Tower of Zenopus, Session 1

Our intrepid band gathered again this week to further their explorations of the strange, winding underhalls beneath Portown. Their gobin captive Gorfus was eager to join the group as 'Gorfus the Torchbearer!' as he and the halfling babarian Skit Runalong bonded, doing hand stands while hold up in the goblin room. Meanwhile, the rest of the group made the short trip back into town for some extra supplies, and food.

There, they met an Elvin Wizard named, Sulien, who had made the journey to Portown for reasons of his own. The wizard's research having led him to believe an elf wand of power and repute was lost within the catacombs beneath Zenopus's tower. The folks at the Green Dragon Inn were almost happy to see the party return one party member short, as it seems a 'dead pool' of sorts had begun, as to how many of the intrepid band would be lost to the dread halls. There was actually some groaning as the bard, Killian Sweetongue informed everyone that none had yet been lost, and the wizard was actually eager to join their party, as they were already exploring the very place he wanted to go!

Soon, explorations resumed, with an elven wizard in tow. As the party reentered the goblin room, their 'captive' jumped off his chair, held a torch aloft like a sword and proudly exclaimed, "I am Gorfus the Torchbearer"! Confused, worried and indifferent looks were exchanged, and the group returned to the room that had formerly contained a spider and mimic from last week. The spider's hidey hole in the ceiling seemed to be worth investigating, and Skit was just the right size for such work, so with a bit of effort, he crawled into the dark hole, discovering a rocky, refuse filled little tunnel leading back into darkness. With only enough room to crawl, and pushed on, barely avoiding a collapsed section of the floor that lead far below, the sounds of pebbles finding the water giving evidence to the depths of the shaft.

Carefully navigating around the 'pit', Skit went even further back, wondering if perhaps their weren't more spiders within this foul place.... but no, the little tunnel ended in a small chamber, that was open enough for the halfling to find his footing, and stand. What greeted his gaze was quite gruesome, however. A few goblins had clearly run afoul of the spider, as little web cocoons dotted the floor, and one dangled from the ceiling, a clenched mummified hand extending from the thing, the only evidence that there was something trapped within.

Most of what was found was rotted, or pitted with rust, but, from within the ceiling hanging cocoon, the goblin's prized possession was pressed uselessly against his body, in a desperate death grip for salvation... a shiny, jewel encrusted dagger! Skit happily liberated the dagger from its fate, and emerged from the tunnel pleased with his find, despite the danger.

At this point, the group was a bit flummoxed, though, Killian pointed out there was still the unexplored western passage of the entry hall, and everyone agreed that perhaps they should tackle that before trying to figure out the puzzle of the demon statue room.

Onward!

The western passage quickly opened up into a larger room, with niches on the north and south walls, obscured by a thick mass of webbing, "On no, not more spiders" cried the half-orc Tempest, clearly his experience with the mimic causing a bit of PTSD.

Cautiously, the group entered the place, but a few steps in revealed that spiders were the least of their worries as the webbing began to move towards them... revealing....

Skeletons!! Four of the boney undead lurched forward, trailing stings of webbing, and attacked. The group was really starting to coordinate their skills at this point, and the skeletons gave them little trouble.