Foggy Brains

"The angel heads are becoming more fierce and possibly evil," Ciprian observed. "The pointed teeth are interesting."

After a few minutes Erevel was raring to move forward once again.

"I am going to make a circuit around checking the heads on each angel.  Anyone want to come with me?"

"I'll go along," Ciprian answered.

Off the two went first to the eastern and northern angels.

Gavril and Ursina headed west to the angel that was failing to stay turned.  Paullus and Armania stayed at the angel gate waiting for changes.

Erevel was running and found each angel head was turned and both Ciprian and she felt the two haunt affects begin to occur but they both kept moving out of the areas.

Finally at the last angel, Erevel spun the head and it stayed facing the wall.

In the angel gate room a grinding metallic sound was heard and the mouths of the angels opened just like the gate on the first floor.

Paullus and Armania did no more investigation until the rest of the party returned.  Erevel approached the gate and saw holes about 2 feet deep leading down from the mouths.  She stuck her arm down the nearest mouth, carefully avoiding the teeth.  At the bottom of the mouth she felt a waxy-feeling metallic tongue which she pulled.  The whole gate slide forward revealing a shaft into the dark.  As the valve opens, the group saw dancing angels carved along the interior of the shaft, their hands gripped to form convenient footholds. Erevel headed down immediately and noticed that the angels’ faces appeared hungry, and their teeth pointed and sometimes broken.

The shaft continued down around fifty feet and opened into an area which was immersed in heavy fog.  Erevel could only see about five feet around her but she felt a wall behind and moved along it to allow others down.  Gavril stepped into the fog followed by Paullus.

"The ceiling must be about fifteen feet high as that is where the fog began," Gavril noted.

"Are things safe enough for us cautious spell casters to come on down?" Ciprian queried.

"Sure, what bad could happen in a haunted library?" Erevel answered.

Ciprian, Armania and Ursina descended the "stairs" to the third level and Ciprian had the map at the
ready.  "We should turn the angel heads and get going to the next level."

"There is some magic aura in the air all over this area," Gavril stated.

"Maybe I should try and identify the effect," Ciprian added.

After some study Ciprian stated that it appeared the area was covered with Guard and Wards.  "The fog will be present and we can't see beyond five feet.  Also doors will be "lost", so we will need to feel along the walls for possible doors.  There may be other effects also."

Erevel started south to the first intersection where she turned west toward the first angel.  She had one hand on the wall which was covered with hundreds of carvings of angels upon the walls. Those in this level were dancing and cavorting, but some of them held sly expressions. The images seemed to move on their own when viewed out of the corner of the eye.

As the party continued along, Paullus suddenly exclaimed "Lets get out of here.  We should not be in this damned library. I'm going back up to get out!"

As the party moved on they could only see people adjacent to them, soon no one could see Paullus but Erevel moved on to the first angel and turned its head to face the wall.  Ciprian was checking the inner wall as they moved.  The angel head stayed in place and Erevel continued to the south.  

About halfway down the next segment Erevel stopped as she saw a Proto-Shoggoth moving toward her.  This began a new battle with various heroes being grappled by the monster, spells that failed and some that worked.  The fog hampered long distance battle everyone waded into hand to ooze combat.  Since the creature was immune to flanking, critical hits and Precision damage Gavril was hampered.  Since it also had damage resistance and healing it was standing for quite some time.  Long enough in fact for its partner to find and attack Paullus who was still searching for the staircase.

Paullus and Ursina became sickened by the monster, while others found a phobia begin to overwhelm them with fear but with Ciprian providing Gavril and Erevel with his Bardic Performance the first Proto-Shoggoth fell.  The party then hurried to help Paullus and Ursina deal with the other creature. It took a few rounds but the second Proto-Shoggoth also succumbed and the party set about to healing once again.  Remove Disease was used on Ursina and Paullus to cure their Infected Flesh.

The party started again to the southwest angel with Erevel in the lead on the outside wall and Ciprian on the inside wall.  The fog was the same and no one found a hidden door but a the T intersection Erevel took a turn to the east.

"That is the wrong direction Erevel," Gavril said wondering what was happening.

"I'm going directly to the angel," Erevel replied.

"No you are not.  You must be confused," Gavril said using his best diplomacy.

"Are you sure?  Because I'm convinced I am going in the correct direction," Erevel insisted.

After some additional persuading, Erevel came back to the intersection and the party unfurled a rope for all to hang onto as they explored further.  At the end of the hall Erevel turned the head on an angel and the party headed east toward the interior room which held an angel.  No door was evident until Erevel reached the northwest corner.  The apparent wall here was seemed to be an illusion.  Setting her sights on disbelieving she caused the wall to disappear revealing a door on a forty-five degree angle.  She tried to open it but was unsuccessful.

Paullus piped up "Let me go in.  Maybe there is a way out from inside the room.  Gavril stepped forward but saw no lock, although there was an aura of magic on the door.  He tried to disable whatever was holding it shut.  Erevel then opened the door revealing a fogless room populated by four  faceless constructs each had a crystal wand set into its chest, bristling with arcane energy.

At the sight of the hero, the construct in the rear cast a spell from its wand, another shot a black ray toward Erevel who then was fatigued.  Another construct cast a fireball into the hallway, followed by the fourth construct casting Stinking Cloud in the same area as the fireball.

DM's Notes: The party earned 4267 XP for the night.