The Keys of Telku / The Temple of the Apocalypse pt. 9 / 3592 CE / 2-16-20

The battle against the forces of Lareth the beautiful continues. Adrienne attempts to fight her way past the villainess's pet, a giant emperor cobra. Meanwhile, Bean uses his magic to grow in size, striking Lareth from afar with his polearm. At that moment, Lareth's eyes glow, and Bean is turned to stone! Realizing now that they are dealing with a medusa, Henry rushes forward and slashes her across the eyes, ending her power to petrify. Nonetheless, with a head of poisonous snakes and magic mace, and Lareth, along with her dark folk body guard, remain dangerous. After being assaulted with elemental force by the druids, Lareth and Adrienne wrestle, Adrienne receiving the brunt of the poison from Lareth's head of snakes, until Uli sneaks up and lays the medusa low. Her dark slayer bodyguard follows soon after and the battle is over. Convincing the others to take the medusa prisoner, Adrienne guards the body while the rest of the party heals and recovers from the fight. Moss hangs his gem of mending around the neck of the petrified (and still giant) Bean to keep the poor soul intact until such time as he can be cured. The unconscious bodies of the three remaining dark folk are drug down the corridor, while Roisyll goes back up to the basement to recover some of Adrienne's equipment. However, on the way back to Lareth's quarters, she hears noise coming from the crevasse the party believes is the conduit between the Moathouse and Baylon Manor. The party prepares for the coming of Leah Baylon's kidnappers. Unbeknownst to the others, Uli hatches a scheme, turning himself invisible with his wand and waiting beside the pile of unconscious dark folk prisoners from their last battle. When the half-orc sees the leader of the kidnapping party. the dark folk cleric possibly referred to as "Morkaine" in the letter found in the tunnels beneath Baylon Manor, he sets his plan in motion, executing the nearest unconscious dark folk and setting off a chain reaction of explosions before fleeing back down the tunnel towards his comrades. As Henry moves to intercept the new enemies, Morkaine summons a strange otherworldly creature before retreating down a tunnel with his dark creeper allies. There is no sign of the girl Leah, but the extraplanar creature proves to be a dangerous adversary, throwing balls of cold fire at the party and even instilling a curse on Uli that drains all the color from him and leaves him susceptible to sunlight. Eventually with the help of Roisyll's magical fire, the party is able to destroy the monster's hold on the material plane, banishing it. The party discovers that the kidnappers have dropped a sack, but are surprised to discover inside not the body of a child, but a halfling. After being revived, the halfling reveals he is a bard named Waldo who was hired by Jamissar Baylon as a music teacher for his daughter. When the dark folk attacked the house, he hid Leah and was apparently taken in her stead. The party, with their prisoner Lareth in tow, make their way down the tunnel in pursuit of the fleeing Morkaine and company, eventually finding themselves back outside in the wilderness near the Moathouse. When they make their way back to where they left their horses, the Adventurers are surprised to see Cymria of Celadon, Archmage Manzorian's right hand, riding toward them. She informs the party that Leah has been found hiding in the woods, scared for her life after the death of her parents. She tells the Adventurers that the town coucil will uphold their bargain, giving the party access to the Temple of Knowledge when they return to Magepoint.