Isle of the Magi, Part II

2 Suns after Last Claim's Day

After recuperating for a night in the minotaur's lair, the doughty adventurers explored this new area of the Maze and attempted to locate the missing Gump.  A shimmering illusion of a gold necklace, almost tempted the halfling thief to his doom at the hand of scrags.  Luckily, Sir Nagrom‘s sensitivity to evil saved the wee adventurer from a wet and bloody end.  The company also engaged a lesser spiderspawn of Zynar; a huge, bloated, and hideous arachnid that wielded poison and enchanted rings.  A miscast spell by Alvar Herrickson helped kill the beast.  Raven, in a display of bladesinging grace, claimed one of the spiderspawn's rings (and legs) as his own.  Upon the "defeat" of the fiend, it vanished.

Meanwhile, Gump had regained conciousness in the warrens of the were-rats.  Chained next to him was the Gloryseeker priest of Fortuna, the Warlady Thria of the Sunken Empire of the Dwarfs.  Thria and Gump attempted to escape, and the mage's bravery saved the dwarf priestess from torture and death at the hands of the lycanthropes.  Thria’s throaty cries, cursing the shape-shifting fiends, drew their badly wounded compatriots into the warrens.  There the band slew a small pack of were-rats and scattered their giant rat companions.  Thria healed several in the group, and only through the blessing of Fortuna was the battle won.  Gump and Thria were freed but, tragically, Sir Nagrom the Just was afflicted with lycanthropy.  The Apprehender struggles mightily not to slay its noble master, but with the coming of the full moon, this battle will become far more torturous.  Thria was unable (or unwilling ?) to rectify this draw from Fortuna's hand.  The group recovered some treasure, as well as a potion of superheroism  and gauntlets of ogre power  (now worn by Coon).

Thria lead the group free of the warrens into the final piece of maze before the Tower of the Magi.  In the Tower's gateway, a titanic, two-headed, ettin slept (or did he?) and the gate beyond was open.  There was also divine evidence of an evil hidden in a chamber behind the party.