With everything quiet, we checked the stew for bones. The druid, thankfully, eyed them carefully and pronounced them to be animal bones - not humanoid, not halfling! The barrels in the storeroom were full of water and wine, and the sacks were full of grain and dried meat. There were several large javelins and nets, a chain shirt, some smaller weapons and a scroll. There was also a sack full of gold coins!

We decided to rest up in the storeroom, as the most defensible spot. The night did pass quietly, except for Theona, asking questions. About everything. I wonder what she’s really looking for? She finally settled down to eyeing the new scrolls. I prayed in the morning until the smell of Rosorc peeing in the firepit reached me. Dwarves must be all bladder! We filled our waterskins and took some food to replace our rations, and found out that Beowulf has a most useful bag for carrying the gold; it magically holds a lot more than usual.

I was pleased to find that my healing abilities have really expanded; although Rosorc and Areon were pretty beat up, I had no trouble healing them. I just wish I didn’t get so much practice! Beowulf is teaching me how to cast healing from a distance, too. Not that I fear battle, but some of the creatures we’ve encountered lately hit really hard! Finally, we were ready to check out the doorway left clear after the mimic creature’s death. It led down a winding stairway.

Theona took the lead, checking carefully for more traps. Rosorc, having the best vision underground, went next. The rest of us followed, surprised to find that the stairs and the rooms and halls below were too small for ettins to use. The room we entered had two hallways leading off; we pulled out everburning torches, and Theona led the way left but quickly waved us back at the sound of guttural voices! Beowulf was brave enough to fly off as a bat again into the unknown; he even checked down the other hall for us. Soon, he was able to give us a quick layout of the place. Better yet, he gave us an idea of what to expect; a roomful of small creatures, another with several larger, and a minotaur alone in a third.

We decided to stay away from the mass of trouble, and try to sneak by the single minotaur. We hid our lights and headed blindly down the passage, each with one hand on the shoulder of the person ahead. Rosorc bravely stayed in the back of the party, knowing he was the loudest with all his armor. Unfortunately, we hadn’t gone far before I heard a loud snort in the darkness. Only then did it occur to me that the thing might well have a good sense of smell! Of course, no one else had thought of that, either...

Figuring that our cover was blown, anyway, I pulled out my everburning torch and lit the passage. I could see an empty one to my right, and another ahead and to the left, from which the thump of heavy footsteps could be heard. Theona was past the passage, Areon was right there, shouting, “Minotaur!”, and Beowulf, Shadow, and I crowded into the right-hand passage to allow Rosorc to charge by! I stepped back out, in case I needed to heal anyone, and was nearly deafened by the bellowing of the minotaur. Now everyone would know we were there!

The minotaur finally stepped into the hallway to meet Areon and Rosorc. They have been getting a lot better at what they do, too; despite its size, the two of them dropped it immediately with mighty blows! We didn’t get much time to congratulate them, though. I heard footsteps from behind, and Theona and Areon heard something following the minotaur. They climbed right over its body to check things out, while Beowulf called a giant rat into existence to help us fight. Soon, goblins were throwing javelins at us.

Rosorc charged into battle, trapping the goblins in the hallway at a corner to prevent them from swarming us. He really mowed through them, and then he met a gnoll. That slowed him down a little, but several goblins and three gnolls later, we met Areon coming from the other direction, and the two of them killed a gnome who turned out to be the last of the bunch. I healed them up while Theona searched several rooms’ worth of bodies and found a few more halls and doors. Most led back around to each other, but the last we tried opened into a laboratory of some kind.

Theona had opened the door, and she quickly pulled her bow - and shot herself in the foot! Luckily, she wasn’t hurt too badly to keep from telling us that there were two bugbears in there. She told us a bunch of other things, too, but they’re not repeatable. Areon and Rosorc charged by her and into the fight, and I was waiting in the doorway to heal them, when..

Wham! Stunned by a mind flayer!

I woke up in a dark cell, alone. All I had was my holy symbol and my clothing. Now what will we do?