triggered the trap by mistake.  She heard the sound of lots of rushing water moving quickly toward her.  Thanks to her climbing spell and her quick thinking, she was able to climb up out of the shaft and back onto the stairs just in time to see a metal plate slide across the shaft about halfway down.  Both she and Alexander heard the sound of rushing water beneath it.  When the crashing water noises subsided, Alexander drew his newly purchased Chime of Opening and commanded the metal plate to open.  It did, and beneath it he and Alees saw blood red water rushing in from the northeast and out to the east.  This water was at least 10 feet deep.    At this point, Alexander and Alees yelled across the room to their companions that they were out of options.  Rescuing Allustan would be up to the other four party members.  After some strategizing, they decided on a new plan.  Killick cast a protection spell on himself, sprouted wings, and flew into the chamber.  As before, electricity arced out at him, but his protection spell absorbed almost all of the damage.  Killick flew up to the spike above the ball of energy and cast a spell that caused the stone around the spike to move aside.  Once a sufficient amount of stone had moved away, the spike fell to the ground and the ball of energy dissipated.  With the sphere gone, Allustan collapsed to the floor unconscious and started bleeding profusely.  Thorash ran into the room to help the old mage, but a bolt of electricity shot at him from the spike lying on the ground.  The dwarven cleric took the damage in stride and cast a healing spell on Allustan, who immediately returned to consciousness.  Killick flew down to the spike and grasped it in his gauntleted hand, causing the spike to rust at an accelerated rate.  Within a matter of seconds, the spike was no more than brown dust.  With the danger past, the rest of the party entered the room triumphantly and conversed with Allustan.    Allustan asked if the dragon had been defeated.  They told him that it had been and, as proof, they showed off the cloak and the shield that had been fashioned from its hide.  Allustan asked about Diamond Lake and was told the mixed news that it had been done a great deal of damage.  Allustan asked how long he had been stuck there in his timeless prison and was surprised to learn that he had been in the room in suspended animation for 7 days.  Alexander asked Allustan to recount what had happened to him on the day that Ilthane attacked.  He said that when he heard the dragon attacking in the town square, he cast some preparatory spells and emerged from his home to see how he could help.  By this time, the church of St. Cuthbert and most of its occupants had already been destroyed.  He saw the Diamond Lake garrison forming up for battle and went to their aid.  When the battle was joined, Allustan noticed that the dragon called him by name and seemed to be focusing on him.  He realized that neither he nor the garrison could seriously threaten the dragon, and it occurred to him that the cairn of Icosiel, the victorious Wind Duke commander at the legendary Battle of Pesh must surely contain weapons of extraordinary power.  He broke from the battle and flew at top speed towards the Whispering Cairn.  He was surprised to see that the dragon was following him, so he made himself invisible.  It was during this hectic flight that he cast the Sending spell to warn Alexander about these events.  He was aware from previous experimentation with the portal that there was something powerful guarding its entrance.  So he cast a spell from a scroll that allowed him to become ethereal, thereby bypassing the portal guardian.  His ethereal state also protected him from the smoke creatures in the first hall as well as from the gas trap in the following room.  He noticed that the statue in the middle of the next hallway was holding a potentially powerful sword, but since he was not a fighter, he continued on, searching for something that he might use against the dragon.  When he entered this room, he was struck by a bolt of electricity.  And that's the last thing he remembered before being revived by Thorash just a few minutes before.    As Allustan finished telling his story, someone noticed that Alees was missing.  They called out to her and heard her acknowledgment coming from the room with the altar.  While Allustan had been talking to the rest of the party, Alees had been scraping chunks of gold off of the idol with her dagger.</blockquote>

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