During downtime, the characters dealt with Lirg the Sytherian spy. Sytheria is a vast country to the east of Svargorod. Svargorod itself sits nestled in Hyrcania, a decrepit, backwater leftover of the great Hyrcanian Kingdom, where the forges once ran hot with White Steel. Since the Svars are making in-roads to Sytheria's neighbourhood, Lirg paid them a visit. Long story short, the characters were unable to foil his plot and he poisoned the Lord-Prince Golthrod of Svargorod.
The Priest of the Temple of Sarub-Zarug, God of Death, was blamed for this poisoning. A riotous mob set the temple on fire (helped along by one of the characters!) and the priest was thrown in the Lord-Prince's donjon. The acolytes of Death scattered into the hills to the south, which by chance, is where the Cursed Chambers (our megadungeon) is.
One of the characters, Ursula the Thief, went looking for Lirg the Spy. Hearing of a lead regarding the Xataian encampment, she snuck in past black-armoured guards and grazing saurian pack animals, to check things out. Didn't find much but snagged something from a crate. It turned out to be a potion of gaseous form.
Then, the delve day came. Ursula the Thief, Lenny the Fighter, and Uthamosa the Fighter marched boldly into the Chambers' northwest entrance (the kobold cavern). Upon entering, they were greated with a repulsive sight and smell. Six adventurers had been flayed of their skins. These husks were stretched over stalagmites which had been hollowed out and fired up (literally). The smoking embers inside the stalagmites were emitting a greasy smoke that was curing and shrinking the humanoid hides, some of them past friends. Ursula recognized Enkidu the Dwarf Fighter, Aridaeus the Paladin, and Vuk the Mercenary among these skins.
Someone picked up a rock and threw it at the stalagmites.
A skeleton shambled out from the shadows. Then five more. One of them was shorter than the rest.
The party had a harried fight. But Lenny came in clutch with a diving grapple (again!?), absolutely smashing a skeleton that was proving hard to go down. He repeated his last success with the fire beetle and sent this skeleton into the outer planes. The rest of the skeletons had low hit points and were dispensed with properly: blunt weapons and sling bullets to the head.
But the party, in bad shape, decided to take their hourly rest outside near the entrance. It wasn't long and they were visited by spitting snakes, interrupting their rest. A thrown flask of oil was lobbed but it skittered across the floor. Eventually enough torches were produced to scare the snakes away. But not without some losses. Uthamosa and Ursula were both down and comatose from the battle.
Zanuptra, the Magic-User, joining the fray, leapt into the dungeon with the party and they managed to find a secret treasure room noted on a map they looted. Dragging out tons of silver (1,600 pieces), some Boots of Striding and Springing, and a four-spelled 2nd-level scroll, it was worth the hard slugging of two back-to-back combats. And there's still more treasure to be pulled out of that secret room!
