Horror at the Camp Site

Ciprian, concerned about not seeing the on going battle, cast Greater Dispel Magic on top of the smoke cloud.  Dejectedly he saw that the smoke did not disappear.  If any other result happened he could not assure.

Gavril was still spitting vitriol at Erevel as Kaklatath moved closer to and slightly into the smoke but she was not able to make out any figures.

Armania had Getaway ready to go and invoked it, allowing the whole party to escape to the camp outside Neruzavin.  As the party arrived, they noticed the camels were missing, along with Hassad.  Worse they saw a dead Ash Giant corpse lying atop its blood soaking into the baked ground.

Gavril attacked Erevel again while Ursina crept over to the Giant body and determined that he was clearly dead.  Agna sent Barnabas to scout the area looking for the camels and Mother Grim Moon.  Kaklatath cast Hold Monster on Gavril and he froze in a battle stance.  Armania then levitated him into the air to avoid him overcoming the hold and attacking again.

Once that situation was stymied, the group saw two camels and the old Keleshite woman dead on the sand but all the tents and provisions were still in place.  Nothing seemed to have been taken.  The camels, Giant and the old woman had both claw injuries and what seemed to be rapier slashes.

Ciprian in a slight panic headed to the place where he hid the Big Bad Book.  It was missing once again!!!

Barnabas returned and told Agna that the camels were some distance to the west.  He also spotted another Giant body laying in the sand to the northeast.  Nothing else was obvious.

Agna began scouting around for prints.  There was certainly evidence of a fight, giant prints and cloven hoof prints were the most recent.  Giant tracks led off to the northeast and the camels had been hurriedly driven to the west.  Agna said that the Giant body to the northeast was not Mother Grim Moon but just one of the guards.

After the spell on Gavril seemed to have worn off he was lowered back to the ground.  Ursina cast Remove Curse to alleviate any issues from the "Blessing" that Gavril had received from the Saffron Prince.  The Ciprian cast healing on the party as Armania prepared mass Fly for the group to get out to the camels and Hassad.

Hassad leapt to his feet at the sign of the flying party.  He was gathering the camels and seemed to be pushing them toward the south as the party landed.

"Be calm, it is just your adventuring group," Ciprian said in a soothing voice.

"Where is she, are you followed?" Hassad seemed completely afraid of his shadow as his head jerked up and down, back and forth at every noise.

"Who are you talking about?" Ciprian inquired.

"That horrid enrobed creature with a horned brow, maniacal claws and a mouth full of," Hassad stopped and began sobbing.  "A mouth of ... tentacles!"

After settling Hassad down and getting him to be a little more coherent the group learned that the creature had flown into the camp and immediately attacked the nearest Giant. Hassad fled and did not look back but was surprised to learn that there was no evidence of Mother Grim Moon.  The party determined that the description was of a Denizen of Leng.  They had fought a few and some party members recalled a nasty one, Weiralai, who had taken them as slaves and sold them to Lowls.  The group had fought her in Iris Hill but her body disappeared before they could examine it.

The party plied Hassad with the promise of extra payment if he would return to the camp and wait for them and possibly Mother Grim Moon's return.  He reluctantly agreed, the money was sorely needed.

Taking advantage of the time left on their fly spell the group headed into Neruzavin to see if the Denizen of Leng was at any of the Star Stelae locations.  First up was the twisted tower, where no evidence of anyone else having visited was seen.  The star stelae was not glowing and everything looked normal.

Next was the snarl once again.  The group used the south entrance to avoid the Saffron Prince and hopefully Apetolinu.  The haunt affecting the southern entry/exit seemed to be either still dormant or gone completely.  Alas the star stelae was once again undisturbed.

Lastly was the Oraculum, where Erevel climbed the stairs and talked quickly with the Moon Giant who confirmed he had seen no one else enter the observatory.  Then he quickly returned to work on his papers as his time was running short.

This left the group with the underground as Gavril reminded them that Leng Ghouls had taken Kaklatath's body.  Maybe they were joining forces.  So the group headed once again to the shattered well and lowered themselves down into the undercity.  Finding nothing new in any of the rooms on the way to the chamber where the Yithians were previously in stasis, and nothing new in that chamber they headed out the northwest passage which again twisted around up and down as the whistling wind continued, even pulling parts of their clothing away from their bodies.  This seemed to be a basic feature of the underground.

Erevel saw the room first. The walls of the 50-foot-tall chamber jutted and pivoted at jarring angles, and no inscriptions or furnishings remained to suggest what purpose this space once served. The floor was a riot of cracks and larger crevices, some wide enough to swallow a horse.  The wind and the whistling were stronger and louder in the chamber and Erevel noted three cloud-like creatures having dark hollows reminiscent of eyes and a mouth, the howling wind whipped them into ominous shapes.  They capered through the air, dancing to the faint tunes.

Ciprian moved forward and identified them as Air Elementals, he also noted a passageway leading northeast. The Elementals were immune to Critical Hits and had the Whirlwind ability.

DM's Notes:  No XP were earned this evening.