SPQT -- Crestquest: The Finaleing

September 14 - We used teleport circle to go to the rift. Decimus inspected the entrance first, then came back and tapped us each with the flying wand, an experience with which we would all become familiar soon enough.

This place is huge. Just beyond the entrance was a cavern of such size that we didn't see the 20-foot long spiky caterpillar thing at first! The Field Guide to Alpine Fauna identifies the thing as a rhemorhaz. The guys dispatched it with the usual assortment of spells and arrows, and decapitated it. Three hundred feet past it a chasm opened up, with a closed drawbridge on the other side. I cast Status on the group and Corvus started to fly across the chasm; but he immediately encountered a Dispel Magic field and drifted down to the bottom of the chasm. These dispel magic fields are all over the place, and very inconvenient they are! Fortunately Corvus is an excellent climber and had magical assistance in his slippers. While he climbed back up and Decimus, Sam, and I were attempting to work out the best route to take around the anti-magic field, and how to guard against the possibility of multiple ones, Alfredus suggested to Robyn that he shoot the lever next to the drawbridge and see if that activated it. It did.

Corvus renewed his fly spell and crossed the drawbridge first, checking for traps and finding none. Otho opened the door to reveal more natural passageway. This went on for something between 400-500 feet before the ceiling and floor gave way to an immense shaft, which we later determined was 150' in diameter. An icy tiled ledge with two rows of life-size statues extended into the void, and we were not particularly surprised when the statues animated and advanced upon us. I dispelled one, Decimus used his lightning wand, and the others fought until they were all gone. Looking up the shaft, we saw torches far above us. I detected strong abjuration magic, which we presumed was another dispel magic field; unfortunately, I misjudged the distance and flew straight into it when I advanced to see if I could detect any more such fields, perhaps arranged in a pattern. I landed on the icy ledge, with little harm to anything but my dignity. We were very pleased to have those rings of resisting elements, as our breath was visibly freezing, but we were comfortable the whole time.

Robyn had better fortune in determining the dimensions of the anti-magic field, and we flew up cautiously. About halfway up we were approached by six creatures like the gargoyles with which the Goths decorate their chapel drainpipes, who attacked us. Not having much faith in my ability to attack, I summoned an air elemental to do it for me; but in the event, it proved to be only a distraction, and I actually hit one of the things twice with my mace. I don't think I've ever hit anything but a sandbag with a mace before! The guys made rather a fuss about it, though I didn't even kill the one that was attacking me on my own and everyone else did much greater execution than I did.

The torches illuminated a ledge high in the shaft, and Robyn spotted another one opposite. Since Corvus was wounded in the fight with the gargoyles and Alfredus was not, Alfredus approached the lit ledge first, encountering another "dead zone" and dropping. Fortunately we caught him and Decimus used another charge of that massively useful wand, whereupon he proceeded to the wall and climbed up to the ledge. As soon as he put the weight of his arms on top of it, spears shot out. Corvus, who had a Cure Moderate Wounds potion, and I flew up and over the ledge, managing to land on top of it and hauling him up. While I healed Alfredus, Corvus set about disabling the trap; but as we were so engaged, two panels in the walls opened up, and we were approached by massive obsidian statues of the legendary Acheaen monster, the minotaur. Sam and Decimus fired spells at it, but the magic winked out on contact. Otho came to our assistance and got set on fire for his pains.

Sam very bravely came to assist me in smothering the flames, but there was little enough he could do. We all fought as best we could - I hit with my mace again - but the serious damage was attributable to Robyn, who made some truly spectacular shots and did more damage than I would have thought possible for a steel arrow to do to obsidian. Fortunately none of us were hit by shrapnel.

While I healed people, Decimus and Robyn explored the opposite ledge, finding a column of levitation magic which they surmised could be used as an elevator, and a secret door. Alfredus tossed them an everburning torch and they went through the door, which led them through curving passages and up and down stairs and through more doors - with poison needle traps on them - until, about the time I got worried about them, they appeared through a secret door onto our ledge.

>From our present location, a passage opened up and we could see yet another chasm with a bridge over it. I was sure our goal was beyond the bridge, and wished to proceed; but the others feared there might be more constructs lurking behind us in secret doors off of the corridor, so we backtracked first with Robyn and Corvus in the lead. They were particularly interested in the stairs, which seemed singularly pointless if they were not either a trap or avoiding some feature of the complex. It turned out they were a trap. Corvus detected a trapdoor in the floor and levers on the third and second steps. Robyn tied a rope to a sledgehammer Corvus had brought (I have neglected to mention that Corvus came equipped with an amazing assortment of paraphernalia, including a 10-foot pole, of all things), and triggered each lever. The third step caused all of the steps to flatten and the trapdoor to open on a chute which presumably exits into the shaft; the second step locks the stairs in place. The reverse situation is true on the other side of the stairs.

This was all we discovered in the curving hall, despite diligent searching, so we returned at last to the bridge, which Corvus declared to be safe. The double doors on the other side were huge, stone, and bolted shut, with four depressions in the shape of the brooches that match the daggers.

We all felt monumentally stupid, realizing that we had completely forgotten Erin's statement that the brooches were the keys, and had blithely gone off and left the fourth brooch in the lab of the wizard who started all this trouble. Decimus made a facsimile of the last brooch with a prestidigitation spell, but none of us expected it to work well. Alfredus and Corvus volunteered to take the risk of inserting them, and the rest of us waited close to the bridge. Ironically, this resulted in Decimus and I being knocked into the chasm by the jets of water that shot out from the wall. Thank goodness, and Uncle's connections, for the rings of elemental resistance, as in the frigid atmosphere Decimus and I would have been in serious danger of hypothermia.

Fortunately, Decimus had the flying wand in hand, so I was merely bruised from landing and we were able to ascend more quickly than the water that began to run in from some unseen source. We both felt a peculiar urge to remain in the chasm, but shook off the baleful influence. On the way up, I glimpsed a red light and felt a chill of malevolence such as I have never felt before without actually using a detect evil spell. I think it a strong possibility that the necromantic machine Uncle asked us to destroy is down there; however, the doors awaited us, and none of us felt inclined to explore under the bridge at this juncture.

As it turned out, we would have had time, because without the fourth brooch the door was still difficult to open. Corvus eventually managed to open one, and peered inside. As we had come to expect, it was large, shadowy, etc. Corvus led the way, stopping short within a few feet and whispering that he saw a large snout and heard breathing.

We had just time to realize we were in the presence of a dragon and begin to spread out before it awoke. I gathered from its conversation that it had been confined here in an enchanted sleep by the Aeronauts and was not best pleased about the circumstance, but was prepared to reward us (in an extremely miserly fashion, it must be said) for breaking the spell and enabling him to take possession of the hoard. I confess I wasn't listening closely, as I was busy casting a spell on Alfredus that would render him immune from fear. I did this in the nick of time, as Decimus was busy dispelling magic, on the theory that it might be an illusion. The dragon chose to interpret this as an attack, and the situation inevitably deteriorated quickly.

I wanted badly to run away, but did not. My chief memory of the affray consists of zipping about the room under cover of a sanctuary spell, trying to keep track of who was on the verge of dying. It was usually Otho, whose extreme attachment to his gladius kept him within the danger range. Alfredus charged straight past the dragon, getting lashed by a tail as he went by, and reappeared with a flaming great ax - he had surmised that a fabulous treasure must have something useful in it, and acted accordingly. Decimus's lightning wand kept fizzing out under the influence of the dragon's magic resistance, and his attempt to polymorph it was more a gesture than a plan; but he did get through to it once, and Sam had better luck with his fire arrows. Robyn and Corvus primarily made use of their bows, Robyn with his usual degree of success, and Corvus less so. He may, however, have saved Otho's life by changing to melee at a crucial point and splitting his attacks; this at serious risk to his own life, and I trust Otho remembers that when he fulfills his political ambitions.

Partly because the chamber was slightly cramped for the dragon and we were all under the influence of the wand of flying (we must never again go anywhere without a wand of flying!), the dragon fell dead before any of us did, and very glad of it I was, too! Alfredus bathed in the blood after the manner of a great hero of his people, a sight I'm just as glad Greta didn't see. He's also skinning it as I write, talking over with Robyn the kinds of things dragon hide can be made into, and how much of each thing we can have made. I wonder if dragon leather can be sueded? But I digress.

The first item of treasure we came to was a crate full of everburning torches, which revealed the flying ship, a life-sized horse statue, crates, bundles, chests, etc. We split into teams of two to explore and inventory the hoard, taking it in turns to stand watch, but in the event nothing disturbed us. I cast detect magic, but it was hopeless - dweomers everywhere!

Alfredus suggested that Robyn should have two shares, due to his peculiar relationship to the treasure. He declined, but suggested it would not be unreasonable for him to have first pick before shares were divided, and no one disputed this. He selected the magical horse statue, even before learning what it does. In his place, I would have picked what Corvus found in the magic box, a treasure beside which the ship becomes mundane - the diamond pegasus given to Celeste of Calydon by the Elf-prince Elegon of Amroth as a love token, at the beginning of that tragic story. There's no such thing as a price for such a treasure. It will have to go to the Emperor, too. But I keep looking at it. It's not as if I had a place to put it; but looking does no harm, and I may as well enjoy it while I'm in the same room as it is.

Sept. 15 - Most of today was spent loading the ship and identifying treasure. Alfredus hard at work on the leather. Robyn collected such obsidian shards -- from the shattered minotaurs outside -- as might possibly be of use to a jeweler, and Decimus gleefully assisted Alfredus in butchering the dragon's body, securing teeth, claws, a barrel filled with blood, and even the dragon's heart.

Sept. 16 - We finished exploring the caverns today. We found some more traps, and another elevator, but apart from some zombies at the bottom of the shaft no other threats. The power of Orus took care of them in short order.

Then we at last approached the thing under the bridge. Corvus volunteered to come with me. We used that invaluable wand of flying and hovered in front of it, a glowing red gem the size of a fist, set in a disc inscribed in arcane runes. It was the Eye of Charon, a heathen abomination intended to defile the dead by turning their bodies into warriors. I say "was," because it is now a number of shards at the bottom of the chasm. Otho and the sledgehammer took care of that.

I got a message from Uncle. All's well at home, but he was growing concerned about us. I reported our success and told him we would be sailing the ship home. I look forward to this immensely.