It's 9am on the 3rd Vanday of Charder. Stone is looking weak and sick. It's already shaping up to be another hot, humid day; it still hasn't rained. There's a thick fog coming off the swamp, and we can't see very far.
Goldpetal asks if we've got enough water, and we determine that we should purify some. We drink as much as we can, then collect water in our waterskins and Goldpetal purifies it.
We start packing up to continue; suddenly, we hear the sound of a melee to the southeast. Telryn sends Chester to see what's up. Paks asks Chuck to check the ground in the direction of the fight to see if he can find a safe path, which he does. He listens to see if he can tell who's fighting, but with the swamp and the fog, he can't tell much, other than that he hears metal on metal. Chuck and Paks head off toward the fight. Telryn quickly goes after them. Goldpetal and Miriel bring up the rear with Stone, who is still not looking very strong.
After about 200 yards, Chuck and Paks come upon an amazing sight. They see a small, shallow lake of water, with all sorts of worn rocks sticking up, appearing to be the remains of a ruined building, most of which is under the water, with nothing higher than our knees. It's full of large, obese brown rat men, nothing like those we've seen before. They're fighting creatures who look like walking lizards. There are about twelve rat men and six lizards, one of which is larger and more powerful than the others. The rat men are in metal armor, which is also something we haven't seen before. We notice a female human fighting on the side of the lizards.
As we watch, one lizard man falls with a scimitar in the gut. Chuck, Paks, and Goldpetal shoot at the closest rat men. Chuck and Goldpetal miss, but Paks hits one, and Goldpetal's arrow strikes a nearby rat man. Telryn casts Mage Armor on Paks.
Goldpetal shoots again, at the one he actually hit, but misses. Telryn shoots his crossbow at the rat men on the right edge of the battle, but misses. Chuck shoots twice and hits once. The lizards strike at the rat men; the extra-large lizard kills his opponent. The owl flies up out of bow range. The hawks attack one of the injured rat men, from behind. One of them hits hard, killing it. The rat men swing at the lizards; one of them knocks a lizard unconscious, and he falls into the water. Paks charges into the water towards the fight with her longsword drawn. She hits a rat man hard from behind, killing it. The woman grabs an arrow and stabs the nearest rat man with it, hitting it. Miriel runs into the water to the aid of the fallen lizard, with her short spear out. She charges the rat man between her and the fallen lizard. She hits it and is astonished to see it fall dead.
Goldpetal and Telryn shoot at the same rat men again, but miss. Chuck shoots twice at the wounded rat men, but misses. The lizards keep fighting the rat men, but none go down. Chester continues to circle. The hawks attack the next wounded rat man from behind, and one hits it, but it doesn't go down. The rat men knock down another lizard. One attacks Paks, but misses. Paks swings back and misses. The woman stabs again with the arrow, but misses. Miriel casts Sound Burst at the three nearby rat men; she kills one and stuns the others.
Goldpetal and Telryn shoot and miss. Chuck shoots twice and misses both, fumbling and dropping his bow, which flies off 15 feet into the water. The lizards keep fighting; the big one kills a rat man. Paks asks him if he needs help, but he just looks at her strangely. The owl continues to hover. The hawks attack another rat man; one hits, but the other fumbles and is stunned and fluttering around. The rat men attack again, but don't injure anyone. Paks steps further into the battle and swings at one of the injured rat men, but misses. Miriel steps over to one of the stunned rat men and attacks it with her short spear, killing it.
Goldpetal shoots and misses. Telryn shoots and hits. The lizards swing at the rat men, and the leader kills another one, knocking its head off with a big club. The hawk attacks another rat man and hits it, killing it. One of the rat men attacks Miriel and hits her. The other rat men do not injure anyone. The woman comes over and stops the bleeding of one of the downed lizard men. Miriel swings at the one that hit her and kills it. Chuck charges into the battle and attacks a rat man, but misses. The stunned hawk flies back to Goldpetal and lands on his shoulder.
Goldpetal and Telryn shoot and miss. The lizards continue to fight, but don't kill anyone. The hawk attacks a rat man and claws it, but doesn't kill it. The rat men hit a lizard man, but don't knock any down. Paks swings at a rat man and kills it. The woman lifts the lizard man's head out of the water, and yells "Thank you!" Miriel heals one of the downed lizard men. Chuck charges the remaining rat man, but misses.
Goldpetal wades in to investigate the ruins. Telryn calls the owl back down to him. The lizard men attack the remaining rat man and beat it down with their clubs. As the fight ends, the lizard men don't put their clubs away; they look at us suspiciously. The leader says something in a strange hissing language. Paks gestures at them. Telryn yells to Paks that the lizard man was thanking us. He moves into the water and greets the lizard man, who speaks and thanks him again. Miriel goes over to heal the other downed rat man, as Telryn explains that she's a healer.
Lizard Leader (translated by Telryn): "Thank you for saving my people; we've had a rough time lately. My name is Hands of Fire. I can see that you guys are in very bad shape and possibly lost here in the swamp. Please, we would be honored if you would come to our home and stay with us."
Telryn translates for the rest of us, then immediately accepts Hands of Fire's ofer without even asking the rest of us, explaining to him how he hates the swamp, which seems to puzzle Hands of Fire.
Hands of Fire (diplomatically): "One has heard that drylanders do not always fare so well in this lovely swamp of ours."
The lizards seem very impressed with Miriel. Telryn asks the leader about the human travelling with them. The leader explains that they saved her a few hours previously, just before the rat men started hunting them. The rat men have been chasing them for the last several hours. Paks asks Telryn to ask if the rat men were hunting her or them. Hands of Fire says that the Gorgers will eat anything they can get. Telryn explains that we were hunting the disease tribe. Hands of Fire says he doesn't like them either, and invites us to their home again. Telryn asks them to pick a dry path to their home, which they say they understand. Paks asks Telryn how he can talk to them, and he explains that they're speaking a form of Draconic, which is the language of magic. Chuck searches the bodies, along with the other lizard men. The lizard men throw a bunch of stuff away; most rat man gear is poorly made and not worth taking. Chuck notices an oddity; they don't have any food on them at all.
Telryn asks the woman about herself. She introduces herself as Novalia and asks him to ask the lizards about the previous day. Chuck picks up his bow and finds that it's snapped in half, and we head off with the lizard men towards their home. We reach their home with no incident, as they seem to know the swamp extremely well. Telryn overhears them whispering, talking about the priest of healing, the follower of the winged healer god. He catches up to Miriel and tells her that they seem to be in awe of her. She looks slightly uncomfortable and attributes it all to Madriel.
We travel for about three hours, until we come to a stand of big weeping willow trees, not very tall but with many branches. The lizards part the branches and we move through them into a clearing, with a large tree in the center, its roots arching over a hole into the ground. We follow them into a cave complex, all except the owl and the hawks who stay in the tree. It's very damp and warm, with a pungent odor of snakes or lizards. There are roots coming out of the walls and ceiling of the passage, but there is plenty of clearance for us, since the lizard men average seven feet tall. We walk down a hallway into a large cavern, well-lit by torches, with many caves off to the sides. As we enter, there is much hubbub. Hands of Fire tells us there will be a big feast, but he's going to take us to a place to rest first, then we can talk to others of the tribe. He takes us into a small cave.
A few minutes after we get into the cave, an older, grayer lizard man comes into the cave. He introduces himself as One Fang. He speaks very slowly.
One Fang: "One sees that some of your people are sick and not at full strength. We have some potions that will help with that."
They heal Stone and Telryn with some foul-tasting potions. Telryn perks right up, but Stone still seems weaker than usual.
Miriel offers, through Telryn, to heal any of the lizard men who need help.
One Fang: "One hears stories of followers of the winged goddess. We have a strange sickness here and could use your help."
Miriel: "I am as yet inexperienced, but I will do anything I can."
He leads her and Telryn to a cave where a single lizard man lies very ill on a cot. Miriel examines him, and it quickly becomes obvious to her that he has Slimy Doom. She explains, through Telryn, that basically, this means that his insides are rotting and turning to slime. She has quite a bit of experience with this because there was a big outbreak of it in Lave last spring, and she knows very well how to heal it. She gives the shaman information about the illness and cure through Telryn, and eventually they determine what they need to heal him. After working over him for a few hours, she thinks he'll pull through. She then goes to rest.
Telryn wants to go off to take time to meditate on his recent experience, but everyone wants him to translate. Chuck gets a lizard assistant to find good wood to make a new bow. Goldpetal asks Telryn to asks for someone to teach him properties of local plants. Telryn explains to One Fang that some of us would like to learn about the local plants. He also tells him that we're on a mission to wipe out the disease clan nearby and asks for a guide. One Fang refers him to the chief, who he says will very much want to talk to us as well, and also says that there are herbalists who would be willing to educate us.
Telryn asks how long we would be allowed to stay here. They tell us that tomorrow is the big feast day, and ask us to stay for the feast. Goldpetal realizes that tomorrow is Denev's day, and asks in Druidic if they honor Denev's day. As he gets no response, he asks Telryn to ask them what god they worship, but Telryn says that may be too personal, so Goldpetal asks him to ask about the feast, which he does. They say that it is in honor of the land; the great spirits of course protect them all day long, so one day a month they honor them. Telryn asks if "the great spirits" refers to Denev, but they say they don't know who that is. Goldpetal asks to speak to the shaman.
One Fang: "I am the man of medicine."
Goldpetal starts to ask about their history and how long they have been here, but Telryn interrupts him, saying he needs to rest.
One Fang: "One would expect that all your questions about the lizard people will be answered tomorrow at the great feast."
Telryn cautiously asks what the food is, saying that we might not eat the same food. One Fang comprehends this, and explains that they're roasting a big pig, lots of fish, some lizards, some snakes. Telryn thanks him and says it sounds wonderful. Paks asks if it would be offensive if we contributed food to the feast, but they say they would be very offended if we did, so we don't. Goldpetal asks if it would offend them for him to do his rituals on the feast day, and they say of course not. Paks offers to go with him and protect him, and he accepts.
Telryn finally gets to go off and meditate. Miriel rests. In the evening, a lizard woman brings in some raw fish for us to eat. Miriel asks Telryn to explain that we generally prefer cooked food; she looks at us strangely and laughs and walks away. Miriel cooks her share, but the rest eat it raw, and say it tastes better than they expected.
Once everyone is gathered again, Paks asks Novalia to exchange stories. Goldpetal asks why she was wandering alone in the swamp. She says she grew up in Northern Vesh a few days' walk north of the area, in a small rural village we've probably never heard of. She was a farmer's daughter with a boring life. The Handmaidens of Tanil saved her from an unspeakable evil and took her traveling with them. They taught her the way of the bow, the way of Tanil, and how to be good person. She appreciated this, but felt that she was being told to go in a different direction, somehow; they were a bit too preachy and too much against men for her tastes. She felt she needed to go fight real evil, not just male oppression. At a freehold nearby she met a group of rat men hunters, and she decided to venture forth with them, as a minor healer and fighter. Yesterday, her group was ambushed by the Brown Gorgers. She was knocked unconscious almost immediately and later awoke surrounded by the lizard men. She didn't quite know what to think of them, and she couldn't communicate with them. She inisisted on giving them money, but they didn't seem to know what to do with it. They had started travelling, she thought to their home, when they were ambushed again, and ran away, making their last stand where we found them.
Paks tells her our story in some detail, ending with our defense of Kratys Freehold and our plan to wipe out the disease tribe. She is aghast and impressed. She says she actually came from Kratys Freehold as well. She asks if she can travel with us, saying that she's been in the swamp for weeks.
While we're talking, a lizard woman comes in and offers us some wine. We accept it and taste it; it's a sort of fermented berry drink. She delivers the wine and leaves, as we can't communicate. We all go off to rest.
The next morning, Goldpetal gets up early and goes out to do his private rituals, planning to wake Paks to go along and guard during the later ones. Paks wakes anyway and follows him, but he hears her and explains that he cannot perform some of his rituals with an outsider. She offers to stay far enough away to honor his religious needs, and he explains that he needs her to stay away altogether; she finally agrees.
While they are out, the lizards bring some fruits for breakfast. Miriel asks Telryn to come interpret with the sick lizard. He's looking better, but is still not completely well. We all wander out into the common room and find them roasting a pig. There are some little lizard children running around.
Around midday, we're called in to the feast. It smells somewhat strange, with strange spices, but still smells tasty. Telryn pulls us aside and offers to cast a spell to let us understand what they're saying. Novalia and GP take him up on it; Novalia wants to talk to the chief. Telryn also offers this to the shaman, who accepts appreciatively.
We join the feast; appetizers of snake and raw fish are handed out. The lizards look at us sidelong; the children in particular seem quite amused by us, pointing and laughing and running away. They particularly seem to like Stone - they keep daring each other to touch him, running up and tapping him, and running away. Telryn lights a pebble and tosses it at them; they scatter, but then run back and pick it up and exclaim over it.
As we eat, some of the lizard men start drumming, while another plays a flute. The music is odd. The shaman starts chanting in Draconic, politely pausing so Telryn can translate for the rest of us. The chant is clearly a well-known ritual, the story of the lizard men:
After the feast, the chief, Eyes of The Snake, introduces himself. He thanks and tells us a story:
Miriel says we're happy to help, and indeed we have come to fight the disease tribe. Is this sickness coming from them? They say no, and they will guide us to fight the disease tribe, but it's the ruin that these problems are coming from. Paks says we should negotiate for help in exchange for helping the lizards. Miriel and Goldpetal say that if it was left to them, they would go work on the ruin right away, but Paks wants to finish the rat men off first. The chief says that Hands of Fire will both lead us to the ruin and help fight the rat men, and One Fang will provide us with useful potions.
Paks explains about the rat men attacking the freehold, and how we want to get to their camp quickly. They say the rat man force didn't come back, and they've been watching the rat man town (they've also thought about invading it while it's weak). Telryn asks if they will continue to watch it, and they agree to do so. He explains to Paks and says that fixing the ruin will only take a day or so.
The chief thinks some more and says if we help with the ruin, more lizard men might want to come with us to exterminate the disease tribe, but only Hands of Fire would dare go into the ruin. Miriel asks Telryn to ask for time for us to discuss it, and then for as much information (and potions) as they can give us. Telryn does, and also politely thanks him for everything they've done for us.
Paks says to Hands of Fire that they're brothers, having fought together, and she wants to pledge her friendship to him and his people, and offer to help with any fight against evil. He is very impressed and honored, and hands her his club, she hands him her sword, they bow and re-exchange weapons. Novalia talks to the chief to thank him, and offers the Blessing of Taniel to anyone in the party.
Miriel says we've been asked in the name of Madriel to take care of the problem at the ruins, so she feels very strongly that we should. We've already lost so many days on the rat men that the element of surprise is lost. Telryn agrees with her logic. Goldpetal wants to heal a scar in the land and save an ancient people who may also worship Denev. Novalia wants to help the lizard men, who helped her. Paks argues first, that the fight against the rat men is still time-sensitive, as the more time they have to regroup, the stronger they will be. Second, the poison coming from the ruins has been around for a long time. Third, we should finish what we start, and we haven't finished any of our missions yet. Also, we don't know this is really only a day-long mission.
Chuck says the rat men already know what's happened; it's been five days, and the shaman escaped. Telryn says it'll be even more by the time we get there, if we leave tomorrow. Miriel says we have finished missions, but Paks disagrees. Novalia says a good rat man is a dead rat man, and fighting rat men is a good thing, mission or no mission. Goldpetal says that we're being asked on Denev's day to take care of a terrible wound to the land, and this cannot be a coincidence. Chuck thinks we have the best chance of taking out the rat men with more help, they're going to have run away by now, and how the heck could we find Sysy in the swamp anyway? He does want to go back and track down members of the evil de Asturias family, but overall he doesn't see the need to complete the other missions Paks mentioned right now.
Paks sees that the will of the party is against her, and agrees to go on the mission to the ruin. We inform the leader that we've decided to go the ruin, but ask him to watch the rat men closely. Telryn casts four comprehend language spells in order for members of the party to speak to the lizard men and vice-versa.
Novalia gives Chuck and Paks the blessing of Tanil. The rest thank her, but turn it down. Goldpetal talks to One Fang, who gives us three potions of healing and two potions of remove disease, and shows Goldpetal how to identify and harvest the leaf of the ninequine plant to make doses of a tonic to prevent swamp fever (it must be taken once a day).
Goldpetal asks for everything he knows about the ruins we're going to, who built them, who lived there, etc. He says long ago it was a human settlement, but for many generations it has been sunk under the swamp. Every generation, some foolhardy warrior breaks the taboo and goes there, but when they come back they have the slimy sickness and die shortly thereafter. Goldpetal asks about other occupants and is told that there haven't been any. He asks how long the lizards have been here. They say that they've lived here a long long time. There was always a lake here. Were there any elvish settlements around before the swamp came? Yes, a long time ago the elves lived here, but it's been many many many generations. Would it be possible for them to guide us to the site where the elves lived? One Fang says he's not exactly sure where that would be, but he believes that it was west of here. Who taught you to celebrate and revere the land? We've always done this.
Goldpetal considers carefully and then asks what did this particular tribe do during the Titans' war? One Fang says they tried to avoid the fighting and stay neutral. How did you know that I was a healer of the land? It was just obvious. Is there anything on the way to the ruins that would harm us? They're not that far away, and Hands of Fire will help us. How did going to the ruins become a taboo? It's always been that way, ever since the Titans' war. Are there any stories about what happened there? There's some oral history, but not much is known. Will they perform rituals at the end of the day, after the feast? No, the tradtion is just to tell their history and have a feast. One Fang is very clear that they don't follow the titans or worship the gods, though they have respect for Madriel because her priestess helped them during the Titans' War, a story which has been passed down through the many generations. How long do they live? 35-40 years. Miriel asks for provisions; the leader is almost insulted and says that of course they will give us food; indeed, there are many leftovers from the feast.
Hands of Fire comes and tells us he'll lead us to the ruins tomorrow. Goldpetal does his evening rituals; Paks goes with him to protect him.
The next morning, the first Corday of Madric, the month of Harvest, Hands of Fire wakes us at dawn, and we pack and prepare to head out. Miriel does a special ritual and greeting to Madriel, as it is her month.
After about an hour of travelling we arrive at a large lake. There's an inch or so of fog coming off the lake, and we see a large island in the middle, with a ruin on it. Hands of Fire pulls aside some branches to uncover a canoe, which he gestures for all of us to board. We do, and he starts paddling out across the lake. Chuck, Novalia, and Goldpetal get an odd feeling about this lake. It's very very quiet. Novalia tries to detect evil as we go.
When we arrive, we see that the ruin looks like it was the top of a tower. There's a hole in the ceiling with a ladder going down into the tower. Novalia can feel the evil coming up from underneath. She scans to see if she can determine anything about the source. Goldpetal checks the water of the lake for poison; it is fouled but not poisoned. Chuck checks around the island with his wilderness lore, to see what he can find out about the place. Paks stands guard over the ladder. Telryn inspects the stones of the ruins, but they're covered over and he can't see much. As we explore the area, Hands of Fire shouts, and we see three zombies (two human, one lizard man) coming out of the water.
Paks charges them and hits one. The hawks attack and one hits a zombie, clawing it. The zombie in front of Paks swipes at her and hits her hard. "Medic!" The one attacked by the hawks swipes at them, fumbling and missing. Paks swings and misses. Novalia pulls out her bow and arrow and invokes Tanil. Telryn casts a Magic Missile at the zombie next to Paks. Chuck shoots twice at two zombies, hitting both and killing one. Hands of Fire hits another zombie with his club. Miriel moves over and heals Paks. Goldpetal swings at a zombie with a scimitar and misses.
Paks swings at the nearest zombie and misses. The hawks attack again, but miss. Three more zombies appear, two of them rat man zombies. Paks gets an attack of opportunity on one, but misses. The zombie near her swings at her and fumbles. Novalia turns to look at the other side of the ruin and invokes Tanil again. Telryn magic missiles the zombie next to Paks and kills it. Chuck hits two zombies, but does not kill either. Hands of Fire clubs the injured zombie, killing it. Miriel attempts to turn undead, but fails.
Paks swings at a zombie and misses. Both hawks claw and hit. More zombies come out of the lake. Goldpetal hits one of them. The three zombies of the second wave attack. One hits Paks. The other two attack Goldpetal, but miss. Novalia continues to wait for a clear shot. Telryn shoots his crossbow at them, but misses. Chuck steps back and shoots twice at a zombie attacking Goldpetal. He hits one and then fumbles. Hands of Fire attacks a zombie and misses, but succeeds in biting it and kills it. Miriel attempts to turn undead again, but fails. Goldpetal attacks again, but misses.
Paks swings at the nearest zombie again and hits it. The hawks attack again and one hits. The two zombies in front of Paks both attack her. One hits. The two in front of Goldpetal both attack, but both miss. The one in front of Hands of Fire attack him, but miss. Novalia casts Guidance on herself. Telryn fires his crossbow and hits one. Hands of Fire smashes the one next to him, flattening it completely. Miriel turns undead again, and this time succeeds in turning all of the zombies. Goldpetal swings at the one in front of him and misses. Chuck fires again and hits one of the zombies attacking Paks.
Paks swings at the same one, but misses. The hawks both hit. All the zombies move away from Miriel, provoking attacks of opportunity. Paks hits, as do both of the hawks. The zombies are now underwater and moving away. Telryn casts Mage Armor on Paks again. Miriel heals Paks. Paks looks around to see if there's something around to cover the hole with. Looking down into the hole, it looks kind of like a sewer. Goldpetal drops a bullet down into the hole, and it splashes up some mud, but it doesn't sink. Chuck offers his canvas, and we cover the hole as we go down. Paks lights a torch and leads the way, sitting over the hole and dropping herself in. She finds herself in the northwest corner of a 20'x40' room. As she looks around, she sees a staircase in the southeast corner, going down. In the center of the hall, against the east wall, there are two doorways, with the remains of shattered doors. She steps out into the room and calls for the next people to follow. She sees a ruined room; it appears that it might have been a bedroom. She looks through the doors to see if anything is moving beyond them. All she sees is a lot of junk; broken furniture and such. Goldpetal comes down last and picks up his bullet. Paks asks Goldpetal to guard the doors while she, Chuck, and Novalia check out the next rooms.
They walk into the first room, which is 20'x20'. They disturb some flying creatures, which they recognize as stirges. Paks shouts out "Stirges!" Telryn backs into a corner of the first room. The stirges swarm Paks. One hit, sucking her blood, two fumble, and Paks looks weaker. Goldpetal summons a swarm of rats on the other side of the stirges. Chuck moves in next to Paks and grabs the stirge sucking on her to try to pull it off. He succeeds. Paks steps back out of the room and moves to the opposite wall. Novalia shoots at the stirge Chuck grabbed, hitting it and killing it. Hands of Fire steps into the room and swings at one of the stirges, missing it. Miriel waits to see if anyone needs help. Telryn moves up behind Chuck and shoots two magic missiles at two stirges, killing one. A stirge attacks Hands of Fire and hits. Goldpetal moves the swarm of rats near to the stunned stirge. Chuck slips past Hands of Fire and attacks the injured stirge with his hands, killing it. Hands of Fire kills the stunned stirge.
Miriel asks what was in the room. Chuck goes in and looks around. There's a lot of broken furniture. Against the west wall is a dessicated human corpse. Hands of Fire bashes it with a club and knocks its head off. He searches the corpse and finds a pouch with coins in it, 5 gold pieces, 11 silver pieces, and a topaz. The currency is strange; it has a double-headed eagle on it. He also finds some tools, apparently theives' tools, and two scroll cases. Chuck searches the room quickly, but doesn't find anything. Hands of Fire and Chuck search the rubble.
Goldpetal sends the rats through the second door, then Paks steps in. She sees another bedroom, with a lot more ruined furniture. Paks asks if we all want to search the rooms. Everyone does. Miriel lights a torch and stays in the first, larger room. Goldpetal lets the rats go, then searches for hidden doors. Chuck and Telryn search the room where the stirges were. Telryn finds a rose-quartz prism in the mud near the body. He checks to see if it's magical, and it is. As he concentrates on it, Paks finds an old gold candlestick. Telryn learns that the prism is an abjuration.
We notice there's a lot of water in the southern end of the room; some of it has dripped down the staircase. We head down the staircase. Chuck looks for tracks, but doesn't see anything. At the bottom of the stairs, we find ourselves in a room similar to the one we were in, but a little longer (50'). There are also two doors in the east wall of this room. They are intact and closed. There is a staircase going down in the northwest corner of the room.
Chuck moves into the room. The water is pooled in the southeast corner at the bottom of the staircase. He sees a lot of rotted banners on the walls. On one wall is the remains of a tapestry. He moves to the center of the room and looks around some more, looking for tracks, but he doesn't see anything. He goes to the door nearest the stairs we came down. Novalia guards the down staircase and doors. Goldpetal guards the up staircase. Chuck attempts to open the door, but it's stuck. He pulls on it, but it doesn't open. Hands of Fire and Paks come to help. All three pull, but it still doesn't open. They move to the other door.
Chuck listens at the other door, but doesn't hear anything. He manages to pull this one open. He sees a 20'x20' room. It looks like it might have been a library, with lots of broken chairs and a large bookcase against the east wall. There's a door in the southern wall. The books have been tossed around the room; some of them are on the floor in the mud. Telryn asks what's in it.
Chuck: "A bunch of books and stuff! Come on in!"
Hands of Fire and Paks guard the staircase up. Chuck guards the staircase down. Miriel, Goldpetal, Novalia, and Telryn go in to look at the books. As Telryn moves towards the corner of the room, it gets very cold. As he stumbles near there with the torch, a mold which was on the side of the room spreads and covers more of the wall. Goldpetal is also affected by the cold. Telryn backs off, telling us it might be activated by the heat. Miriel asks Goldpetal if he knows what this mold is. He's heard stories of Brown Mold, which is pretty common underground. Heat sources make it grow, cold sources make it shrink. Those of us with torches leave the room, and Novalia follows. Goldpetal steps back again. Paks asks about what happened, and Telryn says it was cold. We explain about the mold. Telryn asks Goldpetal to bring out books which are not next to the mold.
Telryn studies to learn to cast a cold spell. Chuck tries listening at the door in the south wall of the library, but doesn't hear anything. Miriel watches the mold. Chuck fails to open the door, but Goldpetal succeeds. Chuck looks surprised. Goldpetal looks through the door and sees a large hall, with a big wooden table in the center, lots of old banners and a pair of swords crossed on the wall, a big fireplace, and a pair of big double-barred doors on the east wall, with mud seeping in under them. There's a big pool of water in the southeast corner.
Goldpetal carefully moves into the room. Chuck follows him. Goldpetal moves slowly along the wall. Chuck moves towards the puddle and examines it from afar. He doesn't like the look of it - it has a weird sheen to it, and it ripples strangely. He tells Goldpetal he doesn't like the looks of the water. He picks up a broken chair and throws it at the water. The pool ripples, and a pseudopod reaches out and grabs at the chair. An ooze slimes out of the water towards him.
Goldpetal summons a swarm of bats which attack the ooze. Chuck shoots an arrow at the ooze and hits it. The arrow sticks in the ooze and then dissolves. Paks backs out and tells the other members of the party what we've found. Miriel moves to the door of the hall and watches. Telryn gives Novalia a vial of alchemist's fire which she hands to Paks. Hands of Fire says he doesn't know anything about the ooze. The ooze moves ten feet towards the party, and the bats attack it. A pseudopod comes out of the ooze and swats at the bats. Goldpetal causes the bats to follow the ooze, which is oozing under the table. Chuck pulls out a vial of acid and throws it at the ooze, hitting it, but it doesn't seem to care. Paks moves back into the room and throws the vial of Alchemist's Fire and hits it. It lights up, but is quickly extinguished. Hands of Fire says something, but no one understands. He grabs the table and tries to shift it, but fails.
The ooze moves closer and attacks Hands of Fire. Goldpetal moves away. Chuck moves along the wall and shoots two arrows at the ooze, hitting it twice. The arrows dissolve. It stops moving and squishes to the floor. Chuck throws another chair, but nothing happens. He throws another chair at the water, but nothing happens. The pool appears to be about a foot deep. Chuck and Goldpetal search the room, but don't find anything. Chuck closely examines the walls, but doesn't find anything.
Telryn finishes studying and moves in to attack the brown mold. He fires off a Ray of Frost at it, and it shrivels up and flakes off. Goldpetal, Miriel, and Telryn go in to look at books. Chuck inspects the bookcases for secret doors, and finds that the section where the mold was hides a secret door. Goldpetal finds that one book is a treatise on the old Leadan empire, which Telryn says covered this whole continent at one time. Telryn finds a useful reference book on gems. Paging through it, he figures that if someone spent a week reading it, they could learn to appraise gems. Nothing else looks useful.
Chuck: "Now can we look behind the secret door?"
Without waiting for anyone else, he opens the door and finds a study covered in dust. There's a desk and chair and a small chest. He goes in and looks around, but doesn't see anything. Paks comes in and examines the chest for traps. Chuck examines the desk, but doesn't see anything. He searches the desk thoroughly, but doesn't find anything other than old bits of paper. Paks tries to pry the chest open with her short sword. Telryn pulls out the thieves' tools and tries to open the chest, but fails. Goldpetal whacks it, but doesn't open it. Hands of Fire tries to pry it open, but fails, so he hits it with his club, but it still doesn't open. Chuck tries to pick it up, but it's very heavy. Telryn pours his flask of acid into the lock. Hands of Fire pries at it and breaks it open at last. He kicks the lid open.
Inside, we see a big sack, a little pouch, a folded cloak, and a gold duck statue. Hands of Fire uses the short sword to try to pick up the sack; it rips open and some coins spill out. He picks up the little pouch and dumps it out onto the table; six garnets spill out. Chuck touches the duck, then grabs it and furtively puts it in his bag. Goldpetal pulls the cloak out, and immediately recognizes it as the work of the old High Elves. He realizes that it will give camoflage. Hands of Fire tips the chest over and spills out the gold coins. Goldpetal calls Miriel in to detect magic on the coins. She casts detect magic from the corner of the room, so she can use it on everything in the room.
She finds that the coins are not magic, there is something magic in Goldpetal's pack, and also something in Chuck's pack. Telryn has a lot of magic on him. She gets a weird feeling from Chuck, as if he's enchanted. She tells everyone the gold is fine, then pulls Goldpetal aside and tells him Chuck might be enchanted. Meanwhile Chuck moves out of the room, so Goldpetal follows him. The coins have a wheel stamped on them. Miriel goes to find Telryn and tells him that she thinks Chuck might be enchanted. He doesn't know what to do either, so she goes up to Chuck and tells him she thinks it might be enchanted.
Chuck: "Yeah, it's my duck! Now I can swim, fly, and talk to ducks. But not when you're looking at me."
Everyone looks doubtful, but there's not much we can do. Paks suggests opening the double doors, but Telryn and Miriel argue against it, due to the mud seeping under them. We all suggest going down the next staircase. Hands of Fire lugs in the sack of coins. Telryn tells him to leave it in the study. We close the door.