Let Sleeping Beholders Lie

Finally reaching the center of the jungle, the party came upon a circular grassland free of the dense trees and brush that had so far hampered their travels. Dominating the center of clearing, a stone temple rose fifty feet or more toward the sky. Krond estimated the age of the temple at between 250 and 300 years old. Since the party could find no evidence of an entrance around the base of the structure, the druid took to flight, searching for an egress amid the higher levels of the temple. 

Discovering only an active nest of some large avian creatures and that the party was being stalked by a pair of displacer beasts, Mirri returned to the party just in time to get a lesson of military history from the barbarian. As the party wandered around the clearing trying to decide their next move, they felt an odd depression in a section of the grass. After the druid called upon her prodigious power over all things natural to mow that particular section of lawn, Alistar took to digging at the spot. That is, until he caught a whiff of a flammable gas rising from the hole he was excavating.

With a strike of flint, the fighter tossed a lit rag into the hole. After the massive explosion tore open the hidden stone doors and knocked Alistar on his ass in the bargain, the party entered the temple’s underground entrance.

In the entry hall, the party found the key to a locked door barring their way after the cleric turned several attacking zombies to dust. Further down a cramped tunnel, the party came upon a giant crayfish and its minion, commanded by some unknown power to stand as guardians of the temple. Locked within the pincers of the large monster, Alistar was able to communicate with the spirit possessing the crayfish and convince the monster to allow the party to pass.

Climbing stairs to the next level of the temple, the party entered a long corridor. Set into the stone walls were the sculptures of four snake heads. Drawn to a glint of gold shining within the mouth of one of the heads, Krond found himself trapped, his arm clamped up to the elbow by the snake’s jaws. After the party defeated the animated snakes and released the dwarf from his predicament (along with the prize of a Necklace of Hold Person 3 charges), the party decided to brave a side tunnel before continuing down the main corridor.

After combatting several wights in the close quarters of the narrow tunnel, the party came to a dead end wall complete with the stone figure of a temple worshiper holding a ceremonial tray. After tinkering with the statute to no avail, the party retraced its steps to the main corridor which ld them to a large circular room whose vaulted ceiling was shrouded in shadows. Completely surrounding the room, in a band about 3 feet from the floor, a series of runes had been carved into the stone. The series consisted of five runes repeated five times. Examining the runes, Mirri decided the carvings represented a binding spell. But binding what? At that point, the party looked up to the ceiling and found themselves dead center beneath a large beholder, so far oblivious to their presence. Tiptoeing across the stone floor, the party exited the room through the open entrance on the far wall.

Climbing a steep circular staircase which the party surmised put them atop the beholder’s chamber, the party faced a hexagonally shaped room, the center of which was covered in a pool of muck and garish water of uncertain depth. The only way around the room seemed to be a narrow walkway set into the either side wall. 

Frustrated by the party’s bickering over how best to cross the room, Alistar stepped onto the ledge, calling over his shoulder for the party to follow his lead. And with his next step, the fighter toppled face first into the muck. 

As Alistar climbed to his feet, knee deep in slime and gunk, four filth zombies rose from the pool, alerted to the party’s presence by the the disturbance of their resting place. Once again, Krond the cleric stepped forward to meet the undead. As the zombies struggled to flee the dwarf’s divine magic, the party hustled through the water and up to the next level of the temple.

And found themselves in an empty room, devoid of any other exit besides the one behind them. The only other feature of the plain square room was a stone basin sitting atop a thick pedestal and holding a volume of clear blue water. The druid translated the strange runes craved into the rim of the basin as the fighter tasted the water, amazed that no matter how much water was drawn from the basin, it remained full to the brim.

Sure that the runes must be touched in a proper sequence to trigger its intended magic, the party pitted their wits against the unknown creator of the puzzle. Two unsuccessful attempts at deciphering the puzzle led to a battle with an elemental formed from the basin’s water. As the battle with the second elemental raged on, the party figured out the key word to the trap: ADMIT.