Curse of the Iron Cobra

We see a flame skull floating in the hallway and Fable jumps out in the hallway first and Bart and Brexx follow and quickly dispatch it.

We see a door across the hall where Gregory says they were doing research on ghasts and ghouls- it smells really bad in there, we decide we need to try to clear the room in case there is more info on Gregory

We open the door and are attacked by 5 large really smelly ghouls, we dispatch them and then Fable finds out all sorts of research notes on dead stuff, she also sees that they've been doing research on “Gregory” as an intelligent ghoul/ghast- they THINK he has the ability to make the same terrible smell but doesn’t do so- they say that if he dresses in normal clothing he can almost pass for human as a weird magical effect. They speculate on how he came to be- is he  a new form of ghoul or ghast or is he something new? They picked him up in the Underdark in the Drow city of Ched Nesad, they say he is very intelligent as long as he has a food source (his bowl) and he can control his undead nature, they also speculate on there possibly being more of them elsewhere and he has this magical bowl that was intentionally made for him

We proceed to the next room- just tables and notes and bodies/skeletons scattered on the floor, F investigates notes on “Intelligent Undead”- a lot of stuff on vampires, Death Knights, Revenants, Litches, even Flame Skulls or other guardian-type undead creatures, they are trying to gather as much info as they can on how they are made, whether or not there are local cases they can point to within the Courts as a whole, they keep falling back to an absence where its apparent that some of the research has been taken- **Adreshi D’Har** has taken over research into these matters, there is mention of “**The Vaunted**” aka **Vel Sharun**= a God of Necromancy, was once a mortal but became a litch and then ascended to Godhood through some process that they are not sure of, speculation that he was a member of the **Circle of Nine** and that he had a base/Necropolis somewhere in the Desolate Lands that was a Store of Knowledge that he had acquired in his studies- they indicate that finding such a place would be a boon but this research has been taken by Adreshi and taken over. (We were told that Vela Sharun was a name that was given to the Enlightened One..coincidence?)

We go in to room across the hall- see a large summoning circle and tables around it, Notes- working on summoning undead & animating remains, trying to draw power here and get complete control over their summons, F ask Brexx to destroy the circle.

Bart stealths ahead down another long hall, finds a door partially ajar, leading into another expansive laboratory room-tables and various alchemical devices, two humanoid figures wearing same robes as some of the undead skeletons we found, just standing there in the room “appear to be alive”...Fable and Bart sneak ahead- she detects illusory magic- they can’t tell if these are dead things disguised as wizards or some sort of trap….they have an extended conversation while completely hidden and then she pops out and tries to dispel magic on one o the “wizards” - its human image melts away and a skeletal form with glowing blue eyes is in its place, one of the “wizards” has a crazy ornate magical sword and goes to attack, the rest of us rush in and attack.

Notes in this room: research in creating magical items of a necromantic nature that allow them to draw upon life forces or control undead in a wider form, there is talk of an undead beholder, but they specify that it is “around the corner” in the summoning circle. There is alot of stuff that is useful to Fable.

In the meantime, Bart goes ahead and grabs the magic sword…. Fable identifies its magical properties

Bart sneaks ahead and scouts the next room- finds the undead beholder and lots of scattered remains/bones- Fable reminds us that the undead Beholder can raise them...we formulate a plan of attack, and Bart lures it into the hallway, it raises two undead Minotaurs and another zombie, we eventually kill them all.

Find a weird cold wall that feels “empty” and a skeleton that has a box with 3 Greater HP’s; but then Fable works some stone in the weird wall and reveals a VOIDLING that says “Alive!” in all our minds….We have now released this thing into its freedom, it passes by us all and says in our minds, “Later.” and leaves.

We proceed down the stairs to the next level down. Bart goes first...This is the construct level…

And we promptly find the centipede construct that Sera saw on her watch. We kill it pretty easily, find a document discussing the defenses for the choten (the tower we are in)-many we have fought already, some we have not seen yet, including “Iron Cobras”-trying to figure out how they can quickly and efficiently improve upon building these kinds of things that are typically made by the tinkerers in the City of Bronze; Iron Cobras have a bite that if you fail a CON save it can poison you, apply confusion or paralyze you; The shield guardians described that they are bonded to an amulet- whomever is wearing that has control over them, barring that they will follow the last order they were given;

A bunch of constructs in the next room attack, the swarm up the hall- Akibeko gets surrounded, there are NO good options, Fable decides to fireball the swarm and hope that AKibeko can resist the damage….. It drops two of the enemy constructs but does damage Akibeko (but does not kill him), many other things happen-Akibeko gets dropped by an iron cobra- Brexx gets him back up, Sera pops in and uses the Mantle and gives him temp HP and allows him to retreat without provoking AOO, so he escapes danger and LIVES-giving Fable the stinkeye, we finally finish off the rest of them- Akibeko gets the kiling blow on the last one!