We climb to the top of the pyramid to rest for the night.
While on watch Bael and Rob see the apes jumping around again, but note that none of them come to the sides of the buildings facing the pyramid.  On Amber’s watch she sees a figure scale the other pyramid. Just before dawn a flock of bats fly away from it, but no sign of the human.
Isis attempts to heal the sick, but something prevents Morgan from feeling any benefit. He looks ruefully at the empty potion bottle in his hand then flings it over the back of the pyramid with a curse.

We decide to scale the larger pyramid. As we climb the stairs we see that there are streaks of old, dried blood down them and as we approach the top we see the blood stains become more widespread until they cover the top few steps.  At the top, there is an altar totally discoloured with dried blood – what sort of people lived here!!
This pyramid has no pit in the centre but it does have the same low structure with three ‘rooms’ we explore and begin to search for secret doors. Eventually, a trapdoor is found in the middle room. No one is too keen to explore this one just yet and then Bael ponders if there might be a similar one in the smaller pyramid. We rush back to check.

Indeed, another trapdoor is located. Everyone is feeling a bit braver so we open it. Handholds descend into the darkness. Minerva goes first and we follow in single file…
The handholds lead to a short set of stairs and a winding passage that takes us further into the pyramid. Eventually we get to a corridor with some archways. Something glints in the first one. Closer inspection shows it to be a glass vial in the hand of a skeleton. It’s other hand hold a stained dagger. Other skeletons sit around the edge of the small room.
Another archway is bit further down the passage. In there are more skeletons and a pile of hammers and chisels and other stoneworking tools.
A third archway has even more skeletons.
We surmise that these might be the original constructors of the pyramid, trapped so as not to reveal it’s secrets. Morgan checks and some have evidence of stab wounds and the stained dagger proves to be marked with dried blood.
The passage continues past a pair of hideous, demonic statues in niches, and then another pair. Minerva is made of stern stuff and her stoic attitude gives heart to the others. After the four demonic statues, there are a pair of statues of lion headed women with spears. The passage ends at a room with a sunken floor and a pool of acrid smelling liquid.

A copper coin confirm that it is acid. We are stuck. Amber considers using the statues to create stepping stones and tells Morgan to shift the first one. It moves and reveals a small passage behind it at the back of the niche. We shove Rob down there with Minerva’s sword of continual light. He finds a long, narrow room with sand on the floor and a mirrored wall at the far end.  He sees himself receding into the distance – the wall he entered through is also mirrored.
The sand proves to be about 2 inches deep. Rob brushes it away to check for traps as he advances. He makes his way to the far end without mishap, and indeed with any indication of another exit from this room.

Some planning discussion was had as everyone expected something pretty nasty to come up out of the sarcophagus when opened. Varys remembered that he had an old scroll with an incantation to ward off undead creatures. He would hold it ready…
Bael promised to sing Morgan’s favourite song to give him courage.
The lid was removed and lo and behold, a skeletal form in ragged bandages rose… It wore golden bracers and pectoral and held a black staff with golden tips. It strikes at Morgan and hits – flashes of blue electricity seem to erupt from the tip of the staff!!
The troops rally at the sound of Bael’s song – Morgan and Minerva land some hefty hits and the skeleton soon crumbles. Relief all round!
We grab the golden loot, pleased at last that our adventure to this strange island is bearing fruit. Varys examines the staff and reasons that the skeleton cast no spell to use it so it must be usable by anyone. He gives it to Isis.

We move on to another part of the pyramid tunnels and find another sarcophagus. Everyone adopts the same plan of attack. This time, as soon as the lid is touched a black form rises *through* the lid. There is mild panic. It swipes at Minerva but luckily misses. Varys casts his protection spell and everyone huddles around him. We back away but it simply follows. Amber remembers that she had a magical dagger and proceeds to throw it at the wraith. We then advance to pick the dagger up again and Amber throws. Rinse and repeat – it doesn’t last long. Or potentially gives up through boredom. Either way, we find some shiny chain mail (which Minerva takes), a potion of healing and some very smart looking arrows.
While the spell is still active we check out the final passage which leads to yet another tomb. In it is a mummified creature. It rises as expected but is held at bay by Varys’ spell. Minerva, Isis and Amber light torches and throw them in an attempt to get it burning, but with little joy. There is a noticeable shiver and then a ‘pop’ sound – the spell has worn off…
Bael immediately strikes a chord and Morgan and Minerva start to swing. Isis brandishes the new staff which seems to generate the blue flashes when she manages to connect and Amber throws her dagger about.
The mummy is a tough old bird, but eventually she goes down. It is worth it however – the sarcophagus is full of treasure!!

After a rest, we search for secret doors – one is found a the back of the wraith’s tomb and it leads to the great pit that we found on the top of the pyramid. There are no other passages leading off at this level. A torch is lowered and it illuminates the floor before burning through the rope. The bottom of the pit is sandy and about 30 feet below us.

We enter the cave, which has clearly been mined, rather than being natural. It turns out to be a tunnel and we march onward. There are no markings or primitive paintings on the walls.
We continue northwards, the landscape becoming drier and scrubbier, and find another tunnel. This one is blocked, seemingly due to a roof fall. Although the ‘rubble’ turns out to be a pile of skulls. Slightly freaked by this we decide to go the long way round and climb over the ridge the tunnel is passing through.
From the top of the ridge we see another valley. Scanning the horizon we see caves to the east.
Bael is hungry for some action and proposes we investigate the caves. No one has a better plan so we head off. We attempt to stick to the high ground, but a narrow river valley crosses our path. On getting closer to the caves we see one has the telltale large stakes/spikes to fend off dinos.
The plan is to do the same as with the last tribe – make out we are a godly pantheon. Morgan suggests approaching in a circle formation looks more godly.
Someone must have spotted us because an eerie ululation echoes across the valley, we continue with Bael strumming Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
Morgan and Minerva lead the advance, and once we are about 50 yards away a volley of spears flies at them from the 5 hairy neandethals. Varys casts Sleep and several go down, the others howl louder and fling more spears. Morgan is hit! Tis but a flesh wound (but it stings!!)
More neandethals appear at the cave entrance and Varys casts another Sleep spell. Three hairy fellows are left standing and then don’t look remotely cowed by the POWAH of Varys the Nervous. He starts to feel nervous and casts Web, just to show them who’s boss.
The web does it’s job and prevents further spear attack. We break through the thorn barricade and awaken a sleeping form in an attempt to appear to be restoring them back to life. But their undeveloped minds could not comprehend the awesome power that we Gods wield, and the ungrateful fellow attempted to bite Morgan’s fingers. So he punched his lights out. We decide to cut our losses and retreat.
Heading north on the road again we just miss getting squished by a huge boulder rolling down the hillside. Some of the locals are just ungrateful.
As the velvet dusk spreads her fingers across the valley we emerge into a huge bowl, around 10 miles across and the road leads into a seemingly abandoned city. Another road heads west out of the bowl, but there could be rich pickings here..!
While there is no city wall, there is a gateway and we investigate one of the towers next to it. On the second floor we encounter an enraged ape-like creature. Bael plays some power chords to inspire the two fighters and they make pretty short work of it. The rest of the tower seems clear, so we camp for the night.

For a while, the road follows a valley, eventually it turns off to the west, but the road continues straight into a cave in the hillside. And at the cave entrance is another post with a skull sitting atop.

At the tar pits.
Decide to head to centre of island to investigate legend of treasures…
Heal up then head north away from swamp.
We pass a herd of stegasaurus.
Reach the remains of a huge road going east west. As we investigate we are attacked by two giant lizards. We eat lizards steaks for dinner and camp in a giant crack in the road. Next day we follow the road east. Reach a lake and a junction with other roads. We head north…

The party return to the lizard man lair without incident and the acolyte is welcomed warmly. They leave for the croc’s pool with warnings about the obvious madness of the reptile ringing in their ears.
During the march to the hill spur Rob and Amber discuss ways to lure the beast from its abode. Eventually they agree on Rob’s suggestion to use a sheep and take a detour to rustle one from the lowly shepherd previously met.

Morgan is appointed as bait setter and he leads the unfortunate even-toed ungulate towards the pool. It is tethered to a stake with enough rope so that it can approach the pool to drink. Just as Morgan finishes his round turn and two half hitches there is an explosion from the water’s edge. A LARGE (no, bigger than that!) a MASSIVE crocodile bursts from the water and snaps towards its prey. Morgan retreats and Amber, Bael and Minerva all loose arrows. Varys casts Magic Missile and then steps back, taking no further part in the action.

Isis casts ‘Invisibility to Animals’ on Morgan and Rob in the hope that they can creep closer to the behemoth and deal some extra damage. Precise details of the battle are hazy, fog of war and all that, but it seems that Bael’s playing must have been slightly off key as Morgan didn’t have such a successful combat encounter. Minerva, however, did a good job and soon the beast is down.

As everyone pauses to take a breath and consider bag, belt and shoe designs more trouble appears. A large, odd looking reptile appears from the pool. It has spiky sides and emanates heat… Isis throws javelins, Amber fires arrows, Morgan swings his sword (ineffectually again!). Minerva again does a decent job and scores a couple of hits. In one attack, Morgan’s sword slides across the beast’s scales and he stumbles into it’s flank. He jumps back, badly burnt. This beast seems to be too powerful for our plucky band of heroes and there are mutterings of retreat. However, Minerva strikes another blow and the monster looks shaken. Morgan charges in a do-or-die attempt to finish it and he strikes!!! The reptile is felled and everyone feels better.

Bael suspects this is a sub-species of dragon, and everyone knows that dragons have treasure. So, they go to search for a lair. Hidden in a glade of trees on the far side of the pool they find a stash of treasure. Coins, a necklace a potion, a sword, a staff and a scroll. They return to the lizardmen with the head of the croc and the dragon and are welcomed by Old Lizard. He recognises the dragon and says it is known that these can control other lizards and this must be why the crocodile had gone mad. Morgan offers the coins as a further peace offering, for which Old Lizard is truly grateful.

Our heroes spend a few days resting and recovering at the lair, and in doing so they find that they are all feeling stronger, tougher and able to cast more spells.

Discussion with Old Lizard continues.

Bael and Amber make it clear that they wish to make amends for the battle in the cave earlier. They learn more of the Sarhaugin. The lizard men have been driven from their lair on an isle to the south west in the kingdom of Irendi. It’s a few days sail away and Bael questions if the Sarhaugin would attack the realms of man as well. Old Lizard nods, saying they revel in death and destruction. The lizardmen have been attempting to forge alliances with other undersea races. However, it seems that the emissaries from one race were the little blue goblin geezers – he doesn’t think an alliance will be forged there! Dolphin boy speaks with Old Lizard in a language no one else understands, but it seems he is willing to return to his tribe and garner support for the campaign.

Old Lizard mentions that the high priest, who hates humans anyway, is more angry than usual as his sacred snake and one of his acolytes have been slain. In a more immediate effort to forge friendship Bael and Amber suggest that the acolyte might not be dead and they might be able to return him. Old Lizard thinks this might help a bit. They also suggest that they might be able to supply some weapons, seeing as Snake Eyes bugged out on his deal. Lastly, Old Lizard mentions that a giant crocodile living nearby, normally worshipped by the lizardmen, seems to have gone mad and attacked a lizardman patrol. They cannot kill a sacred beast themselves, but the party could and should do it.

Before leaving for Sulescu, Old Lizard says that one party member must remain as security. Bael volunteers and the rest return to see Sir Marcus.

Sir Marcus is interested to hear the tale, and is pleased with the negotiations of Bael and Amber. He is happy to release the acolyte and the weapons stash that was impounded. They were poor quality blades anyway. He has heard of the Sarhaugin and is not happy to think of them establishing so close to Karameikos. He also agrees that trade links could and should be forged with the lizard men to help cement peace.

The next morning the party are summoned to see Sir Marcus. It seems that he has found someone who speaks the lizard tongue. However, it seems that the priest doesn’t want to say much beyond hurling curses.
It is decided that they will head back out and this time explore the sea-cave.

Following an uneventful journey, anchor is dropped and the jolly boat rowed toward the cave. Isis’ lizardy friends are following. The cave entrance is very low but within it opens out into a wide circular cave, similar to the big muddy one.
Our heroes make landfall at a ledge on the backwall and Amber and Rob sneak down a short passage from which a faint light source is seen. It seems that the lizardmen are alert to the arrival of their ‘guests’ and soon a pitched battle is raging on the ledge. Morgan and Minerva are facing lizardmen coming down the corridor, while Dolphinboy and Amber handle some odd blue goblin-type creatures who attempt to flank the party from the rear. Varys makes his contribution by casting Sleep at the blue goblins and then ponders on cave formations and other geological oddities.
Battle rages, and it takes a turn for the worse when some kind of giant eel with some sub-species of lizardman riding it’s back. They hurl javelins and Varys is grabbed by the ankle and dragged underwater.
Isis manages to bring one of the lizards to bear on teh blue goblins but they are not really fighting lizards and do little damage.
The party is gradually worn down and Morgan falls in battle. Amber is enraged and fires off two arrows at the lizardman leader. He takes heavy damage and the remaining lizardmen flee back into the room they emerged from.
The blue goblins have been defeated, however more lizardmen have appeared behind them. And Isis has gone down too. The other lizard stands over the body of it’s fallen friend to defend her body and there seems to be something of a stalemate.
Those still standing elect to exit the cave ledge down the corridor. Some passage exploring is done but nothing of much interest is found although Rob manages to break his lock picks on one stubborn door.
Turning one last corner the party spy another group of lizardmen, this one containing an old, stooping lizardman. It speaks in common asking the party to lay down their weapons and come to talk. With little option everyone sheathes and walks with the old geezer.
He asks Bael and Amber why they attacked his people at the side door and the mud cave. Bael explains that they were chasing a renowned smuggler and on his ship was a chart of the area west of Sulescu with a big ‘X’ marking this area. When they came to investigate and entered the cave system they were attacked. The old lizard asks after Snake Eyes and Amber says he seemed to have abandoned his boat. Bael asks what they were expecting, and then asks why they were buying weapons. Old Lizard says the lizardmen are waging war against their mortal enemies, the Sahaugin, who have driven them from their former home and forced them to take refuge in this old, long since abandoned cave system, Bael points out that when rumours start of lizardmen tooling up for war so near to the realm of men they should expect interest. Old Lizard shrugs…
Bael ponders on when and how to use his Persuade powers. Some healing wouldn’t go amiss…

The party make it back to Isis and the lizards. As everyone wades through the mud to the bright light of freedom several lizardmen appear on the other side of the cave and lob a couple of javelins. None of them hit, but one squeaks as it is hit by returning fire.
Another lizard man starts some sort of chanting and the third giant lizard leaves its ledge and advances menacingly. Bael does a poor job of fighting it, luckily Morgan is able to step in and swing his big macho sword.
Once the party make it outside they are able to gain firmer ground and escape to their hidden rowboat. Isis’ friendly lizards don’t want to be left behind and swim out to the boat. They climb the anchor line and are bedded down in the hold.

On returning to Sulescu Varys says he will stay aboard and search for the spellbook of the dead mage. The others take the captive lizardman to see Sir Marcus.
No progress is made in communicating with the lizardman. Lord Thingy is interested to hear the report from Bael but doesn’t really offer any more help or instructions. After some discussion all agree to go back to the caves and kill more lizardmen.
Meanwhile, Varys has has little success in searching the ship and has even hired a shipwright to help search for hidden compartments. No joy. In despair he nervously goes to see his old mentor, Alyotic Greystaff, to seek help.
She agrees, for a fee, to accompany him on-board as cast Detect Magic to see if anything can be found.
They scoot around the ship and eventually she notices some glowing coming from the broken remains of the chest that are now in the galley – seems there was a secret compartment in the chest lid. Within, Varys finds a spellbook and a scroll tube. Alyotic is pleased and will take copies of spells as payment for her work.

The scouting party decides there are no look outs and return to the ship. Anchor is dropped in the same place and this time Will and Tom are left to guard the ship. The rowboat is hidden in the reeds as before.
This time the party taken a northerly fork on the path through the marsh. In time it leads between two spurs of the hill. Large animal footprints are seen in the mud. Eventually the path leads to a cave entrance in the hillside.
Our heroes decide to sit and watch for a while and thus strike out for higher ground. Hidden behind a few bushes they watch and see a giant lizard eventually emerge and disappear into the marsh. 20 mins later it returns with a frog leg dangling from its mouth.
Rob is lowered on a rope in order to view the inside of the cave. unfortunately it is too dark compared to the bright outside and he cannot see much. Meanwhile, Isis is considering whether she can add the lizard as a Friend on DruidBook. She takes Minerva and DolphinBoy and they hunt for a giant frog.
Shortly she returns with the frog and approaches the cave entrance. The lizard spots her and she starts to chant. Within seconds it is transfixed, the chanting continues and ends when Isis gives the frog as a gift. It seems the lizard has accepted the friend request!
The rest of the party descend and enter the cave – two more lizards are resting there and don’t appreciate the interruption. More frogs are caught and Isis makes another friend.
Within the cave are two passages. The party head towards the north one. The lizards are too large to enter so Isis sits with them while the others explore.

Amber and Rob lead the way, they find a door slightly ajar. On the other side is the sound of clinking armour and lizardy voices. Amber thinks that there is a large party of foes so the party elect to move on. Several rooms/cells are found, each with a bed and a chest. Each chest contains a statuette, a few electrum pieces and there are one or two vials of oil. Another room contains a metal chest and has wooden masks of crocodile and snake heads hanging on the wall. Again, the party moves on. Eventually a door is found where chanting is heard. It seems that one voice is leading others in prayer. The party return to the mask room as it had another exit. A short passage ends at a curtain which covers one side of a large room. Through a slit in the curtain Amber can see an altar with a single lizardman praying.

Varys steps up to the curtain and casts Sleep – the figure slumps. Rob and Amber dart in to retrieve the prisoner – it will be taken back to Sulescu for questioning. However, as they drag the figure back towards the curtain a giant snake emerges from the altar. It bites Amber and she falls to the floor. Morgan, followed by Bael, rush out to help. Bael strikes a chord and Morgan swings his sword. They rock out! Rob is distracted by the power of the twiddly bits in Bael’s riffs and is bitten by the snake. Morgan is digging the groove and swings for MASSIVE DAMAGE! In three strikes the snake is dead! The sleeping lizardman (plus staff) and the two poisoned thieves are dragged behind the curtain. The lizardman is bound and gagged and the party attempt to return to Isis and outside.