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Elementals!     Golem

At the edge of the large room, as the 7 strong party crowd into the corridor, the room appears dark and voluminous. A few markings, perhaps indentations, can be made out on the floor but it's not very clear from here. All seems quiet.

Jarek moves slowly into the room as Dalrylshana edges forward to provide light and warn of anything invisible, if need be - all at once, the entire party step back involuntarily; as soon as Jarek crosses the threshold into the room there is a low booming noise and the large room is filled with blue-tinged light.

As sight is recovered, a hoarse cry is heard and somewhere off to the north, floating in mid-air, a shadowy humanoid shape is suddenly rent to dark fragments that dissolve to nothing in the onslaught of the blue light. The party flinch but feel no ill effects themselves.

The room is huge and the markings on the floor are indeed impressions in the flagstones; they form the pillow-embossed shape of a stylised dragon, very much like the ones on the door, except that this one is enormous!

As the party reel at the sudden change of scale and illumination, more details quickly sink in: the room is high, extending perhaps hundreds of yards and appearing to expand in area after around 50 feet up, too. A dragon could fly here unhindered!

The source of light is also evident - in each corner of the room is a tall silver statue of a dragon, rising 60 feet high. The heads are each raised slightly and from the fanged mouths, bright blue flames continuously shoot forward, the jets extending 20 feet into the room and lighting the entire place but without warmth or smoke.

No dragon does fly though, thankfully.

The only other item in the room is almost missed at first, so close is it. Just to the right of the entrance into the room, a couple of feet along and fixed to the east wall, a small steel and bronze statue of a dragon juts into the room. It looks similar to the incense statue but this one holds only a bowl of clear water.

At which point, a message arrives with Jarek in the Hawker bag that says, “Found trapdoor and corridor, checking out. M". Minutes later, Morin himself appears, somewhat out of breath!

"Nasty....black...cloaked fu**er...it nearly had me. It wont...enter the restroom,...though."

He takes a moment to recover but the party have more important items on the agenda – they have found the third dragon statue to support Suva’s theory. They head back into the nearby restroom, taking heed of Morin's gasped warning, even if Balin, now sporting his new gauntlets, is champing at the bit!

Looking at the dragon incense statue and testing it, it doesn't move to the right or left - however, enough careful testing is done to realise that the elegant curves of the head nicely conceal the fact that it does lift so that the head can be made to point upwards. As it is so moved, a tiny ball of blue light escapes the mouth of the dragon and flits away through the ceiling.

It is only a few yards back to the dragon room - the flames are still active there but are slowly fading until the room is entered and they burst back to full intensity, splashing cool blue around the vast atrium. The dragon statue here is easy to figure now that one has already been moved. Again, its head will not rotate but tilts into an upwards-staring position and again a small blue ball of light is released.

Balin and Jiriki stand guard all the while in the corridor but no beast as Morin described is seen.

Two down.

There is a pause over which route to take and then the party moves, as one, through the restroom back past the first dragons statue to be adjusted and then carefully out into the corridor.

Again, there is no sign of any shadowy beast but Morin gives a look that is difficult to discount and the party moves on into the oracle room. It is highly patterned, as had been noted at first glance, and just on the far edge of the pool of water, unnoticed by most who had only glanced form the doorway, there is a statue which holds forth a silver cup.

Suva stands on no ceremony, eager to move on, as he has been (rather severely) since his first encounter in this room.

As would now be suspected, the statue's head moves with a little pressure into an upright position and releases a third ball of blue light which darts away like the rest.

The party moves on north past the next room, Morin giving it a very careful glance but staying quiet for now, and into the room with the three dragons door. It looks similar to the way it previously did.

Similar, except that the three dragons glow a bright pale blue.

Morin checks the door and finds it to be untrapped and now also unlocked.

Despite Dalrylshana's second fear of releasing a dragon upon yourselves, it seems wiser to move on - after all, you already know that the hilt you require is beyond the dragons door, so what choice is there? An according to Grae’s journal, the dragon that dwelled here is long gone.

The door is opened carefully to reveal a corridor, as had been indicated with the mapping scroll. What the mapping scroll didn't show was the darkness here. It's cold and even the Illuminatus penetrates the gloom less well than you are used to. There is a dark grey, lightly swirling mist coming up above knee height and filling the width of the corridor, which heads north a few feet and then branches east and west.

A low, quiet hum seems to fill the air.

Slowly, cautiously, but with determination and courage, the party move onwards to the t-junction, Morin leading with torch and silver dagger followed closely by Suva then Jiriki, Dalrylshana, Balin, Kin, Darius and Jarek quietly maintaining the rearguard.

The corridor branches east and west and is empty but for the damnable dark mist, chilling the flesh and leaving the nerves a-jangle.

Either way looks as good as the next and from the mapping scroll, they would seem to go to the same place anyway. Morin arbitrarily chooses left and edges forward. His caution was well justified. After about six feet there is a hole in the floor. It's easy enough to step over but allowing Dalrylshana and the Illuminatus through for a minute shows that it still drops some 20 feet onto rusted spikes. The other direction hides a similar trap.

Suva marks the wall above the level of mist to indicate where the pit is and thus the party can advance safely, if slowly.

The corner is reached without further mishap and on the party move, northwards; the humming in the air becomes slightly
louder and it can just about be deciphered not as, in fact, humming but as a chant. A quick, deep, resonant and repetitive chant.

"Mogradjinn..Mogradjinn..Mogradjinn..Mogradjinn..Mogradjinn.."

Just up ahead the corridor widens and something lifts out of the mist – a hooded shape, an amorphous darkness, and then it is gone again. Further north, there is the briefest glimpse of something baleful and red moving and then it, too, is lost in darkness.

With no option but to move on, the party press forwards grimly determined; aware that something clearly lies in wait - but ready to face it.

As the corridor widens the party allows itself more space but before they can split into two distinct teams there is a sudden movement in the mist. It ebbs like ink on water and then from floor and through walls, three shades loom silently, long, taloned arms raking the air as their black, featureless shapes, dragging trails of ebony behind, reach forward for their prey to envelope them.

Jarek's reflexes save him from an initial grasp but the shade is hampered by neither walls nor blades and difficult to evade in the corridor's confined space. It's form surges at him, entering the space his body occupies and surrounding him with a dark corona. Jarek's eyes roll, redden but then he drops to one knee, retching hard but recovering as the corona dissipates with a hiss and no sign of the shade remains.

At the centre of the party, Kin steps away from the apparition rising out of the mist but Balin advances at it, raising his longsword to strike and blocking the thing's advance with his gauntleted fist. There is no need for his steel as the shade dissolves away with a hiss and a screech as it touches the gauntlet.

At the front, Morin and Suva react quickly, edging out of reach - but the way forward is unknown underfoot and the way back blocked by their comrades. As Jarek was, Suva is caught even as Morin moves to knock him away from danger.

Crashing to the floor under the rogue's momentum, Suva and Morin come to a stop, the cleric sat upright but silent, eyes glazed with blackness, body quivering lightly. There is no sign of any other beast but the low chanting changes cadence for a moment - then continues unabated.

Balin reacts to a shout for help form Morin and hurtles forward to aid the fallen, lightly quivering cleric whilst Morin holds Suva fast, glaring into his face and shouting, "Take me, you bastard, and see what my soul sees!"

Suva's darkened eyes don't even flicker but as the dwarf arrives and lays a gauntleted hand on him, his back suddenly arches and his mouth opens to let out a dreadful, gurgling hiss as something unholy escapes his frame and disappears through the west wall.

He seems shaken, as Jarek had been, but similarly recovers quickly. It is beginning to look like there is a good reason why the gauntlet carried by Grae Calliope had not been taken by these beasts!

Rising on unsteady legs, Suva spits away a foul taste and manages a weak smile, reassuring his comrades that he is OK but that he also felt the presence of the creature trying to take his soul before it was chased away by Balin’s touch. Grae’s journal was right – this was some sort of remnant of the Mogradjinn and there are a number of them but thankfully the beast itself is not here.

Alerted by a warning from Jarek's about a sound behind the party, Morin leads the them forwards, worrying less about traps underfoot than beasts behind; he is fortunate to find none. Jiriki grabs the rogue and pauses him for a second, touching his readied silver dagger. "Now Kord will grant that magic is no shield!"

As the party begins to move into the wider section at the north of the room, their enemy shows itself - in the dim light and dark mist, 4 small figures bob about, waiting a few feet away. They are similar to the shades already encountered but seem somehow more substantial.

Behind them, a larger figure sways, orchestrating their movement. It speaks, and for such a shapeless, featureless foe, the voice is strangely ordinary if unintelligible.

"You hurt my kin. They will repair. Delayed you. Sprung. Die."