======Nineteenth session - 10 October 2003 - Ghost in the Palace======

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All six players in attendance:

| Chris | [[Roderick]] | Cleric/7 |
| Dave  | [[Aramil]]   | Ranger/7 |
| Jim   | [[Roget]]    | Fighter/7 |
| Ken   | [[Vincent]]  | Rogue/6, Fighter/1 |
| Kurt  | [[Dhersion]] | Bard/7 |
| Val   | [[Kesi]]     | Monk/6 |

As he prepares to leave the grand council meeting, King Thor of Shima pulls
[[Dhersion]] aside and asks for help.  It seems his palace in the city of Meli may
be under the influence of a Slaad - much like the situation back in Paco.  He
does not have (or at least does not offer) many details, but his concern seems
genuine and the party agrees to follow him to investigate it.  Since Meli is on
the river they planned to travel down anyway, it seems the obvious decision.

On the morning of May 23rd, the group joins King Thor on his barge down the
river.  The trip takes most of the day and, aside from some unpleasant weather,
is uneventful.  During a brief nap, [[voyagersecret19|Roderick has another glimpse
of destiny]].

When they arrive in Meli, the palace guards greet the king at the docks and
inform him that they have abandoned the palace.  The Slaad that the party was
expecting seems, instead, to be a ghost.  And, with three guardsmen killed in
very messy fashion, the palace was thought to be unsafe.

The party decides to enter the palace immediately.  Once at the gates, though,
[[Kesi]]'s staff begins to glow - indicating that there is chaos present.  If this
is a ghost (which [[Roderick]] insists do not exist), it is clearly a chaotic ghost!

Inside the palace, [[Kesi]]'s staff glows erratically - in a way she hasn't seen
before.  The party explores the vast building from the top down, moving swiftly
in and out of rooms.  They discover some of the rooms have had furniture moved
around in strange ways, but other rooms have been left untouched.  On two
separate occasions, [[Kesi]]'s staff flares to full intensity and [[Bigby]]'s See
Invisibility spell spots a creature in the room.  However, in both cases, the
party is unable to do anything to the creature and it "vanishes" abruptly (once
even seeming to sink through the floor!)

After nearly an hour, the vast palace has been searched from the top to the
ground floor.  The only remaining areas are the food storage cellars and
dungeon.  The dungeon is a small group of cells, probably only used for short
duration stays for select prisoners.  However, when the group reaches the door,
a foul odor reaches up from below.  Something is clearly wrong here!

Once down, they see that seven of the eleven cell doors have been torn from
their frames - one on the left side of the hall from the inside and all six on
the right side from the outside.  In the left side cells, a huge trench cuts a
swath across all but one of the cells - as if the ground had been torn from
below.  Amazingly, the one, intact cell still has a prisoner: A young man
(probably still a teenager) who is lying near death, as he has had no food or
water for at least two days.

While [[Roderick]] tends to the comatose prisoner, the rest of the party begin
searching the prison cells and the trench.  The cells contain evidence of recent
prisoners (but only in the form of blood splatters).  The trench is piled with
muck and garbage - apparently scavenged from other parts of the palace.  But the
biggest surprise is the two giant garbage monsters (Otyughs) lying in the waste.
After a volly of arrows, the beasts are destroyed and, since [[Kesi]]'s staff seems
to glow a little brighter down here, the party decides to explore further into
the trench.

To the right, the trench opens up into some sort of cavern.  To the left, it
drops steeply into darkness.  Because of the slippery garbage and the steep
grade, the cavern is deemed the "safer" route.  [[Aramil]] is sent in and has to
move an Otyugh carcass out of the way to make a path.  However, the real problem
he faces is the five carrion crawlers lurking in the cavern.  The party presses
in behind [[Aramil]] and, after a short fight, four of the creatures are slain and
the fifth makes its escape through an exit tunnel (that also drops steeply
down).

With the only options to be go back or down, the party decides to send [[Kesi]] down
the tunnel on a rope.  She finds herself in a huge cavern, perhaps 100 feet
across, and briefly witnesses an Umber Hulk munching on the last Carrion Crawler
(whose escape from danger apparently didn't last long).

[[Kesi]] is quickly pulled back up the tunnel, but the Hulk scrambles deftly up the
stone and attacks the party in the upper cavern.  Despite its magical confusion
gaze and enormous strength, the group manages to defeat the beast.  However, a
second one follows by burrowing directly through the stone.  [[Vincent]] is the most
to suffer from the confusion and finds himself ferociously attacking comrades.
[[Bigby]] is forced to cast Hold Person on him to keep him from causing additional
damage.

[[Vincent]]'s paralysis turns into an unlucky break when, after the second beast is
finally killed, a magical opening appears in the wall directly behind [[Roderick]]
and a great, blue-colored Slaad steps into the room and snatches the surprised
cleric.  [[Vincent]], being the only person near enough to do anything about it, and
(because of his frog totem) certainly the person most able to do something about
it, is forced to watch helplessly as [[Roderick]] is dragged back into darkness.

The rest of the party responds to [[Roderick]]'s yelp and turns in time to see the
Slaad disappearing back into the new tunnel.  [[Kesi]], after a cue from [[Roget]],
charges into the darkness.  [[Roget]] and [[Aramil]] are quick to follow.  However,
[[Dhersion]] sees the gateway closing and chooses to stay on this side.  [[Vincent]],
after being released from [[Bigby]]'s hold, does not have enough time to get to the
gate in time.

When all is done, [[Vincent]], [[Dhersion]], and [[Bigby]] remain in the cavern, while the
other four are gone!  The only thing that remains on this side is a solid stone
wall.

XP awarded: 1,000, Running Total: 23,000.  (20,000 for [[Kesi]] and [[Bigby]])