The Chronicles of the Itharia: Session forty-six

The party, still split up, started to further explore the hunting grounds. Rhy and Lee, found a potential exit with a very powerful lock, another trapped hall and a sitting room with a fake bone chair. They decided to head back to see if they could find the others or Josoph.   Theren and Ranrus found a room with a bubbling misty cauldron full of acid. There was a grate at the end of the hall that opened to one of the other winding halls. The grate was made of adamantine. Ranrus tried to melt it with the acid, injuring himself in the process. Eventually finding that the bars were engraved with a message for anyone who tried to melt the bars with the acid.   Theren started calling into the other hall for Rhylee and Riley. Eventually the twins came by and after their own investigations found there to be no mechanism for releasing the grate and that it was not protected by magic. After many attempts Theren managed to change the effect of a magic item in the bottom of the cauldron, an orb of limited acid, a strange magic item that did not seem to identify normally despite what seemed rather common/simple enchantment. The party decide they would have to find another way to reach each other. Rhy and Lee pulled a lever, found a secret passage, and a sandy room with a key likely for the lock they found earlier. They also found a real chamber, with a magic circle seemingly using a combination of necromancy, transmutation, and evocation. Rhy damaged the circle before she and her brother descended into a very different hallway. A squishy sticky red floor with a rancid, rotting, putrid smell. Part way through, was yet another grate, revealing yet another "fake" room.   Theren and Ranrus found a fake blood fountain, a strange room with caskets, a trapped hall, a fake lab, and a long hall lit by a fire pit.   Ranrus could hear a scrapping noise and hid (poorly). Josoph emerged, and Ranrus followed (poorly) and then reunited with Theren, the two headed north. As Ranrus fell into a spiked trap Josoph emerged from a secret passage and slashed Theren twice, immediately knocking them unconscious. He quickly turned his attention to Ranrus. Lee and Rhy arrived after choosing to basically ignore yet another staged room. Rhy tried to reason with Josoph. He swiftly assaulted Ranrus, leaving him unconscious as well. Luckily Rhy talked Josoph into re-assessing the game. This gave her time to save her friends from dying, stuck on the ground. After more discussion Rhy finally was moved to see the truth, Josoph would never stop seeking to hunt humanoids. Rhy managed to steal his sword, the blade of the Eternal Hunter, and place it in the bag of holding. The bag of holding refused to give him the blade back. The party prepared for the charm to end and to re-engage Josoph on slightly more even footing.   Date: 16th of Gorim