Now that all the spiders guarding this room have been dispatched, the group can explore it. It is mostly full of webbing. Three doors are visible. The group members with swords cut through the webbing, clearing the room. Alana sees a panel in the southwest corner that protrudes about a 1/2 inch. Checking it out, Oliver locates a secret door. They decide to leave this for now. According to the grimlock leader, Shalma, the medusa queen is most likely through this door.
Flerm sends dancing lights through the northwest door. Two clumps of smaller spiders are writhing near the ceiling. They decide to close the door and leave the spiders be.
Snow opens the northeast door. Inside are two large spiders in a room full of webs. Alana manages to kill one with her arrows. As Snow jumps out of the way, the second spider exits the room and bites Alana, injecting her with its venom. Lieralyn kills it while Malouf treats Alana's wounds.
To investigate the room, Lieralyn and Alana cut a path through the webbing. There is a corridor at the other end of the room. As they approach it, they hear a shrieking noise. Lieralyn quickly throws up her shield and Alana raises her hands to cover her face just before a swarm of the smaller spiders rush out and cover their bodies. Alana tries to brush them off. Lieralyn falls to the ground, convulsing.
Klute takes out his lute and plays a song that soothes the spiders, causing them to move more sluggishly. Malouf runs in and grabs Lieralyn, dragging her to Josy. Snow pulls Alana out, beating spiders off. As Josy heals Lieralyn, a recovered Alana goes back to retrieve the items she and Lieralyn dropped.
On the east wall is a door that branches off to the south and east. They follow the southern corridor in a single file until they come to another closed door. A fungus-y smell seems to emanate from the room beyond. The door opens noisily, waking up the room's mushroom inhabitants. The mushrooms start shrieking incessantly, glowing and swaying.
Snow quickly shuts the door, but the shrieking does not stop.
Klute, at the back of the line, starts to speak, but he is turned to stone. The medusa smashes a bottle near Oliver, engulfing both him and Awban in a choking gas. Running forward with his eyes down, Flerm starts swinging his sword as soon as he sees feet. On his first swing, he realizes he is not as strong as he used to be - Milina's ring!
Still by the steel mushroom door, Snow notices it is starting to open. Snow grabs the handle, managing to keep it closed long enough for Malouf to come help her. Brecaryn advances to join the rest in killing the medusas.
While Malouf and Snow stay to guard the mushroom door, the rest of the group charge back up the corridor with the magick mirror. They pass through what appears to be the medusa's sleeping quarters. Further in, they see two medusas in the mushroom room, by the door. Flerm turns one to stone with the mirror while Lieralyn engages the other. Using the Invisible Servant, Brecaryn positions the mirror between Lieralyn and the medusa, petrifying it. Malouf and Snow rejoin the party.
While the others explore the new rooms, Flerm attempts to take off Milina's ring, but fails, adding another cursed ring to the group's tally.
One of the rooms is full of books. Some look to be alchemical books in the medusa language. Brecaryn transfers them to the mirror for later study. Alana tries to pull a book with gilt lettering on the spine, but only succeeds in disturbing the dust and mold spores, choking herself. The book crumbles to dust.
Brecaryn notices two books that look like they have been used recently. They are also covered in yellow mold spores, so backing to a safe distance, she uses Invisible Servant to pull them off the bookcase. These books are in elvish - "Mirror of Thought" and "History of Nyrngard".
In the meantime, Oliver notices there are markings in the dust on the floor indicating one of the bookshelves can slide sideways. Brecaryn uses Invisible Servant again to move the bookcase. As a precaution, Malouf positions himself where the opening would be, holding the mirror in front of himself. The precaution proves to be a good idea as the sliding bookcase reveals a now petrified medusa poised to shoot an arrow.
Lieralyn and Flerm remain behind to guard the rear. Malouf leads the way through the corridor. An almost inaudible click sounds. Josy instinctively steps back, pushing into Alana. A stone slab falls from the ceiling, narrowly missing Josy and separating Malouf, Snow, Awban, Oliver, Brecaryn, and Vain from the rest of the party. Another falls in front of Malouf. Both stones are spiked. The slabs begin moving in, threatening to crush them between the spikes. Brecaryn quickly transfers everyone into the mirror while Flerm, Lieralyn, Josy, and Alana work to get their companions out.
The stone slab is being pushed forward by a wooden beam.
Josy: I can set this beam of wood on fire, but it will cost me greatly in health.
Flerm: Do it!
As the wooden beam burns through, the slab falls. Flerm, Lieralyn, Josy, and Alana peer cautiously down the corridor. Seeing the mirror, they go over to signal the rest of the group to come out. Lieralyn backtracks down the corridor and notices a piece jutting out of the wall. Pushing it, she resets the trap which moves the other stone slab out of their way.
At then end of the corridor is a door leading to a laboratory. To one side is a foul smelling pool, a long table with alchemical devices on the other. Writing in medusa language is on the wall. A magick rod is hanging nearby. Predictably, Malouf lunges for it, but is stopped by Snow. She warns everyone not to touch anything until Brecaryn has a chance to examine it. Naturally, Alana immediately takes the rod off the wall, fascinated by its sparkling colors. Brecaryn identifies it as a Rod of Disease Control, so Alana gives it to Josy. Despite her diminutive stature, Josy has no trouble adding it to the large collection of other things she carries in her pack.
Brecaryn finds healing potions as well as vials of various poisons. The healing potions are split among the party members. There is one vial with labelled "soft" in elvish. The vial appears to contain approximately twelve drops. Brecaryn decides to try it on Klute, and it works.
Klute: Man, that's the second time. I'm tired of being turned to stone. (looks around) Hey! Is that a fountain of enhancement?
Alana: Uh...we don't know....is it?
Brecaryn: Can you read the writing on the wall?
Klute: No, but I've seen them before, and I'm pretty sure that's what it is. I'm going in. Ladies, if you don't like it, look away.
As Klute strips, all of the females in the group look on appreciatively. After he gets in, he explains that it enhances one ability, but there is a small chance it will actually do the opposite. Taking the chance, everyone except Malouf enters the fountain and comes out with positive results.
- Klute and Oliver are more agile.
- Snow, Josy, and Alana have increased intellects.
- Brecaryn is prettier.
- Flerm feels more robust.
As the others get their gear back on, Malouf explores a door to the west. A breeze can be felt coming from this direction. He opens the door, revealing a broken stairway that ends in open air. At the top of the stairs is a fat, white duck. Malouf closes the door, pushing the group back.
Malouf (grim-faced): Duck.
The party makes their way back to the room where the giant spiders and cursed ring were in order to try the secret door. Snow is temporarily paralyzed by a trap in the door, but she recovers, and they are able to move on.
Behind the door is a corridor. As they near the end, they can smell scented candles and hear music playing. The room is full of statues. Unlike all the other statues they encountered before, these look deliberately posed and smiling. Flerm wants to smash them, but he is overruled. They move on, following the sounds of a harp playing.
At the next closed door, Malouf stands poised with the mirror. Snow opens the door, careful to keep her eyes low. She is hit by a poisoned dart, but Josy heals her with a scroll.
Through another door, the group encounters what appears to be a wall made of scaley material. A slightly unpleasant odor wafts out. Malouf pokes at the wall from the doorway. The "wall" hisses and coils, revealing itself to be a giant snake.
Malouf backs out of the room, and everyone lines up in preparation for the snake's attack. As it sticks its head through the door, everyone takes a shot at it. The snake grabs Flerm, pulling him into the room, and begins squeezing him tightly in its coils. Snow runs in and uses her Distance Death technique to kill the snake. Awban helps Flerm up.
Suddenly, the harp stops. A panel opens to the side, revealing a barred doorway and another room full of statues. A scent similar to smell on the medusa blankets comes through the opening. A hissing chant can be heard through the bars.
Oliver tries to locate Shalma without looking into the room. He casts a fireball into the back corner, succeeding only in melting some of the statues.
Brecaryn moves the mirror in front of the bars so Shalma cannot pop into the doorway and turn any of their group to stone.
The snake room contains a door facing the same direction as the barred doorway in the statue room. Flerm and Lieralyn maneuver the snake corpse to form a wall between them and the door. Snow checks it for traps. She warns everyone that the door is rigged with a spiked ball trap, and she is about to set it off. Flerm and Lieralyn leave the room to get out of the way.
Klute, having taken some kind of potion earlier, is eager to enter battle.
Klute: Vengeance time!
He rushes forward and swings open the door. Both he and Snow are smashed by the ball trap into the snake's body. Klute, seemingly unharmed, ducks down next to the snake. Snow was less fortunate and sustains quite a bit of damage from the spiked ball.
Klute: Good plan with that snake body!
Snow (glares at Klute)
A dog-faced demon with four arms, 2 with pincers for hands, appears in the doorway. Malouf grabs Josy's mirror from Flerm's back and runs into the snake room, waving it around. He catches sight of the demon and runs right back out.
Malouf: There's a demon in there!
Then he returns to confront the demon. Klute and Lieralyn charge up and attack with their swords. Oliver casts Enfeeblement. The demon looks unimpressed. With a glances, he sends sending the spiked ball flying towards Snow, slamming her into a wall.
Josy calmly walks up to the demon, touching it lightly on the leg. The demon disappears. Banished!
A trident juts down from the ceiling, causing Klute to look up. He is petrified again. The medusa queen, clinging to the rafters with her serpent's body, stabs at Malouf, poisoning him. Snow induces Speed and jumps up to the rafters to engage Shalma with her eyes closed. Oliver moves to follow.
Flerm grabs the magick mirror from the statue room and brings it back to use against the medusa. He yells, trying to get her to look at him, but she does not fall for the ruse. Lieralyn manages to hit the creature with an arrow before she too is petrified. The same happens to Malouf.
Oliver gets hit by her trident and falls to the ground, poisoned.
Flerm floats up to the rafters, hiding behind the mirror, and bashes the medusa with it repeatedly. Brecaryn shoots it with lightning, finally causing her to fall to the floor. Snow drops down on top of her, killing her. Snow's final punch smashes clean through Shalma's head, splattering poisoned blood on both Snow and Oliver before they fall unconscious. Luckily, Josy still has enough scrolls to heal them of the poison.
When Klute is unpetrified, he is disappointed he did not get to kill the medusa.
Finding the queen's trophy room, the group locates a statue that fits the description they have of Melinda. The room seems to be for those victims who were especially petrified. The trophy room also contains money and gems. These are loaded into the mirror along with any statues that are undamaged and can undergo the process of reanimation.
Flerm collects a few vials of medusa blood. Awban packs what's left of the medusa's head and some of the handheld Geryon symbols to take back to his people as proof he completed his mission.
Over Klute's objections, the group decides to head back to Bryn Sturges to reunite Melinda with her father. They decide to camp for the night. In the morning, they will investigate the waterfall before making their way to the village.
