In the City of Kor
Upon reaching the forbidding volcano rising out of the swamp we are told by our guides that we must put bags on our heads. Before we do so we notice a long rising channel cut into the mountain, ending in a gaping passage. After we are bagged (Harald makes his PTSD flashback save) we are lead up the channel and then through a truly bewildering maze of passages. All attempts at memorizing our route are in vain.
After half an hour or so we emerge into light, and are unbagged. "Welcome to the Forbidden Valley of Kor." It is a series of huts in the caldera of the volcano. Ruined stone buildings can be seen in the distance, and shaped cave entrances abound along the interior wall of the valley. We are escorted into a chamber and told to wait for Ayesha to see us. We wait peacefully for eleven hours, proving that none of us are secretly Father Michael in disguise. A man appears and asks if we have our gifts for Hiya ready. We give him a 1000gp gold crescent, a magic elf ankh, the Naga texts from the City of Silence, and some gems. He leaves and returns quickly, asking us to follow him.
We go through a long corridor lined with spearmen who salute us. The incredibly awesome light sources are inbetween spearmen. They seem to be using mummies (non-undead, as indicated by the fact that Agav doesn't flip out and attack them) as giant candles. Super cool. We continue on into a room with tapestries that depict a man who looks sick. He is force fed a potion, and the next scene has him dead on a tomb slab. In this room we meet Daab, Abbas, and Melakum. Abbas is very tall and strong. He struts proudly wearing a long cape. Melakum lurks in the corners, and holds a spear. Daab greets us and says he will guide us to Hiya. He also curses us in various ways, some clever and some not so clever ("Whatever Gods you happen to worship all suck my balls!"). We guess correctly that he is a were-hyena. He leads us into the second entry chamber, which has a tapestry with a small man cowering before a giant flying skull. There's also an 18 foot tall nude man with a scimitar that perhaps exceeds the giant himself in size. We pass peacefully into the third antechamber, which ends in double doors guarded by two of Heliodorus and Hakim's patented Clockwork Men. Daab opens the door and we crawl in.
Ayesha reclines, fanned by slave girls. She is wrapped head to toe in a mummy bandages, but even so we can see she is rather "excitingly figured". She wears magical bracers, a ring, and a belt under her wrappings. Her chamber has two large glass water tanks, one of which has a magic ladder leaning against it. She says she is pleased by our gifts, and asks us of our journeys. We talk a while, and she mentions that the Naga never reached her. In fact, she has only been visited by Hassan Azam twice, and before that by two white women.
She says she will answer a question for each of us if we will do her a favor. We agree, but she wants to test us first. She gives us a bag of stones of different colors. We are to each take on, and then group them. We do so, grouping the three blue stones together, the one brown stone by itself, and the two red stones together. She then asks that we put the groups in order. Ailyll suggests that we order them in the order of elements used in the formation of the world. Harald thinks that sounds fine, and orders them blue, brown, red, for he knows that water predates earth, and earth ends in fire. Ayesha praises our wisdom, and deigns to answer a bonus question. Harald asks a question and doesn't get the answer he wants. Then we are off to retrieve a pendant stolen form her by the previous Abbas.
After a good night's rest we are led to one of the many many cave entrances that line the valley. There is quite a hullabaloo with dancers and singing to see us off. We are told that a Slicer Beetle went into this cave a while ago, so we should be careful. Ailyll is itching to try out her new Reduce Insect spell on it. We go down into the cave and enter a maze of windy passages, all of which look alike. We kill an iron golem with almost comical ease, but he hits Mamun, who is then attacked by his snake bracers. We kill the snakes, breaking the bracers in the process, and Slow Poison on Mamun. We return him to the cave entrance and then keep going. We take out a large number of skeletons, and Agav is overjoyed when five mummies attack. Harald and Agav get the rot, but Harald's summoned Gargoyles do a number on the mummies. We find and reduce the stupid Beetle, and he doesn't even cut off anyone's arms with his one pitiful attack.
We go on, and come to a lower level where the corridors are filled with water. Ailyll casts Water breathing, and we start walking along the bottom. We see a bunch of water spiders coming our way, and Harald casts the weakest 9th-level Lighting Bolt ever, killing none of them. We duke it out, with some summoned Giant Crabs doing a fair job. Everyone is healthy and happy, and even that rot can't get us down. We keep exploring, and come to a chamber where some creature above us seems to be lapping up the water. We want to sneak by, but then Harald is suddenly backstabbed by some semi-transparent fellow. We also notice a strong black guy in a long cloak with a big weird axe(presumably Former Abbas), a kaggin, a Daku, and some other folks coming at us. Harald notes with significance that their skin is kind of translucent and mucousy-looking. While we get ready to fight the lapping above stops and a goddamn Catoblepus head pokes into the water, causing Ailyll and Afaf to go down. Former Abbas hits Harald with his cool axe, knocking him to -10. Harald keeps conscious and levitates up holding everyone until the Catoblepus tail swipes him, KOing him. Agav has to think fast...
...and think fast he does. He busts out the Wings of Flight, and, gripping Harald in his teeth and Ailyll and Afaf with his legs he starts to fly away...in the wrong direction. After a bit he doubles back, and narrowly avoids his doom at the hands of the glistening jerks. He then hightails it through a chamber with a Greater Mummy and finally escapes up a waterfall into a small chamber. There everyone regains consciousness, and Ailyll heals up herself and Afaf before stone-shaping a passage out of the volcano. The locals are rather surprised to see her, and she fetches Saiiq and gets all that rot cured so that everyone can foolishly return to the dungeon the next day.
Next time, find out if our doughty heroes will all become Aboleth slaves, or instead triumph.
