Going Down...

Looting, err, I mean exploration, is always something our heroes are up for.

Back they go to the double doors running up the presumed middle of the complex. Where they find a large rectangular chamber with rows of dwarven statues running along each side. On one side is a row of dwarven warriors, their features evil and ugly, resembling pigs almost as much as dwarves. On the other side, are two rows of sturdy dwarven soldiers, one row kneels with long pikes extended, the row behind stands tall, their pikes extended as well. The corpse of a bugbear decorates the pikemen, his corpse impaled upon their steady weapons.

Sensing danger, Jonl finds a pressure plate in the middle of the room that everyone agrees is best left alone. Jonl keeps exploring and finds that simply skirting around the plate is enough to avoid the potential trap.

Moving on, they find a smaller rectangular chamber. The chamber's obsidian walls are carved with the names of hundreds, if not thousands, of dwarf names. Salla uses magic to detect a secret door in the room, but is unsure how it opens. Searching the names he comes across Grindbolt Stoneslider, which when pressed upon causes the secret door to slide open.

The secret door leads to an octagonal chamber with a few odd features. There are three small holes in three of the walls (the west, northwest, and the northeast). In front of each hole is a small bench running parallel with the wall. In the northeast wall is a stone trumpet, the small end attached to the wall. The party pokes around, but the purpose of the room baffles them, so they move on, having found another secret door that leads to the east.

This leads to an ancient bedchamber. The most interesting feature of the room is a large anvil, with an attached mechanical arm that is holding a huge maul. A skeleton against the anvil, its head crushed on top of it. Standing next to the skeleton is a dwarf-sized and shaped mass of dirt and rock. Salla barely gets a chance to scope the room before the mass of dirt and rock starts quickly moving toward the door. Salla runs into the room to avoid getting stuck in the narrow hallways leading up to the secret door and goes toe to toe with the creature. The rest of the party piles in. While Salla stands his ground, doing his best to not get hit, the others take advantage of the creature's single-mindedness and attack it from all sides. Its animated days are numbered and the pile of rock and dirt is torn apart. A few items of value are found in the room, of particular interest is what appears to be some sort of suicide note and a magical black iron gauntlet found on the skeleton.

A pair of double doors leads back around to another set of metal doors, that lead into the same circular room with the large stone that they have seen before. This time they decide to ask their new best friend (Modisto's charmed bugbear) to go check out the room for them. He agrees to help his friends, and cautiously walks into the room, only have the metal doors slam shut behind him as a spark rips through the stone. His friends on the safe side of the door hear a loud hum, several loud shrieks, and then more humming. A few minutes later the humming stops and they find that they can open the doors again. Inside is a headless bugbear corpse. Salla decides to play thief and begins to carefully explore the room. Luckily for him, his well-honed sensing of stone warns him of a pressure plate as he almost steps on to it. Jonl finishes the job by discovering that there is only one very narrow safe path through the room that leads from the eastern door to the southern door. Pressure plates surround the rest of the room, making it impossible to get to the north or west doors without stepping on them.

Unable to find any more areas to explore the party decides to rest near the cauldron elevator.

Shortly after the party lays themselves to rest, the first watch is disturbed by a bugbear yelling for the cauldron to be sent down. They do as asked, hauling up two bugbears which they quickly and quietly dispatch. Again the voice yells to have the cauldron sent down. So down a second time they send the cauldron, and inside does a bugbear get. As the cauldron nears the top of the pit they let go of the chain, sending it plummeting to the ground below. Despite their best efforts to impersonate drunk bugbears getting a bit too rowdy, they end up having to move down the pit and slay a half-dozen bugbears.

It is decided to continue resting, but again the watch is interrupted. This time they hear it coming, claw against stone with a nice wet slapping overtone coming up the pit. They decide to hide behind a secret door. Listening they hear the noise continue into the room on the other side of the door they are hiding behind. They also hear someone pulling the cauldron up. The party decides to bail at this point, and they leave the dwarven ruins.

With their rescued miners in tow they proceed back to Cauldron. Back in Cauldron, they send each of their miners on their own way. Morgan makes the offer to Kreed of possible future employment, which he says he will think about...after he recovers some time in the next few days from his drunken stupor he will be placing himself in this very night.

The biggest news surrounds a protest to be held the next day about the overly high taxes being burdened upon the populace of Cauldron. The protest has been organized by Maavu. It is also discovered that Morgan is set to appear at a trial in three days time, on charges of assault against a city tax collector.

The next day the party attends the protest. A massive crowd has gathered in front of City Hall. On a small podium amidst the large rowdy crowd Maavu speaks to the people, throwing accusations of laziness and incompetence at the city officials. He then proclaims that Alek Tercival has challenged Captain Skellerang to a duel as is Tercival's right according to old laws of the city that apply to the founding families.

Maavu's speech is interrupted by Sergeant Skylar Krewis and a squad of half-orc town guards. Krewis proclaims that Maavu is under arrest. A boy in the crowd cries out "Let's kill these half-orc brigands!" and stabs one of the half-orc guards with a knife. The crowd erupts into an angry mob, taking down the half-orcs. Krewis is quick to drink a vial of liquid at his side which seems to cause the mob around him to pause in their attempts at beating him with sticks and stones.

Snake jumps over to Krewis and pulls him up on the platform with Maavu. Chul quickly moves through the crowds and on to the platform, with Morgan trailing him. Salla's stubby legs leave him taking the rear.

Jonl notices that the boy who stabbed the half-orc guard and several other members of the crowd near him are purposefully making their way through the crowd to leave the riot. Jonl intercepts the boy and drives a dagger through him, killing him. He takes the boy's body and dumps it on a nearby rooftop in a sack. Searching the boy he finds a makeup kit with large trays of black and white color.

Modisto attempts to cast a fly spell but is interrupted by the jostling mob that surrounds him. With that plan failing, he walks up the side of a nearby building and on to the roof. Hidden archers from the windows of City Hall begin to unleash arrows at Maavu on the platform. Modisto uses his wand of sleep to slowly work his way through sleeping an archer at each window.

Meanwhile, as the rest of the party on the platform decides what to do, a vaporous apparition appears beside Maavu. Its glowing red eyes flash brightly as it appears causing the crowd around the platform, and Snake, to freeze in terror. A white scythe forms in its hands and it slashes Maavu twice across the chest, drawing lines of blood.

The party focuses on the creature and disposing of it, while Maavu casts a spell and turns into vapor, floating away from the danger. The creature continues to become visible only for a few seconds to swing its scythe at Morgan before disappearing again and again. After over a minute of dealing with the dangerous creature, it finally dissipates.

The mob has turned its full focus on the City Hall at this point and is tearing it slowly apart. An enlarged Morgan stomps through the crows gathering the attention of the mob that can see and hear him. He uses his great stature in an attempt to calm the mob down, which seems to work...

Modisto and Jonl, now on the same rooftop, notice a dozen half-orc guards approaching the mob from the direction of the barracks. They waste no time with diplomacy and began shooting crossbows into the crowd. Modisto throws a fireball into the midst of the guards, decimating the squad and leaving only three barely alive. As they turn and flee back to the barracks, Jonl looses an arrows and nails one in the back, the half-orc crumples to the ground.

Snake jumps up into the City Hall through one of the second story windows the archers were firing through. Laying asleep by the side of the window is a half-orc archer. Snake picks up the half-orc and throws him out of the window.

...until a half-orc comes screaming out of the second story window and smack in front of the mob that Morgan has just managed to calm down. The bloody half-orc staggers to its feet and snarls at the crowd. After a brief pause of wonderment, the crowd comes crashing into the half-orc, ripping his body apart into pieces. Snake finds two other half-orcs asleep, and so they follow their friend and end up in the mob.

Jonl has worked his way around to City Hall and joins Snake on the second floor. They find a single hallway that runs the length of this side of the Hall, one end has stairs leading down to a locked or barricaded door. Jonl manages to open enough of a crack in the doors to see some of the room beyond. He sees several half-orc guards, a dozen members of what appear to be the MTA, plus Captain Skellerang, Lady Rhiavadi, Lord Vhalantru, and Lord Mayor Navalant. He also hears other voices from a second room in the back, which he knows to be the court room.

Jonl decides to check the other doors in the hallway, but they all seem barricaded or locked on the other side. He moves outside and successfully opens one of the locked shutters of another window on the second floor. He finds himself in several offices, one of which he finds to be the Lord Mayor's. Shoving several valuable looking objects into a small bag, he also finds two locked drawers in the Mayor's desk. One he has no trouble opening, and steals some papers and books from. The other drawer, however, he is unable to open.

Jonl pokes his head out of the window he broke in through, and motions Snake to join him. Snake joins him and uses his sword as a crowbar to leverage open the drawer. Quite a bit of noise is made as the metal drawer screeches apart. Quickly grabbing the two books inside, Snake and Jonl flee the scene of the crime as they hear footsteps coming up the stairs.

At this point, Morgan has control again of the mob in front of City Hall and leads them down to the waterfront. The rest of the party meets up with Chul, who has had a small discussion with Maavu. Maavu had expressed sorrow over causing such a mess. He leaves Chul with the offer that if the party truly believes that some evil is at work within the government that their help could be used to expose and defeat this hidden evil. He invites the party to a meeting in Redgorge, informing them they must go to the Redhead Miner's Inn in Redgorge and answer "mortar" to the appropriate question. He asks one last favor that if the party should attend to him in Redgorge that they talk to Tygot about the current whereabouts of Alek Tercival. Maavu explains the he was supposed to be at the protest, but is obviously absent, as he has been for the last couple weeks. Tygot might know where he is, or at least where he was, since Alek sells many of the valuable items he finds to him.

Krewis thanks the party as well, leaving to gather up the remnants of the town guards to break up the remaining mob in a less "lethal" manner.

The party meets up the Drunken Morkoth and browses through the stolen documents. Two of the books appear to be ledgers, one is a business journal, and the papers are various bills of exchange (including promissory notes). None of them being the bureaucrat, they decide that Maavu would find these documents more useful. It is decided that Snake and Chul will make the trip to Redgorge while the rest of the party waits behind in Cauldron (one of the reasons being Morgan's upcoming trial).

As Snake and Chul prepare to leave town, the City Hall bell can be heard ringing the fire alarm. A large fiery glow can be seen down near the lake. Morgan and Salla decide to head down to the lake to investigate while Modisto and Jonl head to the Temple of St. Cuthbert to gain Jenya's aid with the wands of control water. Snake and Chul tag along to ask Jenya about Alek.

They find Jenya already gearing up to help with the fire, several of her acolytes in tow. When asked about Alek she confirms his absence of late, and her worries about his current whereabouts. She mentions that she was intending to ask the Star of Justice the question, and would be happy to share the answer with the party. If the party were to help Alek if he is indeed in trouble, Jenya would be extremely grateful. Modisto and Jonl join Jenya and head to the waterfront, while Snake and Chul head for Tygot's shop to make a quick stop before leaving Cauldron.

Down at the lake, Morgan and Salla find Minuta's Board in flames. The half-orc guards who were in residence now form a bucket brigade, while several others chop away at the nearby buildings in an attempt to stop the fire from spreading. The innkeeeper and the half-orc sergeant have a tussle as the innkeeper begs the half-orc to stop his men from chopping down his inn. The half-orc calls him a tiny idiot and tells him the fire demons inside will burn the whole town and their weapons are useless, dangling a twisted and burnt scimitar in front of the innkeeper's face.

The citizens of Cauldron stand divided. Some helping with the bucket brigade, but even more stand back yelling and cursing at the half-orcs, flinging racial insults.

As Morgan and Salla take in the situation, a huge hand of fire explodes through the doorway of the inn, enveloping and incinerating a screaming half-orc axeman. Following the hand of fire is a huge man-shaped inferno, followed by a second. The "fire demons" linger for a second, deciding which building to consume next...will all of Cauldron burn?

Two Out Of Three Aint Bad...

The chain-wrapped dwarf rushes at the party, chains flailing about, its large distorted mouth opens and bellows a large cloud of hot ash and embers that quickly fill the room burning those inside and blinding Morgan (ember in the eye). The two dogs follow at its heels, their jaws turn a bright orange as they unleash a cone of fire on the front line. The flames wash over the dwarf, but seem to have no effect.

The dogs are quickly dispatched and the dwarf takes a beating. The chains that wrap his body prove to be a significant protection, in more ways then one. When Chul attempts to slap around the dwarf, the chains react with a mind of their own and being wrapping themselves around Chul, ripping and burning his arms. Luckily, the dwarf is finally taken down and it drops to the ground its punctured corpse loosing hot black clouds of ash into the air in place of blood.

The dead body of Payden is found behind the anvil, wrapped in chains. On the anvil, a chain of seven links is found, each link with the faint disturbing image of a screaming face.

Further into the complex a pair of metal double doors is opened, which lead to a circular chamber with four pairs of metal double doors as exits. A large anchored stone sits in the middle of the room, some green-tinted corrosion covering it. Armor and weapons lay about the floor surrounding the stone, with several headless skeletons laying scattered about the floor.

The doors are closed and the party moves down a different hall. As they enter a crossroads, an empty suit of full plate armor with a matching battle axe approach the party, floating along the hall and lighting it up with an eerie glow. After a bit of confusion, it is deduced that the armor and axe are floating within a large cube of gelatin, exactly like the creature they slew beneath the tower. The creature is slain, but not before it engulfs Salla and burns off his boots, backpack, and pouches with its highly acidic body.

A room next to the crossroads is scouted out, and a nest of stirges is discovered. Modisto, against all fatherly urgings, fireballs the mess of them. Much weeping is had.

Shortly thereafter, a commotion is heard from the hall to the north. The party arrives at what appears to be some sort of mess hall. A young man, identified as Kreed, is holding off over half a dozen bugbears from behind an upturned table. The party comes to his rescue and disposes of the bugbears, a happier Kreed joining the fray and smashing bugbear faces with startling ease. Modisto manages to keep one of the bugbears alive and under the effects of a charm spell.

Kreed explains that Teedum himself made an opportunity to escape. Teedum has run off however, as Kreed was preparing to make a last stand against his bugbear captors. Teedum is found a short distance away, hiding in some sort of crypt. Kreed and Teedum are taken back out to the encampment where they left Baleson.

The charmed bugbear is questioned and they discover that Vorlok is with the group of bugbears. The charmed bugbear also makes mention of their warchief that leads them.

Back in the complex the party continues exploring and encounters another large group of bugbears. The fight is quick, leaving ample time for the party to meet a group of reinforcements. Exploring in the direction of the newcomers, they discover a large hole leading down a level with a makeshift elevator (a large cauldron with chains wrapped around it that lead back up to a pulley in the ceiling).

Discussion is had on whether to proceed down or explore the rest of the current level of the complex...