Recap: "Pointy Eyes? That's Fucked Up."

After killing the warlock and finding proof of the mage's treachery, we headed back to the Seven Pillared Hall to return Longtusk to his rightful owner, get our reward, and question the mage there. Of course, he wanted us to go kill the traitor for him, but he offered some decent pay, so we agreed. He also warned us about bronze minotaur golems that the traitor may have. We followed the silver key to a hidden door in the Labyrinth that opened into a chamber empty except for a teleport circle, and when we entered it, a spectral image of the God Vecna appeared.

Vecna, apparently, wanted our secrets but had no interest in the key to the Court of Bones. We all spent some time telling the bored ghost stories except for Brynn, who just sucked up to it and told it it had nice protoplasm or something, and eventually it said it would let us through if we each gave it a little life force. Everyone agreed except Alaric, who as a paladin of the Goddess of Death said there was no way he was giving a God of the Undead any such thing, and offered it his magical shield instead, which it accepted, and teleported the group.

We found ourselves in an area filled with pillars carved with faces, some with gags and some with blindfolds, and as soon as we moved to investigate it were attacked by a group of 5 norkers. These bitey little bastards were fairly tough, and as we fought them lightning that slowed us and mental attacks that stole our powers came from the pillars. Soon, a second group of norkers joined the fray, and after beating both groups we found that around the corner there were two fleshslicers using some device to create the pillar attacks. These two freakjobs tore off their own faces after we bloodied them, which was a fine how do you do, but we took care of them quickly and moved on to another teleporter.

On the second level a quick look around saw a hallway, with a bronze minotaur patrolling at the very end, and a door. Finjaq quickly looked in the room, saw a giant glass container with a bronze minotaur head floating in it, several tables with alchemical crap on them, a fleshslicer, and a norker, and decided that if we could all get inside before the minotaur saw us we could avoid fighting it. This worked well until, with Finjaq, Brynn, and Quij in the room, it noticed Bakun and Alaric and charged.

It still seemed better to try to slow it down, so Bakun and Alaric moved into the room, Quij cast a web outside the doorway and shut the door, and Alaric and Quij barricaded the door. This allowed the rest of the party to focus on the two idiots who had been in the room originally, and they were quickly taken down. When the minotaur knocked the door down, Alaric moved a table in the way, and when it went around to another door, Brynn moved a table in the way there too. As the minotaur chopped at the second door, Brynn and Quij damaged it at range, another fleshslicer and norker attacked and died, and Alaric and Bakun, bored, decided to trash the glass case.

Upon the destruction of the case, the head rolled free, and the acidic liquid inside it splashed all over the two vandals, but most importantly it pissed the traitor mage Paldomar off enough that he teleported down into the room. He started to yell at us, but quickly got an arrow in the chest, and then we all joined in the curbstomping. At one point, he tried to run for both of the two teleporters, but Brynn stood on one and Finjaq the other, slowing him down long enough for us to finish him off. Alaric, meanwhile, kept the minotaur occupied until the party returned, and it didn't last much longer. A quick rest later, and we decided to go up to the third level and see what loot he may have.

MVPC: Alaric, for starting the breaking of the case.