Templeton had been enveloped by the Lurker and was slowly being digested. The last of the Lurker’s illusory doubles were hit and destroyed by Quintus. Having a nice meal in hand and wanting to be finished with the rest of the pesky party, the lurker flew off with Templeton still enveloped. Puck was too scared by the Lurker’s fearful moans to give chase. But Kareep squawked in anger and flew after the lurker with Quintus running behind him. Kareep flew right past some Kenku so intent he was on his prey but Quintus saw them. Apparently the lurker was leading them right past some additional air cultists.

The Lurker was fast and Kareep needed all his speed to keep up. All the while Templeton was fading fast. He had failed two death saves. Fearing the lurker would escape with his friend, Kareep hurled a javelin in desperation. The sharp spear found its mark and at last the creature collapsed and Templeton’s bloody and wrecked body tumbled out of the deep folds of the lurker’s body.

Puck had finally shaken off the fear effects and began to run after the others trying to keep up with his wee gnome legs. Templeton was mostly dead and the party was split up and spread out over a large area. 7 Kenku, 3 cult initiates, a hurricane monk, and a skyweaver had the party surrounded. Puck had no spells left except cantrips. It was a very desperate situation.

Kareep cast a healing spell on Templeton and brought him back into the fight. Templeton promptly cloaked himself in invisibility and moved into the corner of the room filled with Kenku. He used his silent image spell to put up an illusory wall of ice sealing himself in the corner. The ice was opaque so that Templeton could not be seen. From hiding he fired crossbow bolts out to kill initiates and Kenku.

Kareep flew around using his lance to skewer Kenku. Quintus was toe to toe with the Hurricane monk. Quintus’s greatsword got the better of the monk’s unarmed strikes. Puck came face to face with the Skyweaver. She hit him with a lightning bolt but Puck managed to dodge most of it and only got singed a little around the edges. Puck frowned and said, “My dear… You will have to do better than that. Perhaps I could teach you a little something about evocation magics.” Puck then proceeded to use his poison spray spell to great effect. The skyweaver choked and coughed and did not like it one bit.

Kareep valiantly fought the kenku but they eventually brought him down. Templeton finished clearing the room and then came out of hiding behind his illusory ice wall to tend to his fallen comrade. After a long melee of back and forth, Quintus finally cut down the hurricane monk with huge sweep of his greatsword. The Skyweaver tried to flee but Templeton managed to cut off her escape route. Puck finished her off with more poison spray.

In the end the party prevailed but it was very touch and go there for a while. A quick search of the bodies yielded 42 GP in odd coinage. Kareep also found an enchanted boomerang which he claimed because it worked much like a javelin. The Master Party Treasure List was updated. Severely depleted, the party made their way back to the hidden blind Kareep and Templeton had made. There they hid for a long rest to recover. They made it through unmolested and achieved 8th level.

The party began a final sweep of the area. In the room where the cloaker was found, they unearthed its lair. Inside was 150 GP worth of coins and gems. In another room with a skeletal purple worm skeleton protruding from the ground, Templeton sifted through the bones to find a Bag of Holding and Potion of Greater Healing which he kept. The Master Party Treasure List was updated.

After failing to charm the skyweaver with his spell, Templeton nailed her with a bolt from Sky Piercer. He then dashed off to hide among the rubble to the southwest. As he hid quietly he heard an unnerving scratching sound creeping up behind him.

The rest of the party heard the Skyweaver call out for aid and raise the alert of intruders. They ran and flew forward to the stature of Moradin. The two hurricane monks from the east heard the alarm and ran over to meet the party at the statue. Also a group of 1 hurricane monk, 2 initiates, and two kenku came down from the north to attack the party converging on the statue of Moradin.

Kareep hurled his javelin of lightning, killing a kenku and frying the northern Skyweaver and initiate pretty badly. Quintus summoned his spiritual hammer and traded blows with the 3 hurricane monks that had closed to surround the party.

Templeton’s unease grew as the scratching noises grew louder until the very earth beneath him erupted and an Umber Hulk burst forth to attack. The huge claws grasped at Templeton trying to squish the small man. Each time they hit, he managed to twist free from being crushed. And he ducked just the huge mandibles sliced where his head just was. Looking into the myriad eyes of the Umber Hulk caused Templeton to pause for a moment as he contemplated the depths of the deep dark stare directed at him. But before it was too late, he shook off the confusing gaze of the creature. He brought up his crossbow but then stole a glance over at the Skyweavers and monks. He looked back at the huge creature in front of him and smiled. Disengaging from the Umber Hulk he ran towards the party right past his enemies with the intention of leading the Umber Hulk right through his foes.

Both Skyweaver’s now had Templeton in their sites. Both hit him with a Witchbolt. The crackling energy burned through him reminding him of his previous deadly encounter with the spell. The Skyweavers’ plans were to fry Templeton by maintaining the empowered witchbolt and electrifying him. But Templeton’s plan of leading the Umber Hulk through his enemies and the Skyweaver’s plans of frying Templeton were all cut quite short as Puck unleashed a powerful fireball that killed both skyweavers and all three monks while sculpting it around his friends. Templeton glanced over his shoulder and saw that the path for the Umber Hulk was clear to the statue where the party was. He fired his crossbow and killed the remaining Kenku and ran North yelling, “the Umber Hulk is coming! Watch out!”

Quintus squinted and looked around saying, “Huh?” as the Umber Hulk erupted from the cave floor beneath him. Quintus bravely managed to fend off the creature but its attacks were pressing him terribly. The two remaining initiates simply looked at each other and ran east. They did not get far as Kareep dropped one with his javelin and Templeton picked off another with his crossbow.

It did not take long for Quintus to be cut down by the enormous claws and viscous mandibles. But his enchanted periapt of wound closure sealed his wounds and stabilized him to prevent him from bleeding to death. Kareep had picked up Puck and flown over to nail the Umber Hulk with his lance but he fell prey to the creature’s confusion gaze attack. So Kareep was staring into the eyes of the Umber Hulk while little Puck was dangling in front of it like a punching bag. But luckily, Puck still had his blur spell going giving the Umber Hulk disadvantage on his attacks. The claws and mandibles came close but Puck managed to evade them long enough for Kareep to shake off the effects of the confusion gaze.

Between Templeton’s keen shots with his crossbows, Kareep’s lance, and Puck’s firebolts, the Umber Hulk had had enough. It burrowed straight down into the earth disappearing from view. Puck let loose one of darts of homing as a parting shot, but the creature escaped. Everyone prepared for the Umber Hulk to return but it did not.

Kareep used healing magic on Quintus to bring him back up. Thinking it might have taken refuge in an adjacent room, Templeton opened a southern door and stepped into a room which long ago must have been a dwarven shop of some kind but now as filled with broken stone and debris. Suddenly something large and billowing fell down on top of Templeton and enveloped him. He tried to wriggle away but did not have the strength to pull free. He did manage to fire his crossbow point blank into the creature and hear it howl in agony.

Quintus stepped up and grabbed hold of Templeton’s feet and yanked him out of the maw of the creature. But now there were 4 Cloakers. They emitted a horrible moan that frightened Puck and made him flee the area. Kareep attacked the cloakers twice and two mirror images disappeared. Templeton and Puck both realized that the cloaker had protected itself with a mirror image spell. Two of the mirror images were gone and one remained.

The battle with the golem and the Skyweaver continued. Kareep and Quintus were flanking the golem on the walkway outside the pyramid with Puck looking on from around the corner. Templeton was inside the pyramid trying to find the skyweaver as she had turned invisible.

Quintus and Kareep soon discovered that the golem emanated some sort of aura that slowed enemies adjacent to it. Quintus amanaged to shrug off the effect due to his devotion to Tempus but Kareep was not so lucky. He fell under the weight of the golem’s slow effect. Puck responded by casting haste on Kareep. The bird man’s mind was torn one way and then the other at the same time as both magical effects continued to effect him. The speed effects mitigated and effectively left him with his regular speed. But the extra actions offered by the haste were negated by the slow effect.

Quintus hewed at the Stone Golem with his mighty enchanted greatsword, calling on the power of Tempus for extra attacks. Some chunks of stone were cut away as the golem was damaged. Kareep was limited to one attack by the slow effect but hit the golem with his enchanted lance. But Kareep at least was able to shake off the slow effect. The golem then turned his two mighty fists upon Quintus. The first blow hit him square in the chest, staggering the mighty cleric. The second blow smashed him into the ground, leaving him down and bleeding out.

Templeton was scanning the pillared first level of the pyramid for any signs of the skyweaver. He soon found her as she unleashed a witchbolt that hit him and surrounded him with a crackling electrical field.Templeton responded by closing to point blank adjacent range thinking he would get an advantage but it turned out to be a big mistake. His crossbow bolts missed as they bounced off her shield spell. The skyweaver who Templeton identified as the third of The 3 Sisters the party had faced before, cackled with glee as she repeatedly unleashed automatic damage from the witchbolt tether in the form of electrical energy that burned painfully through Templeton.

Templeton fired bolt after bolt at the skyweaver a few of them found their mark but without an enemy standing nearby they to distract her enough for him to hit vital areas, the damage was minimal and she was able to maintain her concentration over the witchbolt spell continually pumping him full of electrical damage until Templeton collapsed in a smoking ruin. As he fell he gasped, “you will pay dearly for this…” To which the skyweaver only laughed and stepped over his charred and ruined body.

With Quintus down and Kareep having flown out of range, the golem turned his attention to little Puck. The huge stone golem moved up to him and pounded him with his fists. It hurt so badly that Puck responded by casting blur to help protect himself. Kareep flew up behind the golem and used Puck’s brave stand to gain advantage for his three lance attacks. Taking a terrible beating and confused by Puck’s wavering blurred form, the golem proceeded to attack Kareep and land some punishing blows.

Puck could no longer hear anything from inside the room, he yelled for Templeton to see how the battle inside was going. Silence was his only answer. Puck teleported to the doorway and tossed a fireball over his shoulder to engulf the stone golem. The magical flames burned the creature badly. From his new vantage Puck saw the fallen Templeton and began running over to his side. Puck yelled for Kareep’s help.

Kareep responded by casting healing magic on Quintus to get him back in the fight. Both men ran into the room after Puck pursued by the golem. Puck pulled out his wand of magic missiles and pointed it at the golem and then at the skyweaver and then back at the golem. He wavered for a moment not knowing which target was the better to attack. Many chunks of stone had been smashed out of the stone golem by party attacks and the skyweaver had a number of crossbow bolts stuck in her. In the end Puck pointed it at the golem and emptied the entire array of magic missiles into the construct. The 5 magic bolts of force smashed in the stone golem and it collapsed into a pile of rubble.

The skyweaver laughed and thanked Puck as she stepped to his side and unleashed a lightning bolt that ripped through him and Kareep. The ranger used his magic to absorb some of the elemental energy of the attack but Puck took the full force of the attack. The little gnome collapsed on the floor – crisp and blackened.

Quintus cast a healing word spell on Templeton from afar. The crafty rogue stood up right behind the skyweaver and whispered, “The Daltrey’s Always Pay their Debts.” As she turned around to respond, Templeton unleashed a heavy crossbow bolt from Sky Piercer that caught her right in the throat. The skyweaver slowly sank to the ground clutching at the bolt through her neck and trying to speak, but words failed her as only blood gurgled out of her mouth.

As the life ebbed away and the darkness came, the last thing she heard was Templeton whispering in her ear to remember their first encounter on the surface. He repeated the words he had spoken then as the party had fled the three sisters on their aerial mounts, “A day will come when you think yourself safe and happy, and suddenly your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you’ll know the debt is paid… That time has come.”

Quintus cast a spell of healing on Puck and everyone took stock. The party was badly wounded. Templeton quickly searched the dead skyweaver and found 20 gold coins. The Master Party Treasure List was updated. The party made their way safely back to their blind and took a 1 hour long short rest to bind their wounds and for Puck to regain some spells. They then moved back to the pyramid to investigate the howling hole in the floor. Holding onto Widget for support, the owl peered down into the hole and could see it extended beyond his 120 feet of darkvision. Convinced that their was nothing down there, the party quickly examined the upper level of the pyramid and found it empty.

They decided to move further into the unexplored section of the complex. In order to scout ahead, Templeton cast disguise self and made himself appear in the form of the skyweaver they had just slain. He walked across the bridge into an open square dominated by a huge statue of Moradin, head of the dwarven pantheon. The dwarf statue held a huge lantern aloft. Down the corridor to the right were two hurricane monks, clearly on guard. They saw him but were fooled by the disguise and just nodded at him. He nodded back and walked away from them to the left where he saw another skyweaver on guard. She did not seem alarmed as he walked towards her, fooled by the disguise. When the huge stature of Moradin was between Templeton and the monks and he was within 60 feet of the skyweaver, he cast a charm person spell on her.

The Skyweaver made her save and was not effected by the spell. But she knew magic was being cast at her. “What are you doing?” She demanded of Templeton. He shrugged and replied by pulling out his heavy crossbow and firing.

The extended rest behind the camo blind created by Templeton and Kareep went without incident. The blind worked perfectly. A few times some initiates walked by looking around and going through some doors of the living quarters area, but they never came down the hall with the cave in and did not see the resting party thanks to the cover provided.

With everyone back to full strength, the decision was made to explore the other side of the complex. As the party prepared to leave the blind, Templeton noticed 4 bottles lined up neatly along the floor. Puck detected magic in them. He cast identify and learned that all 4 were magic potions – Flasks of Bottled Breath. When drunk, the imbiber has a choice to either exhale a gust of wind as per the spell or hold their breath for up to 1 hour or until they speak. Templeton posited that the flasks were a gift from Ahtayir for his freedom. The Master Party Treasure List was updated.

Templeton crept forward and made it to the area with the moat surrounding the pyramid. There he found that the moat had been lowered. As the rest of the party tried to sneak up to his location, some clanking of Quintus’ armor alerted some initiates who had returned to the area during the rest. Five of them came out of different doors and attacked. The party made short work of them but decided it was best to make sure the south side of the complex that had already been explored was clear. So room by room, the party worked their way through. Templeton kicked in the door with his crossbow at the ready but found everything clear the way we had left it.

Puck sent Widget to scout around the pyramid paying attention to look down in the dry moat and on top of the pyramid where Kaz Hanar and her Wyvern had lurked before. Widget reported back that the top was still clear but the moat was filled with chunks of metal – suits of armor and gear from previous enemies that had perished in the moat. Also in the moat were two very large stone statues. The realization that there were two stone golems was quite disturbing. But the party pressed on determined to get inside the pyramid and sneak past the golems.

As they approached the west entrance to the pyramind, one of the golems started moving towards the party. Templeton called out for everyone to go into the pyramid to escape the golem when the door opened and two hurricane monks came out to attack. A battle erupted on the edge of the dry moat. The monks holding the doors until the golem arrived. The huge stone golem put both hands on the edge of the walkway and began to haul himself up, when Puck let loose a thunderwave spell knocking it back towards the edge of the now dry waterfall. Kareep took the opportunity to fly as hard as he could and slam into the stone golem trying to shove him off the precipice. Phil used an inspiration point he had earned earlier for bending Aerisi’s words to get the djinn on our side. That allowed him to have advantage on the check. Kareep was successful and knocked the stone golem off the edge. The huge construct tumbled down and down crashing into the side of the cliff as it went.

A skyweaver then appeared from within the room. She was clearly the last of the surviving three sisters that the party had met before. She wasted no time unleashing a lightning bolt to rip through everyone standing on the bridge but cursed as her spell faded away to nothing with Puck’s perfect use of counterspell. Templeton’s bolts did little against the hurricane monks as they simply plucked them out of the air and tossed them casually aside. But Quintus laid the blessings of Tempus upon them by cutting one of them in half with a mighty swing of his greatsword. Templeton took the opportunity to sneak inside the room in pursuit of the retreating skyweaver. But she turned invisible and vanished.

Eventually everyone pushed into the room but the second stone golem climbed up out of the moat in pursuit of the party. Puck unleashed a vitriolic sphere. The acid melted the remaining hurricane monk into a pile of goo, but the stone golem’s magic resistance kept it in the fight.

So one stone golem and an invisible skyweaver remain to deal with.

The battle with Aerisi Kalinoth continued. Kareep suddenly flew at Aerisi and grabbed hold of her with his talons and fists. While the two pushed back and forth grappling, Kareep noticed something. His hands passed right through her Aerisi’s wings. It seems her wings were some form of illusion. Kareep wondered if she was really an elf. Kareep and Aerisi twisted around each other until Aerisi managed to cast a spell. A huge maelstrom of wind erupted around her. Lightning Bolts smashed into Kareep. But despite the gale force winds and blasts of lightning, Kareep’s iron grip on Aerisi held firm. Aerisi also called Ahtayir to her side. The Djinn came as bidden by his mistress completely unaffected by the raging maelstrom of wind. She commanded him to remove Kareep and kill him. With a look of sadness, Ahtayir complied blasting Kareep with a thunderwave. But the brave Aaurakokra still clung to Aerisi despite taking damage from the blast.

On the other side of the room, Templeton was surrounded by air cult initiates and still being hounded by what turned out to be an invisible stalker. He was hurt badly by the stalker and had to get back to Quintus. He disengaged the enemy, dove under the curtain, and came up sprinting towards the cleric. Quintus obliged by casting a healing spell on Templeton. The initiates gave chase and surrounded both Templeton and Quintus who were fighting side by side. Templeton raised his crossbow and then wham! He was hit twice by the invisible stalker. Both were critical hits striking him in the head. Templeton went down instantly and blood started pouring out of his ears.

Puck made his way invisibly towards the enchanted horn that summoned Ahtayir. But the raging maelstrom of wind prevented him from getting close enough to blow it. Kareep still grappling desperately with Aerisi, raked the elf queen with his talons. She cried out in pain and her concentration on her spell wavered. The gale force winds ceased as Ahtayir blasted Kareep once more with a thunderwave. The exhausted Aarokokra could hold on no longer. He tumbled 15 feet away from Aerisi.

But Kareep had managed to break Aerisi’s concentration on her spell and that was just the chance little Puck was waiting for. With the maelstrom of wind gone, he invisibly moved next to the horn and blew it. Ahtayir vanished and reappeared next to the now visible Puck and asked what command his new master would give. Puck’s brow furrowed as he struggled to think of a command that would help in the best way. Ahtayir looked at Puck and then looked at Aerisi and said, “Please, I beg of you… Let us be done with this once and for all… Destroy the horn and set me free.”

Puck hesitated for a moment more and then with the smile of grim determination, he blasted the horn with a firebolt spell – turning it to dust. Aerisi screamed in fury and turned invisible. She then unleashed a chain lightning spell that ripped into Kareep, Quintus, and Ahtayir. The mighty Djinn only grunted as the pain tore through him but Kareep and Quintus screamed as the lightning left smoking holes in their chests. They both collapsed, bleeding to death.

With Templeton, Quintus, and Kareep down it was last gnome standing. Little Puck stood his ground against the winged elf Queen. It was mono a gnomo. The two slung some spells back and forth and Puck used the enchanted seeking darts to hit Aerisi even though she was invisible. But with all his higher level spells depleted, Puck was outmatched and his friends were bleeding to death. But then by some miracle, Templeton stirred. Rolling a 20 on his death save, Templeton regained consciousness at 1 hit point. He drank a potion of healing himself and used his mage hand legerdemain to pour a healing potion down the throat of Quintus. He then rolled up on to his feet and made his way around the corner to try and get some cover. Templeton yelled for Ahtayir to come over and destroy the invisible stalker. The creature had not been hurt at all and was still hounding Templeton.

The Djinn obliged, moving closer. He watched carefully as Templeton was attacked once again by the invisible stalker. Ahtayir’s high intelligence enabled him to figure out which space the invisible creature was occupying. He then waved his hands to summon a powerful whirlwind. The swirling cyclone engulfed the invisible stalker and swept him up into the air, holding him in the vortex unable to escape.

Aerisi then struck again coating a large area with the an ice storm. The freezing ice badly hurt Quintus, Templeton, and even Kareep who was already bleeding to death. Kareep came very close to going from mostly dead to all dead until Quintus came over and used a healing potion to bring him back to the from death’s door.

Ahtayir thanked Puck once more for freeing him and said as his final gift that he would take the invisible stalker away with him back to the elemental plane of air. Nodding to each party member in turn he flew over to the swirling vortex, placed a hand on the stalker and used plane shift to leave the prime material, bringing the invisible stalker with him.

Aerisi Kalinoth then fled the battle using some sort of teleportation magic most likely. Templeton was the first to give chase, but somehow lost her. Puck was quite keen to not let her escape but there was no helping it. The party chased her all the way out of the pyramid but she had gotten away. Working their way back up to the throne room, Templeton searched the throne itself and found a hidden compartment in the back. Inside was a chest.

The chest was lined with silk and contained some items of elven make carefully packed into it. There was a platinum Torc worth 1600 GP, 4 golden rings adorned with sapphires worth 1000 GP each, and a diadem worth 6400 GP. A beautiful book written in a flowing elvish script was the spell book of Aerisi Kalinoth.

Aerisi’s Spells
Cantrips – Mage Hand, Shocking Grasp, Ray of Frost, Message, Prestidigitation, Gust
1st – Charm Person, Mage Armor, Feather Fall, Thunderwave
2nd – Invisibility, Gust of Wind, Dust Devil
3rd – Fly, Gaseous Form, Lightning Bolt
4th – Ice Storm, Storm Sphere
5th – Cloudkill, Seeming
6th – Chain Lightning

Templeton also found a secret compartment in the chest that was hiding an enchanted elven ring. It was a Ring of Free Action, which he put upon his finger. The Master Party Treasure List was updated.

The Four then made their way down to one of the empty initiate rooms to hide and take a short rest. The hour passed uneventfully. Needing to take along rest, Kareep led the party back to the caved in, dead-end tunnel. There he and Templeton built a blind and everyone hid behind it to try and make it through an extended rest without being found.

After speaking with Ahtayir it was clear the next step was to launch an attack on the Wyvern riding Kaz Hanar who lurked on top of the pyramid. Kareep flew up with Puck in tow to try and get the jump on the skyweaver. Unfortunately she had heard some of the battle with Ahtayir and was prepared for battle. She tried to fry the approaching bird man and wee gnome with a blast of lightning. but the spell fizzled as Puck countered it. Puck could not stop the wyvern, however, as it sunk its poison stinger deep into his chest and pumped him full of poison. He then grabbed the gnome with his talons and squeezed him hard, trying to pull him free of Kareep’s grasp. Kareep refused to let go of his friend. What resulted was a huge game of Tug o Gnome between wyvern and aurokokra. Puck’s little body could not take it and the tearing and ripping knocked him unconscious. He hung in the air grabbed by both and bleeding to death.

Templeton fired him hiding below focusing his attack son the wyvern with Kareep and Quintus managed to heal Puck. As Puck came too, he instantly let loose a fireball. The wyvern and Kaz Hanar were burned terribly but the wyvern once again crushed Puck in its talons choking the life out of him once more. Kareep held fast to Puck’s body and continued to attack the wyvern. Finally the beast breathed its last breath and fell far below to smash into the floor. Kaz remained in the air flying, however. Everyone cringed hoping that she would fall with her mount. Everyone that looked at Kaz could tell the resemblance. She was one of the The 3 Sisters the party had battled before.

Puck was revived once more but was hit by a witchbolt from a flying Kaz. After a round or two of Templeton’s bolts and Kareep’s lance Kaz finally fell. Searching Kaz and the wyvern yielded only 2 gems worth 20 GP each. The Master Party Treasure List was updated.

With Kaz and her Wyvern out of the picture, the party crossed the moat and opened the door to the inside of the pyramid. Inside they found 5 initiates chanting along with a hurricane monk and skyweaver. As the battle was joined the party realized that the skyweaver was again one of The 3 Sisters that they had fought before. It was a hard won battle but the four were victorious once more. Puck lovingly shot off some fireballs during the battle. Searching the skyweaver they found 2 gems worth 10 GP each. The initiates were carrying 5 magical darts called seeker darts. These one use items have a 120 foot range and automatically hit any creature that the thrower has seen. They even go around corners. The target must make a DC 16 DEX save or take 1d4 piercing damage and 3d4 lightning damage. The Master Party Treasure List was updated. They then decided to move on up the stairs of the pyramid.

Templeton used his disguise self spell to take on the guise of the skyweaver. As one of the sisters he entered the final room in which he found 10 initiates and Aerisi Kalinoth herself. She was sitting on a throne before a map craved into the floor of the Besilmir Dwarf Empire. Aerisi asked why the skyweaver had disturbed her. Templeton put up his finger urging her to wait as he motioned for everyone else to come up the stairs. He took a step towards her still saying nothing so as to not foil his disguise. But suddenly an invisible force slammed into him knocking him back against the wall.

Thinking the jig was up with the disguise, Templeton let a hand crossbow bolt fly. Luckily he did still have the jump on Aerisi as she did not expect her servant to attack her. His bolt sank deep into her chest. A critical hit! Aerisi staggered backward in surprise as another bolt caught her in the shoulder. The rest of the party ran into the room. Kareep hurled his javelin of lightning taking out 5 of the initiates behind the curtain on one side of the room.

Gathering herself Aerisi unleashed a cloudkill spell in the area of Templeton. She caught some of her initiates in the area, but did not care. Templeton gagged and coughed and came close to dying but managed to get out of the area of effect quickly. Aerisi also floated down on her wings and and blew a huge horn mounted to her wall. An instant later, Ahtayir appeared asking what command his mistress had for her. “Kill the intruders!” Aerisi yelled to Ahtayir."

The mighty djinn bowed his head and flew over to the far side of the room where Templeton was surrounded by initiates. As he moved Kareep yelled out, “She said Intruders, Ahtayir! All of the cultists are intruders here as are all who are not the original Bessilmir dwarves.” The Djinn looked at Kareep and then back to Templeton. He hesitated for a moment and then waved his hands. A whirlwind picked up one of the air cult initiates and hurled him into the cloudkill area. A hanging curtain blocked Aerisi’s view and Templeton smiled at his good fortune and Kareep’s quick thinking.

Puck turned himself invisible and made his way towards the horn. He wanted to blow the horn and try to free Ahtayir from Aerisi Kalinoth’s control. And perhaps turn him against his former mistress.

The 4 had been exploring the temple of elemental air, trying to find the Kenku who were scaring the prisoners, when they came to a large room with some cultists trying to play the flute.

A stone fountain stands in the middle of a grand plaza, its sides sculpted in to the shapes of dwarves bearing drums and horns. On the far side of the fountain, several figures in feathered attire play a shrill, discordant tune on flutes made of white bone.

A semi-circle of the figures seems to be gathered facing a more vibrantly dressed, beautiful woman. She stops them with an exasperated exclamation of disgust, “Stop! Stop! No, you are playing with too much wind, slow your breathing. And you are off tempo from the rest of the group! You are supposed to be trained…”

Many in the group apologized to the woman calling her Windharrow.

Windharrow then realizes the door has opened and sees Templeton leading the group.

“You, small man, can any of you play? These cretins clearly cannot! They are awful!”

Kareep sings a line Aarakokra folk tune that sounds haunting and forlorn but more like a bird than a flute. “Sorry…but I cannot play that instrument”

Kareep sings his melody, surprising his comrades with its odd, melancholic nature.

Windharrow pauses for a moment, listening to the echoes of the song fade. “Beautiful… in a dreary sort of way. Be that as it may, we have a performance due soon – can any of you play the flute?”

She then turns to her entourage, “Be prepared to practice once again.”

Templeton steps forward and says, “Why of course. The Daltreys are a well cultured family. I was instructed in harpsichord, lyre, flute, and percussion by some of the finest musicians in Waterdeep. To be honest I was never as good as my sister. She had a gift I could never match, but I more than likely remember a tune or two. “

He takes the flute and plays a few bars of a Sembian Drinking Song that he is fond of.

Templeton walks in to the large plaza and approaches the group with confident strides. With a look to the woman at the center, one of the feather-robed initiates hands over his flute with a poorly disguised frown.

Templeton is surprised at the lightness of the flute. The flutes he has played in the past were made with silver and dense, dark woods. He puts it to his lips to test the timbre, and though the spacing of the holes is a bit different, with a somewhat rusty flare, Templeton trills through the Sembian drinking tune.

Though he has performed well by his own measure, the woman seems somewhat disappointed. “Ok, so you can at least hold a tune and a rhythm. But the choice of song was a poor one indeed – that song is for brothels and bar rooms. We do not entertain such here.”

Windharrow then turns to the rest of the party, “Please tell me some of you can play as well?”

Quintus strides in and says, ‘Your shit out of luck lady, Tempus don’t play no stinking flute.’

Templeton frowns at the woman, "you sound like my mother. She always wanted me to practice more. But unfortunately I spent far too little time practicing and far too much time whoring and drinking… That reminds me of another tune. "

This time he plays a slow and beautiful tune. It actually almost sounds elven with a strange and mysterious grace. But then it fades away in a very sad minor key. Templeton sighs and says, “that piece is called ‘The Tears of Amlaruil’ written by a human bard long ago by the name of Danillo Than. The elven queen of the lost Isle of Evermeet was said to be the most beautiful woman in all Faerun. But she lost her king and was known as the sad queen ever since. Its a terrible tale of love, intrigue, assassination, and tragic sadness. The elves are an ancient people full of mystery and magic. I have never met an elf but have always wanted to. Tell me are there any elves dwelling here?”

Windharrow narrowed her gaze at Templeton and said, “You should stick to music of your own kind, Daltrey. Kill them!” And with that she laughed as she cast a greater invisibility spell. But all traces of laughter faded quickly as Puck reacted with a counterspell that unraveled her magic leaving an expression of great concern upon Windharrow’s face.

Templeton was now the one to smile as he tossed the bone flute up in the air towards Windharrow. As she watched the instrument arc towards her she did not see Templeton draw his hand crossbows and fire at point blank range. The bolts struck deep. One in her chest and the other in her throat.

Windharrow incredulously brought her hands up to feel the blood coursing down her neck just as an intense ball of flame exploded around her and the initiates. Puck’s fireball stopped just short of Templeton who shot the little gnome a withering glance. Two of the 5 initiates caught the full force of the blast – their charred remains breaking into dust as they hit the ground. The other 3 initiates and WIndharrow managed to avoid the full force of the flames but still were burned badly.

Kareep was next flying over the throng of initiates to land next to Windharrow and run her through with his lance. The bard staggered, blood coming out her mouth, but she still managed to command her initiates to form up and get between her and Quintus. But the wily cleric lowered his greatsword and cast a guided bolt spell. His aim was true, guided by Tempus right into the chest of the bewildered Windharrow. She slumped to the ground dead.

The initiates fell quickly but not before using a wind blast to almost knock Templeton and Kareep off the edge of the room which loomed out over the huge chasm. A quick search of the fallen cultists yielded Windharrow’s flute worth 100 GP, a pouch with 3 gems worth 50 GP each , and a platinum ring inlaid with stones worth 100 GP. The Master Party Treasure List was updated.

The next room held the 2 remaining Kenku which were quickly dispatched. With their passing the spooky sounds of their voice mimicry ceased and the party was able to guide the human prisoners out beyond the gatehouse. Templeton gave them a light stone to guide them to the surface and their freedom. Before leaving the prisoners warned the party to watch out for Kaz Hanar – she sits atop the pyramid on a flying lizard.

With the prisoners gone, the 4 tried to move the large wheels to lower the moat. It took a lot of effort far too much for Templeton – but the moat was lowered a bit. They were unsuccessful in lowering it completely, however. The group was too exhausted to continue the effort required, so they moved n to further exploring the keep. They wound their way through many simple quarters – beds, rooms, desks, tables, chairs. All very non-nondescript and with nothing of interest or value.

Finally they came to a large room which was hideous. There were 3 Kenku in the room torturing 5 more prisoners in varied an horrible ways. What made it even more horrifying was that the evil bird men were using their voice mimicry to copy the screams of pain of the poor people being tortured. The party was so angered and their vengeance was so swift against he hapless Kenku that all three were killed within 1 round of combat. These other prisoners were shown the way out and Kareep gave them his continual light stone to light their travel home.

Further exploration brought the party to an area with a different floor. Blue marble marked this section of the complex with a human looking man with large muscles and simple tattered pants and vest digging around in some rubble. Templeton had snuck up on him and after the encouragement of everyone, he attacked with surprise to get the jump on who the party thought was yet another cultist.

Templeton took careful aim and fired a deadly bolt from Sky Piercer. It struck the man in the back staggering him forward. But with a swift response, the man spun around and looked at Templeton with an angry gaze that actually seemed to look like disappointment. With a wave of his hand, Templeton was surrounded in a swirling maelstrom of air which carried him aloft through the high ceilinged room and into the water of the moat some 80 feet away.

Templeton struggled against the water. With the moat lowered partially, it was too far up to the edge of the floor for him to get out. And a large swirling of water indicated something big was moving through the water towards him at a high velocity. Thinking quickly, Templeton used his mage hand to remove his grappling hook and rope from his pack and clamp it around a nearby stone pillar. He then grabbed a hold of the rope, pulled himself to the edge and climbed out of the water to move soaking wet back to where the group had gathered around the humanoid.

There he found Kareep with his hands up apologizing to the humanoid. Puck and Quintus had done the same. Kareep explained that he had recognized that this creature was not in fact human but was in fact a good hearted Djinn. Realizing his mistake, Templeton apologized and with some quick diplomacy smoothed the relations over enough to calm things down and speak.

The Djinn’s name was Ahtayir and he was bound to a magical horn that had been recently blown to call him back to service. He was summoned long ago by Torhild Flametongue, king of the Besilmer dwarves. Torhild used Ahtayir to build much of the dwarven stronghold. The Dwarven King was kind to Ahtayir and never asked too much of him. He was happy to help the Besilmer dwarves. But that was long ago. Now the enchanted horn has a new owner – Aerisi Kalinoth, the elven woman who now rules the air cult temple and rules as Queen.

Aerisi has commanded Ahtayir to rebuild the entire Besilmer empire to its former glory, a task he thinks will take thousands of years. The djinn is not fond of his new mistress and hopes to be free of her. Templeton explained that the party was aiming to defeat his new mistress and would look for the horn in order to free him from her service.

The Four crept their way through the canyon to the cave entrance where they had battled the monks and the 3 sisters. They were forced to flee in their previous encounter so they were quite cautious moving in. But it seemed the area was unguarded. Following a long winding stair of dwarven make plunging miles deep into the earth, the four finally arrived at a stronghold of some sort. Again it was clearly of dwarven make and very old. The entrance was blocked by a stout stone door and beyond it were walls lined with arrow slits at dwarven height level.

As The Four moved quietly through the area, they heard strange ghostly sounds of people crying out in pain and crying. The sounds were deeply troubling and made everyone thought some sort of spirits or undead were about. In the end it turned out to be a couple of Kenku. The small bird men had excellent mimicry abilities and were producing the sound. Their arrows bit hard but they were not that tough as they were cut down quickly by Quintus’ greatsword.

Further exploration of the stronghold revealed a large room with two huge stone pillars and stone spokes coming off of them like a wheel. At each spoke of one of the columns were some human men, clearly slaves, pushing the pillar in a circle. Overseeing the slaves were two priests. Templeton created an illusory wall behind which he hid. Kareep flew in to the room and attacked one of the priests with his lance. Quintus ran in and blasted the same priest with holy fire. Puck created an illusion of himself standing in the doorway.

The two priests responded by both casting a witchbolt spell on Kareep. The bird man resisted one spell but fell prey to the other. Crackling lightning lit him up and remained surging around him. Kareep made two deadly raking attacks on the wounded priest with his talons and the priest fell. The other priest grabbed one of the slaves and tried to us him as a body shield. Templeton took careful aim and slowly exhaled as he pulled the trigger on his hand crossbow. The bolt flew just to the left of the slaves head and buried itself in the priest’s face. Screaming, he pushed the slave to the ground as Templeton fired with his left hand crossbow. The bolt caught the priest in the shoulder and spun him around. Where Quintus ran him through with his greatsword as he sung the praises of mighty Tempus.

A quick parley with the salves revealed that they were from some surrounding villages and had been taken here against their will. They spoke of a female priest who rode a huge lizard and was usually on guard at the top of the inverted pyramid nearby. They explained that these huge columns of stone they were spinning raised and lowered the moat. Templeton convinced them to finish raising the moat in order to avoid any suspicions. Templeton convinced the slaves to try and escape the way the party had entered the area. However, the entrance was still “haunted” by the disturbing voices. Suspecting more kenku on the other side of the complex, Templeton ordered the slaves to hole up in the column room while they dealt with the kenku.

Moving across to the other side of the complex revealed a number of cult initiates tied to stone columns. They looked like they were starving and on death’s door. Thinking she was a prisoner, Templeton untied one of them and offered food and water but was refused by the cultist. She said the only thing she needed was air. Having had enough of the foolishness of cultists, Templeton put a crossbow bolt through her neck and ended her quickly. He did the same for the other two.

In the next room, the party found a woman playing a bone flute. She was trying to teach an assembly of cult initiates to play the flute but did not seem to be having much success. The sound coming from the cult initiates was horrible. She was exasperated at their inability to play properly.

The party made their way from Red Larch back to the Sighing Valley. Approaching from the south, they crossed the river and investigated a large cave, Kareep had seen from the air.

Templeton snuck up to the cave and entered stealthily. The rest of the party was about 500 yards away where there was more cover. Templeton found a large rank smelling cave with a very dim light coming from deeper in. As he snuck through he was really hampered by his lack of darkvision. He could not see as well enough to be totally effective. He did detect a pool of water and something moving near it.

Templeton heard something moving and waited, holding very still. He saw a large shape moving in the darkness for but a moment. Outside, the party saw something large and winged making a bee line for the cave entrance. Puck sent Widget in to warn Templeton. Templeton made his way quietly out of the cave until at last he emerged into the light. In full Han Solo fashion he stepped on a dried bone and SNAP – it made a loud noise.

A huge humanoid looking creature came out of the cave and started yelling at Templeton as he ran for cover and a good hiding spot. It became clear that it was a big nasty hill giant toting a huge club and a big rock for hurling. Right behind him was a huge Manticore.

Seeing the jig was up, the party tried to close the distance to get closer to Templeton and the cave. Kareep picked up Puck and flew fast using his haste ability granted to him by The Revenant. Quintus ran as fast as he could but his full plate armor and the difficult terrain slowed him down. They saw the large form bearing down on them was a second manticore.

The battle was spread over a huge area. With Templeton hiding and sniping the hill giant with his heavy crossbow bolts, Puck hurling fireballs, and Kareep hurling lightning javelins, and Quintus running to try and get into the fight. The hill giant and manticore readied attacks to get Templeton but he managed to use his minor illusion to make an image of himself pop up in a different location. The two were fooled and attacked in the wrong spot. Kareep did not fair as well. During the battle he was riddled with Manticore Spikes and smashed with several hurled rocks from the giant. Eventually he went down and began to bleed to death. Quintus was still way too far away to help. But Templeton managed to work his way close enough to deliver a potion of healing to Kareep using his arcane legerdemain. Originally Templeton wanted to use his healer’s kit, but needed a full action to do so. In his excitement to put down the escaping manticore, he fired his crossbow and was unable to administer the healer’s kit before Kareep would have died. The potion of healing barely saved the bird man’s life.

With the battle finished and the hill giant and 2 manticores slain, the party took refuge in their cave and took an extended rest. Searching the hill giant lair they found some odd coinage that amounted to 50 GP. They also explored the cave finding a pool of water. Templeton used his mage hand to move his continual light stone through the water to light up what lay below the surface. Templeton found an old sack which he fished out using his mage hand. The sack contained 3 rubies (50 gp each), a larger red gem, and two potions. Puck identified them as an* Earth Elemental Gem*, Potion of Greater Healing, and a Potion of Water Breathing. Templeton claimed the elemental gem and the Greater Healing Potion while Quintus claimed the Potion of Water Breathing. The Master Party Treasure List was updated.

The next day they searched northeast to another cave. Inside they found some dead hippogriff eggs. To the northeast they found some dead gnolls – clearly slain by the giant and manticores. On the other side of the river, they found a group of dead Aarokokra. Quintus used his speak with dead spell the next morning to see if the aarokokra could answer any of our questions.

Quintus gently gathers the body of the least malled Aarakocra and sits quietly in front of it for a short time. He then stands and walks slowly around the body, crafting a circle in the dirt to hold the spirit’s essence in place for the short time of the spell. Breaking the quiet, Quintus ends by calling loudly for the spirit to manifest.

Within moments, a wispy form rises from the center of the circle, only vaguely identifiable as a humanoid form. Then, as if from all around you, a soft voice calls. “You have called. I will speak.”

Quintus then calmly asks the first question, “What were you and your clan doing here in the Sighing Valley?”

After a moments pause, the voice calls again. “We sought a disturbance in the Balance.”

Quintus then asks the second question, “Where is your Aarakocra lair located where we can find more of your kin?”

“Our home is not yours to find.”

With a somewhat furrowed brow, Quintus asks the third question, “What do you know about the monks that are in a cave in a canyon to the North?”

“They foolishly seek to own the Wind as one of your kind seeks to own gold, for power and control.”

Quintus asks the fourth question, “Is there another entrance to the cave other than through the defile from the valley, and if so, where is it?”

The spirit answers, “Perhaps. We suspect that Wind is connected to Flame is connected to Wave is connected to Stone.”

Quintus then asks the final question, “Where is the gnoll lair located?”

The spirit almost seems to shrug, “Irrelevant.”

The spirit then begins to fade as the magic ceases. However, just before the spirit is gone completely, the spirit turns its gaze from Quintus towards Kareep and has some final words, “This path will be like a storm for you, brother. Do not forget your purpose. There may be times when you will come crosswise with comrades. Do not falter.”

The battle raged on between the party and the last of the Circle of The Scarlet Moon. The mephits used their smoke belching ability to hide their master’s movements and spellcasting and also to directly blind Kareep and Puck. Elizar continued to pound the party with very powerful magics including nailing Puck with a moisture draining spell that left him shriveled up like a processed gelfling. Kareep managed to stabilize Puck as Quintus and Templeton managed to reach out and touch Elizar with ranged attacks. Templeton chased Elizar up the scaffolding of the tower and back down again. While Kareep used one of Puck’s healing potions on Puck to bring him back into the fight. Apparently Elizar had some ability that allowed him to see through the smoke which he used to great effect om eluding pursuit. But eventually his luck ran out and the party cornered him and he finally fell. Puck found a Dagger+1 on Elizar, which he tucked in his belt for safe keeping. A quick search of everyone else yielded 97 GP.

With everything quiet but the tower still yet explored, wounds needed healing. So a 1 hour rest was taken and hit dice were cashed in. When everyone was ready to go, Templeton led the way sneaking into the tower. He found multiple levels connected by rickety stairs and many sections where the floor had given in.

Five little magmen played around on the bottom of the tower merrily burning away at the huge debris pile that had fallen there. Bypassing those the upper levels were home to some of cult guards and leaders who were now all dead. The only thing of value amongst their belongings was a small chest with 250 GP, 2 fire opals (50 gp each) and a scroll of flame arrows. Templeton took the scroll and the Master Party Treasure List was updated.

The top of the tower was home to 5 large bats. Those were left behind but Kareep could not abide those magmen as they are from the elemental plane of fire. Kareep hates elementals with a passion. Using ranged weapons the party reigned down destruction upon the hapless creatures. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.