The Cringing Frog-Man

26 November, 595
Part II

Suddenly finding themselves armed with powerful magic weapons and items, and in a little bit better shape ;), the party presses onward!

A locked door is left unexplored.

After finding and opening a series of secret doors, Salla comes upon 2 men standing guard in front of the arrow slits that Kyladrian had seen from the other side. One of them is quite feisty and stabs Serro several times before they both fall. Their bodies are quickly looted and left to rot in the accursed ruins.

Another secret door and a passage leads to a huge chamber. Kyladrian enters and determines that it used to be a workshop used to create magical items. He believes there is something lurking in the far corner of the room. The rest of the party enters and discovers a hideous human-shaped creature with a frog-head, with a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. It seems to be cowering against a wall. The group tries to establish communication with it, and Alastriel goes through her wealth of languages to attempt to speak with it, albeit unsuccessfully. The group approaches and tries to surround it, but it jumps up and lets out a piercing sonic scream, which knocks out Sonja and Kyladrian, and severely wounds the others. It then charges at Serro, clawing at him with both of its taloned arms.

The creature is surrounded and despite its apparent ability to heal itself, is overwhelmed. Alastriel casts a flaming sphere spell, and it starts to cringe pitifully. Baxtor, armed with his sinister flail, is unmoved and continues the attack. Finally, it is burned by the sphere and dies. Salla takes his axe and separates the head from the body as best as he can, leaving a mess of brown ichor on the floor of this room. Nothing is found on the body, but a hidden cache of coins and gems are found in the corner, wrapped in a cloak which detects an aura of magic. The party is healed by Baxtor's new and improved wand of healing.

The rest of the room is explored and nothing of interest is found save for a set of 2 levers. These are tripped using the Rope of Climbing, but nothing seems to happen. Salla peeks out the double doors of the room into the arrow-slit corridor, but it doesn't look any different.

Back out into the corridor, two rooms are found which contain a mess of webbing. Opening one of the doors, Salla is immediately beset upon by several large spiders. Sonja squashes one, and Alastriel casts another flaming sphere into the room, scorching the web and its inhabitants. One manages to escape but is pummeled by the blunt of Kyladrian's torch.

Both rooms are set to the torch in the hopes that the webs (and any lingering spiders) will be burned away.