. Caves of Chaos

Next they make their way back to the Horned Hold. The orcs they killed last time are still lying on the stone floor. They cautiously make their way deep into the keep. After crossing the bridge, they come to the room where boxes had been stacked in front of a large set of double doors. The air is smoky here, and the boxes have been reduced to charred ashes. They head into the foyer that leads into the slave pits and Murklmor’s chamber. All is quiet and in fact the door is still tied as they had left it. They remove the rope and head into the slave pit room. Rayrond sneaks around and the room appears to be empty except for a couple of slave bodies near the pit. Rayrond peers into the pit where the slaves had been kept and finds a truly horrific sight. The slaves have all been eviscerated, chewed and otherwise torn apart. They suspect the spiny devils slaughtered the slaves before leaving. They decide to head make sure the Horned Hold is truly empty and go exploring areas to the south. After a few moments searching the sleeping quarters of the duergar guards they find a chest containing 40gp and three rubies.

Next they head north east to an area of the Hold that obviously hasn’t been used in many years. Why haven’t the Duergar used this area? They head through a couple of doors and then up some stairs to a hallway which is lined with arrow slots. Obviously used to protect the eastern bridge. At the end of the hall is an ornate black wooden door carved with many symbols and images of Minotars. This opens into a large partially destroyed chapel. In the centre of the room stands a damaged statue that depicts a fierce demonic minotaur. One arm has broken off and lies in pieces on the floor. Portions of the ceiling have fallen in, partially filling several small chambers behind the statue. A rusty iron door stands in the western wall. Mathers sends his bear familiar Orso into the room. Suddenly from out of the rubble lurches the body of a long-dead human warrior in tattered black mail. Sunken flesh clings to its bones, and its lips have drawn back from its black teeth. It raises a rotting hand revealing jagged claws as it hisses and attacks. A total of 5 wights rise from various hiding places around the room. A short battle ensures and the wights are forced into their final rest. The battle with the rusted door seems to take longer, but finally they are successful with that as well.
A short narrow hallway ends at a statue of a grim looking skeletal minotaur with a great axe. Panril recognizes it as the minotaur version of the grim reaper. To the east is a crypt containing the bodies of a dozen minotaur warriors in niches along the walls. A door to the west leads back to the room where the slaves where held.
Finding nothing of note, they troop past the desecrated bodies of the innocent slaves without even a backwards glance.

Next they decide to follow the key. The key they found on Maldrick leads them through the Shining Road and into a section of the Labyrinth they have not visited yet. Down un unremarkable stretch of tunnel, it tugs Mathers hand and sticks suddenly into the wall. A door opens that leads them down a tunnel. The tunnel opens into a large room with a glowing set of runes on the floor.
As they approach the circle flares with blinding energy for a moment. When the light fades away, a spectral skeletal figure is standing within the circle. The figure is clad in thick robes of deepest scarlet.
“The Secrets of the tower come at a price. You must each pay for the right to enter this place. What can you offer to the dreaded lord of secrets? I seek lore, power and your souls”
After conferring with each other for a moment each adventure takes his turn regaling the spirit with knowledge, lore or tales of heroic deeds.
Once satisfied he bids the heroes to enter. “You may now enter this tower of mysteries. May its secrets intrigue you”
As they step into the portal each feels a surge of pain though and each loses a healing surge.
With a flash of light they arrive in a 20x20 room with two exits. The walls of the chamber are covered with carvings that depict human faces. Each face wears a blindfold or a gag. Immediately upon your arrival the blindfolded faces animate and begin to chant, while the eyes of the gagged faces glare at you with rage. They fight Norkers and are introduced to the Enigmas of Cyric. Mages who have devoted themselves to the god Cyric for a taste of his evil power. They are able to attack the mind through the pillars.
When a second wave of Norkers arrive they foolishly rush through a ring of fire left behind by Gandor and quickly perish. A hard battle is fought with Gandor’s pet hyena almost succumbing to its injuries. They finally face the Enigmas and at the point when the Enigmas are starting to die they suddenly rip their own faces off in a frenzy of rage and can do nothing but try to claw the life out of the party. Once dispatched the group rummages through the rooms to find an onyx and a quartz gem that resembles an eyeball.
There are no doors or windows so the only way to proceed is through the next portal.
This leads to another level. They are forced to fight another Bronze Warder. If not for Rayrond quickly hobbling the fearsome construct they surely would have perished.
Once the Norkers and Enigmas of this level are dispatched they discover a large glass container featuring tubes, metal pipes, and filled with an acrid glowing liquid. Floating within is the head of a bronze warder. The group decides to destroy this arcane machine, smartly keeping their distance. Immediately a human mage teleports into the room seething with rage. “Oh you fuckers shall die for this” He unleashes a devastating bolt of lightning that arcs between several of the adventurers.
They lock themselves into the lab and rest while Darkface hears the rattle of the locked doors and moans and claws scraping the doors.

After a brief rest the adventurers decide it would be best to find the remaining slaves. They head back to the Horned Hold confident that they have grown enough to lay waste to what ever they face.
They try the same trick again to enter the complex, but it doesn’t work. They manage to storm the gate and attack the Orc guards, but one gets away. They kill the rest and rush into the complex. They find nothing, but stop at the bridge. Last time they had tried to cross they were attacked by animated crossbows. They cross carefully to find the door on the other side locked. Mathers teleports to the other side of the door and gets attacked. The rest of the group manages to smash the door down and a quick battle ensues. The Ogre that chased them out last time gets his come uppance and is dispatched quickly. They continue on to the Ogre’s sleeping quarters. They find dozens of crates stacked up against one door leading out of the chamber. The other door leads to battle with
Fight with Murlkemor


Karl gets thrown into fire.
Mathers goes for a walkabout.
Talk a long time about what to do next. Finally decide to go through door
Holy crap big tough guy and more guys,
Lots of pushing into pits.
Find the slaves. Try to get them to leave. We have a cleric down.
Have to run for the hills again. Back to Seven Pillared hall, take Panril to bar. Then take him to priest to get resurrected. Rest of group goes to sleep in Inn. Darkface hears noise outside the hall. Opens door to find group of Duergar and Duergar spell mage from the Horned Hold busting into the room beside theirs. Starts to attack. Yells across the hall to wake the Halflings.
Heads back into his room to waken Mathers. Gendar wakes grabs his staff, tells his dog to stay and wakes Rayrond up by slapping him with the staff. Rayrond dreams that he jumps up out of bed and immediately tosses a chair throught the window. He then wakes up and quietly gets ready to battle. They dispatch the duergar soldier quickly then finally get the mage.

Must clean up bodies, make reparations to the inn operators and guests, get Panril and figure out what to do next.


Brugg shows up in the inn to find out what all the noise is. He spits on one of the Duergar and says “Orontor wants to see you in an hour, take these bodies to the storeroom in the custom house.”
They do their best to clean up as a couple of the other patrons of the inn look on from the door ways of their rooms. Rayrond stays behind due to his many injuries as does the hyena.
The party meets Orontor in his office. He asks how their mission to find out what is happening with Paldemar is going. In response Gandor slams the severed head of the demonic gnoll Maldrick onto the desk then snarls “We have to go back to find the slaves, and then we will continue to find out what is going on with your mage buddy Paldemar, and if I find out that you have anything to do with Paldemar or the slave trade I am coming back here to get you.”
Orontor tells them that he has a secret to reveal to them. He is impressed with their work so far and trusts them enough to let them know that the other mages are basically on sabbatical with their various areas of research and will be gone indefinitely. He is hoping the rumours about Paldemar are false because he could use his help in running things at the Seven Pillared Hall. He reminds them that he will reward them handsomely for confirmation of Paldemars involvment in any illicit activity and he will have Brugg bring them something to help them on the next stage of their investigation. They take their leave and head back to the inn for some rest.
They wake up and head first to Gendar’s Curios and Relics. Gendar the drow with an eyepatch offers to trade them a set of good quality thieves’ tools, a wand +2 and a potion of healing. Then they visit The Deepgem company to replenish expendable weaponry and Gandor selects a very nice set of Hide Armour. They also leave Ulthand the old dward all of their gems. He will appraise them and provide them with their equivalent value in gold coin.
Next they head to The Temple of Hidden Light to retrieve Panril. He is chatting quietly with the priestess Phaledra, but is happy to see them. Then back to the inn for a very large breakfast. Erra Halfmoon seems to be in a bitter mood and doesn’t speak to them.
Brugg appears and tosses them a small leather bag. “Bring those back when you are done.” He growls.
Inside the bag are two golden medallions shaped to resemble tears.

The group tries to decide if they should head into the Inner Sanctum immediately or brave the white mist immediately incase the doors should close again. They play it cautiously and progress quietly into the whiteness. They walk carefully, not able to see the noses in front of the face, complete white out. Even their footsteps are muffled. They find another set of double doors. These open into a tiered chamber. Ahead and to the right the lower chamber is dominated by a leering idol depicting a howling minotaur warrior armed with a massive axe. Before this idol is an iron cauldron filled with a bubbling liquid that fives off a thick mist. A short staircase leads to a raised area stretching to the left. Three more cauldrons are set on this upper area, along with a simple stone altar. To the east of the altar a series of green ghostly runes have been scribed into the floor.
Two sickly looking humans stand swaying within the glowing runes. Their eyes are glazed as if in a trance.
A gnoll unlike any they have ever seen stands behind the altar. He is chanting in a voice that scratches at the backs of the adventures skulls. His large bat wings flex and stretch as he chants and tosses herbs onto a small fire on the altar. Huge curved horns stretch away from the top of his skull. He grasps a rod in one hand and a sheaf of parchment in the other.
A massive apelike demon; Bargula, stands beside him, while a snarling pack of carnage demons shove and snap at each other atop the raised platform. Looming over them all is a massive skeleton of a minotaur clutching a greataxe. You are unsure it is anything more than bones until the shrill howl from the gnoll spurs it to head towards you, it’s axe blade glinting in the firelight. Everything in the room rushes you except the humans in the runes, and the demonic gnoll casting the ritual. As the group is attacked the notice the gnolls guttural voice peaks and he screams “Yeenogu, Yeenogu, Yeenogu!” and suddenly in a flash of red light and explosion of black smoke one of the humans disintegrates before their eyes. Both the monsters and the adventures are bottle necked at the doorway, but the Bargula leaps up and sticks to the wall to the right of the door. With its enormous hands digging into the very rock of the walls, it agilely scurries along the wall and tries to get in behind the party. The party attacks demons and skeleton while the gnoll continues to chant. At one point he screams “I am Maldrick Scarmaker, leader of the Black Fang Gnolls. Witness! Before we smash your puny lives out of your worthless bodies, witness the glory of Yeenoghu. Witness the second coming of the great Yeenoghu!”

Testament to the groups fortitude and how far they have come as a party of adventurers, they are not swayed and ferociously enter battle. Slowly, too slowly, they battle Maldrick’s companions as the second human is sacrificed. As the dust remains of the slave’s body fall to the runes, all light seems to be sucked away as if it was hiding from Maldrick, Yeenogu, or both. The great minotaur idol of Baphomet shatters violently and the very ground beneath their feet trembles. A momentary pause, then light returns and the battle resumes. Finally with his evil companions out of the way, the group focuses on Maldrick himself.

They battle Maldrick sustaining some serious damage from the Demon Gnoll. Finally Mathers casts a spell that causes a large claw of shadow to pluck Maldrick up and drops him into the nearest cauldron. Great screams of pain emit from Maldrick’s burning body as the caustic liquid flays the skin off of his bones.

Finally they close the chapter on the Well of Demons and the leader of the ferocious Blackfang gang. They find a silver key on the altar along with the ritual papers that Maldrick was reading from. Mathers picks up the key and immediately has a mental flash, a clear vision of a secret tunnel. The key unlocks the magically hidden door, and will lead the owner to its location.

What of the slaves? No sign has been found other than the two whose bodies were sacrificed in Maldrick’s ritual. The group decides to head back to the Seven Pillared Hall to rest. On the way through the Well of Demons every minotaur statue or idol they come across has exploded or shattered. Cautiously they find their way through the labyrinth and back to the Seven Pillared Hall.

At this point Surina decides that she needs to head back to The Temple of Hidden Light. She tells the group that they are honorable fighters, and are fighting the good fight but she is unclear of their motives and needs to find others more aligned with her own ideals. She wishes them luck in their future endeavors.