Date: 01/21/09

XP Awarded: 1371 (Kiria), 1877 (Deivon, Gob, Signore)

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

Kiria, aided (rather ineffectually) by Signore and Gob, drags one of the stone statues from an alcove into the trapped hallway and pushes it over so that it lies part way on the floorplate that triggers the trap. Immediately the iron bars slam down from the ceiling, but when they strike the heavy stone statue, a few of the bars bend and become stuck on the statue, leaving a gap between the floor and the bars. The stone statues with weapons on either side of trapped area again move forward and chop at the area between them before the stone floor slides open to reveal the pit that Deivon is trapped in. But this time when the pit doors slam closed, they don't close all the way, leaving a slight gap. The iron bars don't retract, and seem to be stuck on the stone statue until Kiria bangs them loose and they retract part way into the ceiling.

The trap is triggered a few more times, with the iron bars becoming further bent out of shape. Taking one of the metal bars from the statues in the other room, Kiria beats on the metal glaives held by the statues in the trap until they are broken off. Triggering the trap once more, Signore wedges a piece of metal into the pit doors, jamming them open.

As Kiria lets a rope down to Deivon for him to climb out, the party hears the sounds of spellcasting coming from behind one of the doors at the other end of the trapped hall. Deivon struggles to quickly climb the rope, but his heavy armor causes him to slip and drop back into the pit, as the group hears more spellcasting. Kiria is able to identify the spells being cast - it is divine magic, and the spells are Protection from Good and Divine Favor - spells that enhance combat abilities.

As Kiria and Gob aim their bows at the door and Signore positions himself for a sneak attack, Deivon finishes climbing out of the pit and moves up to the door. Signore throws the door open to find a yeth hound waiting for him - it lunges at him, but he dodges out of the way. Behind the hound is Nualia, alive and with a demonic, oversized red claw in place of her left hand. She casts a spell, and a sharp sound rings out as Signore's rapier shatters. He quickly retreats behind Deivon.

Instead of attacking the hound, Deivon retreats to the far side of the makeshift wooden bridge over the opened pit, calls out for Signore and Kiria to fall back as well. They do so, and the hound comes charging out the doorway to face Deivon on the wooden bridge over the pit, baying as it does so. This time, when the magical fear washes over the party, the adventurers all successfully resist the overwhelming urge to flee in terror. Deivon kicks the wooden boards out of the way, and the hound falls into the pit as Kiria removes the metal rod jamming the doors open, trapping the hound inside.

Nualia emerges into the corridor and Gob, Signore, and Kiria immediately fire a barrage of arrows at her, but only one strikes, and it doesn't seem to do any real damage. She attempts to cause Deivon to flee with a magical fear spell, but he resists, and then she moves back through the doorway, out of the line of sight of the archers.

As she taunts the party from the cover of the doorway, Gob rebuilds the collapsed wooden bridge across the pit. Once it is ready, Signore creeps up and readies a sneak attack for when she shows herself. Deivon follows and moves up to the doorway to attack, but Nualia's powerful attacks with a wickedly jagged sword quickly inflict serious wounds. While her attention is focused on Deivon, Signore takes the opportunity to sneak behind him and position himself on the far side of the door. When Deivon sees this, he withdraws, forcing Nualia to enter the hallway to follow him. Now flanked by Signore and Deivon, the two work together to lower her defenses, and Signore strikes several wounding blows, overcoming her magical defenses. Enraged by Signore's attacks, Nualia focuses her attention on the gnome and inflicts heavy wounds, but Deivon manages to drop her before she can land a killing blow.

Kiria quickly steps in with his wand of healing magic to stabilize the dying Nualia, and the party strips her of her arms and armor before securely tying her up. Searching the room she was hiding in, they scoop up armloads of documents to bring back to Sandpoint to look through. On the way through the goblin stockade, they pick up the silvery-grey warhorse they'd found earlier and lead it back to town.

Reaching Sandpoint just as the sun is sinking into the Varisian Gulf to the west, the party stops in the woods outside the town walls while Gob enters to find Sheriff Hemlock. After explaining the situation, the sheriff brings a cart to discreetly carry the still-unconscious Nualia to a prison cell in the basement of the garrison. The party explains to the mayor and the sheriff what they found before visiting the cathedral for healing from Father Zantus.

The next few days are spent resting in Sandpoint.