Gaming Session 14 (June 18, 2005) (Total XP for each party member: 856)

38th Topaz: Before leaving Knossos, the party purchases and produces Holy Water.

17th Jacinth: The party arrives in Delphi. They begin their descent of the fabulous Great Spiral Road, which leads to Ancient Delphi.

28th Jacinth: The party arrives at the gate of Ancient Delphi. Elias convinces the Praxitelian guard that the party are pilgrims come to pay the traditional homage at the holy sites of the Goblin Empire. Elias' successful Diplomacy check wins over the guard, who reminds them of the importance of purchasing and wearing the traditional robes of the pilgrim while in the city.

Cuauhtemoc pays a visit to the Temple of Obsidian, and receives the "initiatory" talisman of Obsidian.

Orton and Elias craft a wand of Endure Elements (Orton -30 XP).

29th Jacinth: The party follows the Tombs Road to the Tombs of the Ancients. Most of the party succumb to heat exhaustion, due to the conditions in the Zone of Fire; Elias uses his wand of Endure Elements to allow them to continue travel, until they reach the Tombs.

The party enters the tombs, and follow the instructions they received from Sergius Lefkoz. After ascending 77 flights, they enounter a ghost. When Elias asks the ghost to reveal himself to them, all but the Dwarf succumb to the ghost's horrific appearance, losing 4 Str, 3 Dex, and 4 Con. They assist the ghost in retrieving his spellbook (and obtain 2 emeralds and 300 GP). The ghost, a former Keeper of the Vaults named Dimitrius, rewards them for helping him by showing them a secret door at the back of his tomb, and informing them that sometimes the best way to get where they need to go in the tombs is through such secret doors. XP reward for solving the encounter with Dimitrius the ghost: 771.

The party decides to take refuge in the cross-shaped chamber beyond the secret door, where they see seven other secret doors. While they are resting there, they are attacked by a Wight. XP reward for driving back the Wight: 86.

Gaming Session 15 (July 2, 2005) (Total XP for each party member: 86)

29th Jacinth: The party makes a forced march down the stairs. As they head west toward the exit, they encounter a Gelatinous Cube. The Cube engulfs Xu, Elias, and Orton, and almost completely digests Elias in its acidic innards (4 HP left!), but Sebastian, D'Mitrius and Cuahtemoc manage to kill it first. (Gwil is still paralyzed from the encounter with the Ghost.) XP reward for defeating the Gelatinous Cube: 86. The party finally makes it out of the tombs, and marches an additional hour, where they rest and try to recover.

30th Jacinth: Orton fails in his saving throw to recover from the negative energy level bestowed by the Wight; he loses a level. Orton casts bear's endurance and prayer on Xu, who subsequently makes his save.

34th Jacinth: The party must rest three more days to recover their full strength from the encounter with the Ghost. Finally, they return to the Tombs... Following the instructions of Sergius Lefkoz, they find the tomb of Demetrius Lefkoz. They stumble upon the tomb of Lord High Mage Karolos, but manage to pass it without incident using hide from undead. Cuauhtemoc finds the tomb of Constantinos Porfira, to which they gain access by the secret door at the back of Demetrius Lefkoz' tomb. They place the remains of the five corpses they find in Constantinos' tomb into the bag of holding and retreat.

35th Jacinth: The party returns to Ancient Delphi. At the most ancient temple of Obsidian, Elias convinces an acolyte that Orton had an encounter with a wight in the Badlands, and for 380 GP the party gets a restoration for Orton. The party leaves for Knossos. (Orton is at 15,001 XP.)

17th Hematite: After they have been travelling across the plains of Knossos for a week, they encounter a caravan of 20 Mushroom folk. Suddenly, the caravan is surrounded by menacing shadows and hundreds of glowing red eyes. The party decides they will help...

Gaming Session 16 (July 16, 2005) (Total XP for each party member: 858)

17th Hematite: The party engages in a grand battle against marauding dire rats, Jinxkins, and a huge dire bat. The bat mauls the Grig with a terrible bite (though he survives!), scores a critical hit against Xu (40 HP with one bite!), and knocks Cuauhtemoc and Sebastian out before the end of the battle. The Jinxkins land a few blows with their paralyzing poison, but are not much of a threat. Most of the smaller dire rats are killed by the Mushroom folk slam attacks or are dazed or experience hallucinations from the Mushroom folk spore attacks, but the medium dire rats manage to pin down the party during the devastating fly-by attacks of the dire bat. One Myconid is knocked out by the dire bat as well, but her comrades bring her back from the verge of death with some healing potions. The bat is worn down by the Grig's spell attacks (magic missile and scorching ray), then by the party's slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Gwil scores the final hit with his crossbow, bringing the huge bat down with a crash. XP reward for helping to defend the Myconids from the Jinxkin attack: 858.

After the battle, the party is approached by the Myconids, and greeted by Marjasdotter, envoy of her royal majesty Carlotta, Queen of the Mushroom Folk, who speaks directly to their minds telepathically...

Chapter 5