[Bungleau]

Well, this was an interesting evening of gaming. Let Truffles, the Ghourk barbarian, tell you about it...

We wuz headin' back to Valeia cuz we finally took care of that Tevik Teaspoon guy, and we wuz anxious to put a cork in Roendalf's mouth. Or more, iffen ya know whut I mean. Only problem is, we gets back to da raft, and dere's about a hunnert barracudas swimmin' around it.

No problem, says Twinkletoes da elephant. I gots a new spell... firestorm. It should take care of them fishies.

What about the raft, I says.

No problems, he says. Rafts are easy.

Yeah. Easy like I ain't seen but this one in the last three weeks we've adventuring here.

Now, we'd heard about these here storms spells. And we also know Twinkletoes' abilities. So as he's castin' the spell, the rest of us slowly back away...

The spell works like a charm. Fireballs is fallin' from da sky, cookin' da barracuda fishies. Only, there's one thing wrong. As I takes a look, the fireballs ain't fallin' from da sky. They's shootin' up from the ground, headin' up into da sky! Needless to say, we all step even further back, but we don't have to worry. Ol' Twinkletoes doesn't have that kind of range... yet...

So we finally gets back and Smitty asks us to check for the sword of Mastus. Bein' we gots a friend on the outside, we know it's down in the crypt, in one o' the tombs. So we all traipse on over, jump over the hole in the stairway, swim to the crypt, and look at the door.

Oh, yeah, says Panthera the kitty paladin. We didn't open the rest of the crypts when we were here before. So... where did we put that gold key?

Well, Panthera checks her pack... no key. As the resident locksmith, I check mine... no key. Twinkie checks, Mel'issa the cleric checks, Al'ris the elven Wizard, and even Ssslither the new lizard barbarian checks. No key.

Okay. Dis ain't good. Lessee... the gods used to leave keys near where you used 'em, cause they don't disappear on ya. So... where did we leave it?

We check the tomb area. Nuffin'. The tunnels. Ditto. The asylum. Same thing. We go over every freakin' inch o' the place, and nothin'. We do find a couple of bags of gold we missed the first time, but no key. And we give ol' Rumphy a good beatin' 'cause we ain't in a good mood.

Dis really ain't good. We head back to Valeia, scouring the path in case we dropped it along the way. Some skeletons get another beatin' but no key.

Maybe we sold it in one o' the shops. No dice. We're gettin' ready to lift up every rock in the lands o' Valeia, lookin' for this key.

Suddenly, whisker-face sez, hey, waitaminnit! I didn't check my front pocket. She sticks a hand in, pulls out a couple of potions and the FREAKIN' GOLD KEY!

She had it all the time... the witch. As we run back to the crypt yet again, I notice that I'm not the only one conveniently bumping into here so she falls on the ground.

*sing-song* "forgot to look in my pocket"

Sheesh! I'm glad that's over! Now, on for the serpent temple...