I was very relieved to see Tassar wake up with the rest of us. The drow poison seems to have had no lasting effects. I prayed, and restored Rosorc’s strength and the others’ health.

Opening the only other door in the room, the party found several tunnels - and immmediately split up to follow several at once! Eventually, most of us were headed in one direction, while Rosorc tapped his way down a hall behind us. This made for both good news and bad news.

I was following Tassar when he stopped at two doors opposite each other, and opened the one to the left. He found a library of sorts; stone shelves, and stone tablets on the shelves. Unfortunately, he also found a tattoed, red-robed wizard poring over them with an assistant, and several gnolls standing guard! Tassar screamed out Tempus’ name and charged into the room.

I shouted behind me what I’d seen, heard Rosorc come charging, and saw him round the corner even as a ray of light hit the wall over his head! Areon had walked to the turning, suddenly, he pulled his bow and began shooting down the hallway behind Rosorc. At least we weren’t surprised by attackers from behind, but it didn’t make things easier!

William pushed by me, into the room, and began casting spells at the gnolls attacking Tassar. He was quickly set upon, so I ran in and tried to help. I managed to distract the gnolls long enough for William, remembering that he had no armor, to squeeze back outside. The red-robed wizard cast some kind of spell, summoning a wolf-like thing that joined the attack on Tassar. He was getting overwhelmed by sheer numbers, when Rosorc charged into the room. I couldn’t get out of the way in time and took a hit, but I was very glad to see another fighter come to Tassar’s aid! Especially as I seem to have gotten out of fighting practice; I couldn’t land a blow to save my life!

Shouts from the hall let me know what the ray had come from - a beholder and several drow were attacking from behind! They’d cast a magical darkness, and the others came piling into the room, except for William. I was shocked to see them pushing the door shut, but apparently he’d gone down to a poisoned arrow and they simply were unable to get to him. Poor William! I didn’t have much time to worry about him, though, for the fighting continued, and the wizard was shooting spells, too. Theona got hit by something acidic, but managed to shoot my attacker dead with an arrow before it killed me.

The wizard, seeing Tassar and Rosorc mowing down his guards, suddenly disappeared with his assistant. But even as Tassar finished the last one, the drow and beholder began to win the battle of the door! Rays shot into the room, hitting some party members. Luckily for us, it also accidentally incincerated one of the drow in the doorway, which gave Theona a chance to slam the door a second time. Areon held it shut while I healed myself a little, and moved away from the door for some cover while the others prepared to do battle, yet again.

The drow gave the door another shove while Theona and I took a quick look around the room, hoping to find another exit. We had no luck. Tassar even climbed the shelves. We had just agreed that we’d have to fight our way out, when Areon said that the hallway had gone quiet. We walked up, he cracked the door open, and there was an empty hall. Poor William! Who knows what the drow would think of his strange ancestry? Quietly, I healed the others (giving Rosorc a flask of healing potion in case he needed it fast), and the elves listened for any movement. We agreed that we had to try to follow the drow and recover our friend, and Tassar had already started down the hall, when Rosorc decided to check the door across from us before moving out.

It was just as well that he did! He and the elves caught sight of the beholder, floating in another library! He slammed the door quickly, and we gathered around it. I punched it open with my staff so that no one was directly in the path of any rays, and those with bows shot the thing! Then we all ducked as it responded with a barrage of attacks from its eyes. Rosorc was hit and immediately fell asleep; thankfully, I was able to shake him awake right away! Tassar was hit hard enough to shatter his shield into pieces, plus falling asleep, and Areon suddenly looked absolutely exhausted. Rosorc charged into the room as I shook Tassar awake; he quickly shot another arrow into the beholder, and ran after the dwarf.

He didn’t get far; the drow suddenly appeared from near the walls! Rosorc was hit by a poison arrow and collapsed in a heap, right in front of the beholder! I tried to break the spell on Areon and failed, but he was still more than able to step up and kill one of the drow attacking Tassar. Areon was hit by the beholder again - luckily, damage that I could heal. He then shot the beholder - to death! Running low on healing spells, I gave him my last potion, then stepped into the room to help Tassar against the three drow still fighting him. I finally landed a hit, killing one, and with a flurry of blows, he finished off the others! The last drow left disappeared again.

While Areon held the door shut against the presumably invisible drow, I managed to wake Rosorc; the others searched the room - and found William! Blessed Tymora, what luck! He was in a deep sleep, of course, and Tassar suddenly fell asleep again, too. I’m out of spells, we will soon be on the run again, but I still feel hopeful. After surviving multiple threats like that, someone must be watching out for us!