Dragonlance Chapter 7 Skull Cap

 Dragonlance Chapter 7 Skull Cap aka the ups and down of Flint Firefoge

Having landed at the bottom of the shaft the party advance through the next set of door down a corridor to more doors, this time covered in scorch marks.  As they examined these they heard a horrible splat sound from behind them!  Returning to the bottom of the shaft they saw the mangled body of Flint lying in a pool of blood.  Tanis's best friend was dead! Then before their eyes his wounds started to heal and within minutes Flint was fully healed.  Goodmoon declared it a miracle of the gods!  People were just not sure which one.

The next chamber contained a five headed dragon statue in a room full of invisible walls.  The 'statue' turned out to be animated and blasted bolts of fire severely injuring Tasslehoff.  Riverwind came up with the idea of using the door as a giant shield.  Together with Caramon she hacked it from the wall and the pair advanced on the construct.  Flint, with his new found healing (from the green gemstone in his chest) kept the construct occupied while the others fled the room, then he followed.

Down a flight of stairs the party found a pair of doors with a status of a cyclops standing between the doors.  The single eye followed Goldmoon as she walked around the room resulting in Raistlin shattering it with magic.  The party continued through several trapped roomed and had to use dispel magic to open the arcane locked door as they had not found the keys in the earlier part of the dungeon.

Eventually they reached a corridor with three pairs of statues that seems to have a magical field between them.  After some experimentation it was discovered the first pair transmuted metal to wood.  Flint tried to crawl under the effect but it covered the whole corridor and his chainmail turned to wooded links, perfect for kindling but not very useful for protection.  Using some broken arrows and a flint dagger Tasselhoff managed to disable the mechanism.

The next set of status projected an anti-magic field that shut down the green gemstone in Flints chest.  Goldmoon was able to reactivate it with her staff as no one wanted to wait around and see if the effect was temporary.  These statues were also deactivated as some careful work from Raistlin and Tasselhoff.

Beyond the status was a circular room with only a small door as the other exit.  Lying in the middle of the room amongst the debris was a skull next to three golden circlets.  There was some debate about if these could be the key to Thorbadin or the control device for the shades on the upper level.  When Tasselhoff moved forward to collect them the dust swirled around the skull that lifted off the floor and formed into the outline of black robes.  Everyone edged around the room and looked through the next door finding a hallway leading to the treasure room.

Expecting more traps Riverwind shot an arrow through the archway towards the pile of gems and gold but it disappeared.  Raistlin went back and talked to the Demi-Lich of Fistandantilus who would only nod or shake his head at questions.  He was protecting the circles but cared not for the treasures in the vault and seemed to know nothing about a key to Thorbadin.

Goldmoon reasoned that it was the gods who had told them to find a key but perhaps it was not an actual key but a map or other relic that would get them inside the mountain fortress.  Searching the treasure rooms, after figuring out the sequence of teleporters to actually get inside, Flint found a suit of dwarven made plate mail and a griffin helm with a mane of hair coming down at the back.  Donning the helmet Flint heard a voice in his head saying it was Grallen, prince of the Hylar.  Who was killed by the forces of Fistandantilus in the Dwarfgate War.  His soul was preserved by the magic of the helmet and he has been waiting some 300 years for someone to retrieve his soul and take him to a proper resting place in the Valley of the Kings.  At last a "key" to Thorbadin had been found.

The final portal returned everyone to the ballroom upstairs where the shadows continued their dance in front of the silent orchestra.  Running across the room the party planned to flee before the wraith guards mixed in amongst the shadowy echoes could attack.

The only problem left was Whisper the Shadow Dragon who was quite happy to let their master leave (since they thought Raislin was Fistandantilus) but were not going to let Flint depart with the helmet as that was against their instructions.  Instead of battling the powerful creature Raistlin used his arcane knowledge to release Wisper from the contract.  Whereupon it instantly left the ruins.  This allowed Tasselhoff to quickly raid the dragons lair as everyone climbed out of the ruins.  He found a couple of potions and pair of magical boots that were eventually passed on to Caramon.  

A weary group trekked back across the plains of Dergoth to the hidden valley where the refugees had found plenty of game and were surviving even if the leadership council were struggling to get everyone working together.