'What a fine mess we got ourselves into this time,' Nomad shouted
towards me as he was fighting off a Shadow Hound.  'No use
complaining now,' I replied, 'just keep fighting.'

Nomad and myself, Aragorn, were strong Paladins, Gothmog was a
well trained Mage and Gandalf a well trained Cleric.  The four of
us formed a strong party and together with our two friends that we
had picked up along the way we were almost unbeatable, but these
Shadow Hounds sure were hard to kill.  Later that evening we found
a safe spot and made camp, while Gothmog took care of dinner I was
thinking how we got ourselves in this mess ......

         --------> Assault on Myth Drannor <--------

    --------> As told by Aragorn the Dragonslayer <--------

 --------> The first part of the Graveyard / Forest <--------

We defeated Dran Draggore in the Temple of Darkmoon and returned
to Waterdeep, at the local Tavern we rented some rooms and we were
planning to rest for a few days.  One evening we were sitting by
the fireplace and a strange man entered and came towards us, he
told us that his master wanted us to free the city of Myth Drannor
from a foul Lich.  We of course agreed but before we could get our
good weapons from our rooms the man started to cast a
transportation spell.

Quickly we took some weapons and armor that was nearby and then we
were gone from the Tavern, a few seconds later we arrived in a
large forest full of graves and of course Grave Mists.

Since we didn't had any decent weapons it took a long time to
defeat them, after killing the Grave Mists that attacked us on our
arrival we decide to go to the south/west corner of this forest
and then east to the east end of the forest.  Then a few steps
north and then west to the west side of the forest, again a few
steps north and then east again.  Since the forest was full of
graves we were attacked by Grave Mists the whole time, we of
course killed them and continued our search through the forest.

We found nothing special except some trees that didn't look very
sturdy but since we didn't have an axe we continued.  Just when we
killed another Grave Mist a man called Florin Falcon-hand
approached us, he first thought that we were some robbers or
thieves but when we told him that we were here to kill a foul Lich
he introduced himself as the leader of the Knights of Myth
Drannor.

He told us that in the last few months the evil creatures in the
ruins of Myth Drannor had increased at least ten times, so we had
to look out if we entered the city.  He wished us good look and he
and his companions left.

We continued our search through the graveyard/forest and found on
the west half of the forest a large Mausoleum.  After
investigating the outside we knew that this was a tomb for the
fallen warriors of Myth Drannor.

Since this was the only thing we had encountered so far, except
for Florin, we decided to enter......What a mistake to make.....

             --------> The Mausoleum <--------

We entered in a large hall, to the east wall there was a plaque
with 'Four Bones Down Will Show The Way' written on it and there
were two stairs leading down to the north and two leading down to
the south.

  --------> Down the first stairs into some deep trouble <--------

We decided to go down the north stairs closest to the exit, as
soon as we went down the stairs we were attacked by an Undead
Beast, it took a while but we managed to kill it.  Behind the
Undead Beast however there were four Swordwraiths, whatever Nomad
and I tried we just couldn't hit them.

Quickly we went back up the stairs and made camp. Since Nomad and
I were heavily damaged from the last fight Gandalf prayed for some
healing spells to cure us and Gothmog memorized all the attack
spells he could, from Magic Missile to Fireball and Ice Storm.

We rested, Gandalf cured us and we went back down the stairs, the
Fireballs and Magic Missiles seemed to have the most effect on the
Swordwraiths and we soon defeated them.

When we examined the corridor we were in we saw that it led north
and had three doors leading west, on the west wall we also found a
plaque with the text 'Pray For The Dead' written on it.

In front of the plaque we found the cleric scroll for Praying and
Gandalf put it in his back pack.  Just as we were deciding which
way to go we were attacked by some more Swordwraiths who came
through one of the west doors.

Luckily Gothmog had enough spells left to kill them so when they
were dead we headed back up the stairs so Gothmog could memorize
his spells again.  Before we went to sleep however Gandalf cast
Create Food and Water on us all so we could save our supplies for
another time.

We went back down the stairs, killed the Swordwraiths and headed
north, at the end of this corridor we could go east or west, to
the east we saw another Swordwraith and behind him some kind of
open crypt, we killed the Swordwraith and closed the Crypt.

Again we headed back up the stairs and made camp, next morning we
went back down again, killed some more Swordwraiths that were
walking around and continued north, at the junction we now headed
west and north.  We came to a small open area and saw another
crypt to the east, of course we closed it, killed an Undead Beast
that sneaked up behind us and went back up the stairs so Gothmog
could memorize his spells.

The crypts that we closed seemed to stop the flow of Swordwraiths
that walked around in this area, we did find a few which we easily
killed and some Undead Beast which took some more time.

In the end we had a clean level, a door without a key, a pit, a
small room with some items and we got trapped in a corridor
between two walls which suddenly appeared, Gandalf reminded us of
the plaque that we saw when we entered this floor so he used the
Prayer scroll we had found and that did the trick, the walls
vanished and we could continue.

The only part of this floor which we couldn't reach was behind the
door, but were could we get a key, after a bit of thinking we
decided to go down the hole we had found.

Once down we were in a small room with stone heads on the walls,
at regular intervals a Fireball appeared from the heads and
splashed against the opposite wall.

We timed it a little and started running around this room to see
if we could find something, and yes we did, first we saw a lever
and after pulling it a transporter appeared, before we entered
however we noticed a key.

We quickly got the key and headed for the transporter, just before
we entered it we were hit by a fireball but we all made it to the
transporter.

We reappeared in a corridor close to the hole we went down and we
headed to the door.  The key fitted and we entered, immediately we
were attacked by some Swordwraiths and an Undead Beast, we did our
best and when our Hit-Points were very low we ran back up the
stairs.

We rested, Gandalf, Nomad and myself cured each other and Gothmog
memorized his attack spells again.  Back down the stairs again and
after killing the Swordwraiths and the Undead Beast we entered the
room.

The only thing we found however was a simple knife, I picked it up
and just as we were planning to leave Nomad noticed a small button
in the south wall, we pushed it and the wall disappeared.  Behind
the wall we saw a lever and a plaque, on the plaque was written
'Fflar, Captain Of Myth Drannor Refused To Accept Defeat'.

The lever however had the shape of a bone and suddenly everything
got clear, since the plaque in the entrance hall said 'Four Bones
Down Will Show The Way' and there were four stairs leading down
and we found this bone shaped lever it meant that we had to push
four bone shaped levers down and then something will happen, but
what........

Anyway we pulled the lever and went back up to the entrance hall.
Next we decided to rest and then go down the first south stairway,
so said so done and next morning we went down the stairs.....

 --------> Down the second stairs and even more trouble <--------

We entered this floor in a small room with an exit to the west, as
we took it we came to T-junction, we decided to go south first.

Soon we came to a crossroad, east led to a small room, south to a
twisting corridor and west into another room.  The whole time we
were being attacked by Swordwraiths which Gothmog killed with his
spells, this meant that we needed a lot of rest so Gothmog could
regain his spells, Gandalf's Create Food and Water spell was very
handy in this situation.

We decided to go into the west room, killed a few Swordwraiths and
soon found a crypt which we closed and this seemed to stop the
flow of Swordwraiths.

We continued west until the corridor led north, we followed it and
when the corridor headed east so did we.  Here we could choose to
go north or continue east, we decided to continue east and just as
we made a few steps a wall appeared in front of us.

At the same time an Undead Beast appeared to our north side and a
few seconds later one to our south side.  Instinctively we turned
to see if we could go back the way we came but no, another Undead
Beast appeared to our west, the only thing to do was to fight.....

Since north and south seemed to be dead ends we focused all our
strength on the Undead Beast to the south, Gothmog cast all his
spells he had left and Gandalf tried to keep us in good shape with
all the healing spells he had.  Just as all seemed lost and our
hit-points were almost drained Nomad got all his strength together
and delivered his final blow to the Undead Beast ....  The Beast
stood there, looking a bit dazed, as if it didn't knew what had
happened, it all took maybe a few seconds but it seemed like
years, and then the Beast collapsed.

We quickly ran into the west corridor and from there into the one
leading north, the two remaining Undead Beast followed us.  We
entered into a small room with an exit leading east, we headed
through the east door into another small room.

As we turned around we saw that only one Undead Beast could keep
up with us, since our hit-points were very low we had to make sure
we weren't hit, so Nomad and I attacked the Undead Beast, we all
took a few steps away from it and we attacked again.

This kind of tactic worked great and we soon had the Undead Beast
killed, we went east back into the other room and here we found
the third and last Undead Beast waiting for us, we quickly took
care of him and set up camp.

Next morning we went back to the crossroads and headed south
through a twisting corridor, we came into a large room with a
plaque on the south wall, written on it was 'Not All Need Weight'.

To the west was a corridor with five pressure pads in the floor,
at the end of this corridor was a head that spat fire towards
us when we stepped on certain pressure pads, it took us a whole
afternoon but in the end we figured out that we had to put an item
on the second, third and fifth pressure pad.

We now could safely walk past the head and we headed north, in
this area we first saw a removable wall to the east with a key and
a cursed sword behind it, we took the key and continued.

This area was full of Swordwraiths and a few Undead Beasts but we
took care of them, in the end we found a door that needed the key
we just found for opening.

We opened the door, killed four Swordwraiths and two Undead Beasts
and entered the room that was behind the door.  Here we found
another sword and a removable wall, behind the wall was a plaque
saying 'Spirit Full Of Unrest', and a lever in the shape of a
bone.

We pulled the lever and headed back up into the entrance hall, not
forgetting to pick up our items we left on the pressure pads.

In the entrance hall we went to the second northern stairs and we
descended to go......

   --------> Down the third stairs and guess what? <--------

We entered into a small room with a few Swordwraiths and a potion
of strength to the west, we killed the Swordwraiths and Gandalf
took the potion.

We followed the corridor and after a few turns and rooms we came
to a plaque with the text 'Heads Up' on it and a pressure pad
underneath it.

Since we had to stand on the pad to read the plaque we had
activated a mechanism which moved a wall full of spikes towards us
from a corridor to the west.

Halfway along this corridor Gothmog spotted a lever and as fast as
we could we ran to this lever and pulled it.  The moving wall
headed back west and we followed it only to come to yet another
room.

We left this room to the east and came into a corridor leading
north, here there were two corridors leading west.  We entered the
first one and came out in the second one, we tried again but this
time we entered the second corridor .... and, yes, we came out in
the first corridor.

It seemed there was some kind of transporter at work here, we
checked all the walls hoping to find some kind of on/off switch
but we didn't find anything.  It seemed that we had missed
something on this level but what...?  We decided to head back to
the stairs and examine all the walls very carefully.

We headed south and just as we wanted to turn west into the last
room we entered, Nomad saw a little button on the south wall, he
pushed it and behind it we found a lever.

First Nomad tried to pull it but he wasn't strong enough, next was
my turn but I also wasn't strong enough.  Gandalf suggested that
one of us could maybe use the strength potion we had found
earlier.  Since Nomad found this lever he was the one to use the
potion, with this extra strength Nomad easily pulled the lever and
we headed back to the first corridor with the transporter in it.

As we entered we were attacked by an Undead Beast which after
being killed left a key behind.  At the end of this corridor we
were attack by a Swordwraith from the second corridor, we easily
killed it and enter through the door to the west.

We first headed south, killed about ten Swordwraiths and we
searched the room and its corridors.  In the first one we found a
scroll of fire resistance which exploded as we tried to pick it
up, in the second we found a wand which could cast a wall of
force, and the third corridor led to a room with some items.

We headed back north and soon came to a door which required a key,
we used the key the Undead Beast left behind and the door opened.
Behind this door we found another removable wall with a bone lever
and a plaque behind it.

The plaque said 'Sealed Downstairs Until Defeat Is Brought To Him'
and we pulled the lever.  Well, that was all we could do here and
we went back up to the entrance hall and down the last north
stairs.

  --------> Down the fourth stairs and...well you know <--------

We entered again a small room with some Swordwraiths, we killed
them and found a scroll of protection from paralysis behind a
south door.  To the north/east there were three levers, when we
pulled them the wall north of the lever disappeared, here we found
two more levers and a plaque saying 'The Sceptre, Learned, Physic
Must All Follow This And Come To Dust'.  When we pulled these two
levers nothing happened, we went back to the first three levers
and we set them back in there original position, now we tried to
pull only one and then one of the other two levers.

Well it took a while but in the end we had the combination, if you
look at the map you'll see that we have numbered the levers from 1
to 9, the combination we discovered was 2-4-7-9-7-4-5-6-8-6 and a
corridor leading north appeared.

We entered this corridor and followed it past two empty rooms into
a room with three more exits, this place was infested with
Swordwraiths so we first had to find an open Crypt.

We thought that we saw most of the Swordwraith coming from the
south so we fought our way south as far as we could, then we
retreated and rested, and headed back to the room and again fought
our way south.  In the end we found the Crypt in a small alcove to
the east and we closed it.  We headed back north to the room and
headed east into another room.  As soon as we tried to enter this
room we stepped on a trap and some Swordwraiths and Undead Beasts
appeared behind us, we took care of them and we entered the room.

There were two doors, one leading north and the other south, of
course there were some Swordwraiths behind the doors and after
killing them we examined the rooms.  The south one was empty but
in the north one we found a small button on the north wall, I
pushed it and the wall vanished, behind the wall we found another
key which Gandalf took.

We headed back into the entrance room, again activating the trap,
and we headed south again, we passed the Crypt and came to another
room, as we were exploring this room we fell into a pit, after the
shock we examined the pit and we found a transporter that
transported us back to the entrance hall.

We quickly headed back down the stairs and to the room with the
pit.  We avoided it this time and headed west, we entered a
corridor leading south/west and came to a door which needed the
key we found earlier.

We opened the door, killed the monsters and found another hidden
button, we pushed the button and a plaque and a bone lever
appeared.

On the plaque was written 'Time Has Robbed Him Of His Name'.  We
pulled the lever and headed back up to the entrance hall.  As we
entered we were immediately attacked by an Undead Beast, we killed
it and examined the entrance hall, nothing had happened!  We must
have missed some thing, but what ....... well it took a while but
Gandalf, being the smartest of us, came with the answer, 'The
plaque in the entrance hall,' he said 'has written on it Four
Bones Down, did we pull all the levers down???'

'Of course we did, but we can check them if you want to,' I
replied, and so we did, we went back down all four of the floors
and Gandalf was right, we didn't pull them all down, we did it
right this time and when we re-entered the entrance hall after the
last lever a wall had vanished to the east and behind it we found
two more stairs.

We decided to enter down the north one first and so we did...

   --------> Two more stairs, the south one first <--------

We descended into a long corridor, and were immediately attacked
by some Shadows, we easily killed them, even with our bad weapons.

We followed the corridor, past an empty room, into a large room
with a plaque and a pressure pad.  On the plaque was this written
'For Each Path That May Be Taken Another Surely Shall Be Given'.
We stepped on the pressure pad and west of us a wall disappeared
and we could enter a corridor.

In total there were three corridors, they were full of Shadows and
Wights, the Shadows were no problem but the Wights were, they were
able to drain one level from any one of us.  The best cure against
them was fireballs and magic arrows.  In each corridor we found a
Rod Fragment which Gandalf put in his back pack.  With this
fragment we went back to the pressure pad and we stepped on it to
open another corridor, this didn't always work and we sometimes
had to leave this room, passing the plaque, and then re-enter it
and step on the pressure pad.

In the end however we had three Rod Fragments, some extra food,
potion, scrolls and a trident, since we had explored everything we
left this floor and we went back up to the entrance hall.  The
only thing left to do was going down the last staircase, the north
one to be precise.

        --------> The last staircase ????? <--------

As we descended we came into a small room with a crypt and three
more stairs leading down.  We decided to take the east stairs
first, as soon as we entered this new floor we were attacked by a
Shadow, but he formed no problem.

@~To be continued next issue.

                              - o -