Maximus was dying, the big ex-gladiator knew it and there was nothing he could do about it. The black fire consuming him seemed unstoppable, the rest of the party helpless to heal him. As the black flame continued to kill him he watched as Lun cast ‘create water' above Fin hoping to stop it upon the Bard. However in only moments Finarsil screamed a bloodcurdling cry and disintegrated into black soot quickly washed away with the flow of the magically created water. Max closed his eyes falling on his side to lay there waiting for his own demise.

However he quickly heard Odyson shouting to the others to close their eyes and cover their ears and Max felt the Shaman lay his hands on him as he chanted the calling of some new spell. Suddenly with a bright flash and a sound like a thunderclap Maximus felt the flames extinguished though he was still very weak. Slumping once again, this time more in relief then pain, he rolled over onto his back and took a moment to enjoy the lack of black flames........

"Perhaps it it better to try to lift the door and save spells for later. We can always use a spell if lifting fails."

Jarenion saw the bard fall and groaned. Everyone knew that such things were possible when on an adventure, but it still hurt to see it happen. They were here to rescue a friend, and yet one friend had already been sacrificed to the attempt. This was not a good beginning. But considering their surroundings, one had to wonder about the odds of a good ending as well.

He gave the healers time to heal - that was obviously the first order of the day. Once that was done, he offered to disintegrate the door if desired after a healed Maximus had looked for traps. He doubted that would be the way to go, but he made the offer. In the mean time he kept his eye on the wall of stone and the wall of fire. Keeping the enemies they knew about at bay was important. He would be ready when the door opened.

Lun uses her Heal prayer to bring Maximus up to full strength but the drain on his life was more than just wounds. He has been weaken by the blackfire and will require time to recover.

(I assume you will go over the Bard's possession. )

There is no time to wait as enemies are held off but who knows for long. Maximus finds no traps on the strange door, and no lock that can be seen. Arien moves forward and opens the door by pulling it up.

Suddenly a great force acts upon the members of the party and you find yourselves pulled abruptly into the room. But this is ordinary force, but the force of gravity magically changed to the opposite side of the room. You are falling a distance of 40 feet to the wall/floor across from you.

Jarenion reacts as all wizards do when falling and casts the spell featherfall with haste. He grabs the wrists of Odyson and Sparrow as they plummet to slow their fall to a safe descent. Maximus uses his thief skills and tumbles and clings to the nearest wall/floor.

Arien, Lun and Kadrin fall hard. Kadrin manages to roil slightly with the fall but when Arien hits the ground, there is a sound, like broken glass. Suddenly a cloud envelopes around him and Lun and they are engulfed . When the cloud dissipates - neither Arien nor Lun are there.

You are in a 30x30 room and to your centre of gravity now, you fell through the ceiling. The room is very barren, no furniture or objects within, only the stone walls. Kadrin looks to where your companions disappeared and says, "The amulet of recall! The crystal must have broken when Arien hit the ground!"

Maps and more are coming

One minute they were fighting frozen undead and mutated rats the next they were falling.

Having just been healed from the blackness by Ody, then up to full strength by Lun. With a quick search of the bard's things and it was back to the matter at head, the undead and rats.

Deciding not to stay and fight a rapidly deteriorating fight in their favor, Max though tired quickly moved to the strange door. Finding no traps and the door unlocked he gave the all clear and watched as Arien moved forward to open it. Pulling it up like a garage door Arien, Max and the rest of the party were caught by surprise as suddenly a great force was pulling them further into the room. But this all could tell was no ordinary force, but the force of gravity magically changed to the opposite side of the room.

The room suddenly floorless, the big Gladiator/Thief found himself falling along with the rest. As he tumbled from wall to wall using his thief skills he watched as Jarenion acting quickly cast the spell feather fall, grabbing the wrists of Odyson and Sparrow slowing their fall to a safe descent.

However as the four of them made it down safe the rest, Arien, Lun and Kadrin fall hard. Unable to help Maximus watched as Arien, then Lun hit the ground, the sound of their armor clad forms as if breaking glass. Suddenly as he reached the ground Max watched as a cloud enveloped around the Knight and Healer and they were gone. His head spinning looking for Kadrin, he found the dwarf still with them though more then a little banged up.

As the five remaining party members gathered together Maximus could see that they were in a very barren 30x30 room. No furniture, no objects, and other then a lone door to the East only the stone walls.

Kadrin looks to where your companions disappeared and says, "The amulet of recall! The crystal must have broken when Arien hit the ground!"

~Damn it!~ Maximus thought, Kadrin was right! The parties only sure fire way home was gone to Sparrow, Ody, Kadrin, Jarenion and himself. Along with the party's leader and single full cleric. Looking to the dwarven general, clearly the party's new leader, Maximus spoke up.

"So where does that leave us Kadrin?"

(Looking forward to continuing the campaign Roger, )

Sparrow felt her body accelerate into the room, it was as if someone had suddenly changed the direction of "down". Luckily, Jarenion had a quick spell ready that most likely saved her life. But not all were so lucky. Two of the others were gone. Not dead, but gone. The amulet of recall must have broken and returned them home. She was happy they had not died but concerned that the only escape route the party had was now gone.

Looking around the barren room she saw a door about 10ft above them and the satchels of her companions. "Maybe we should gather up the satchels and then find a way out. If someone gives me a boost I might be able to crawl out and drop a rope back in."

As the group was sucked through the door Jarenion quickly flashed a feather fall spell to slow his descent, grabbing two of his companions to aid them as well. But before they even hit the ground he knew had been several arms short of what he needed. Two of the group disappeared in a flash.

Hearing Kadrin's comments about the amulet he groaned, knowing the dwarf spoke the truth. They had barely entered this accursed place on their rescue mission and they were already down 3 party members and had lost their easy escape route. At least the last two were probably safe. Still, it was hardly an auspicious beginning.

He quickly moved over to the sack on the floor where their companions had disappeared and prepared to look through it. "Well, lets see if Lun kept anything in here besides pictures of his family." With that he quickly surveyed the bags contents.

When Sparrow commented on climbing the wall he added his own comment. "If needed I have both spider climb and levitate. But I would prefer to save my spells, even low level ones. Max and Ody - can you try to help Sparrow up? If it doesn't work I'll use a spell. Make sure you have light when you get up there." So saying he moved to the opposite side of the room from the exit - hoping to have the best view possible of the exit.

The Shaman was successful in stopping black fire from consuming Max. The cleric Lun was then able to heal much the damage to Maximun. The healed thief turned his attention the door blocking their advance and find no obvious trap Arien gripped the door firmly and thrust it open. Although the door was not trapped the room was. Suddenly the party pulled through the door and into the room beyond.

There is a moment of confusion as senses seem to be in conflict. The party finds themselves falling but down had changed as they passed through the door. What should have been the far wall was now a floor that now rushed toward them. The Shaman didn't panic, in his hair he wore an enchanted feather that would cast feather fall on him after he had fallen five feet. The cleric Lun was near so he reached for her. But others also reacted to save party members. The Wizard Jarenion also used Feather Fall grabbing Sparrow but also grabbing Ody's wrist. That slight distraction was enough and Ody missed his grasp on Lun and she plumped to the floor. Arien and Karrin who had been in the lead were also beyond their reach. The Dwarv seemed to have the luck as he tucked and rolled, but the Shaman could only watch as the Knight and Cleric crashed to the floor. There is a sound, like broken glass. Suddenly a cloud envelopes around Arien and Lun; they are engulfed . When the cloud dissipates - neither are there. Kadrin looks to where the pair disappeared and says, "The amulet of recall! The crystal must have broken when Arien hit the ground!"
As the remaining party member assess what has happened they find themselves in room about 30 feet square and maybe 20 feet deep with door half way up one wall. Sparrow commented on climbing the wall "Maybe we should gather up the satchels and then find a way out. If someone gives me a boost I might be able to crawl out and drop a rope back in."

Then Jarenion said"If needed I have both spider climb and levitate. But I would prefer to save my spells, even low level ones. Max and Ody - can you try to help Sparrow up? If it doesn't work I'll use a spell. Make sure you have light when you get up there." Ody looks to Max then Sparrow and nods , "We can do that."

Jarenion moved to the opposite side of the room from the door for the best vantage point. But even as he did so he had a vision of the rooms gravity flipping again. If it went back to normal it would probably just make them fall down as the side wall was likely to become the floor. Embarrassing, but not lethal. Probably.

As the others got ready to lift Sparrow he added one more comment to the confusion. "Be careful. When that door opens, down might become down again. It doesn't seem like that door agrees with our current alignment. Be ready in case we fall. We don't want Sparrow exposed in an open doorway and everybody laying on the ground."

So saying, Jarenion did two things. First, he braced himself against the wall/floor. His hope was that either the room would not flip or, if it did, he would simply be laying on his back staring at the door. He didn't Normally cast spells from his back, but there was no reason he could not do so. second, he made sure he had both a feather fall spell and a magic missile spell at the ready. Feather fall had obvious uses and the missiles had the advantage that they never missed and he could easily shoot them past Sparrow without worrying about side effects.

Sparrow shook her head. 'What was I thinking volunteering? she thought to herself. 'What if he is right and the room spins again?' It would do no good to dwell on that so Sparrow put on a brave face and started her climb with assistance of her friends.

"So where does that leave us Kadrin?" Maximus asked.

Jarenion opened the bag left behind and looked inside, "Three of the healing potions are here and intact, as well as Lun's components for prayers and the like."

The door you entered is now in the centre of the ceiling and the one door out is 20 feet up the south wall, in the middle.

The Dwarven general looked around the rather plain room. "Way I see it laddie, The queen would be sending them back as fast as she could - maybe with reinforcements. Maybe we should stay here until then, assuming the room doesn't flood or blow up or attack us in some way."

As soon as the dwarf says that, he sees something move above him. The rest of the party sees it to as a large brown gargoyle creature passes through the wall on the west and flies across to pass through the wall of the east - through solid stone like it was water. Soon four come into the room through the walls and near the ceiling but they bank rapidly and swoop to pass over you, screeching as they do. They pass through the solid way again but return quickly and this time plunge from above with claws reaching for you in attack.

"So where does that leave us Kadrin?" Maximus asked.
The Dwarven general looked around the rather plain room. "Way I see it laddie, The queen would be sending them back as fast as she could - maybe with reinforcements. Maybe we should stay here until then, assuming the room doesn't flood or blow up or attack us in some way."

Jarenion having opened one of the bags left behind looked inside, "Three of the healing potions are here and intact, as well as Lun's components for prayers and the like."

However before anything could be said or done with the left behind items a new danger appeared above the group of five. Maximus watched as first a single large brown gargoyle passed through the wall from the west and as if not there to stop it easily passed through the east wall. As Maximus quickly drew Jal and Hoth, deciding to go with a vorpal and ice combo. The first gargoyle was joined by three more upping the odds in the creatures favor. Banking in the air above the party swooping to pass over, screeching as they did so. With a last pass through the walls, the four creatures dived, heading straight in at the five party members below.

With no spells or any real item to stop them in their dive, Maximus readied his swords and hoped the combo of cold would shatter stone and vorpal would slice through it as if like cheese................

Sparrow was getting ready for her climb when suddenly several gargoyles appeared. at first it looked like they might just pass by, but soon their real intention were revealed. As the creatures dove to attack, Sparrow drew her twin short swords and prepared to repel the beasts.

When Jarenion saw the first gargoyle float through the room he silently sighed to himself. There would surely be one room in this accursed place that wasn't full of nasty critters. Just one. It would be nice.

Still, he had been expecting trouble as he braced against the wall and the group prepared to climb to the door because they all knew there were no such rest areas. So the gargoyles were a disappointment, but certainly not a surprise. Floating through the walls, on the other hand, that was something new for gargoyles. But . . .it wasn't new. He'd seen this before. Terragoyles. They were strong and resistant to magic, of course.

He was prepared however for the attack. He had been expecting trouble and the initial flyby had warned the group that something was coming. He shouted "Don't let them grab you or try to pin you to the wall - they pass through stone." He wanted to hit them with a cone of cold before they got close, but he probably didn't have time to do both that and use his staff. He prepared to smite them with his staff of the Stone Lord - a good hit should destroy one. A disintegrated goyle couldn't slam you into the wall.

The Shaman had held his hybrid shape change in the tunnel in anticipation of helping to lift the door and now his height and strength would be needed to defend his companions from this new evil. From above gargoyle dropped toward them. In this close attack Ody once again brought the massive double bladed axe "Apatchin" to bear. With a two handed swing of the enchanted weapon to the nearest of the attacker he attampted destroy the flying creature.