CotMA - Episode 7

A few exciting things happened during this foray into the dungeon.  This trip, the party was Oryx, Owyn, Hanuman, Xavier, Kalen, Rolf and two newcomers the dwarf, Therin and the human fighter, Trey.  (These last two adventurers were played by my grandson, Matt!)

• The basilisk has apparently gone back into hiding; no new evidence of it was found on this trip
• The party re-entered the room of the three doors.  The discussed their options and based upon Kalen's detect magic spell, they decided to open the "Heaven can Wait" door.  Upon opening, the golden keys in the other doors disappeared.  A bluish gas erupted from the doorway and Oryx, Therin and Trey all got a lung full.  Owyn managed to dodge out of the way.  The gas didn't harm anyone, in fact, they felt somewhat bolstered by its effects.
• In the hall, the party attacked and defeated two giant scorpions.  They cut off and saved the two stingers in the hopes of using the venom against their enemies.  The paladin has mixed feelings about this...
• The heroes encountered an evil altar.  Two magical and fully articulated dragon heads - one blue and one red - made up both sides of the pedestal.  Owyn approached the altar and the hair on his arms began to stand up (static electricity?).  It radiated two flavors of evil... Lawful and Chaotic...  Owyn and Oryx decided that they would plug the mouths of the two heads with torches simultaneously... BUT WHY?  The blue head had two large sapphire eyes and the red head has two large ruby eyes...  The succeeded in plugging the mouths, but the two heads erupted with lightning and fire.  Oryx and Owyn took some damage but were able to escape the room before the full fury erupted.  Once it ended, the party was able to steal the two sapphires and one ruby before the altar began to recharge...
• The party encountered a group of four zombies all dressed like shabby, tatty manservants with backpacks.  They were easily turned by Xavier.
• The party discovered and attacked three giant toads, each of a different color.  At one point, Owyn's shield was pulled off his arm by the sticky tongue of a toad and swallowed immediately.  Upon defeating the toads, Owyn was able to extricate his shield from the beasts gut.
• The party discovered a strange "City in a Bottle".  The city was complete with a miniature sun and clouds, a miniature ocean and apparently thousands of inhabitants if Owyn's "detect evil" can be trusted.  The party couldn't find a way to unstopper the bottle (or remove the bottle from it's pedestal) so they left it behind... for now.
• Near the end of their excursion, the party came upon the "Grinning Skull" orcs.  They were quickly defeated with the use of a well-timed sleep spell.  The remaining orcs ran from the party.  After looting their lair, the party discovered a new stair well that led further down in to the depths.
• The party also discovered a new way back to the "Xanathar" pedestal room since the original path was collapsed from the earthquake.