Moving On Up

More fire cultists are discovered on the current level of the palace.  The party continues to battle on, making their way to the gate house and guards.  Fire giants are in gate house, and offer much more resistance than the fire cult lizard men.  Pressing forward the adventurers meet the pyrohydra pet that the fire giants have been keeping.

Finally claiming the gate house, the party take a rest before they make their way up into a court yard.  Two fire giants are tormenting a creature inside an iron bull.  With a surprise charge, the party overwhelm and vanquish the giants.  Freeing a crazed efreet, the party's subsequent scuffle draws out two waves of hell hounds.

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Session Characters:  Billy, Lars, Kushii, Mariebear, Zadora, Luce, Max
Session XP:  12500 XP each
Session Loot:  2400 GP worth of various loot.

Bring Out Your Dead

The party enters the room to a waiting fiery dinosaur babbling priest.  The battle is quick and brutal, but the group manages to survive.  Next door there are more fire cultists, but the Little Rascals get the drop on them and bushwhack the lizardmen.

Wandering around and back down, the party finds a hall of tombs.  Exploring carefully to the end, the party was a bit disappointed not finding anything so they decide to open a sarcophagus.  From the floor of the hall, out comes a big mean wraith.  The dread wraith was really tough, and the fight left the group feeling drained.

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Session Characters:  Billy, Kushii, Max, Zadora, Hazel, Lars, Kazzaur
Session XP:  9067 XP
Session Loot:  headband of inspired wisdom +2, ring of protection +2, bronze jewelry worth 285 GP.

Ballista Backstabbing 101

Back tracking through the hallways, the party spies a fortified platform of fire cultist lizardmen.  The impressive iron ballista causes the party to act with unusual caution.  Sneaking up to the platform, Kushii and Luce invisibly start the ambush.  Billy has already maneuvered into his sniper position.  The party is surprised to find out that the lizardmen can breathe fire, and that fire seems to heal them a bit.  Just as the fight begins to go the party's way, a pyrohydra wanders around the corner followed by another clutch of cultists.  Kushii, Lars, and Zadora struggle to gain control of the top of the platform while Hazel, Max, Luce, and Billy direct their efforts at the fiery hydra.  Finally, the adventurers gain control of the platform.  Lars, with the help of Zadora, aims the ballista at the hydra.  With an arcane strike and a critical hit, Lars kills the hydra with the ballista.  Lars kicks back with the obligatory, "do I have to do everything around here".  Meanwhile Billy and Hazel are busy putting acid and cold on the pyrohydra stumps after Luce decapitates the heads.

Further exploration of the area reveals the cultist hatchery, a hydra nest, and a couple of common rooms.  The cultists have a nice vestry with a big statue.  Lars uses magic to look for secret doors and finds on located next to the statue.  The party prepares to open the door...

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Session Characters:  Kushii, Lars, M. Max, Zadora, Luce, Hazel
Session XP:  4300 XP each
Session Loot:  9 masterwork heavy maces, 9 masterwork iron longbows (+2 Str),  5 potions of cure moderate wounds, 4 potions of shield of faith +3, 9 masterwork chain shirts, greater bracers of archery, 500 GP.

How I Wish You Were Here

Next the party scouts the room across hall, and there are voices talking in ignan.  Lars gets the impression that the residents are gambling.  Sneaking into the room the party observe a few efreeti, served by their kobold attendants, are drinking and gambling.  Lars devises a plan to provoke the efreeti by messing with their gambling dice.  The party sneaks into the room and gets the efreeti fighting among themselves.

The party begins to join the brawl, and things seem to be going as planned.  Then, with uncharacteristic lethality, Lars blasts the efreeti with a cone of cold and takes them down.  With careful diplomacy, the party exchange the lives and freedom of the efreet for wishes.

The first three wishes are used to restore the feeble minded efreet in the room, Iavesk the sad djinni, and the martyred efreet Sammadar.  Sammadar agrees to the exchange too, and grants three more wishes.  The party has six wishes now available to them.

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Session Characters: Kushii, Lars, Luce, Billy, Hazel, Khazzaur, Itarildë
Session XP:  6000 XP
Session Loot: none

We Gonna Let It Burn, Burn, Burn, Burn

Exploring past the room with the statue, Kushii discovers a really nasty molten brass trap.  Working around that, the party loots a store room.  The next discovery is a den of kobold slaves that are in pretty bad shape.  As the party begins the parley, some jerk devil slave master bursts into the room and starts trouble.  The fine upstanding adventurers give that jerk a beat down, just in time for his salamander buddy to enter from the hallway.  After some more butt kicking, the kobolds seem happy that their former masters are dead and agree to give some general directions for the party.

The next room over contains a feebleminded djinni (his name is Iavesk), who spends his hours crying.  Backtracking the party finds a room with several cages that are covered.  The party sends a kobold over, the first cage is empty and the kobold shrugs.   He peeks under the next cover and bursts into flames.  His crispy corpse crumbles to ash, as the party stares dumbfounded.  Lars raises a finger and points, "which one of you is going next?"   The kobolds cower, and the azer (Habanero Cockburn) volunteers to go.  He takes a look, but the flames don't seem to bother him as he shouts "pyrolisks".  The party gathers them up with the b-team and moves along.

Descending back down a stairway, the party storms into a room filled with fire mephits and azer.  Combat goes quickly as the party is more than a match for the rooms defenders.

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Session Characters: Kushii, Lars, Luce, Billy, Hazel, Khazzaur, Itarildë
Session XP:  5600 XP each
Session Loot:  225 SP, 32 GP, key to prison cells, art and jewelry worth 4500 GP, fifteen vials of holy water, decanter of endless water.