Date: 01/07/09

XP Awarded: none

Start: Thistletop, about three and a half weeks after the goblin raid.

After the heavily armored warrior has been dropped, the party cautiously moves up to him to investigate. They find him dead, and take his nice equipment. Moving on, they explore the dungeon level further and find the front staircase that leads up to the stockade entrance. They also find a set of bedchambers - all empty - including one that seems to have belonged to Tsuto Kaijitsu.

Exploring further, they find a set of doors that lead to a natural cave system. In one section they find a pile of junk, and in the next cavern they find a vine-covered opening that looks out over the Gulf of Varisia, with the waters washing against the rocky wall of the island about 30 feet below.

As they are exploring the cavern, a hidden creature with mottled grey skin that had been hiding against the rock wall leaps out to attack Signore. A small, round body is supported by several shorter tentacles, and one of the two longer tentacles shoots out to wrap around Signore's neck. Signore quickly manages to wriggle free, but the creature's rubbery body is surprisingly resistant to damage. Deivon manages to land a heavy blow, but again the creature grabs Signore around the neck with a tentacle. Just as the creature readies a bulbous stinger to finish off the gnome, Signore slips out of its grasp and moves out of range. Another strong blow from Deivon's sword finishes the creature off, and Kiria uses up more of his healing wand to fix up Signore's wounds. In a larger cavern deeper inside the heart of Thistletop, the adventurers find a collection of husks - dry, withered bodies of seabirds and a few goblins.

Exploring futher, the party comes to a room full of torture equipment, with a series of prison cells lining one wall (all empty). Opening another door off this room, they enter the dimly-lit cathedral they had found the flying hounds in earlier. As Deivon opens the door, he finds one hanging in the air just in front of him, and it whirls to attack.

The hounds once again let loose their terrifying howls, but this time the adventurers seem to be largely unaffected. As Deivon stands in the doorway battling the two hounds, Kiria fires arrows from behind, and Signore takes off running to come at the hounds from another direction. Gob summons a celestial badger, which appears behind the hounds and charges at them, but at the last minute it leaps through the air and crashes into a two-foot ledge before it reaches the hounds. After Deivon drops one of the hounds with a back-handed swing, Gob follows his badger into combat, bravely dodging a swipe from the hound.

By now, Signore has come around through the large metal doors at the other end of the cathedral, but Gob's movement spoils his planned sneak attack. The hound viciously lunges at Gob, grabbing his leg and pulling him down to the ground. As it looms over him, ready to deal the death blow, Deivon kills the hound with another powerful sword blow. Kiria again uses the healing wand to patch up Gob, and the party moves on to the hidden staircase leading downwards.

The staircase circles down deeper into the heart of the island, coming to a stone door hanging a little open. The face of the door has been heavily chiseled away, and only a few remnants of images of gemstones and crowns remain. The floor is slanted sharply downwards in one direction. Pushing open the door, the party finds a grime-covered hall supported by two columns. A series of alcoves on either side of the hall contain damaged statues of a man in robes clutching a book and a glaive.

The adventurers open the door at the other end of the hall and find another passageway, the floor sloping upwards towards the other end where the torso and legs of another statue stand in an alcove. Two more statues of stern men wielding glaives stand in alcoves on either side of the passage, with a particularly polished stone floor between them.

As Deivon starts forward up the passage, he is passing through the area between the statues when two sets of iron bars slam down from the ceiling, trapping him between before he can dive to safety. As he tries to bend the iron bars to create an opening to escape, the statues on either side begin to move with a grinding sound. Their metal glaives chop through the air, striking Deivon many times. His armor protects him from the worst of the blows, but he still takes some cuts. Gob runs to one of the statues in the alcoves and tries to break the metal glaive out of the grip of the stone sculpture, but it is too strong for him. Kiria rushes over to help him, but before they can wrestle it loose, the floor under Deivon falls open with a clang, and he drops out of sight. Moments later the floor closes up, the statues retreat into their alcoves, and the iron bars recede into the ceiling.

Kiria and Gob finally manage to break the metal rods out of the statues in the alcoves, and Kiria's keen eyes spot a pressure plate on the floor that triggers the trap. Gob sets off the trap a second time by pressing on the floor with a metal rod, but as the iron bars slam down from the ceiling, one hits the metal rod, shattering it. Again the glaives chop the empty space between them, and the floor opens up. This time the party can see down into a 20-foot deep pit, and spot Deivon standing at the bottom looking up at them. They only get a glimpse before the floor closes again.

Under Gob's instructions, the party goes up to the wooden stockade above and collect some wooden boards and other materials. They use them to hurriedly construct a rickety wooden bridge over the pressure plate, and succeed in reaching the other side, where they continue to plot ways of getting Deivon out of the covered pit he is trapped in.