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The boat is a large-ish, fairly ordinary looking rowing boat and will sit the five adventurers. What is different about it is that there are no oars. There is, however, a handle, fixed to a swivel on the base of the boat that will obviously rotate. A quick and careful check by Morin reveals that there is also a sturdy chain beneath the boat and stretching through the water. Clearly this is how the vessel is propelled and at the other side of the river a wall and a slight amount of headroom into darkness beckons.

Turning the handle is fairly hard work but it draws the craft along the chain, link by link. At last the wall is reached the boat is moved on, the party ducking low to pass beneath it. Jiriki has a torch at the ready but it is soon seen to be unnecessary. Beyond the wall, the river has only a low ceiling above it – a fairly narrow stone tunnel almost like a large, clean drain.

There is a phttt and a slight sputter as the boat is moved into the darkness but then a series of dim torches pop into half-life along the northern wall.

After about 50 feet, the boat passes under a huge, strongly built portcullis, still dripping very slightly and very likely in the raised position due to the actions on the statues in the outer garden. The boat comes to a stop.

A glance into the water, even in the half-light that the water affords shows why: the chain goes no further - obviously it could not be used to draw the boat further if the portcullis was down and it would seem it was never designed to. There is another option, however. The boat has stopped just far enough past the great iron gate to be able to reach, by jumping, a pathway running now along the north wall. It continues a little way before opening out into a room of sorts, a recess, and what looks like a door at the central northern point.

The party disembark, Darius almost falling in has he struggles to hold on to a squirming Jax and the door is approached carefully. The route to the door is safe and made of hard stone with flecks of a sort of red marble beginning to appear in it; the door
itself is more unusual, sat a few feet back in a recess: it looks to be made of bronze and has a swirling pattern etched around the border (this appears merely a pattern rather than runes or language).

By the looks of it (a recessed quarter sphere where a handle might be expected and sign of runnels in floor and roof) the door opens by sliding from left to right.

Just below the handle is an odd recessed square with a bizarre undulating red material at its back and a blueish tinge and glow around it. Just to the right of the door in the wall is a recess with six small shelves on it. On each of these is what look like large green dice (almost exactly the right shape to fit the recess in the door, unsurprisingly) except that each has only one number. All six sides of the top one are 1s, the next has 2s on each side and so on.

The party are stumped – and more so when Kin detecting magic reveals three small marks on the door (an eye, a wing and a claw); he cannot discern anything else except that this is dragon magic. A few more heads are needed so, as it has been almost 2 hours, Morin drops a message into the Hawker bag he has indicating for the remaining three in the party to meet him at the boat and then sets of in the vessel. The reuniting of the party doesn’t bring any new ideas, though (except that Dalrylshana recognises the claw symbol as that of an old dragon called Yandroth) and realising that they have been in action for some 14 hours now, it is decided to rest.

24th Kanos

Refreshed but still with no clue about the door, the party decide to investigate other avenues – the double doors to the north are chosen as the next destination and are approached without hindrance. They give some pause for concern: they are large and heavy but locked (though untrapped), however on the flagstoned floor before them is a message; like the plaque in the inner garden, it reads in all tongues simultaneously:

"Death below: the final arbiter for whom all are equal" and Suva also notices a trace of ash just visible and sourced from the other side of the door.

The party are less than happy about the riddles that seem to be leaping up all about them and are too wary to simply try the door, particularly with Dalrylshana being concerned that a dragon might be behind it!. Instead, they attempt a literal interpretation of the message on the floor and some water is retrieved from the tropical garden.

The entire party gather back at the original t-junction - a safe distance from any fiercely funnelled flames! The entire party except Kin, that is, who, having prepared himself with a protective spell, then created a shallow dish of mystical force that hovered
a few feet above the ground. The collected water was poured into this and then the elven mage waited for the party to achieve their safe distance, preparing to deposit the water on the stone slab in front of the double doors.

Nothing happens.

Frustrated, the party decide to leave the door and face the spider beast, Kin rationalising that it must have been put there by its master to guard something. Dalrylshana looks less than convinced, havinf been shaken at her first meeting but soon the party find themselves unhampered back in the starry, moonlit sky of the black garden off the eastern corridor.

As plans are quietly argued out, Morin checks the north door at Balin's insistence. It's unlocked and untrapped so the dwarf opens it see what lies beyond. A corridor, still under the moon and stars but not covered in the ebony vegetation. Simple stone which leads to a room through an opening. Form the door, there seem to be various items and benches in the room and a faint, acidic odour drifts into the room from the corridor.

Morin closes the north door before joining the party at the southern one; Jarek undoes the lock and steps back whilst Kin casts light onto his sword and then sheathes it, hiding the glow until it can be dramatically drawn into the fray. After a brief conference between Suva and Dalrylshana, the party is ready to go: Darius takes the door and glances around at the eager faces of Balin and Jiriki and then pulls the door open.

There is silence beyond the doorway and the large dark garden looks foreboding and eerie in the light of the bright crescent moon. There are bones and remains dotted about, as previously, but no obvious sign yet of the large spider beast or its cohorts. In the air, though, at first as unnoticeable as a very light mist, are many thin strands of webbing joining wall to black tree, skeleton to ebony plant, rock to rock and randomly scattered all about.

The party move in a little way to the quiet, black landscape. Morin activates his fiery dagger and raises it to one of the numerous webstrands. For a second nothing happens and then the web catches, fizzing lightly as the strands snaps and two points burn away. Most of the web still remains so it isn't highly flammable, but it has produced some acrid smoke that catches in the throat.

The burned shreds flutter ashen in the air but are instantly replaced by the seething bulk of a great beast: its two skull heads swivel nonchalantly, one glowing red, the other pulsating black as six steely legs move quickly, two more scythe through the air.

It seems to have appeared out of nowhere as Morin burned the web and the great beast strikes out at him viciously. Morin is quick enough, even surprised, to avoid some of the blow, but is still knocked from his feet and winded momentarily.

The dreadful voice speaks again, "Come then, flesh...." it hisses and turns to Darius and Kin.

As Morin is hurled to the floor, Darius and Kin are surprised as much by the spider's speed as its appearance and are both struck hard by the almost metallic legs, whirling through the air. Morin is struck again but this time by a bolt of black energy from the dark skull that knocks his winded body back to the floor and brings blood to his nose.

This party will not be taken so lightly, however, and Kin and Darius rally, Darius blocking blows as he moves around to his left, attempting to hold the great beast in the corner of the room where it cannot manoeuvre. Still he manages a strike, as does Kin, wielding his longsword 2-handed like a warrior born, but frustrated that the light cast upon it seems to have no effect.

Meanwhile, Balin starts to throw off the fear that coursed through him, even as he promises his kills to Kord, and with Jiriki's help, the three fear-affected heroes gain their natural courage back, Balin smashes headlong into the spider, splashes gouts of black blood about him as he purposefully tramples smaller spiders underfoot and Jarek moves west.

All around now, small, dog-sized spiders are appearing, clawing upwards form the dark ground but Jiriki has his sword before him now, as a symbol of his god and these lesser beasts crumble beneath his faith's might.

Dalrylshana, under some mental duress, weaves magic about herself and then Suva commands the beast to fall. His conviction is impressive but the spider is unmoved.

"Akkenophon does not bow to the likes of you, fool!", the red skull hisses and then the legs lash out again, striking Balin and then catching Darius so fiercely across the chest and beneath his shield that he his hurled 20 feet through the air and his shield snapped from his grasp.

Jiriki, having smote a way to the spider, unleashes his anger and cripples one of the fell beast's legs as Kin slashes directly at the heads. But Akkenophon is not done yet and the air is abruptly cold with a lightning of pure malicious black energy; it snakes instantly through air from the pulsing ebony skull and knocks Suva off his feet, catching Dalrylshana in its blast.

Suddenly the spider begins to shrink, it seems, but then there is a cry from Dalrylshana who holds her head and staggers, dizzied and the spell is broken, Akkenophon at full, awful size once more.

It is difficult to say how the battle lies but then Jarek appears behind the spider and strikes his steel home; it rears ferociously on four legs and Morin - dazed, but recovering, and never ready to shirk a battle - tumbles magnificently under its bulk and readies his flaming dagger. Suva is singed and staggering but can concentrate enough to call upon St Cuthbert once more.

Suddenly the red skull moves uncomfortably on its madly swivelling neck but the black skull jerks slightly and an all-consuming darkness begins to spread out from the spider's bulk. Underfoot, the smaller spiders continue to appear, weak and easily destroyed but growing in number.