The group continued their assault against the defenders of the cave. After a short time, they finished off the last of the defenders of the cave. Danicia offered a truce to the kitchen workers who chose to not join the fight if they would leave the cavern. They quickly took up the offer, gathering their children and quickly making their way up and out of the cave.
Everyone turned to the stone building at the south end of the cavern. With a combination of skill and flying, they moved over the blade barrier, left in place to defend in case any enemies might sneak up against them.
On the other side, they landed and started assessing the building. Part of the group flew to the top level and made their way to the roof. The others stayed on the ground and started moving around the sides of the building. Darsus helped Cendrine moved, due to the difficult terrain. Danicia and Sandru moved forward with Sheliak and Ulric towards a set of stairs. Seoni kept an eye out behind them, due to a sense of some type of movement.
From Seoni’s perch, she saw swarms of rat moving towards the building and the group. She also deduced that the building was 2 separate rooms, not a single room in a tower. Despite the risk, the group chose to split up and investigate each room. Sandru moved stealthily down the stairs and noticed archers focused on the stairwell, ready to fire. Danicia moved down to help Darsus and Cendrine and she was able to crack the large doors for a stealthy look inside. She let them know that a giant and animals were in the lower room.
After preparing, both groups moved into their rooms. Sandru, Sheliak and Ulric and Seoni moved down the stairwell into the upper room. Danicia became invisible and opened the door for Darsus and Cendrine to enter.
The archers upstairs fired with little effect on the group. The giants in the lower room swung and missed as the other group moved in. In the upper room, Seoni opened a pit which trapped 2 of the attackers. The rest were able to jump aside and prepare for the next attack. A large attacker, holding a great-axe and a piglet, nimbly moved around to the stairwell. The others prepared for melee attacks and started moving into flank positions. As the enemy moved into position, Ulric and Sandru found themselves in dire straits. Multiple attackers whittled away at Ulric while the one large attacker was able to get a critical hit on Sandru that hit home with a thundering roar. Sandru was able to move away and Seoni and Sheliak were able to fill the gap to bring the attack to their enemies.
In the lower chamber, Darsus called on a Spiritual Ally to help add to the battle. With planned movements, the group was able to move so they each could get a flank on the giants. The 3 snow leopards and the boar were attempting to break through the rotting structures, butting against the structures that held them in. Danicia achieved a sneak attack on a giant, while Cendrine struck out with all the dwarven hatred of giants that she could call on.
While the large fighter in the upper room could deal out damage, he was unable to survive the onslaught of the group attacking him. He quickly slumped unconscious to the floor while his servitors continued to fight. WIth him out of the way, the other enemies were quickly dispatched. The large fighter was killed and as he died, Sheliak, Seoni and Sandru could sense the strong smell of pork roasting in the room. As they smelled this, a transparent creature, appearing like a boar, attempted to possess Sheliak. He was able to successfully will it away from him. It turned its attention to one of the fighters and possessed her on the next round.
The group in the lower room finished off the giants and turned their attention to the animals. Darsus was able to injure one of the leopards and his spiritual ally finished off the creature. Danicia stood by waiting and finished off one of the leopards while Cendrine finished off the other one. At that time Seoni could be heard shouting for help from the cleric. Darsus heard the call and he and his spiritual ally exited to upstairs, confident that Cendrine and Danicia could finish off the animals.
Seoni observed had observed the spirit take possession of the hobgoblin and cautioned to not kill her but Sheliak became caught up in his attacks and swung a fatal blow at her. As his blow struck home, the smell of roasting pork again filled the room and the spirit attempted to possess Seoni. However, Seoni had a strong enough will to fight off the attack. She remembered that only positive energy could hurt creatures like this and struck a blow with a wand of cure light wounds. She did a small amount of damage but not enough to destroy it. However, Darsus and Sheliak were able to cast more spells of positive energy and the spirit was destroyed before it could possess one of the party.
With all of the enemies in the building dead or unconscious, the group started reviewing the areas. Danicia noticed a swarm of rats outside of the building and was able to destroy it before it could attack Cendrine on the ground. On the upper floor, Darsus channeled energy for healing for the group. The pit spell ended and the two hobgoblins were brought to the surface. One was dead and the other unconscious although the group had not attacked them. Both of the bodies had a sword stuck into their belly and pulled across to rip out their guts. One of the bodies looked as if someone had attempted to chop off the head. Someone in the group remembered hearing of a practice of the Eastern lands where those in service who failed their master would kill themselves to restore their honor and surmised that the two creatures had attempted this while in the pit.
With the battle finished, the group searched for and found treasure that would help them as they prepared to move further down into the depths of the cavern. Because of the attacks on Ulric, the group decided to give some of the magical equipment to Ulric to help protect him in future battles. While he looked a bit odd for a wolf, he was protected and stronger.
To complete their preparations, Darsus had a spell to help restore the group, one that would allow them to nap for two hours and restore their spells and reset their daily abilities. Darsus cast the spell and Ulric kept watch on the group. Two hours passed and they woke refreshed and reset, ready to tackle the rest of the dungeon.
The group carefully moved across the slick walkway that connected to a balcony on the side of the cavern. They found crude stone steps that descended into the darkness. Sandru and Danicia led the way, carefully checking for traps while quietly moving down. The group followed and they eventually made their way to a large room of a cavern. A waterfall was in the north, falling down and filling a lake in the room. On the other side of this river there was a distorted pagoda, a mockery of the one which stood above them in the outside. There was a drawbridge for the lower level and a second level with several large balconies.
After assessing the way across, the group decided to fly across and go through the balconies on the second floor. Reconnaissance let them know there were guards like the ones they had fought before in the large second floor room. Sandru went first and started flying over the water. As he flew over, two huge water elementals appeared, towering above him. They attacked and attempted to knock him into the water. He was able to move past them and make it to the balconies, warning the others of the danger.
The rest of the group followed up to the balcony and discovered 4 guards spread out in the large room. Darsus used dimension door to carry Cendrine, Sheliak and Ulric up while Danicia and Seoni flew above the water elementals and into the room. Cendrine, Sheliak and Ulric started attacked one of the warrios and whittled him down. Danicia and Sandru had used up their move and prepared to enter the battle on their next move. Seoni was able to fly in and do some damage on on of the other guards. The session ended here.