Players:

  1. Battista, Level 1 Elf, in pact with The Fates, Lawful (Mark)
  2. Marcellus, Level 1 Archontean Cleric of Atashak, Chaotic God of Fire and Battle (NPC)
  3. Pif Feldman, Level 1 Thorcin Cleric of Demma, Lawful Goddess of the Harvest (Jake)
  4. Spine Thundergruff, Level 1 Dwarf, Lawful (Bill)
  5. Waldorf, Level 1 Halfling, Lawful (Brad)
  6. Everet, Level 1 Archontean Warrior, Chaotic (Earl)

    Note taker/map maker: Bill
    Caller: Brad

    Starting at the gates to the ruins, the group traveled 450’ to the stairs that lead down to a pair of bronze doors they had discovered last expedition. The party noticed that the dust on the stairs had been disturbed by scores of footprints. Marcellus left their cart at the top of the steps while Everet lit a torch and lead the party in their descent. They tried the unadorned doors, but they wouldn’t budge - not even slightly. Spine, using his skills as a smith, was able to determine that the doors were locked by some form of powerful magic.

    The group then began to head west, but ran into two patrols of goat-like humanoids who formed up into military formations upon spotting the party. Battista called out to the goatfolk, saying they meant no harm, and told them they were looking for some pigmen who captured a priestess of Mitra recently. The goatfolk sergeants conferred with one another, and then offered to take the Fingers to the leader of the pigfolk, who they said was named “Dieno.” The group agreed, and they found themselves between the two patrols, headed south towards the gates of the ruined city and the Long Stair.

    On the way to the gates, Battista talked incessantly to the goatfolk and mentioned that he had entreated with the kobolds earlier. This caused the goatfolk to stop suddenly. One of the sergeants asked Battista if the party was allied with the kobolds. Battista tried to downplay it, but the goatfolk began to look concerned, and began to nervously scan the horizon to the west.

    The conversation was cut short when three giant frogs jumped before the two groups, attacking the goatfolk troopers. The party was quick to react and fired missiles from afar, killing one of the frogs. After the rest of the frogs went down in a hail of arrows, the sergeants thanked the party for assisting them.

    After conferring with one another again, one of the sergeants told the group that they would not take them to Dieno and would let them go if they agreed to tell “Crastinorax” that they did so. They also asked that the group not follow them down the Long Stair, as they wished to keep their means of egress a secret for now. The party agreed, and began asking questions of the goatfolk, who called themselves the Caprae Children of Dieno. Battista asked them what other groups are included in the Children, and the sergeant identified four other groups: The dogfolk “Canaii,” the pigfolk “Choirans,” the ratfolk “Auraians,” and the sheepfolk “Ovis.” Battista and the others were very glad that the Fingers and the Children had managed to form a truce.

    Pif asked the Caprae sergeant if they knew of any easy entrances into the Halls, and were informed of a tunnel within the Pyramid of Thoth and a partially-buried, vermin-infested cellar to the west of it. The sergeant then asked Battista what the position of “Crastinorax” was towards the Children’s patrols in the area. The group merely answered “we’ll have to ask him,” and left it at that. After this exchange of information was complete, the Caprae patrols left. Grateful to have escaped a very tense situation, the Fingers decided not to follow.

    It was getting late at this point and the sun was setting. The party decided to rest overnight in a ruined tower by the gate. Through prayers to Demma, the Goddess of the Hearth, Pif was able to grant the party a boon of cold resistance, allowing the party to go without a fire for the night. They then attempted to hide themselves in the tower and rest until morning.

    After about an hour had passed, a group of 8 humans wearing animal furs and carrying stone weapons passed by on a journey up the Long Stair and towards the north through the ruins. This group of hillfolk did not spot the party, as the group managed to stay silent enough to remain unnoticed.

    20 minutes later, two Children of Dieno patrols (Auraians and Ovis) walked past from the long stair heading north. They noticed the party huddled in the tower, but simply nodded and kept walking. Waldorf nodded back.

    Half an hour later, the party heard a loud beating of wings overhead, and a huge, screeching wyvern landed 60 feet away from the Fingers. The wyvern approached the party and scratched the ground before it. The group threw about a dozen silver coins at it. It was almost all they had. “Next time leave Craastonistorex tax here,” the wyvern growled in broken Archontean shortly before it flew off towards the west.

    Shortly after that scary encounter, the party was beset by 3 vicious ghouls. The group was absolutely on fire with rolls, slaying the undead in just a few moments. Everet was the only one to take damage, a mere 1 hp, managing to resist the paralyzing effects of the ghoul’s claws.

    Later that night, seeking to find a safer place to rest, the Fingers decided to walk partially down the Long Stair. There, they decided to shelter in the room carved in the side of the cliff face that contained a small stack of firewood. From this vantage point, they were able to spot two well-dressed humans accompanied by what looked like four guards and four porters at the foot of the cliff. The party continued to watch as the porters deployed a small boat which carried the group across the river at the base of the cliffs. Soon after, this group disappeared out of sight, blocked by the colossal statue of Arden.

    Three hours later, the party heard hooting and hollering from what must have been at least four giant ape-like creatures descending from about 40 feet up the Long Stair. Waldorf did his best Wyvern impression, which somehow scared the cowardly apes off.

    At dawn, the Fingers finally finished their rest, having survived seven encounters with various groups in total during their roughly 12-hour rest. Based on the advice they had received from the Caprae, the party decided to head for the cellar to the west of the Pyramid of Thoth. After reaching it, Waldorf lit a torch and descended a 60’ staircase down into the darkness. Deciding that they didn’t want to make too much noise, the party left the cart at the top of the stairs after taking everything from it, but not before partially hiding it behind some rubble.

    Reaching the bottom of the stairs, they came across two bodies lying face-down on the ground of a large chamber filled almost 2 feet high in all directions with trash and debris. Spine quickly grabbed a red-colored potion, while the rest of the group stripped two pieces of armor from the corpses: chainmail and banded mail. These were donned by Marcellus and Everet, respectively.

    Moments after Marcellus and Everet finished strapping on their new armor, the group heard the chittering of insects coming from somewhere inside the chamber, sounding closer and closer to them by the second…

    End time: 2993 AEP, Lunday (2nd day of the week), the 3rd day of Basilembrios, the 10th month, 7:40am.