Artifact recovered

After a bit o' arguing over where we were going to go next, we decided to go through the sealed door. Here we found a cavern filled with mushrooms, a pool of water, and the remains of food storage. We found ourselves confronted by some type of huge mushroom king and his minions, who shot spores at us, stuck us with spines, and sprayed acid on us. Also, there was a huge monster in the water that leapt out and tried to kill us. This battle was somewhat difficult, especially for Mishaan, who found himself in somewhat of a precarious situation, but thanks to a tactical retreat and some good area spells on the part of Colvin and Phelaia, we managed to recover the situation and defeat the mushroom guys. Treble found a chest containing 2 moonstone gems, worth 50 gp each, and 40 gold pieces. While he was doing that, I couldn't help but search throughout the fungus-filled cavern for Arcana components for future crafting. I found 210 gold worth of 'em.

We decided to pass the rest of the day away so we could be at our strongest when we entered the vault through the teleporter. Colvin came up with the idea of gambling, where the winner gets to have me augment their magic item for the following day. Phelaia pointed out that the augment wasn't his to give away, but I figured 'twas all in good fun and I went all in, too. In the end, Colvin, Mishaan, and I were left standing and gambled another round. This time Colvin came out victorious, so he got to have it for the second day in a row. I suspect that's why he wanted to gamble for it in the first place, is that he knew that his turn wouldn't come 'round again for awhile, and he was angling to get another chance. Well, it worked out for 'im, and as it turned out he used both days to his advantage and the reserves I put in his weapon helped him to hit both times.

After resting, we decided to go through the teleporter two at a time. Treble and Aurora went in the first round, and I gave them some energy reserves before they went through in case they met a bad lot on the other side. They came back in to let us know that the coast was clear, and we all went through. We found ourselves in an empty room, with a huge mess everywhere... stuff smashed, broken, overturned, papers strewn. I went ahead in to plant my mighty battle standard in the ground, and the body of Agera stood from the altar screeching "It's mine! You can't have it! You'll never get it!" Then six suits of armor rose up from the ground around us to do her bidding.

Creepy.

One of the first things that Agera did was attack us, and she musta used some kind of charm effect on us, because we found ourselves attacking each other instead of her. I attacked Phelaia (the last one of 'em that I'd ever attack in my right mind... I was horrified when I came to my senses and realized what I had done!), and the only good that came of it is that I was standing near my allies so they all benefited from my magic weapon. This helped their attacks land true as they went after the magic armors, who were soon reduced back to lifeless armor on the ground. As they were vanquished, we found her gaining strength, but of course in the end we were the victors. Once the armors were gone, Colvin took an aiding role on the battlefield for once, lending Aurora some vitality and strength. Once Agera was defeated, we looked at her necklace, and Mishaan told us it is the artifact that we were searching for, and he put it in the Bag of Shielding that I had crafted for him.

After we did that, we searched the room, finding the following:
An Amulet of Life,
A healing potion,
Trinkets worth 200 gold,
19 platinum pieces,
632 gold pieces,
324 silver pieces,
811 copper pieces,
Ghoststride Boots,
Couters of Second Chances,
Duelist's Dagger,
Boots of Surging Speed,
Siberys Shard of the Mage,
4 pearls worth 50 gold each,
1 diamond worth 200 gold,
3 rubies, each worth 100 gold,
a wall painting valued at 250 gp,
and a stack of papers which I plan to examine at the next opportunity.

All in all, a good day!