So we potioned-up in the room that the cannoneer came from before rounding the corner to find a larger room with nine cages to act as jail cells. They all appear to be occupied by dead corpses except the one in the middle-back which is inhabited by Galius's mentor, Quintus. Half the party moved into the room, moving between the cages and is ambushed by three more of the Shades we've come to adore and a duel-wielding rogue-looking baddie, (insert NPC's name here), who got a few hits on Zildjian before vanishing while we dispatched the three shades. While attempting to unlock Quintus's cell, the invisible NPC became not so invisible anymore.... all 12 copies of him... then they all begin emitting a black cloud of awesomeness.
We find ourselves in a graveyard residing on the Plane of Horror. Immediately after coming to our senses, we are beset by a troop of zombies, the leader of which is stumbling toward the party to the beat...
Approaching the temple door, we find a fountain (OOC: We each *see* the fountain as full. Drinking a hand full of the water reduces the water level by half, but restores half your missing health. Drinking a second handful of water makes the fountain appear (to you) empty, but restores the remaining health points. This happens for all PCs)
We enter the temple and find a small well in front of us. A few of the party approaches it and four tentacles reach out, attempt to paralyze the nearby party members, and then grapple them.
We fight off the tentacles. Lycia approaches what looks like a statue/shrine at the front of the 'sanctuary' of this room. A dozen black tentacles appear, surrounding an eye in the middle. She hits it with a spell and it doesn't seem to so much as flinch, so she backs away from it and it disappears again.
We then go through one of the two side doors and find some living chairs attempting to eat us. We dispatch them, find but do not open a secret door, and continue through the room to an outdoor patio-like area where we're attacked by a treant... who crits on Vis and turns his nunchunks into living sticks, so they get thrown over the outside wall.
The treant goes down in literal flames and we retreat through the 'sanctuary' to the other side door and dispatch the few zombies present before checking out the patio area on this side where we find a friendly ranger-type guy who says he's been in this place, incapable of escaping, for what seems like forever.
We go to the secret door Zildjian found and go down the stairs. Setting fire to two piles of wooden rubble blocking us in the corner, things that would have attacked us now writhe in pain and die. We go through one of two doors and find a bar, fit with a barkeep and skeletal patrons. We dispatch the skeletons and sit and talk to the barkeep. Basically, he says that there are two types of people who come to this place. Those who are sentenced and sent here and those who find their way here. We appear to be the latter, which is a good thing because we're free to go whenever we want. He fills a glass of "liquid courage" (his words) for each party member, telling us that we can leave if we simply see the door, we drink and he tells us "See your way out" as we leave.
we go through the other door to find a few crumbling rooms with some easily-dispatched skeletons.... after we kill them, Zildjian (I think) sees Galius's throat open as though it's been cut with an invisible blade and fall dead. Spare the dying has no effect. Meanwhile, Vis feels as though "someone's standing on his chest".
Downstairs level map here
Craig, would you mind correcting anything I've said wrong and/or posting pics (even if it's just screen shots) of the maps to give Chris an idea of where we're at.