Paul DMing; Scott: Smudge (shadar-kai rogue 8 / barbarian 2) and Martin (duergar cleric 10); Dane: Tudo Fleck (dwarf cleric 10); Jake: Draxx Sklounst (human rogue 10); Sophie: Dill (hobgoblin sorcerer 10) and Scruffly (talking goat familiar).
Still in the basement of the wizard's tower after last time, Martin casts Leomond's Tiny Hut and everyone takes a long rest filled strange dreams. In the morning, several lesser restorations reverse most of the damage (lost teeth, stinkiness, incontinence) caused by drinking strange colored liquids yesterday.
Leaving the wizard's tower, the party hears a magic mouth says in Caclidius's voice "that rotten apprentice, Shaheduzzaman, went left and up the ladder."
The adventurers double back through the arena to get their hangers on (the magic dowsers) at the top of the stairs leading into the Bile Bowl area. A young apeman messenger has joined the group. He says that the maps of the underground are missing from the royal archives, but there are recorded legends of an apemen royal castle that sank below the city a thousand years ago.
The party writes up a summary of their activities and sends it back to King Ootherion with the apeman messenger.
There are two groups of apeman dowsers, one of perhaps trustworthy academics and another of thugs that the party has never trusted.
Martin banishes the biggest of the suspicious dowsers. Draxx interrogates the remaining two suspicious dowsers. Draxx tries to intimidate one of the remaining two, but fails. Smudge waives his rapier threateningly. The other bad dowser drops back and holds a knife to the throat of one of the academic dowsers. Smudge commands that dowser to "flee".
The hostage taker flees through the door to the east (which no one had opened yet) and a huge stone block crushes him. One apeman foot (the left) sticks out from beneath the block.
The bad dowser that they were trying to intimidate draws his falcion and swings at Smudge, missing. Smudge disembowels him with his rapier.
With his two friends dead, Draxx successfully intimidates the remaining suspicious dowser apeman. He says the court philosopher [Metrodorus?] hired them to spy on the party and report what they found. They tie up the apeman.
The party goes back to the demon room, then back to the (dead) grell room, then to the southern cave in. Smudge discovers that there's a concealed door disguised to look like fallen rocks.
Smudge finds a hole in the floor with a ladder leading down to the Bile Bowl level.
The party follows the tunnel down to the opening of a huge cavern. The bottom of the cavern is filled with rubble. A parapet sticks out of the rubble. Some type of humanoids are working with picks and shovels in inky dimness of the rubble below.
Tudo finds a loose flagstone in the lantern storage room that contains a small book. Dill reads that these are goblin love poems — drafts written to "Kloadia".
They knock out the captive suspicious dowser and leave him in the tunnels.
The party goes back to the cavern and plan how the get to the parapet without being seen.
Smudge sneaks down the wood scaffolding and around the perimeter of the cavern to the tower sticking out of the rubble. He teleports to the top of tower and makes his way inside.
Three goatmen work inside, piling rubble in bins. Each has an iron ball and chain locked to their ankles.
Smudge rejoins the party at the top of the scaffolding.
Enemies defeated: suspicious apemen dowsers
Treasure: manuscript of goblin love poems ("To Kloadia")
