The Drow’s Bane make their way toward the eastern door from the circular room with Bane’s statue. They open the door and can see a long hallway with a blood red rug that runs along the floor all the way to a few steps leading to an upside down door at the other end. Naismith notices a similar blood red rug running along the ceiling of the hallway, a mirror image of the rug along the floor. He steps onto the rug and with his second step, he is yanked up to the ceiling upside down. He takes a third step and comes crashing down to the ground however lands perfectly like a graceful cat; unfortunately, he still feels the impact to his body but not enough to do damage, yet. Nong sees this and leaps up on the wall carrying a rope and runs down it to the upside down door; he arrives, ties the rope to the door’s handle and beckons the others to climb their way down. Naimsith makes it down the hallway and realizes his legs are about to give out on him from the consistent impact, while Mordrock clicks his heels, picks up Royce, and flies down the hallway.
The party passes an adjoining hallway that leads south on their way to the upside down door. No matter what they try, they cannot get the upside down door to open. They give up and make their way down the adjoining south hallway to a door. Behind this door is a room of finely upholstered love seats, chaise lounges and bookshelves, a warm fireplace and 3 figures slumped over in their chairs: one dressed in full plate mail, two others in courtly attire. The one individual dressed in plate mail and looking dead for quite a long time has a book on his lap. Naismith slips the book out of the dead individual’s lap with Mage Hand and brings it to the party; it is the diary of Sir Michael Scott an officer to Lord Kaladar. The journal describes how Lord Kaladar began a descent into wickedness after his son’s death, first cursing Lathander then stabbing a scribe dead with his dagger. Next, strangers arrived at Fort Morninglord to conduct a ritual which appeared to Sir Michael as evil magic; then the diary abruptly ends with the last page covered in blood stains.
Mordrock moves into the room to examine the bookshelf when suddenly the party hears a stir as all 3 dead come alive and attack! The undead in full plate mail, most likely Sir Michael, is tough to take down but eventually the party takes care of them all. The last words out of Sir Michael are, “I am freeeeee.”
Mordrock continues to the bookshelf and examines it; he finds many books on nature, urban policy, religion and rules of the court; nothing appears magical. Nong confirms the dates in the diary match the dates in the cultist journal he found earlier. The party travels back to the statue room and heads west.
Along the west hallway is a similar configuration: a red rug on the floor and ceiling running down to a door; another adjoining hallway mid-way, appears to open up northbound. The door at the end of the west hallway is not upside down, however the gallery of beautifully framed portraits of kings, queens and heads of state along the walls of the hallway are upside down, including the wall sconces. Naismith turns into a bat, Nong runs along the walls and Mordrock and Royce fly down the hallway making their way up the northbound adjoining hallway leading to a massive set of wooden double doors; the cast iron fittings on the doors appear twisted and gnarled.
One of the wooden doors is ajar and Nong peeks into the room. He sees the room is a dining room with four large tables forming a rectangle in the middle. A great feast sits upon the table and numerous dead slouch in various positions around the table; some slumped back, others on the floor holding their throats with one of them, face first in its soup bowl. Nong sees the room contains an exit northbound into a hallway and a set of ascending stairs exiting eastbound. Royce detects these are more undead and cautions the group. Nong opens the door quietly, runs up the wall, across the ceiling and down the opposite wall towards the northern hallway and then motions the group forward. Naismith in bat form, flies across the room toward Nong while Mordrock and Royce fly into the room, up to the ceiling and across the room toward Nong and Naismith. No undead come to life during the room crossing.
The party makes their way to a door at the end of the northern hallway. Naismith comes out of bat form and opens the door to find a small room containing an obsidian stone platform with a large block of shiny, green glass on top; inside the block of glass sits a bright glistening gem. The party also observes carvings on the stone platform in the form of decorative monster faces that move about and small demons that fly across the bottom. Nong believes the glistening gem is what is mentioned in the cultist’s journal and it needs to be set free. Naismith decides to attack the block of glass and his strike makes contact with it, but not enough to break through cleanly, leaving a large crack. The impact of his dagger with the block of glass emits a loud ringing sound that impacts the party. They grab their ears as the ringing sound fills each of them with exhaustion.
The next attempt leaves Naismith alone in the room while the others wait outside in the hallway, hoping a closed door between them will minimize another ringing of ears. Naismith lights up the cracked glass block with Faerie Fire and strikes again. The glass cracks a second time but not enough to shatter it completely emitting a loud ringing sound filling the small room, the hallway and into the dining room. The party again grabs their ears as some face another bout of exhaustion from the sound. Unfortunately, Mordrock, Royce and Nong hear a stir from the dining room as the loud ringing also awakens the dead.
The undead rise up and quickly move into the hallway and attack the party. Strange enough, multiple undead are able to fit within a five foot space overwhelming the party with attacks. Mordock suffers a fork to the face and feels his life suck away on impact. The party in the hallway battles the undead leaving Naismith in the room with the cracked block of glass that appears to be sealing up each crack as time progresses. Naismith tries again to quickly attack the glass to prevent further cracks from sealing up and his attack again, is not enough to shatter the block. Another ringing emits from the cracked block causing the party to suffer more exhaustion however, the undead are not affected. As Royce, Nong and Mordrock take down the undead in the hallway, Naismith strikes a fourth blow to the glass, shattering it on impact. Naismith breathes a sigh of relief as he grabs the small gem and makes his way out of the room feeling extremely exhausted.
The party decides to take a long rest from the ethereal plane, anchoring themselves to the dining room. Mordrock casts a spell instantly transporting them to the Ethereal plane that borders wherever this fortress exists. After eight hours the party returns to the dining room to see the table, feast and undead have been reset to their original positions. The party quietly moves toward the eastern stairs and ascends.
At the top of the stairs is a long peculiar hallway that appears first to resemble a dessert, followed by a jungle and towards the end, a meadow. The party creatively uses their skills and abilities, including lathering up in mayonnaise, to successfully traverse all three biomes unscathed. After the meadow, they arrive at a door which leads into a large indoor garden. The garden contains three distinct habitats, one of sand that hosts a huge moving cactus; next to the sand is a jungle canopy where a giant Venus flytrap plant exists; and closest to the door is a meadow containing two large rose bushes.
All of the plants seem to agitate, moving their vines and such, in response to when the Drow’s Bane enter the room.