Ch3, Part 6: Escape from House Arkonas

The rest the night and reenter the maze. They meet Vimanda at the agreed meeting spot and agree to a truce. She leaves them to explore the maze.

The heroes begin the painful exploration of the maze, there are a few traps and oddities encounter but none pose any real threat (or interest) to the heroes. Eventually they take to tampering the glowing sphere room. They quickly deduce that the spheres are teleportation spheres but struggle to learn much about where they go. Mandraiv sends several summoned creatures through the spheres but learns little.

They then start pulling the levers experimenting with combinations. One lever turns the rooms but it doesn't reveal a way through the maze. They other level they eventually learn changes the teleport destination of the spheres.

Thanks to more summoned creatures they learn that three lead to known rooms in the maze, however the forth no summoned creature returns from. Eventually the heroes suck it up and start filing through. (The teleporting spheres can only take one person at the time).

The sphere leads to a throne room of sorts, with a manacled Vencarlo and a half-lion and half-demon woman guarding it.

The heroes battle it with ease, Watson killing it quickly thanks to a flank with Gritt.

Vencarlo is rescued at last and the heroes learn that Neolandus wasn't sent into the maze but else where in the dungeons.

The heroes eventually exit the maze and find an illusionary wall leading to another section. Inside they find a torture chamber, completed witha six armed and three faced female torturer and Neolandus on the rack.

The torturer us dispatched with ease and the final prisoner is rescued. A search reveals only the mechanism of the turning rooms. Giant undead elephants turning wheels and gears.

The heroes leave, fully expecting a trap when they exit the dungeons.

There is a brief interlude when a giant flying reefclass rises out of the water chamber with the switch back suspension bridges, but it is easily shot down. A well times headshot from a grappled Hellious killing it.

Upon exit, Vimanda rejoins them promising to help them face Glorio. Sure they quickly face Glorio who has little time for the treachory of Vimanda (and the failure in his eyes of the heroes killing her).

Glorio uses the rare dust of disappearance to cause havoc while some more Rakshasa cousins of his bomnbard the heroes with spells. While Glorio fights he chides Watson on accepting gifts from strangers and it is implied it has allowed Glorio to spy on the heroes.

Glorio has learnt the heroes tactics well, quickly slaying Mandraiv (and therefore Artox) and then concentrating on Sol,Hellious and Sparrowhawk. All fall mercilessly and the heroes quickly flee, crashing through a window and dragging their mortally wounded friends to safety.

They leave behind Vimanda battling a very angry Glorio.

Encounter	Grit	Helious	Mandraiv	Sparrowhawk	Sol	Watson
Pre-session	53,571	50,471	57,071	50,321	54,421	50,971
Level	8	7	8	7	8	7
rp: Deal with vimanda	3200	3200	3200	3200	3200	3200
Stinging wasps trap	533	533	533	533	533	533
Iron caskets trap	533	533	533	533	533	533
sword statue trap	800	800	800	800	800	800
Sivit	1600	1600	1600	1600	1600	1600
rp: Saving Vencarlo	1600	1600	1600	1600	1600	1600
Three face woman	1067	1067	1067	1067	1067	1067
rp: Saving Neolandus	1600	1600	1600	1600	1600	1600
Enormous Reefclaw	1600	1600	1600	1600	1600	1600
Battle and escape from House Arkonas	3200	3200	3200	3200	3200	3200
rp: chief tea maker	800
Total	70,104	66,204	72,804	66,054	70,154	66,704

Ch 3, Part 5: The Vixen

The heroes return to the healing pool and cure their insanity struck companions, after which they continue their exploration of the maze. They deduce that the maze is made up revolving sections like a large cogs.

After some exploration they encounter a room filled with animated tiger heads who quickly attack the heroes. They are powerful and used their large heads to grapple and pull the heroes into the room. The heroes however are resilient and they eventually destroy the heads.

Not long after a humanoid resembling a fox, enters the room. She is quick to attack and long battle occurs. She is hard to hit and has the same resistance to weapons to the snake headed person they fought earlier. A Rakshasa.

They fight continues in equilibrium where neither the fox or the heroes seem to have a clear upper hand. Eventual the fighting stops long enough for the heroes and the fox person to talk.

She suggests that this fighting is pointless and that they should work together to defeat Glorio, the head of her family. She tells them that they were sent here to kill her and that they should work with her to return the favour. She informs that he will almost certain slay them when they try to leave the maze.

She wants them to abandon the maze and face Glorio with her. She shows no interest in finding the Vencarlo and the Sensaschal. They ask her for help in getting through the maze and saving them, but she declines. She says she cannot help them due to family politics.

Encounter	Grit	Helious	Mandraiv	Sparrowhawk	Sol	Watson
Pre-session	52,504	49,404	55,204	49,254	52,554	49,904
Level	8th	7th	8th	7th	8th	7th
journals			800
biting tigers	1067	1067	1067	1067	1067	1067
Vimanda (withheld)	0	0	0	0	0	0
rp: chief tea maker					800
Total	53,571	50,471	57,071	50,321	54,421	50,971