Episode 3.1

Brad, Tony, Greg, Kathy, Ernie

On the other side of the gate, they group found a large room with tables on two sides, a large alcove with equally large working fountain on one side and a large door with glowing purple dwarven runes on the forth side. In one corner was a spiral staircase going up. The runes said “only the bloodline of the dwarf may proceed.” They could not find a way to open the doors and decided to explore the staircase. Upstairs, they found a vast chamber divided up into small cubical areas. They determined that this was intended to be a staging area for a large group of people. Since the population of Stonekeep was filing through the gate behind them, they were sent upstairs to camp out and wait. Returning to the door, they had Ceodoc try it but with no luck. Reading the runes again, they had the dwarf cut is finger and rub his blood on the door. This worked, and the door opened easily.

Down a short hallway, they found another room with it’s walls covered in tapestries and with a raised area in the center where a large statue of an axe wielding dwarven guard in the center. On the far end of the room was another door that they could not open. On each corner of the platform, was a crystal ball sitting upon a metal rod. From each crystal ball emitted a purple light with struck the statue. At the base of each rod was a slot on the floor that was perpendicular to the light. They discovered that the light and the statue were both hot and caused damage when touched. Using mirrors, they tried to redirect the light at the door and various other places, but to no effect. Searching behind the tapestries, they discovered a secret door. The door led to a small hallway which, in turn, led to a larger room in which a hill giant had been summoned to attack the party. Realizing that the hill giant could not leave the room due to the size of the hallway, they decided to try to hit the giant with the purple light via two mirrors. While they were setting this up, Kathy was attacked by an, until then, invisible ball of light. Others tried to hit it with little luck. Kathy damaged it with several magic missile spells before Brad finally destroyed it with a blow from his fist.

Turning their attention back to the hill giant, they managed to hit it a few times with the purple light before it positioned itself out of it’s line of fire. Greg took it upon himself to go in and kill it. Ernie Healed Greg, who took serious damage in his fight with the hill giant. In the room, they found two metal shields that appeared to fit perfectly in the slots.

They found another secret door which led to a similar room with another hill giant, though this one was armed with rocks that he could throw. Kathy made Brad invisible with greater invisibility, and they set up another attempt with the purple light, with Brad using the second mirror. Since he was invisible, the giant would have a hard time hitting him with rocks. However, as Tony was setting himself up to use the first mirror, he started dancing and singing in an absurd fashion. Kathy cast see invisible and spotted a small flying fairy like creature. She shot it with a magic missile and it died. With Tony still dancing, Greg took the mirror from him and he and Brad tried to hit ht giant with the purple light. They succeeded, but the giant, seeing that light reflect around the corner, decided to throw rocks at that spot. They missed Brad, but since the mirror was getting hot, Brad backed away. Kathy and Ernie each moved in to attack it with spells, Kathy with a fireball and Ernie with Searing Light. After that, Greg and Brad went in to finish it off.

They found two more shields in the room. Taking all four shields, they placed them in the slots which reflected the light. The statue cooled off and they found that, with great effort, they could turn it. They turned it far enough that the great axe pointed at the door and the door opened. Beyond this door, they found another short hallway. This led to a large room that contained the remains of a destroyed triangle and the remains of a dead guardian.