The party continues to explore ‘The Lost Level’.
The party recovers from their battle with the duergar and the golem. After their rest, they examine the large, basalt double doors on the dais, and attempt to find a way to open them. After considering the approach the duergar were attempting, the party decides that Kherek, wearing both the ermine lined cape and the belt of dwarvenkind, qualifies as royalty. When he touches the door, the ghostly fist re-appears and attacks the party, but the group dispatches it again. Mantis tries to dispel whatever magic enchants the door, and Alabaster attempts to stone shape a passage through the wall, but both are unsuccessful.
Shining Brow decides to attempt to crown Kherek as the King of Undermountain using the magical Crown of Yek, however, Kherek is enraged when he discovers it changes his appearance to a human. Tygorr removes it, changing him back, and crowns Alabaster instead. This also proves unsuccessful, as Alabaster cannot open the door. The group finally decides they need to find “the hand of the king” elsewhere.
Mantis leads the party out of the west door, and proceeds through a chamber with two benches to another room lit by pink crystal pillars. After backtracking, the group finds a room with another archway surrounding a fresco of a mountain and a sun. Mantis determines that it is another gate which is activated by an “elf holding the sun”.
A passageway heading south leads to another chamber. Arriving there, they discover a pile of rusted weapons and debris cover the floor, but Mantis has a strange feeling about the room. It’s too perfect, and looks composed and fake. Searching the room fully, Mantis finds an empty sarcophagus. Shining Brow becomes bored, and begins to wander through the room, eventually noticing something odd with the southern wall. Shazuu uses his wand of secrets to find a secret door leading to a secret burial chamber. Golden crystal reliefs of dwarven warriors clutching battleaxes line the walls, and a black coffin sits in the middle of the room. Mantis places a tiny hut around the coffin, and then he and Shining brow attempt to open it. A disembodied voice proclaims “You dishonor our beloved king!” The secret door to the north slams shut, and the weapons held by the dwarves depicted on the gold reliefs animate and begin to attack the party. Alabaster is trapped outside with Kherek, but casts stone shape to open a doorway. The animated weapons swirl around the magical hut as Shazuu charges toward the hole. The animated weapons pour out through the hole Alabaster created.
Shazuu and Tygorr misty step out of the secret chamber and begin to dispatch the animated weapons in the outer chamber, while Shining Brow and Mantis deal with the weapons in the burial chamber. After a pitched battle, all of the weapons lie broken and defeated. Then, after the danger is passed, Shazuu and Mantis open the coffin, revealing a corpse of a dwarf and the bodies of some rodents. The body appears to have had the fingers removed as punishment in life. Shining Brow and Mantis continue to examine the body, but find nothing more in the coffin.
Searching the room, Shining Brow finds a second secret passage leading to the north, terminating in a dead end. Alabaster again opens the way with his magic, leading to a large room. Four large statues sit in alcoves around the room. The far wall is covered by a tapestry depicting a silver armored dwarf attacking an immense purple worm.
Mantis hears a voice in his head, saying “Congratulations. You have made it this far. It will take much knowledge to proceed. Release me from my captivity, and I will show you the way,” The voice tells Mantis that destroying one of the statues will set it free. The voice proceeds to address Shining Brow, then Shazuu, then Alabaster, and finally Tyrorr. Shining Brow backs off, trying to keep Tang Wu and Kherek away from disembodied voices. Shazuu decides to take action, and knocks over the statue. Where the statue once stood, a shadow forms, like thick black smoke. From this inky shape, a creature emerges, with two huge pincer arms, and two smaller arms. The demon steps to the tapestry, speaks a spell in infernal, and the wall disappears.
A secret passageway at one end leads the group to another burial chamber. Shining Brow and Tygorr keep watch on the demon while the party investigates. A white casket sits atop the dais in the burial chamber. Shazuu and Alabaster remove the lid, and find the body of a dwarven king of Melair. Shazuu takes a shield and a warpick, then removes the hands from the corpse to open the black door. Mantis places the hands in the bag of holding. As the group emerges from the tomb, the demon asks if the group has found what they were looking for.
Without waiting for a response it smashes a statue, hurls the pieces to destroy the other statues in the room. Where the broken statues fall, a inky black shadows form. The Demon turns on the party, as two more materialize.
Tygorr reacts immediately, and tries to banish the glazebru…