It's mid-morning of the first Charday of Madrer. We're in Kratys Freehold, discussing the division of the items and treasure we acquired in our last adventure. As we're discussing the loot, Hands of Fire picks up the mace and swings it around. He says to Telryn "Metal club, good! Wooden club from ancestor tree not as good." Brand hears him and offers to make him a heavy morningstar, with Dorin's help.
Myrs and Telryn are working on translating the Slytherin scrolls. Taryn asks for 200 gold pieces to buy food for the slaves and get it transported from South Port or Lave. Their harvest was destroyed in the battle with the rat men, and now they have even more people to feed. Novalia suggests we should give them 400, which we agree to do. Taryn is very happy about this. Not only do they have their own people to feed, and the newly freed slaves, but there is now a small garrison of professional men at arms here, sent from Lave.
Earlier, while we were helping around the freehold, Dorin thanked us for saving him, and asked us for transport to Southport. He marked one of the gold pieces with rune; his finger glows as he does so. The tells us that it's the rune of his clan, the Silvershields, and if we're ever in the Burok-Torn, citadel of the dwarves in the Kelder Mountains (to the west of here) and we need help, we can use this token to reach him to gain entrace to the dwarven city.
We begin to divide the loot. Paks and Miriel think the scimitar should be destroyed. Goldpetal thinks it can still be used to destroy Titanspawn. Paks says it might corrupt people. Telryn says we should study it. Chuck says he's not interested in this; he's going to go practice flying.
We stop him and continue on dividing the loot. Miriel wants to destroy the agony pearl, and Telryn agrees. Goldpetal wants the wooden ring. Myrs and Taryn look at the studded leather armor. They tell us that it's made out of the hides of myre worms, which are twenty feet long, live deep in the swamp and eat people. We were lucky not to meet them. Chuck keeps the armor. Miriel takes the potion of blur. Chuck takes the potion of vision. Telryn takes the three vials of glitter ink and the five vials of acid. Goldpetaltakes the masterwork scimitar. Telryn takes the dictionaries. Chuck takes the enchanted manacles. Hands of Fire gets the mace. Paks takes the Twilight Warden's longbow. We keep the amulet for the party, Goldpetal takes the wooden Titan-warning ring; he feels strongly about it due to his religion. Chuck buys a new bow from the freeholders. Paks asks Telryn how to unmake the scimitar, but he doesn't know. Brand says he'll be glad to try to unforge it, but isn't sure he can.
Chuck burns the poison and washes out the vials; he also burns the poison off the flickknives. Telryn takes the "hide" ring. We divide up the coins. Novalia, Stone, Paks, and Hands of Fire divide up the gems.
Over dinner, we discuss what we want to do next. Goldpetal wants to hire people to tear down the standing stones. He also wants to find out about the Elvish city in the swamp, and eventually he plans to finish his journey to Rika. Miriel wants to go back to Lave, sending a message to Southport with Dorin to wrap up our employment there. Novalia wants to purge the rat men from the swamp. She has a very detailed plan for hiring mercenaries with the money we made, using lizard men as guides, basing a force around the garison of men at arms, building barracks, and reinforcing the town. Telryn needs to return to Mullis Town, north of Lave, to take the glitter ink to his master.
Chuck wants revenge, to continue his training, and to fight against evil. He also wants to practice flying. He wanders off, up the stairs. We hear him climb up on the roof, and some guards shout "Don't do it!" We hear him jump off the roof. Miriel runs out to see how he is; he's hurt his foot, and she binds it up. Five minutes later, we hear a commotion again. One of the guards comes in and tells us: "You'd better stop your friend, he keeps jumping off the roof." Chuck decides it's not the best day to learn flying, the wind is wrong. Telryn tells us the story of how his mother was a priestess of Madriel, and she and his father, who is a magic user, are off fighting against evil. He says he doesn't believe he found Miriel by chance, and he plans to follow her, as he believes that is what he is meant to do.
We spend the day helping around the freehold, working on the harvest and building shelter for the ex-slaves. We're all enjoying being out of swamp, taking baths, and not having to constantly watch for rat men. Goldpetal performs a harvest ritual, helped by a couple of the townsfolk, Miriel, and Novalia. All during the day, Llewyn finds excuses to be near Chuck. The rest of us find this very amusing, but all he can seem to think about is flying and ducks.
The next day dawns. We're still not sure what we're doing, so we decide to rest for another day and help out around the freehold. Some of us want to go to Lave; Telyrn wants to stay a few days to have some quiet time for studying. Chuck spends the day teaching bowcraft to Goldpetal. Miriel agrees to stay for a short while at the freehold, so that she can travel back to Lave with at least part of the party for protection, but she does want to leave as soon as possible. Miriel spends they day studying with Myrs. Novalia takes Paks off for a talk and gives her a shopping list.
The second mooon, the Nameless Orb, which the gods tell us we should not pay attention to, is full and can be seen all day. This is a very bad omen. Miriel has a vague sense of unease, and spends some time meditating to find the source of the problem. Goldpetal and Paks go off to talk. A sense of unease has also been grown on Paks all day.
As the sun is going down, we're in the main hall, helping to prepare for the evening meal; Miriel is helping out in the kitchen. Just after sunset, while we're talking with Taryn in the main hall, a guard bursts in.
Guard: "Captain, we need you at the gate! A strange rat man needs to speak to you and the heroes!"
Taryn: "Why and he's not dead? Why isn't he shot full of arrows?"
Guard (embarrassed): "That's the thing, sir, we can't seem to fire at it."
Taryn, harumps impatiently, sends for Miriel and Myrs and heads for the gate, followed by the rest of the party. We climb to the top of the freehold's outer wall. In the crisp autumn twilight, we can see a robed rat man leaning on a wooden staff, cloaked and hooded. The guards are hanging around, listless, straining to lift their bows. Novalia tries too, but cannot draw her bow. Chuck and Goldpetal also try to draw their bows. Goldpetal fails, but Chuck manages to draw his, and aims at the rat man.
Taryn grabs a bow from a guard and fires. The rat man casually knocks the arrow away. He pulls back his hood, and we see that his fur is mottled black and white, and he has no eyes at all! He addresses us in a strange whistling accent, as if he's not used to speaking human language at all.
"Humans! Slitherin Killers! Listen to me, you must!"
"I am Sklar-d'sklas (whistle) of the Unseeing. Evil, unspeakable, stopped, it must. Feel it, can you not? Are you blind? Waxing, the power of the dark moon, night of ritual power. To the site of power, look!"
He points off to the hill of the standing stones to the east. Suddenly, large bonfire of lavender flames ignite on the hill!
"Ancient hated enemies, followers of Twisted Gormoth, prepare. Evil Rituals to enact! Stop them, now, you must! Or too late it will be!"
Goldpetal: "Why are you telling us this?"
The rat man does not answer, he just covers his head with his hood and quickly stides off into the gathering gloom. Chuck shoots an arrow at him, and he casually turns and bats the arrow out of mid air.
Stone: "No way!"
Stone jumps off the parapet, breaks his fall with a tumble, and runs after the rat man. "I'll take care of the blind one, you guys take care of the ritutal!"
Goldpetal: "Well, I've never encountered one of the Unseeing before, but I've heard about them. They live in the south of the Ganjus forest, where I grew up. They used to follow Golthain the Faceless. Golthain had the power to feel all living things. The other Titans mocked him, and tortured him; destroying all his senses. He was the only Titan who surrendered, and the gods allowed him to be absorbed into Denev. The Unseeing are all blind, born without eyes. Instead of sight, they have an empathic sense. They hate all the other tribes of rat men terribly; this hatred is equalled only by their hatred of the followers of the gods, who they believe betrayed the Titans. They are hard to find, as there are very few of them, and they are all expert monks."
"Gormoth is one of the worst Titans of all. He's known as the writhing lord, because he ws the first Titan to figure out how to create sentient beings, and all the other Titans were jealous, so they poisoned him and fed him to parasitic worms. They then buried him; he was supposedly dead, but eons later he returned twisted and mad. Eventually, he was cloven in two by Chardun and Vangal. His two halves lie on either side of a forgotten canyon. His followers are all mad, and devotees of pain, both giving and receiving."
Taryn: "The rat men who follow him are known as The Stricken. They live far south of here. They are all twisted, with weird appendages and strange powers, and they are very evil, and very mad."
We ask him how long it would take us to get to the hill, and he says we can borrow horses from the freehold to get there, and it will take five hours in the dark on horseback. Paks goes to get her armor.
Miriel goes to get her armor and grabs a couple of loaves of bread from the kitchen. Paks asks if anyone from the freehold will come, but Taryn says he needs all his people. Hands of Fire is eager to try out his new morningstar.
Chuck and Goldpetal go to put their armor on. We leave the treasure in the freehold and ride away quickly; we only have to borrow a few horses, as we had left ours at the freehold before we went into the swamp. Goldpetal leads, since he can see in the dark. As we travel, Miriel casts Bread of Life on the two loaves of bread.
We arrive at the bottom of the hill just after midnight; as we reach it, the ring on Goldpetal's finger gives him a shock. As we look up on the hill, we can see four big braziers, with leaping purple flames, and three figures moving among them. Telryn casts Mage Armor on himself and Bull's Strength on Paks. Paks casts Protection From Evil on herself. Paks and Chuck get a blessing of Tanil from Novalia.
Novalia suggests shooting arrows or a magic missile to disrupt the ritual, but we want to see what's going on first. Miriel hands out a piece of bread to each of us, keeping two.
As we sneak up, we can see that the rat men don't seem to be doing anything. They're all twisted, with weird bumps, disfigurements, and extra limbs. One has three arms and two tails, another has a lion claw coming out of his back, and the third has a third leg and an extra mouth coming out of his leg. None of them are wearing armor, just some belts with things dangling from them.
Chuck casts Magic Fang on his snake. Miriel Blesses everyone. Telryn plans to create a wolf to attack one of the rat men, while the bowpeople shoot at another. As we get closer, Goldpetal sees an eviscerated elf corpse on a table in the center of the ring.
Paks shoots at the second rat man and hits it. Telryn summons a wolf. Chuck shoots twice, but misses both times. The snake slithers towards the rat men. Goldpetal shoots at the second rat man and hits it. Miriel waits to see if anyone needs help. Novalia shoots twice, fumbling once and hitting once. She's stunned. Hands of Fire throws a javelin, but misses.
Paks pulls out her longsword and charges the second rat man, cutting it practically in half. The wolf appears and attacks the first rat man, but misses. Telyrn shoots a Magic Missile at the same one. Chuck moves up and shoots at the first rat man, hitting it. Goldpetal moves up and shoots at the third one, nicking it. Miriel moves up behind Chuck. Hands of Fire charges the third rat man with his morningstar, jumping up on the table and smashing it. The rat man attacks him, clawing with both claws and biting with both mouths. One claw hits. The other claws with all three arms at the wolf, killing it.
Paks turns and attacks the third rat man, but misses. Telryn Magic Missiles the first one, killing it. Chuck steps over and fires at the last rat man and hits it. Goldpetal charges the remaining rat man with his scimitar, hitting it and killing it.
Now that we're not fighting, we can see something right by the table - they've cleared away some dirt and uncovered a stone opening in the ground. A stairway leads down into the hill.
They've eviscerated an elf on the table, taken his blood and used it to fill a blasphemous rune; this seems to be how they opened the passage. Miriel performs some quick last rites for the elf, with advice from Goldpetal, invoking Madriel and Denev. Chuck sees the tracks of many rat men on the ground, but he can't tell how many, since he doesn't know how many or what kind of legs they might have.
We move into the opening into the hill. The stairway leading down is ten feet wide. Thirty feet down, it curves steeply to the right. Chuck has his glowing dagger out. At the bottom of the stairway is a Stricken rat man, impaled on spikes sticking out of the floor. The floor slopes steeply, and his blood runs down the hall. As we pass the corpse, Paks cuts its throat again. The corridor keeps spiraling down in widening circles, like a snail shell. When we get 65 feet down, Goldpetal steps on something and a bunch of steel spikes shoot up from the floor, hitting Hands of Fire, Paks, Goldpetal, and Telryn. We keep moving. 110 feet down, the floor drops out from under the people in the lead and they fall twenty feet down into a pit. Chuck pulls out a rope and and drops it down to them. We use a little walkway along the side of the hole to get past it. The passage keeps spiraling down.
Another hundred feet down, a sweeping blade cuts across the corridor, cutting Goldpetal. He eats his bread and Miriel sends up the spare chunk with Chuck, who takes the lead. 200 feet on, spears shoot up from the floor again, but Chuck manages to dodge them. He pulls out his grappling hook and starts throwing it at the floor in front of him. 80 feet on, a jet of fire shoots out at Chuck, reaching 50 feet back down the corridor, and hitting Chuck, Goldpetal, Paks, and Hands of Fire. Goldpetal eats the other piece of bread. Paks is unconscious; Goldpetal stabilizes her and Miriel heals her.
Twenty feet further on, there's an alcove to the right with a lever. We try to leave it alone, but Telyrn uses a Mage Hand to pull it, and we hear a "cha-ching" noise. We're now pretty sure the traps have been re-set, and we glare at Telryn. He puts it back the other way, but nothing happens. A little further on the hallway ends, opening up into a huge hall, 50 x 100 feet and at least 40 ft high, with a big crack lengthwise down the center.
The room is walled with polished marble with streaks of green running through it. There's a five-foot raised area running along the walls. In the center is an altar, with a starburst pattern radiating out from it. At the opposite end of the room are the remains of a large statue or idol, tumbled and smashed, only the feet remain infact. The rubble spreads around over a fifteen by ten foot area. There are large, beautiful marble pillars along the length of the room, near the walls. By the statue, another brazier with purple flame is set up, and there are seven rat men standing around in front of it, feeding it with some weird sand.
As Chuck steps in to the room, he calls out "rat men", and they see us. Goldpetal moves up next to Chuck and shoots at one of the nearest rat men, but misses. Telryn comes up next to Chuck. Novalia moves past them into the room and shoots at the same one Goldpetal shot, hitting it. Some of the rat men wriggle weirdly and tiny rat men homunculi come out of their flesh. It's probably the most disgusting thing we've ever seen. The ones that didn't make homunculi charge at us. One claws at Novalia, but misses. Another claws at her and hits. The third has a horse leg coming out of his chest and it kicks at her with it, but misses. The fourth claws at Goldpetal, but misses. Paks moves up and swings at the one with the horse hoof, hitting it dead on and killing it. Chuck pulls out his longsword and attacks the injured rat man, hitting it. It takes the pain and reflects it back on Chuck. His snake bites at the same rat man, but misses. Hands of Fire moves up and attacks one of the rat men that attacked Novalia; it claws him as he goes by and he goes down, unconsicous. Miriel moves forward and Blesses everyone, but she can't see that Hands of Fire is injured, from outside the room.
Goldpetal hits the injured rat man with his scimitar, killing it. Telryn Magic Missiles one of the rat men in back, killing it. It's homunculus is still alive. Novalia hits the guy in front of her with an arrow, barely scratching him. The homunculus jumps back onto the apparently-dead rat man, who then gets up and moves forward. One of the rat men in back and his homunculus charge Paks. He has a scorpion tail, a crab claw, and an extra rat tail. He tries to grab her with the crab claw and hits her. His homunculus, which has the same extra limbs, leaps forward and tries to claw Paks, but misses. The two next to Novalia attack her; one claws her once, the other has a weird squid tentacle that it hits her with. It tries to grapple her and has no trouble grabbing her, as she's unconscious. The last rat man in back and his homunculus charge Chuck. They both hit him. Paks yells to Miriel that Hands of Fire is in really bad shape, then steps over and swings at the rat man attacked her, hitting it; he slumps to the ground, but reflects the agony back onto Paks. Chuck steps back and eats his bread. His snake attacks the homunculus that attacked him and hits it. Hands of Fire bleeds. Miriel comes forward and tells Chuck to move out of the way so she can get to Novalia and Hands of Fire.
Goldpetal attacks the homunculus in front of him, but misses. Telryn Magic Missiles the one that attacked Chuck. Novalia bleeds. The rat man holding Novalia tosses her aside and attacks Chuck. It hits with a claw, but fumbles with the tentacle, and is off balance. The other one that was attacking Novalia now attacks Goldpetal, clawing and biting him. Goldpetal is unconscious. The homunculus attacked by the snake jumps back into the rat man that made it. It claws at the snake, but misses. The final homunculus jumps back into its rat man. The rat man in back charges Paks and hits her. Paks steps around and kills one of the rat men. Chuck swings both swords at the rat man in front of him and misses. The snake misses. Hands of Fire bleeds. Miriel stabilizes Goldpetal. Telryn casts Color Spray at three rat men and stuns them, knocking them unconscious. Novalia bleeds. The remaining rat man runs at Telryn, flapping his vestigial bat wing to help him leap over the snake. The snake bites at him as he goes by, but misses. He claws Telryn. Paks charges him from behind and hits him, killing him. Chuck kills the rat man in front of him. Hands of Fire bleeds. Miriel stabilizes Novalia.
Telryn shoots the rat man in front of him. Paks tries to stabilize Hands of Fire, but fails; he's dead. Miriel heals Goldpetal and Novalia. Novalia eats her bread. Miriel gives Goldpetal her other chunk. Telryn eats his bread. Chuck eats his. Novalia heals Chuck. Paks grabs Hands of Fire's bread.
We search the room quickly and don't find anything but a lot of dust until we look behind the statue, where we find a spiral stone staircase going down. Miriel wants to rest, but Novalia says there's probably another ritual going on. As she says this, we hear an unearthly scream of pain. Novalia runs for the staircase, followed by Goldpetal, then everyone else.
We run 60 feet down the spiraling stairs. At the bottom we see a room very similar to the one we just left; we're entering from the other side this time. There's a wider crack through the center of the room, but the altar itself is not cracked. There's a 30' statue which we assume is Gormoth; the crack runs through it. At the altar, we see five Stricken with a shaman, who seems to be doing a ritual. The shaman is fearsome; it has two heads and two tentacles on either side, in addition to its arms, and a scorpion stinger. The wall behind the idol looks shadowy and insubstantial; there seem to be shadowy tentacles coming through it. There is an angelic being on the altar, being tortured. Miriel is very taken aback; it's a Hope, one of the beings consecrated to Madriel. It's being ritually tortured and has blasphemous runes carved into its flesh. The wavy pattern around the altar is filling with its glowing blood. It's bound to the altar. They have removed its right eye and are in the process of cutting off its left wing. There are two purple braziers behind the shaman, casting a weird flickering purple light. The marble walling this room is a deep blood red, much more unpleasant than the room upstairs. As we enter the room, the room itself is amplifying the pain of the angelic being.
Paks charges in and attacks the nearest rat man. As she enters the room, she's hit with the force of the pain, but it doesn't actually hurt her. She hits the rat man. Miriel pulls out Madriel's tear and charges into the room with the Tear in one hand and a spear in the other. The Tear is very, very hot and glowing. Goldpetal steps in and shoots at the rat men, but misses. Telryn comes to the door and shoots at a rat man on the other side from Paks, hitting it. Novalia shoots two arrows at the Hope and hits with one, but its natural healing properties just push out the arrow. Telepathically we hear it scream. Chuck leaps into the room and shoots at the shaman and hits it. His snake is knocked unconscious by the pain.
Paks moves forward and swings at the shaman, hitting it. We hear a voice in our heads.
Hope (telepathically): "The Knight of the Swan, here?"
The Tear gives off a burst of the brightest light we've ever seen. It's like a beam directly from the Sun. Four of the rat men die immediately; the shaman and the other one are blinded. Those of us aligned with Good feel wonderful; fully healed and inspired. Goldpetal is blinded, but healed.
Hope (telepathically): "Madriel's Tear! Thank the Goddess!"
The entire shrine starts to shake. The pain goes away, and the smoky tentacles recoil. The shaman casts Inflict Serious Wounds and tries to touch Paks, but misses. She swings at it and hits. The remaining rat man moves towards the shaman and tries to attack Paks, but can't see her and misses. The shaman is fearsome; it has two heads and two tentacles on either side, in addition to its arms, and a scorpion stinger. Goldpetal slowly and blindly backs up to the wall, stopping at the edge of the pit that rings the room. Telryn shoots a Magic Missile at the shaman. Novalia comes into the room and moves up to the altar. Chuck moves over and shoots twice at the shaman, but misses.
The whole room is shaking. Paks gets hit by a falling rock. She swings at the shaman again and hits it. Miriel is hit by a falling rock. She examines the bonds holding the Hope. They're covered with blashphemous runes. The Hope tells us the bonds are adamantium. Miriel touches Madriel's Tear to them, but it has no effect.
Hope (telepathically): "They are consecrated to Gormoth. You don't have the powers to free me."
The shaman tries to touch Paks again with his claw, which is surrounded with a dark nimbus, but misses. He claws at her with the other claw, but misses. He tries to bite her, but misses. He finally hits her with a tentacle, but can't grapple her. He tries to sting her, but misses. The other rat man is hit with a rock, knocked out, and falls into the chasm, screaming. Goldpetal is hit by a rock. He drops a sling bullet over the ledge, trying to figure out where he is. Telryn moves into the room and is hit by a rock. Novalia moves around the shaman; he touches her with the enchanted claw. She bullrushes him, trying to push him into the chasm and succeedinbg. We hear him scream as he falls. Chuck rummages around in his pack.
Hope (telepathically): "Leave, you fools, the place is collapsing! Leave the Tear here and get out!"
Paks yells to Telryn: "Try the acid!"
Paks lays on hands on the Hope, but it has no effect.
Hope (telepathically): "Your powers of healing have no effect here. Leave the Tear and go".
Miriel tries to put the tear into its hand, but it tells her to leave it on her breast. She does so and runs for the door, yelling to everyone to follow her. Goldpetal bolts after her and most of the way up the stairs. Telryn is hit by a falling rock. He runs out of the room and partially up the stairs. Novalia casts Expeditious Retreat on herself and runs. She catches up to Telryn and asks him for a vial of acid. Chuck runs out of the room.
Hope (telepathically): "Wait, Paks, wait. Every generation , Madriel picks a Swan Knight, a champion...you're being tested...the Serpent Amphora, it's been found...the Dar-al-Annot must not recover it...protect it at all costs. You must leave and protect the Serpent Amphora".
Paks takes out two vials of holy water; she pours one over his wounds and one over the bonds, but it has no effect.
Hope (telepathicaly): "Leave now; Madriel has other plans for you!"
Miriel runs up the stairs, getting hit by a rock as she goes. Goldpetal runs across the upstairs room. Telryn runs into it and gets near the other side. Novalia runs back to the altar and pours the acid on the bonds.
Hope (telepathically): "No, no, no, there's no way to free me! Go!"
Chuck runs up the stairs, getting hit by a falling rock.
Paks gets hit by a rock as she runs out and partway up the stairs. Miriel gets hit by a rock, but gets across and out of the upper room. Goldpetal is hit by a rock as he heads up the ramp. Telryn is hit by a rock and knocked unconscious. Novalia runs out of the lower room and partway up the stairs. Chuck is hit by a rock while running across the room.
Paks runs over to Telryn and leans over him to shield him from falling rocks. She is hit by a rock. She eats her bread. Goldpetal keeps running. He steps on a plate that shifts and the fire jet shoots out, but it's in front of him and he lurches back. Telryn bleeds. Paks is hit by the rock that was trying to hit him. Novalia runs in and heals Telryn to stop the bleeding and yells to Paks "Leave him, go!" Chuck runs for it and reaches Goldpetal.
Paks picks Telryn up and runs to the end of the room with him. Miriel runs and is hit by another rock. Goldpetal runs past her. He triggers the metal spears from the floor. Telryn eats Paks's chunk of bread and jumps down off her shoulder. Novalia is hit by a rock. She runs for it, passing everyone and winding through the spears. Chuck runs up to the spears and through. Paks is hit by a rock. She moves into the corridor and tries to lay hands on herself and Telryn, but he avoids her, so she just heals herself. She yells: "Somebody drop your bread!". Miriel gets hit by another rock. She heals herself and runs on. Goldpetal is hit by a rock, asks Novalia if anyone behind her is injured, and then casts Cure Light Wounds on himself. Telryn is hit by a rock and runs for it. Novalia is hit by a rock and falls to the ground. Chuck is hit by a rock and runs on. About halfway through his run, he sees the blade sticking out of the wall; it has probably been triggered by a falling rock.
Paks runs up to Telryn. Miriel runs up to Novalia and stabilizes her, getting hit by a rock as she kneels down. Goldpetal heals Novalia, then moves to the other side of the spikes. Telryn dodges the rocks and runs up to the spikes. He warns the owl to get off the stones and into the air. Owl (telepathically): "Way ahead of you, boss, those stones fell down about a minute ago."
Telryn (telepathically): "Chester, next time, warn me about something like that!"
Novalia gets up and moves through the spikes. Chuck gets hit by a rock and keeps running and jumps over the pit.
Paks runs up to the spikes. Miriel dodges the rocks and runs past the spikes. Goldpetal runs on, getting hit by a rock. Telryn is hit by another rock and runs on. Novalia is hit by a rock, then runs, jumps the pit, and makes it outside. Chuck gets hit by one more rock running up the stairs.
Paks gets hit by a rock and casts Protection From Evil on herself. Miriel gets hit by another rock and runs up to the edge of the pit. Goldpetal is hit by a rock, jumps the pit, and gets out. Telryn is hit by a rock and falls unconscious.
The shaking is getting much worse. Paks picks up Telryn and carries him down the corridor. Miriel sidles past the edge of the pit and runs out. Goldpetal attempts to consecrate the ground around him to Denev. It's shaking really hard, and he can't concentrate.
Paks carries Telryn past the pit, then out of the hill. She calls for her horse. Goldpetal heals Telryn. As we run down the hill, it collapses in upon itself. Miriel heals Novalia and herself. She sees that she has a tear-shaped burn in her hand where she was holding Madriel's Tear. Goldpetal plans to casts Consecrate on the ground after the shaking stops.
Back at Kratys Freehold, Myrs talks about what she's learned from the scrolls. They detail how that the rat men were using the slaves to breed diseases, which they were going to use to poison the water supply of Lave. There is almost certainly still a cell of rat men in Lave, though their plans have been interrupted by our freeing of the slaves.