27: Skulls, the Headhunter, and dwarven traps.

*Krech under the control of a malevolent entity attacked the Emerald Sister when she denied his/it's claim the the Dwarven Bloodaxe.
*Krech was protected from it's malevolent influence when Lath cast a Protection from Evil circle upon him.
*With 70 minutes until the spell ceased, the group negiotiated a payment for one of the Stones of Ogremoch. The skulls of the 12 penitent brothers and the broken skull of their master from the halls above.
*Racing upstairs the group found Edgrin & the 4 children missing. Bornir heard talk down the hallway.
*The group found two red haired people, a father and daughter in hunting gear, who were leading the children from the dungeon. The girl Kimi was arguing with the couple, since one of her friends was missing and still held below.
*The group met with the couple who were a man and his daughter, Ryman and Rebecca McNabb, from a family of hunters/trappers living in the hills east of Ery Crossing.
*Aardgal and Morgrim distrusted the strangers, but allowed them to guard the children at the back of the group.
*They gathered the skulls from the twelves skeletal monks they had bested the day before, and looked around for a broken skull belonging to a more important figure. Nothing presented itself, so the group went exploring.
*The heroes found a room with a metal banded pillar with inlaid with a strange mineral behind an old iron door, pitted with rust spots. They went elsewhere mistrusting the look of the room.
*They next found a room with a pit at the bottom of which was red hot magma. The group left to explore elsewhere, as they did so something flew down from a ventilation hole above the pit. It attacked Azrael with tentacles , striking him and almost paralyzing him with spiked ridges along the tentacle. The grell struck, paralyzed and grabbed Kimi and Edgrin, then Shaft slew it with several arrows.
*The next room explored contained a fountain which was spraying hot water. The fountain held no decorative statuary. As the group moved past the fountain two watery oozes flowed from the pool of water and attacked them with pseudopods. Shaft killed one with arrows which were destroyed by the creature's acidic body. Krech struck at an ooze with his heavy mace and was horrified when it disintegrated! Morgrim killed the last one with a spear, which was similarly destroyed.
*The large room beyond held a strange sight. A large hall with a door opposite. On the right hand wall were double ranks of statuary, each depicted pig-like dwarves with spears set, the front rank knelt, while the back rank stood. On the left wall were armored dwarven warriors with war hammers held high in both hands. Aargal crept into the room checking for traps. Half way into the room he found a series of pressure plates. When he tried to disarm the trap he set it off! The whole room spun 90 degrees and he fell on the spears of the line of dwarves. He picked his way through the statuary and made his way towards the far wall. He had been suffered a gash across his leg and a sprain in his calf from the fall. As he called out to his friends to stay back and throw him a rope the second line of hammer wielding dwarves fell on him! They were on pulleys and mechanically driven chains and were quickly hoisted up. Aardgal clutched his chest and the side of his face was a bloody bruise. He quickly climbed back to the group before the warriors were hoisted to their starting positions. A minute after he left, the room turned back 90 degrees righting itself.
*Aardgal tried disarming a 5x5 section of the trap after recieving healing magic and was successful. The group made their way carefully to the far door. They decided to leave the kids on the far side of the trapped room with Edgrin, Azrael and the two warriors to guard them.
*Beyond was a room with the names of the faithful etched into the polished stone walls. After a bit a secret door was located and beyond it lay a room.
*This room was a listening room, with conical openings in the walls to hear areas of the dungeon. In the center of the room was a pedestal. The top of which had an etched representation of this level of the dungeon. Aardgal compared his map and quickly started adding to it. Before long he announced "Over there is a secret door."
The group hefted their weapons and found the means to shift trhe door open. Beyond was a short hallway littered with skulls and decapitated heads. In the midst of this ghastly site shambled an undead dwarf. It walked, and was covered top to bottom with a shroud bearing dwarvish inscriptions. It lacked a head and seemed intent on taking yours.
Aardgal's presence in the room bolstered everyone's morale and they were able to fend off a rising panic which emanated from the undead in waves of pure fear.
The heroes struck the undead and it lay unmoving before it could touch a soul. But damage had been done nonetheless. For in the confusion of the fight the two strangers struck.
The older father shot Azrael in the back with a crossbow bolt which hit him low in the back and stunned him. The female warrior threw a vial into the trap room and in back instantly dark.
Edgrin and Kimi screamed out for help. Were it not for the keen ears of the elves they would have died or worse. Luckily the heroes rushed to their aid. Lath dispelled the darkness in the trapped room allowing them to spot the chalk marks on the floor guiding their steps over the disabled pressure plates.
Felnar, who had become very concerned about the children's safety cast a dimension door and took Morgrim with him to their aid. What they saw were the kids cowering before a large swarm of rats and the two warriors drawing weapons. Felnar's spells killed the rat swarm, but another flowed into the room from the hallway. A horrible rat man following behind - Wererats!
The female warrior changed shape and thrust her rapier at Morgrim to little effect. Be the time the rest of the group ran into the room the two warriors were felled with magic and the rat swarm destroyed. The male were rat was on the run with Morgrim close behind. It escaped into the room with the magma filled pit, climbing the ceiling and escaping through vent holes above the pit.
Kimi and Edgrin had suffered several rat bites, but Edgrin's bardic magic saved her from greater tragedy. The group retreated to the octagonal listening room to rest and recuperate.