A Pocket Full of Eyeballs
The Thursday game, recap of August the 27th – We start in the fiend statue room. Heading east, the crawlway opens into a small room with an exit north. Feeling like this is a relatively safe place, we take a long rest.
The crawlway north turns west opening into a large rectangular room with murals of humanoids on the walls. Somehow, they are holding real weapons. A watery transparent curtain stretches across an opening in the north side of the room and beyond we see a room that mirrors the one where we stand. The Druid notices that one of the murals has a hawk headed female that, unlike the others, does not hold a weapon. Sure enough, this mural is an illusion. The Paladin steps through to discover a plinth containing a purple crystal eye which he takes. The Warlock notices a similar mural located in the room past the curtain. But when we attempt to go through the curtain, a huge wave of water knocks us to the back wall.
After a brief discussion, we figure out how to bypass this trickery. The Monk grabs the Cleric and dimension doors to the other room. The Druid turns into a mouse and crawls into the Warlock’s pocket who then misty steps to the other side. Behind the illusionary mural on this side is a plinth with a bright green crystal eyeball which we take.
A hall leads west and turns north. In the hall, the Paladin sees a door to the east. Beyond the door is a stone font with a steamy green liquid. When the Paladin steps into the room, a shadowy figure appears and walks to a door on the other side of the room. Opening that door, we find a short hall that ends in a stone wall dead end. We mess around a lot with the fountain to no avail. We start experimenting on how to make the figure appear. At one point, the Warlock sees that the face of the figure is so horribly deformed, he falls to the ground unconscious. After getting him back up, the Druid notices that the shadowy figure seems to mimic the actions of the Paladin. We all leave the room and head back to the curtain room to avoid the figure’s gaze. Recalling Acererak’s third warning, “Slake your shadow at the font”, the Paladin begins drinking the green liquid in the font and the level begins to sink. Once it is gone, an orange crystal eyeball appears, and the shadow disappears. We take the crystal.
Meanwhile, the Monk had been exploring the crawlspace east from the curtain room. At one point in the passage, the floor begins to rotate 90 degrees and sinks five feet down trapping him. A skeleton is on the floor with some items, but most importantly, a red crystal eyeball which the Monk takes. Then the Paladin goes down the crawlway and becomes trapped while the Monk is freed. One more time, the Monk goes down and the Paladin is freed. We gather some trash and chuck it in the place where we think the trap mechanism is and free the Monk. Another of Acererak’s annoying and deadly puzzles!
Finally, we approach the blocked exit from the room with the almiraj’s sarcophagus. Hieroglyphs are carved into the stone blocking the room that are the same as those in the floor of the room. The Druid sees that one of the carvings is actually a small button. When she presses it, the stone block sinks into the floor. Carefully following the pattern of the hieroglyphs on the block, the Paladin steps safely on the floor to the sarcophagus. The lid pops open revealing the spiral horn of the almiraj.
At this point, we have six artifacts of the nine gods and have identified what their powers are. We make some swaps to give the best advantage to each adventurer. The Monk takes the horn of I’jin, the Paladin has the bracers of Kubazan, the Druid gets the Amulet of Papazotl and the Cleric takes the ring of Obo’laka gratefully ridding herself of Wongo’s reckless spirit. The Warlock retains the staff of Moa.
We have found an additional six eyeballs. That, along with the two we placed in the mirror before, means we are still missing two. At this point, we take a short rest to prepare for the dangers ahead. So who’s for pulling the lever in the fiend room? What could go wrong?