Confusion

I made a desperate attempt to get back to the others, screaming a warning as I flew over the remaining ghouls and away from the lich and bloated blood thing. The guards were shooting arrows, Soveliss was fighting hand-to-hand, and I was hollering that we had to get out of there while Roywyn sang songs and slashed at the ghouls with her whip dagger. Sure enough, the lich (with strangely shifting features) and the blood thing appeared in the doorway. I said “I told you so!!” a lot, while pointing, so the lich pointed back - ow, ray of frost spells HURT.

I was thinking of getting a potion out when the world went funny - the whole place disappeared, and was replaced by a nightmarish swamp all around. I hoped it was an illusion, but I couldn’t see more than a few feet - Flin scared the heck out of me when he appeared out of nowhere to pour a healing potion down my throat! I quickly followed it with one of my own, and began to follow ‘Wyn up the hallway, flask of oil in hand. I threw the oil blindly at the sounds of the blood monster, knowing it was fighting with Soveliss. ‘Wyn finished off the last ghoul and joined in, while I lit a torch and began to crawl around on the floor looking for oil to ignite.

When I found the pool of oil (and narrowly missed getting hit by the blood monster fighting in the middle of it), I set it alight with my torch and quickly backed away. Soveliss backed down, too, to drink a healing potion, so I took my opportunity to throw oil onto the thing, itself. ‘Wyn kept singing and hitting it with her whip dagger, Soveliss charged back in, followed by the guards, and I found myself wondering where the lich was in all this mess? When I stepped up and hit it with my torch, whoosh! Up it went! And I found myself trading swings with it (thankfully, it missed).

‘Wyn went on into the room, followed by her bat and Flin, and I heard her shouting at something. The blood monster exploded behind me - ew! - so I followed my friends into the room I had discovered the lich in. ‘Wyn was sweeping her whip through a globe of darkness, shouting that “he has no legs” - the lich? And Flin was now looking as frosty as I felt. Ouch. He was pitching a grappling hook into the globe, fishing for something without success. A ray shot out from the darkness, hitting him, but he kept at it.

The guards were now in the doorway, looking confused, Soveliss was healing himself, and ‘Wyn walked right into the globe of darkness to search for her prey. I took a quick look into the pit, but found only bones some twenty feet below. A garbage pit for the ghouls? Who knew? I then began to search the corner where I’d first seen the lich, convinced that there was a door to be found there. The guards began to enter the room...

...and a whip flew out of the magical darkness and wrapped itself around Flin’s leg. With a yank, it pulled him off his feet and into the dark, and we soon heard much shouting between the halfling and the gnome! It would have been funny if it wasn’t so serious - the two of them yelling “I got it!” while the lich stood by, invisible. I went back to searching the corner - it was only an alcove, but I was convinced there was something more - until I heard ‘Wyn holler “Ow!”, and a hand reached out from the dark to hit me. I slashed at it with my torch, missing, then chased into the dark for myself - and hit a wall.

Another ray hit me, and I could hear the guards shooting blindly into the dark (great, add to the danger!), so I followed the wall until I got out of the magical area of effect. I pulled my bow and watched for more rays, hoping to gauge their source and hit the lich that way - but ‘Wyn and Flin solved the problem for me by finally finding and pulling it out. Once we could see it, we all attacked - shooting and hacking at it while Flin kept dragging to keep it off balance. ‘Wyn hit it with her mace, Soveliss speared it with his rapier, and an arrow from me finally finished it off. Whew!

Imagine our surprise to find that it wasn’t a lich at all, but a human we’ve never seen before, wearing a mask. What is this new mystery?