Armania wanted a restoration as soon as the party awoke from their rest period. No one seemed affected by Night Terrors and the group was a full strength.
The conversation gravitated toward where to explore next. The room with the Air Elementals? The Guardians room, where there were two passages that they hadn't explored yet? Or the balcony room?
Erevel was ready to head anywhere and had to be stopped from heading off alone. Finally Ciprian acceded to Gavril's request to head for the Air Elementals since the group may have to seal up the fissures in the floor there also.
On the way to the chasm room Ciprian noted that they probably would not be able to search the passages in the room if they dropped an earthquake on it to seal the holes. It was also not clear if the Elementals could see invisible creatures.
Arriving at the entrance the group saw the Elementals still cavorting in the air to the sound of the whistling wind. Their movements were abrupt and they changed directions swiftly while also hovering at times. Ciprian, invisible because of his ring stepped to the edge of the chamber and none of the three creatures seemed to notice. Erevel took the opportunity to quaff a potion of Invisibility and entered the room to explore, at least for a short distance the two exits. These quickly lead to the normal under city passages, twisting around, going up and down so she returned. Putting on her magic wings she flew down the biggest fissure where at sixty feet there was a ledge but the hole continued beyond her Darkvision. So she continued downward, looking for other passage leaving the main chasm. She found no other passages but this one fissure, while getting narrower and changing its shape, descended to at least Three Hundred and Sixty feet without end apparently.
Erevel flew back up to the surface and called out to Ciprian that he found nothing interesting. The Elementals stopped their capering and began flying different patterns. Swooping to the floor and back up apparently upset by the different sound.
The next path was to explore the tunnels so Ciprian broke out his fascinate performance and the Elements all moved almost to floor level and hovered watching the Bard, now visible, sing a tune. Kaklatath began a continuing soothing Telepathy message stating the groups pacific intentions. She repeated the message in several languages. As this was happening the whole party moved around to the northeast, skirting the chasms, and headed out the northeast tunnel. Exploring the tunnel was again the same as all the others and eventually led the group back to the southeast tunnel in the Elementals chamber.
Ciprian began his performance once again and the party moved to the southwest passage. Armania decided to check for magic as the group traipsed through the room and saw a glow from one of the smaller breaks in the floor. Moving toward it she looked down and a couple feet below the floor a bronze horn was lodged in a nook. Armania lay down and reached for the horn which she could retrieve easily. She stuck it in her backpack and the party continued on to the Guardian room.
Gavril and Ciprian crossed to the southwest corner and found another hallway. This one led around to enter the first level of the Balcony room from the east. No creatures were seen by the group but there was something magical in the north west corner. Otherwise the room was the same.
Four massive columns of hewn stone towered up to the forty-foot-high ceiling of the hall. Twenty feet above the floor, a wide balcony overlooked the dusty basalt meeting room. Cut out from one corner was a cylindrical shaft that rises far beyond the boundaries of this chamber. The columns bore images of alien cityscapes so exactingly incised that the art almost seemed to shimmer and dance when illuminated. Deep axe gouges marred various columns near the ground and in balcony near the corners.
The battle was joined as Armania began a spell, Ursina cast haste, Agna fired away at the bony monster. Erevel tried to sneak into the chamber as a loud word was spoken and Ciprian was blinded. Armania felt an intrusion into her mind, took damage and was fatigued as she lost the spell she was casting. Gavril also moved into the area and evaded some spell from the second Devourer. Armania fled back into the hallway and Ciprian began a performance even in his blindness. Gavril moved up to the incorporeal Caller while
Erevel sneaked behind and landed a blow on a Devourer. Agna moved into the chamber and then was also blinded. Kaklatath tried to Hold one of the monsters but it failed.
Suddenly lightning bolts exploded from the pillars and struck everyone but Armania and Gavril who evaded it. Even the creatures were struck by the lightning. Agna, a Devourer, and the Caller were stunned. Now Gavril's attacks were potent and Ursina came waltzing in to finish off the Caller. Ciprian cast Arcane concordance and Erevel battled a Devourer, although she lost levels once again.
Lightning exploded from the pillars once again but no one was stunned this time. Gavril moved around the the north of the second Devourer and took an attack. His response was taken but the monster seemed strong. The Devourers each attacked, one on Erevel the other on Gavril, touching them with a hand the was encase in eerie dark fire. Gavril took major damage form the attack. Agna, still blind, hid behind a pillar and Armania moved forward in the hall and began to cast a spell.
Ciprian and Ursina stayed out of the battle for now as Erevel dropped one Devourer just before the pillars exploded with lightning once again. Gavril took out the other Devourer and before the pillars could explode again he figured out how to disable the trap. Armania stopped her spell as all the enemies were gone.
Ciprian and Gavril studied the area of the magic and found the remains of an Yithian. It had a magical ring in its possession. Ciprian called Kaklatath over to examine the remains. She came over and respectfully collected the remains for internment later in the desert. Then group then dealt with their injuries and decided to head back to the Guardian chamber.
Kaklatath entered the chamber first and after five minutes altered the party that they could approach the dais. Gavril moved to the first step and check for traps on the steps or the dais. Erevel moved to look down the hallway to the southeast past the set of battered two-foot-thick metal doors that stood open at the top of the low dais. The hallway traveled some twenty feet before turning to the south. The walls of the hall were smooth cut stone. The rest of the party approached slowly. Armania noted that the doors were only battered on what would have been the hallway side. Kaklatath indicated that the Flying Polyp most likely did that damage escaping before the party killed it.
With no where else to go the party started down the hall which had undamaged carvings and paintings on the walls. Apparently the GraveKnight had not made her way into this area to wreak damage on the artwork. Again the passage wound around, up and down, over crevasses and finally led into a large antechamber where Erevel and Gavil moved slowly along the wall into a vast chamber. Delicate, arching stone bridges and struts stretched between a network of large columns, creating a petrified web of nonsensical design. The bridges were slanted down and as Erevel approached the edge she could see down to the edge of her vision a huge chasm.
The layout of the area was vertiginous, unsettling to Erevel and Gavril as they looked far down into the pit. The architecture seemed sturdy enough to support several thousand pounds. Should a flightless creature fall, it appeared she could try to catch herself on a lower bridge. The bridges spanned the chamber and some seemed to enter the walls at various points but Erevel could not see the bottom nor if there were actually any other exits. Kaklatath had never been in this area and had no information for the party.
After a short discussion Erevel led the party down one of the bridges into the pit. Twisting and turning around and past pillars the bridge turned back under itself and some side passages led into dead end alcoves. As the group descended further the bottom of the pit still did not come into view but a vast draconic serpent with a pair of leathery wings that did not appear strong enough to allow it to fly came into view. The party minds were again struck with horror from this Gargantuan creature with old madnesses coming active as Erevel almost dropped her sword and began limping. Armania shook her head to clear the cobwebs while Agna wondered how to cast a spell. Ursina got a gleam in her eyes and began looking around at her party members with suspicion.
The creature then bit Erevel and snatched her in its giant maw while some of its wounds healed up. The tail slapped at Gavril as this creature seemed apropos to its name, a Hunting Horror. Armania cast a spell that bypassed the Resistance and effected some damage. Ursina flew out to hover waiting to heal party members that needed it. Gavril attacked with both hands and had a better time hitting the monster but it did not seem too affected. Agna joined the Erevel and Gavril close up with the monster but took an attack getting there. Her attack was feeble. Ciprian cast haste and separated himself from Kaklatath. Erevel attacked with vigor even though she could not hear the Bard's Performance. As her last attack hit, the monster seemed to heal itself from almost all damage it had taken. Kaklatath's Hold Monster again had no effect.
DM's Notes: The party earned 11,733 XP for the night and are in a battle for their lives.
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