Darves Hill June Recap (54-55)

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54

Thimple (Halfling) & Joshua (Cleric), Abraham Cleric & his Dwarf retainer Morc, El-Rashid (Fighter) & Silus the Sickly (Cleric) & Kergil (Dark Dwarf Cleric), Blevin (Halfling) & Percival “Percy”, Martris “Tris” (Elf) & Francis the Frail (Magic-User), Cyr (Thief) & Targ (Fighter).

Vloxaxis was the name of the Dragon. Joshua remembered it in his dreams. Kergil the Dark Dwarf cursed Tris because he was bad mouthing his people. They stumbled upon a wide hallway where Dark Elves and Dark Dwarves were battling against each other. The Dark Elves had the upper hand, but Grunka's Company lead them to a grisly end. Stinky added to the chaos and death by ripping out the eye of one of the Dark Elves. The group looted off of them some poisoned weapons, and leather and studded leather armor that cast Cure Serious Wounds once per day.

They found hyenas on short chains that they guessed travel with the Dark Elves on patrols. Joshua was able to cast Speak With Animals and talked to the Hyenas. Joshua turned them, and they started serving the group instead.

In the next room they found 10 blackened iron cauldrons where Dark Elves were bathing in strange liquids. They unleashed the hyenas in the room, but the cauldrons were too high for the hyenas to attack them. Underneath the cauldrons were small black spheres that were generating heat. They dumped out one of the cauldrons and a naked Dark Elf spilled out... to be chewed apart by the hyenas. Another cauldron was spilled out, and then the spells started flying at the party. They were able to interrupt the spells of many of the bathing Dark Elves, and Joshua cast Silence on a bunch of them. In the end they stood over the corpses of all of them, and got a few poisoned scimitars out of the piles of clothing at the base of the cauldrons. The clothing was very fancy, and they found a good amount of coinage. They also found 10 sets of Elven Boots (100% Move Silently).

A bunch of the cannibals came up from behind them, and they seemed to be immune to the Sleep spells that they cast on them. They managed to kill the ones that came into the room, and closed the door before more came in. They piled up a bunch of Dark Elf corpses in front of a trapped door, and a Dark Dwarf then let them into another room. Joshua cast Putrefy Food on the corpses to hopefully poison the corpses. The cannibals came pouring in to feast on Dark Elf flesh and the trap killed them all. Silus the sickly fell in combat...

55

The Dark Dwarf guard told them about some of the stuff going on in the dungeon. They learned that Kornas (the younger Minotaur brother) was probably located nearby.

They encountered a Dark Elf creepy guy wearing stained brown robes standing in a pool of ichor. He had some powerful abilities that didn't seem to be spells. He was able to turn into sludge, and turn into a brown mist that could control those that walked through it (and failed their save). In the end Sinjen through a torch on the Dark Elf's robes and burned them. This seemed to kill the creature. The mist animated some of the Dark Elf corpses. They fought 3 more Dark Elves with crossbows, and then looted the chest in a nearby room. They found a bejeweled floating spellbook with some powerful spells in it and lots of coins.

They healed up and rested, and then went to the frontier of the next Dark Elf area. There they found what they assumed was a dead Purple Wyrm that was in a long hallway with it's mouth spiked open. The digestive juices inside the Wyrm ate through the boots they were wearing. They spiked the mouth shut, and squirmed over the back of the creature and had just enough room to crawl. When they crawled they heard digestive juices spraying inside of the belly of the creature. They heard someone screaming inside that was speaking Elvish, and then a blade stuck out of the back of the Purple Wyrm at the crawling adventurers. They moved around more and they believed that the digestive juices were killing those Dark Elves inside.

They got to the other end of the Purple Wyrm and it's anus was spiked open. It had a poison tail but it was very weak. They saw a Dark Elf with a guard by it. Thimple killed it under the cover of a Silence spell that Joshua cast.

Twelve human slaves holding slaves, a giant hawk with its wings severed off were being prodded along with two Dark Elves that were holding wands. Abraham let them all pile into the Purple Wyrm, but the wingless Hawk turned around and was standing guard. The slaves and 2 Dark Elves died horrible deaths inside the belly of the Purple Wyrm. A lightning bolt was cast inside before they died and blasted into Blevins.

They attacked the wingless hawk next and it seemed to have acid for blood and a nasty serrated beak. It didn't last long, and crumpled over bleeding acid everywhere.

There was a room with a hidden lever. Inside a spinning mess of traps was protecting floating gems with spellcasters caught inside them. There was an emerald, a ruby, a diamond, and an opal. COLLECT THEM ALL! ;)

In another room they found an animated crystal statue with four arms and wielding poison short-swords. It seemed like it was guarding a doorway to another room.

They retreated to a safe room and then held up for the night.

Darves Hill May 2012 (52 & 53) Recap

DH52 & 53 (May)

52

Tom: Mescillius (fighter) & Metham (cleric of Aemano). John: Blevin (halfling) & Percival (magic-user). Damon: Tristan (elf) & Francis “the frail” (cleric). Chris: Singen (magic-user) & Padre (cleric). Luke: El-Rashid (fighter) & Silus “the sickly” (cleric of Fornast). Jeff: Thimple (halfling) & Joshua (cleric of AeBalt).

Singen & Padre showed up (having heard of the groups infamy and they signed up to help explore the Hill with our group of misfits. The group was relaxing in town and did some drinking. Gronn told them that he “blesses the God-Rocks” every day. He does seem to have low-level cleric spells. The group took some of the Withered Legion's armor, and picked through the weapons. Then they headed back to the Hill from town.

When the group arrived at the bottom of the Hill, the Green Dragon looked down at them. The dragon smashed the side of the temple that it was wrapped around. It bellowed “TRIBUTE! GEMS! GOLD!” Joshua gathered up about 1,200 gold pieces and held it out in front of him. He was shaking like a leaf, and he couldn't remember the Dragon's name. Some of the other characters went up with Joshua. The dragon blessed the small group of characters that came up with him. The dragon wasn't sure why Joshua looked so familiar. It seemed to not remember fighting the Withered Legion.

The group descended into the lower levels. In a nearby room they heard the sound of weapons clashing. They found clumps of bloody fur, and blood trails where they assumed the bodies were dragged. They followed them. In a room there were mud tubes on the walls, ceiling, and floors. They reminded them of termite mud tubes, if the termites were dog sized. The group heard various buzzing noises in the tunnels. The group had a difficult time getting across the room, and some of the characters fell into the tubes angering the insects within.

They saw a dark dwarf that asked him who they served, and they didn't give a good answer. He rang a bell and then they killed him. He cursed in the name of Murgulta the Blood Moon Goddess. They entered a very large room with a meteor of iron with an alter on the side of it. There were 7 dark dwarves in the room. On the altar there was a beautiful humanoid woman of an unknown race.

Metham cast Hold Person and four of the Dwarves froze in place. The high priest unleashed a ray of black energy that turned into and through Thimple. Blevins went and attempted to destroy the woman on the alter and smashed her knee. Francis put three more of the asleep. The priest turned out to be Undead. Francis was lucky to have his amulet when another necromantic blast of rats flew through his soul. Metham with his Death to Death warhammer smashed into the high priest but it didn't put him to a second death. Whoever damaged the high-priest was cursed by him, and a unholy (holy) symbol of Murgulta was burned upon their foreheads when he died

The woman had a strange alien beauty to her. She was strangely perfect. They found her breathing shallowly in a deep sleep. She didn't detect as evil, and they healed her smashed knee. Joshua picked up the naked woman and carried her out of the room.

They then talked to one of the dark dwarves that was asleep after they woke up up from the magical sleep. “If you kill me, those with the mark of Murgulta will follow me down into death. I'll take them with me.” Metham thought that the curse mark on their foreheads would make it very easy for a cleric of Murgulta to use spells on them.

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They kept talking to the captured Dwarf. He said that he now served the brother Borgius, since he had the better claim to the Minotaur's throne. He told them about the different brothers fighting each other for the throne. He told them that the group has lit the hornet's nest on fire and started a civil war. He asked them about the cannibals, and he was shocked to learn that the group unleashed the cannibals into the room.

Francis attempted to kill the woman, and Joshua cast Hold Person on him. Joshua was NOT happy with him. Metham came out to find out what was happening and put a stop to the confrontation.

The Dwarf told them Mardus was the eldest and ruling Minotaur until the group slayed him. Borgius (the next oldest brother) is fighting against his younger brother Kornas. The various factions are lining up behind one or the other Minotaur. He told them that the Dwarves were hired by Borgius, though they haven't fully decided to officially support one or the other brother. El-Rashide was an eloquent spokesperson to try to use one side againt the other.

The group told them that they might offer them more than Borgius would. This was very interesting to the Dwarf. He told them that some of their number had fallen in the war, but also that the cannibal hordes had taken a toll. The Dwarf tod them they wanted to use the woman's healing properties for their side. They are getting hired by Borgius for 50 silver each per month. The group discussed moving the Dark Dwarves to Nahm, to help populate the town, be soldiers in the militia, and to run the local temple, or to at least help with the running of it.

Those in the party that were injured were completely healed. Characters that were horribly wounded suddenly became healed. Mescillius' eye grew back, Thimple's dead patch of skin on his face healed. Her powerful healing abilities were very evident.

Singen handed out a torn piece of cloth so that those with Murgulta's Curse mark on their foreheads could hide them. Some of the characters refused and considered it a battle scar to keep.

The Dwarf's name was Kergil (cleric of Murgulta). The offer was to give them 6 gold each for serving them. He set up a time and place to meet them. They told them to meet them in the room above the burrower insects. He told them when they land on your face that they breed, so they wanted to avoid those insects. The Dwarf wanted the girl back, but they did not give into this demand. He told them that the plan was to have the girl heal their soldiers faster than the other side. He told them that he would try to convince the Dark Dwarf leader to meet them. When they let the Dwarf go he showed them a trick to put the buzzing mud tube insects asleep. They let him keep the amulet off of the old high priest. He just got a promotion, so he wasn't too upset by it all.

Joshua carried the woman out of the dungeon, with the rest of the group in tow. He then walked up towards the Green Dragon on the surface. The Dragon looked surprise to see Joshua again. “You gave tribute, why are you here?” The woman healed the injuries, the growth, and his scales grew back where they were missing. After one hour it seemed like it was completely healed. The Dragon told him that, “They no longer needed to give him tribute. The Hill is yours, the Temple is mine.”

The woman was muttering something under her breath. Blevins thought that she was saying something in some Divine tongue, perhaps some sort of Song of Creation. They were trying to figure out which god or goddess had a domain of healing. When Joshua started praying to the statue of MurGwala (the Green Moon) in the Temple in the town of Namh, the statue... changed to look just like the healing woman. They guessed that the woman might possibly be the goddess of the green moon.

They did some research on the solar and lunar eclipses, and the books in the Temple said that during such times that the gods were closer to the mortal material plane.

They brought Gronn in and told him to see and then guard the goddess. During the night, those that slept in the Temple had very violent dreams about nature, and the animals in nature.

The next day the lunar and solar eclipse seems like it is starting to go away. The moons will go out of alignment in this order: Blood (MurGulta), Green (MurGwala), and then White (MurAlta). Plants started growing in the temple around the goddess, and worshipers from the town have come to revere and pray to the goddess. The donations to the Temple increased dramatically with the goddess there.

The group headed back to try to meet up with the Dark Dwarves. They talked with the leader of the Dark Dwarves. They told the leader that they could still work for Borgius but that they REALLY would be working for them. They told them that they got along with the Dark Elves, but they wouldn't mind if they could be... eliminated. They gave them a map explaining what areas they had control over. They told them that some Sleegos were aiding their side. Half of the pink ones sided with Borgius, and the other half support Kornas.

Kergil pulled out a Murgulta Blood Dagger. The leader cut his hand with it, and then held it out. He then grasped El-Rashid's hand. He told them that there were 50 in total, and that not all of them could be here. They paid them for 20 for the full month, and promised to pay the rest of them. Metham paid for the rest of the month for the Dwarves.

They promised to give them refuge in the Dark Dwarf territories. They were also given a message to perhaps allow them to pass by The Withered Legion without being harmed. Of course since Lekorh knows about them... this might not work.

Darves Hill March 2012 (50-51) Recap

March (50-51)

On the last day of the group's vacation they did some shopping, and one of the Clerics made scrolls during the 3 weeks off. They decided to head off towards Darves Hill once all the preparations were made.

When they arrived in the evening at Darves Hill, they saw a gigantic boil on the green dragon's back. They headed down into the depths to the dungeon. Cyr failed to disable a trap but luckily it failed to work. In the next room some etherial eyes were looking down at them from the ceiling. The group found 2,000 silver pieces in a small chest buried in the back corner of the room once the Cleric turned the Shadows. They also found a ring that said, “To my celia.” It made the wearer much more lucky (Saves were all two better).

In the next room the door opens, and there was a Shadow there, and it bowed to the group. “Are we free to leave? We were bound to serve, but you have a thing that has semi-released us. That was our wedding ring.” They were released by the power of AeBalt. “Is there a final question before we leave?” They asked what the meaning of life was, and the Shadows said, “Lekorh (the Lich) rules us all, here and later.” As a GM I was shocked that they didn't ask anymore questions, and that they so quickly released them to the afterlife. Hehe.

While they were thinking on what questions they could have asked, they heard some Gnolls speaking, and they were talking to another person or thing. “Where's the Minotaur lately, his brother has been making a presence lately in his absence...” They heard a knock on the door. “In the name of the Horns, who are you?” They gave a flippant answer. “Slego cast.” The mages thought clairvoyance was cast, and they were looking through one of the character's eyes. Then they heard them walking away from them.

The group then heard the sounds of what they assumed was marching skeletons. They could hear their bones hitting the hard stone floors coming in their direction. They heard, “Company halt! Slego cast!” They thought he cast the Massmorph spell which is an illusionary spell. The walls, doors, basically everything in a 240' radius turned into what looked like a forest. Those that cast the spell were nowhere to be seen.

They found 4 Gnolls stabbed to death in a nearby room. Each body was stabbed 20 or 30 times. The ceiling was cracked, water was flowing through it, and it seemed pretty dangerous. They found a natural spring. The ceiling collapses and half a ton of rocks fell down on top of everyone's head. Those that avoided the falling ceiling were able to dig out the rest of the party members. The hallway back was completely buried so they had to go forward.

They found a teleporting circle but they didn't know where it would end up. One of the new guys Francis (the Frail) decided to volunteer to test it out. He teleported... somewhere. He found himself in a room with tapestries on the walls that had arcane symbols on them. He was completely alone, and he was standing on top of another teleport circle. There was a strange cinnamon-like smell in the air. They were various colors and each one had a different symbol on it. Francis heard more of that Slego chanting again. Francis grabbed one and then teleported back up.

They think that Stinky was telling them that the Slego's sometimes use sacrifice victims to help cast their spells, or perhaps for worship of their strange gods.

They overheard two Gnolls talking about what side they were going to support. They heard some names mentioned, and talk about a brother. They were guessing that some sort of power struggle is going on with the power vaccum. Mardus they think was the name of the Minotaur that they killed. Kornas & Borgius are two other names that seem like they have some power in the dungeon. They grabbed the tapestries and teleported back up to the surface.

They started to hear a strange humming noise coming from the tapestries. They think that the tapestries each have a different note. Cyr thought about the strange giants that used sounds during their magic chants to summon the dragon. When they separated them their notes reduced in sound, and then when they put them together they were louder. They unrolled them and then stacked them on top of each other. They seemed to interact with each other in some strange way. The tapestries seemed to have a calming affect on everyone.

They noticed the 3 moons in the sky (the red, the green, and the white) were all close to one another. They guessed that in a couple of days all three moons would be on top of one another for a rare lunar eclipse. They slept on Darves Hill for the night.

The whole group teleported down to the room with the tapestries and six slimy pink humanoids with sagging skin and tusks coming out of their faces were waiting for them. These were said to be the Sleegos. Two of the characters were frozen in place by the Sleegos' spell. They cast Sleep and many of the Sleegos fell over. The creatures smelled like very strong cinnamon. They tied two of them up and killed the rest of them.

When they woke up the two Sleegos they turned towards each other and seemed to be communicating. Sleegos have unsettling red eyes. They then heard bone feet marching in this direction. They had robes that were the same color with the same symbol as the tapestries.

The group was talking about what to do, when a skeleton opened up the door, and two other skeletons rolled a barrel with a lit wick into the room. The skeletons were armored, they had a shield, crossbows, short swords, and helmets. They seemed really intelligent, and there were 20 of them standing in formation. The barrel erupted into flames, and the group was thankful for the healing amulet. They put themselves out after they teleported upstairs.

DH51

They noted that many of the skeletons had amulets on (black spere). Then after a few moments the skeletons started teleporting after them. The skeleton's short sword had a Minotaur's face on the pommel. Inside the shield it said, The Withered Legion.

They sent the fiery magical bird to send word to the Mage in the city of Larm about the weird humming tapestries. They put on the magical Minotaur crown and learned that the arcane symbols on them stood for: Blue Peace, Green Patience, Red Release, Yellow Harmony. The colored robes that the Sleegos were wearing had the same symbols meaning the same thing.

The group then headed off to the town of Nahm. They put the tapestries on the walls of the groups dwellings. They wanted to have the mages scribe some more scrolls. At 9AM the next day the 3 moons eclipsed each other and then the sun itself, and the skies went black with slight tri-color coloration to everything from the light of the moons. The militia bells started ringing and then men started to man the walls.

Hundreds of soldiers could be seen far off in the distance, and then the group started to hear the drums of battle begin. The leader of the militia hadn't sent out any runners, so Cyr used his Dust of Disappearance and his Elven Boots to sneak up on the army to see what was going on. He saw rank upon rank of intelligent looking skeleton troops wearing chainmail and platemail. There were skeletons riding Hell Hounds. He guessed the ones wearing platemail were the leaders. Cyr heard them saying many times, “It's great that someone finally broke the seal!” Cyr guessed / realized that the tapestries must have been a seal to keep these undead in Darves Hill.

Grunka's Company recruited the one-eyed ogre named Gronn (who moves the “god rocks” every day to make the pantheon symbol by the side of the Temple) to help defend the walls. They told him to hurl the god rocks at the Skeletons. Then they decked him out in the Minotaur armor and gave him “Black Death” the Minotaur's sword. Overhead they saw the Dragon flying over, seemingly checking out what was going on below.

The mage from Larm showed up in the Temple in town, and the group went off to see what he could tell them.

This wizard (who has not given them his name yet) sighed when he saw what tapestries. He told them that all of the buildings on Darves Hill were meant to keep the things inside the hill. He said they could not be replaced. A ritual was performed and those tapestries were originally set up. The wizard told them that the Minotaur's impressive armor and sword must have belonged to someone of very high rank to have such powerful items. One of the retainer's souls was offered to the wizard and he shook his head. He told them that they should go get the Elves to help... with a smirk on his face. He knew that the Elven genocide started here in Nahm. He told them that they made their bed and now they have to sleep in it. He told them to contact him again if they survived and found more artifacts.

The skeleton army marched and came just out of reach of arrows. Gronn started hurling his god rocks out at them. Joshua drank his Fly potion and then when he got within 60 feet of the Green Dragon he drank the Control Dragon potion. They had 12 rounds of Drgon Vloxaxis (they asked him his name) fury. He told Vloxaxis to destroy the Withered Legion. Joshua blessed and protected the Dragon from Evil.

The Chlorine gas breath weapon killed the Hell Hounds, and then it made many sweeps at the army. It then landed in the midst of them and destroyed them. Maybe 40-50 skeletons survived. They fled to the North back to Darves Hill. Joshua flew after them and made sure the Dragon was also heading back to the Hill.

They inspected the field of battle, and they noticed that Gronn the one-eyed ogre could also cast low level healing spells. They found 120 amulets, 160 short swords, 100 shields, and 110 suits of chainmail, and 30 suits of Platemail. Gronn was collecting his god rocks. They let Gronn keep the armor and sword. Gronn asked for forgiveness for hurling a rock near Thimple in the past. He asked if Militia would tell him if town needed help. Uldritch was the leader of the militia now. He told them that the Dragon “ate the town” when he was young.

Even though they defended the town from the Withered Legion, they reminded themselves that the seal was broken, and that things in the dungeon could now exit through the surface. Thus ended the session.

Darves Hill February 2012 (48-49) Recap

February (48-49)

48

We got some new recruits with the change of location that have joined up with Grunka's Company. I've gotten pretty terrible at taking notes since I started recording the audio files, and I really need to include the names of the characters that show up (since I never can remember so many names).

New Characters (I think). Theodius, Blevins, Percy, El-Rashid, Tristan, & Gabriel.

The new recruits saw the giant green dragon that was wrapped around the ancient temple on the very top of the hill. At this point the group had explored all of the surface buildings, the 1^st level (currently filled with blood), 75% of the 2^nd level, and a few areas of the 3^rd level. The new guys noticed how gnarly, scarred, and beat-to-hell the surviving members of Grunka's Company were.

They noticed more of those black swarms of insects traveling from the South and heading North. They had no idea where they were coming from or where they were going to.

Down into the depths of Darves Hill the group went. They found several deadly traps, but they were able to disable them. One of the traps wasn't disabled but it failed. They found old blood smeared all over the floor of a hallway.

They found more blood smears in the rooms, and they assumed that these wounds were caused by some of the traps in the area. Somebody or several people came to a bad end here it seemed.

In another room the group heard spellcasting going on, and then many of them were held in place by a spell. They didn't see who cast this spell on them. They heard the sound of a dragging chain coming closer to them. There was a scene where people were running in a hallway and others were hurling javelins and darts into the darkness. It was rather silly, but surprisingly no one got hit in the gut.

Thimple drank his Mist potion and turned into a Gaseous Form and then drifted down to the end of the hallway, where he popped up behind the 4 Gnoll Spellcasters. Everyone else was hurling weapons at them. Then the Gnolls unleashed a barrage of Magic Missles on the party. Thimple killed two of them by stabbing them in the back after he turned back from being mist. Surprisingly the casters didn't notice, and then Thimple killed off another one.

The last Gnoll raised his hands, and said he would answer any questions. Thimple killed the last Gnoll. He doesn't have a great track record when it comes to people that surrender.

They heard more booted feet coming towards them from behind one of the doors. An undead creature of some sort (Wight) was armored and had a horrible looking beast on a chain. The dog-like creature belched forth flames and they thought it was a Hell Hound.

Targ sliced off one of the front legs of the Hell Hound and it crumpled to the ground dead. The Wight was quickly killed. In a back circular room there were torture devices. Thimple killed the living Kobold and tortured humans there. Cyr put on a ring and his hand turned black. Cyr touched the Cleric Gabriel's back. 2D12 was the number of days till he died from it. The skin withered to gray. There was almost a PvP situation but it resolved.

They heard more booted feet and another possible Hell Hound coming near them.

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They ambushed the oncoming Hell Hound and destroyed it. They found a black flame brazier, 15 emeralds, and all kinds of disturbing plaques with taxidermy faces, arms, hands, etc. They kept messing with the black flames in the brazier until they finally broke it. It gave off twice the amount of heat as a normal torch but it gave off no light. They thought it was the dog dish for the Hell Hound. The brazier cracked when the Cleric put his holy symbol into it.

The group heard the sound of lots of bells ringing...

They realized the room they were going to enter had a way up to the rooms that were not flooded with blood on the 1^st level. They heard the sounds of breathing. They broke in the door and saw an impressive looking minotaur. The Cleric Joshua cast a Hold Spell off of a scroll and the Minotaur failed (Natural 1 rolled). They killed the minotaur (that was overseeing the fights in the Arena). He had a black metal greatsword, and impressive platemail armor and plenty of gold and silver, a signet ring, and a crown. The platemail, sword, and crown were magical.

The signet ring had a symbol of a minotaur head with broken swords crossed. In it they found a small dose of poison. From behind them they heard lots of booted feet (perhaps summoned by the ringing bells).

They went upstairs because those outside the room they were in started burning the wooden door. The smoke started to fill the room upstairs where everyone was. They debated about opening up another door with all of the blood on the other side (which would have drowned them). Luckily they didn't do that. They were coughing on the smoke, and debating what to do. They were caught between fire and blood.

ESP was cast to see what was going on below, and they learned that there were 8 Gnolls down there that were piling up furniture and burning it. The smoke was filling up every room between the group and freedom. Thimple bravely covered his mouth and attempted to close the secret doorway to reduce the smoke without success and he took some smoke inhalation. They started to break small holes in the door keeping the lake of blood back. The room continued to fill with smoke... They were thinking that they would flood the fire out below with the blood, but this would have more than likely ended the session with a TPK (Total Party Kill).

Theodius died from the smoke. Below the Gnolls noticed the blood flowing down so they retreated from the burning door that was put out and then spiked the doors to the adjoining room so that they blood would be contained. The characters realized that if they waited long enough they would die from the smoke inhalation or by drowning in blood.

They managed to break open the doors spiked by the Gnolls and as they were exciting, doors opened and shadowy forms emerged. Gabriel the new Cleric cast Light on one of the Shadows as everyone else fled upstairs to flee the dungeon (since they were all nearly dead). Gabriel died a horrible death and galently dying to help the others escape. He crumpled under the pain inflicted upon him by the Shadows.

The rest of them breathed deeply when they broke the surface, thankful to be alive. They divided up the 6,000 GP, and 5,000 SP. There were also the 15 emeralds (75 GP each).

The group hung out in town for 3 weeks to identifying all the Minotaur's item. His crown was a helm of comprehend languages and read magic. The Minotaur King's Great Sword made from a dark black metal, “Black Death” was +4 and on a 19/20 2D8 dmg, the target hit by the sword needs to make a Save vs. Death or die. They got the feeling that it was a very well known item, and if anyone sees them wielding it would know where it came from. They also found out that a demon is trapped inside of it, though it isn't an intelligent item. The plate mail was +2 and Climbing at 99%. It also had the Minotaur's crest on the chest.

2,400 XP for the main characters, 1,200 XP for the retiners.