At the doors of Jzadirune

4 November, 595
Part 1

The party is awakened to the sound of Keygan reentering his shop. After a warm breakfast and a brief status report to Keygan, the group (now 6) decides to reenter the ruins and continue the search.

They come to a room with another automaton, this one apparently disabled. However, they are surprised and attacked by another "tall one", this one seemingly being controlled by one of those rag creatures they fought earlier. After a tough battle, the group makes use of its "U" key to enter a gear door, taking them to a curious chamber characterized by a sleeping gnome, snoring and slumped over in a throne.

Baxtor discovers a face carved in the wall, which starts to speak and requests one of their "finest coins" in order to get an audience with the king. So naturally, Baxtor deposits a paltry copper coin into the animated mouth. The face becomes cross at his cheap offering and curses Baxtor with clumsiness. Baxtor, immediately feeling the effects of the curse, uses his mace to strike the face in anger and breaks off a piece of the nose. The face no longer has anything to say after that and dropping a gold piece in doesn't seem to have any further effect.

The sleeping king is found to be an illusion, but Karnak finds a secret compartment in the armrest, discovering two new keys, marked with an "N" and "E". Upon opening the armrest, the gnome is heard to mutter about some doom concerning the "Vanishing Day."

The party comes to a large hall with eerie dancing lights and a large water fountain. It is here that they are ambushed by three more of the "tall ones". Again they are able to dispatch of the creatures without taking too many wounds. The party refills their canteens in the fountain and continues.

The next room reveals itself to be a theater with a stage set against the wall. When they approach the stage, a gnome dressed in a bear outfit materializes and begins an introduction to what turns out to be a whimsical play, involving other gnomes dressed in faerie and other costumes. Of course, this all turns out to be an illusion as well. The group leaves the theater briefly and fights another "tall one." This one is all but invisible, and wears a wolf mask and skin, likely pilfered from the prop room next door.

The group returns to the stage as the play is ending and investigates the stage. Salla finds a trap door and when he opens it he is grabbed by a pair of tentacles coming from the compartment below. A vicious fight follows and the creature is killed and removed from the stage. In the trap door is found some treasure, including a finely crafter mandolin, a wand, a cloak, a locked book, and a "J" key.

They come across a set of secret doors that lead to an armory, where Salla finds a nice suit of plate mail that fits him pretty well. Skillfully avoid another pit trap, the group enters a foyer with a mosaic of floor tiles set to spell out "JZADIRUNE" and a large set of iron double doors held by great iron hinges.