The Keys of Telku / The Temple of the Apocalypse pt. 8 / Balen the 10th, 3592 CE / 1-26-20

The battle with the forces of evil in the catacombs beneath the Moathouse continue! As Adrienne attempts to hold the line, preventing her comrades from entangling themselves with more of the explosive dark folk, she is viciously attacked by a gnoll with a magical scorpion whip! The party converges to deal with the gnoll and his dark folk allies, eventually dispatching all of them. Meanwhile, Uli finds a route leading up to the Moathouse's basement from the catacombs, where he discovers a magic ring on the corpse of a dead gnome, but cannot gain access to the rest of the basement due to a door jammed by debris. The party backtracks to the flooded room they had passed previously, where they discover through sacrificing another of Moss's woodland creatures that it is occupied by at least two gray oozes. Following the passageway they previously passed, they open another door to reveal more dark folk guards, and another combat begins. As the party battles their way through the dark folk, Adrienne chases one fleeing dark stalker to a room that turns out to be the apparent lair of the gang's leader, Lareth the Beautiful, a hooded woman who sends her pet emperor cobra against the swashbuckling barbarian. With most of the dark folk dispatched, it appears that Lareth will be the party's next obstacle to clearing the catacombs beneath the Moathouse.