Return to the Lighthouse

Once more we found ourselves, just a group of adventurers, standing in front of a crocodile, asking why it also possessed a scorpion's tail and multiple rows of teeth. Better equipped for such a fight, we made short work of the beast and, perhaps unwisely, went off in search of more quarry.

Once more we found ourselves pulling unconscious comrades out of the range of the tentacled stalagmite being. Perhaps killing one monstrosity was enough. Instead, we beat a hasty retreat back to the basement of the Ashskull Lighthouse to the sunken door.

Agathon, armed with the strange metal spike, swam down to investigate the hatch. Our arcane knowledge quickly exhausted, he turned to more direct approaches. From where the spike was stabbed into the center of the door, cracks webbed out in all directions. Runes died as the cracks moved across the surface. Shards of starry metal shot off into the water and Agathon's hand as the spike exploded. And finally, the water began to drain downwards as the hatch door fell away.

There, a ladder descended into darkness. Splashing down into shin-deep water, a torch revealed an ornate entry chamber with floors of dark marble and walls of meticulously hewn stone. A refinement on the skills displayed in the upper floors of the lighthouse, and by far the most opulent of places we've discovered since setting foot on this continent.

To one side of the entry chamber, two statues—golems, according to Spenser—flanked an elaborately carved metal door. To the other side, a hallway with more spartan, also closed, doors.

The northern room appeared to have once been a kitchen, its food stores long evaporated or decayed. What did remain was a strange device: five feet tall and solid, sporting runes of unknown origin. Torva busied herself with trying to devise the secrets of this kitchen implement through offerings—a bit of whiskey, the finger bone of a nearby corpse, a few drops of her own blood. Nothing was actualized through these experiments, as we were drawn towards other rooms, where Spenser and others had run into problems of the zombie variety.

The shambling corpses before us were more gruesome than the typical rotting undead: bloated and grotesquely misshapen by additional, tumor-like growths.

Through a door off of the kitchen, we’re attacked by zombies; however, the corpses also appear twisted and bloated, unnaturally so even for zombies. It looks like they’re normal humanoid, but have grown in strange ways, like they’re covered in tumors. Eventually we discovered the source in a ruined old bunkhouse with shattered old beds. A lantern hung from the ceiling on an iron chain, swinging back and forth and casting a yellowish glow. Tartarus pulled down the lantern and it continued to glow, despite a lack of obvious light source. Everything else in the bunks disintegrated at a touch. In town, we learned the lantern casts healing along with its light—but extended exposure would cause unchecked growth, much like we'd seen in our undead foes.

Room by room we went, the water level lowering slowly as additional space was revealed. A room with six pillars, and a small bathing pool or purification basin sat at one end, once filled with water but now bare. A dining area filled with broken tables and chairs. Down the hall, a barrel filled with small bones, perhaps fish bones, long since decayed.

At the end of the hallway, a massive door stood before us, familiar to some. Beyond lay the mines that many in our troupe delved in recent weeks. A connection point that must certainly be watched.

Returning to the ornate doorway, we took the golems head on and were victorious!

A rush of air signaled our entry into a much more opulent area of the underground chambers, sealed off but not protected from the ravages of time and decay. In this dining area we were greeted by the menacing snarl of a rotting blue dragon head, guarding over a old but salvageable harp. What drew our eyes to the opposite wall was a large oil painting, surprisingly intact, of an alabaster city lit against the deep purple of an evening sky hung with stars. Tartarus recognize many of the constellations, but with our lack of any clear sky views on this continent, there was no way to place ourselves in relation to the depicted scenery.

Beyond another well appointed sitting room was a bedchamber, equal in its opulence. A body lay upon what was likely once a luxurious bed, its very bones warped and quite unnaturally bent. Jabbed into the epicenter of this disfigurement was another spike of star-flecked metal, this one the size of a knitting needle. After a short time of study, Spenser proposed that, while there was no evidence of blood from a stab wound, it was still likely that spike itself caused the body to grow and twist in this horrible way.

Within the writing desk and chest of drawers in this room, we discovered a heap of treasures! I will catalog these at close of my chapter, for the rest of our daring troupe should they have need of healing potions or scrolls in their forays in the wilderness.

North of the bedroom, a final room was dedicated to a raised dais that glowed faintly, its surface covered in runes. Upon closer inspection, these runes appeared to be based more in transportation, suggesting that whoever lived here may have had teleportation capabilities.

Every room having thus been explored and plundered, we began collecting the myriad treasures to return to Haven.

**Items and Treasures Returned to Haven**

If an item has no one's name by it, it's in the community coffers or was split in a way that's listed.

* Building Supplies (3)
* Crocodile
	+ Meat split by several in town, skin given to DJ the Tanner
* Kitchen Device
	+ Hauled back to town and identified by Boe Torchwood as an arcane artifact capable of producing food or water, if a power source could be found.
* Necklace
	+ A nonmagical cord necklace with a silver claw or talon charm, similar to others we've found.
	+ Added to community coffers.
* Lantern
	+ A powerful arcane artifact, capable of small amounts over very long periods of time; very useful in healing wounds if placed in a clinic.
* Oil Painting
	+ Not magical, returned to Haven and investigated by Glimkin. If one were to assume this place were on this continent, then the last time the constellations would have appeared above this city would have been roughly eleven hundred years ago.
* Harp
	+ Not magical and in need of repair, added to the community coffers.
* Metal Spike (Torva)
	+ A knitting need sized spike of metal, black and seemingly covered in stars.
* Stamp (Lavender)
	+ Magical, the language of the stamp adjusts to be read in a language that you can understand. The stamp reads, "Drakomil, Magister of the Harvest."
* Ring (Spenser)
	+ The Ring of Last Resort — when activated, it transports the wearer to a pocket dimension where they do not need to eat, sleep, or breathe. Once they are transported there, they are not returned back to an indefinite amount of time. When they return, they return to the current location of the ring.
* Ring
	+ Nonmagical, a signet ring.
	+ Added to community coffers.
* Light Purple Robes (Lavender)
	+ Minor magical effect causes these robes to never rot.
* Dark Purple Cape (Lavender)
	+ Magical, once per day can cast Feather Fall. Three times per day it can billow majestically as if blown by a strong wind.
* Healing Potions (9)
	+ Added to community coffers for general use.
* Scrolls (6)
	+ Added to community coffers for general use.
	+ 2 Scrolls of Create Food
	+ 2 Scrolls of Create Water
	+ 1 Scroll of Teleportation
	+ 1 Scroll of Pass Wall