An unexpected informant in the catacombs

We regrouped and formulated a strategy for reentering the West door of the catacombs: Treble would sneak in, throw a dagger, and lure them back to where the rest of us waited to attack, as Elaira taunted them by regaling upon them tales of their weakness and cowardice. I reached into the Earth's power to assume the Form of Winter's Herald, so that our foes could not maneuver well around us. This worked out well for us, as we quickly dispatched the first wave of 5.

However, we came to find a second band of foes waiting further into the room, and found ourselves quickly needing to pursue a new strategy, as these new foes were attacking us from afar. Three kobolds were throwing their javelins at us, and a kobold wearing a totem skull mask shot energy orbs. One combatant made the mistake of trying to maneuver out of my reach to engage Rhogar's mark, and paid heftily for this choice as my flail rained crippling damage upon him, ending his life. As we battled the kobolds, we heard some scuffling and arguing in a foreign language. I led the charge into the room, where I saw as I entered that most of the enemies remaining were bloody due to the infighting. I helped Treble gain tactical advantage to take out the kobold mage, shrugged off two goblin attacks, tracked down and killed two escaping kobolds, and then went after the goblins, killing one and immobilizing the other so that he was also easily dispatched. One kobold warlock was begging for his life; Rhogar translated his pleas and Elaira decided to spare him.

Keh'r encouraged the kobold to speak with us in Common (which he did so, haltingly), so that Rhogar did not have to translate so much. He said his name was Shamash, and that he was unaffiliated with the other (now dead) kobolds, from a different tribe on another continent far away called Argannessen. He said that his kind had been enslaved by the goblins, and that he was willing to help us navigate the parts of the catacombs with which he was familiar in return for our sparing his life. He told us that he had been a slave here for only a few days, but that he had been enslaved for months before that when he was taken from his home continent. He drew us a basic map of the dungeon, outlining some pits, a portal to another world in which he could see a castle, and the locations of rooms containing treasure and prisoners (a man and a woman). He told us that we should be on the lookout for goblins, undead, fiery creatures, spiderlike creatures, and gnomes. Elaira believed him to be sincere, and the information was appreciated, so we returned his weapons and allowed him to accompany us as he wanted to see revenge rain upon his slavemasters.

Treble put on the skull mask and we went into the next corridor, which did contain two deep pits just as Shamash had described. Treble deftly navigated the ropes above the pit, and I easily leapt across. Unfortunately, our paladin and wizard fell into the pit as they tried to cross, sustaining some pretty serious wounds, after which the others used ropes to climb across carefully. On our way into the next room, Treble found and disabled a poison needle trap.

In the next room, Keh'r entered to examine the portal. I am not skilled in the ways of magic things, but I joined him, a little suspicious of the magic portal, just in case some ill were to befall him. We asked Shamash whether he had seen anything come through the portal, which he answered in the negative; it didn't matter, though, because as Keh'r was examining the portal, a huge blob came through it and tried to eat him. I'm told it was called an Ochre Jelly. Anyway, Treble quickly and quietly came into the room and backstabbed it. The blob was so gelatinous that I had difficulty landing a hit on it, but I did seem to at least distract it a little so that Treble could get some more good stabs into it. Rhogar joined the fray and the gel tried to eat him as well, and Horadric slid it clear through the portal (though it did not go back from whence it came). The portal was a creepy arcane effect: we could see into it from one direction (but not allies behind it), and from the other direction we could not see it at all--it was as though it was not even in the room (except, of course, for the swampdwelling creatures that emerged from it). Back to the fray: the ochre jelly divided into two, and it was around this time that we noticed a humanoid figure approaching from the swamp shown in the portal. One of the gels managed to hit me, leaving behind some acid residue that burned my skin, and I returned the favor by sticking my flail deep into it.

As we had ourselves quite busy dealing with the two ochre jelly bits, with the concern of the approaching figure from the portal, two ghosts appeared next to Elaira and Horadric, hurting them both badly and knocking them prone. There was nothing the rest of us could do immediately to help, other than to do our best to wrap up our battle with the ochre jellies so that we would be free to confront the spectres. Treble dispatched one of the blobs and warned us that a slimy head was coming through the portal. Keh'r killed the other, and Rhogar went after the ghosts, shouting something about unholy demons. The paladin beseeched divine favor and smited both of the ghosts, one of which bore most of his wrath. I don't believe in benevolent spirits, but Rhogar must be pretty passionate about his beliefs since he seemed to have a burst of renewed energy at that moment.

One spectre attacked Rhogar, Elaira, and Shamash before both vanished into the walls. A sodden ghoul emerged from the portal and Treble and I attacked it... well, Treble more than I, as I was doing more to distract it with my ineptitude as Treble stabbed it. The ghoul tried to grab Treble, but he dodged and killed it. In the meantime, a spectre reappeared and continued its assault on Elaira, who managed to avoid the attack. As the spectres reappeared, Rhogar continued his bloodthirsty attack on them. Elaira avenged herself against one of the spectres, attacking it and knocking it prone, where Treble stabbed it and killed it. Rhogar exploded the last spectre in a blaze of light. We took stock of our injuries and noticed more movement on the lake within the portal, so after checking the door for traps, we all went through it into the next corridor. Treble scouted ahead around the corner and reported that Shamash's information was accurate: there was a prisoner in a cell in the room and a bag of treasure (though he did not see any guards). He brought the bag back to us and described the prisoner as an elderly man (his description most matches the information we have about the missing Castellan of the Hall of Great Valor). We will have to speak with the Castellan and find out what condition he is in before we determine the best way to get him safely back to Brindol.