Supplies, Surprise, Salvation

Down to very few options, the group decided to at least try and stop the making of the Black Sun's supplies. Once decided on a course of action, they obviously had to argue on how that course of action was to be performed. That took another hour of their time.

Walking briskly back to the armor making room, and just as briskly charged in. The kobold craftsmen inside the room were taken by surprise, and without actual weapons, had to make due with their armor making tools. A very quick battle ensued, in which the group tried to let the kobolds surrender without success. The kobolds were cut down, leaving just one of them for questioning.

The prisoner supplied them with bits of information, mostly having to do with the guards who were due to arrive at night, to guard the prisoners. The group had seen no prisoners in the complex, and when shaken roughly, the kobold showed them a secret door at the back of the work shop. The kobold was 'taken care of' before the group went through this secret door.

A corridor opened up to the right, leading to what appeared to be a small prison. Several barred cells were occupied by elven women, one of which was Mirage, the eccentric sorceress they had met back at Lakedge. All the women had signs of partial dragon transformation, Mirage having had the least amount of treatments, showed only a few scales on her arms. The other elf women were worse, but not by much.

To the right of the rightmost cell, Larry found yet another secret door in which he found the prisoners equipment.

While reequipping herself and introducing herself to both Pot O'Gold and Ad, Mirage also brought several things to the troupes attention:

• The dragon transformations were so far only performed on elven women.
• The Black Sun was searching for several items, one of which was apparently an elven male.
• Dragons transformations seemed to start with several treatments of a potion.
• The guards will be coming within the hour.
  

That last item got them preparing to leave, but first, fo course, they had to kill some more.

The group, now joined by Mirage (and the two other elven females who trailed a long way behind) went to the room where they had seen the goblin females making the black fabric for the Black Sun's black robes. In another quick, bloody battle, in which they tried to let the goblins surrender without success, the seamstresses were cut down to the last.

Each of the heroes took a roll of the thick silk thread the goblins had used, seeing as it was probably worth something. Mirage, her magical sight working, saw a small pile of 8 magical Black sun badges and decided to take those as well.

Only a few minutes had past, and so our heroes decided to plan an ambush for the coming guards. They waited in the columned room where they had appeared in this complex, their plan set and their weapons ready.

When the chime finally sounded, signalling an arrival into the room, a quick web spell was cast upon the center of the room, the four black robed guards appearing right in it's middle. Needless to say, considering the advantage the heroes had created for themselves, plus the use of magic that seemed to circumvent the black robes' magic, this battle was quickly over as well.

Our heroes knew there was at least another section of this complex, but they chose to report back their findings through Ad, as the king's agent. Protecting the two elven females, the troupe back tracked all the way out of the Mansion they had entered through, only to find the Ox they had been given to carry supplies was dead, while amazingly, the leprechauns' goat was still alive.

Another day and a half and the group was back at monastery, telling their story to the kings errands and letting the healers take care fo the elven prisoners they had rescued. A day of rest, and another day and a half of traveling brought them back to the mansion, which was now a burning and molten hunk of wood and stone. A dragon shaped creature was flying away from it.

Disappointed but not discouraged, our heroes calculated an angle at which they could dig and reach the obsidian walled corridor that led to the first area of the Black Sun's complex. A few hours of digging brought them on top of a narrow obsidian platform, probably the ceiling of the corridor. Kolban was of course the obvious choice to break through, and so he did, leading the group down into the earth.

At the T junction, sounds of activity were heard by all and so Larry, and Wish, Mirage's raven familiar went to check things out. Their report was that the Black Sun was preparing to leave the outpost.

Old Order Outpost

A thorough search of their current location revealed a convenient way down below the golem roamed first floor and into a narrow, obsidian walled corridor. The corridor was eerily silent, until the our heroes decided to through a stone down it’s length to check it’s length, as it’s end was still hidden from view.

The stone clattering on the floor rang clear, and then again and again, proving to the more intelligent members of the group that not only was the corridor rather long, it also angled downwards shallowly. Having nothing better to do, they started walking.

Reaching a now level section of the corridor, which ended in a T junction, the troupe decided to take a rest and then check out the area they have just reached. Obviously, to check it out, they sent Larry.

A quick inspection by the quick-fingered Moonling found that to the right was a training area blocked by a blurry yet somewhat transparent door. Hearing voices from the other side, going through some sort of combat training was probably Larry’s clue as to the purpose of that room, and the reason not to try the door.

On the other side, to the left of the entry corridor, Larry found a series of rooms, their purpose unknown. Larry reported back.

After yet another bout of arguing, the troupe decided on the taking the left turn and trying the doors. The first revealed a small group of goblinoid zombies which were quickly scared into ineffectiveness by Pot O’Gold’s undead turning. A search through another room revealed nothing much, while in third they saw an elven maid, her body partially transformed into that of a dragon. While she was not in such bad condition as the first such abomination they saw, her chances were still slim.

A quick conversation with the elven female told the group that the cult of the Black Sun was here and they sent some of their number to perform a ritual with the elven maid in the middle, transforming even more of her into the shape of a dragon.

Checking out the biggest door in that section in the meantime, the group came upon a large room with 8 columns around its middle, each column had 3 buttons with a rune on each button. All the columns had the same 3 buttons.

Obviously, the Black Sun had to come from somewhere to perform their ritual, and so the heroes decided to stage an ambush, although sadly, using the already tortured elf female as bait. When they had waited for a few hours, in the world above them it had become night time, and suddenly a dull chime sounded from the large columned room and 5 robed characters stepped out, 2 of them in black robes, 3 others in dark blue.

The five walked towards the elf female’s room-turned-cell, the 2 black robed men standing guard at the door while the other 3 went inside and began their ritual.

The group attacked the guards and in no time had them lying in pools of their own blood. Charging into the room, the group dispatched the obvious spellcasters, interrupting the ritual, even though the female will probably not survive anyway.

Having ‘cleared’ this part of the Black Sun outpost and taking into account that it was now ‘sleeping time’ for most people, they ventured into the combat training area Larry had seen before.

The area was empty, but in one corner of the area, a door led into a narrow area, seemingly some sort of barracks. Only two Black Sun soldiers were awake and chattering away, and other than them, the others were sleeping, their very protective black robes hanging on the walls.

With a few invisibility spells and some major stealth, Larry turned assassin and killed two dozen sleeping soldiers without so much as a blink of an eye, not to mention remorse. The rest of the soldiers were killed by some simple yet effective tactics of the entire group.

The slaughter having sated their bloodlust for a bit, the troupe went to the columned room to comprehend its working. Finally, they simply waited until another group came through. When such a group did arrive, they quickly noted the placement of the buttons at the same time as they were slaughtering some more cultists.

The battle over, they pressed the buttons as they recorded previously and lo and behold, a portal opened. A quick step through and our heroes arrived at another 8 columned room, much the same as the one they had just left only with more doors leading out from it.

A quick survey of the room and the level it was in revealed quite a few interesting facts, if not any immediate threats.

First, there was a large statue of a mythical demigod juggling 3 moons.
Second, there was a large nest of some sort of insect-like creature in one corner of the floor.
Third, there were rooms with goblin females sewing black robes in one, and kobolds making armor in another.
Fourth, an old library revealed the truth of this place’s origin as being an outpost of the Black Sun’s enemies, now obviously overrun with cultists.

The troupe would need to decide what to do next. Their options, though, were quite limited.