This is the Wizard's Asylum?

Following the slaughter of Scourge's officers the GoG prepared for their next move. Another army was coming, but they had no intent of fighting it. Barricades were fashioned and bodies were hidden in order to make it seem as though they were preparing a defense, all in efforts to slow the force down. Once the army was within an hour of their location they teleported to Aldrina's Leather Work in Ogon'Ozero. Some confusion and negotiation later, the GoG left the leather worker, with Kaszuk's new dire bear hide armor in their possession.

Last time they had been in this city they had made quite a stir, angering the locals who, in turn, had barred and guarded all the exits. This was over a month ago, by now they had dropped their guard and most of the troops had been called away to join the army the GoG had just skirted. The GoG, using Bastions invisibility, snuck out of the city's east gates, towards Tecticlan and, hopefully, the wizard's asylum.

The first night after leaving town Maiz was able to catch up with them once more. He lead them along a river and to what seemed like the skeletal remains of a massive creature. The path to the asylum, Maiz explained, was through the creature's maw. He warned that just past the entrance is the den of a few dire bears followed my a massive chasm.

Thanks to the warnings by Maiz Kaszuk prepared the appropriate spells and was able to negotiate with the direbears. Some meat in exchange for safe passage, in one direction at least. After passing the bear den the cam upon a stone brick doorway that lead into a stone brick room, the back of witch was open to dark canyon. On hte arch was a warning or instructions of some kind " ." Mazi was interesting, it is the only name of a day here on the Shadow that is not a god, Maiz seemed very interested in it, could Maiz be Mazi? He did at one point say he had lost his memory and had been here longer than he could recall. Just past the room, hanging from the cling above the pit was a large, flat round stone that seemed to be the base of a cylinder which extended into the top of the cavern. The room itself contained three foot stone cubes with letters on the sides. The GoG were easily able to tell that the letters spelled "RECULDAM." The stones and the cylinder all emitted a magical aura.

After some deliberation they all decided on how best to move forward. They would prepare the letters in such a way as to push them, in order, over the edge of the cliff. They would have to be fast, the inscription warned them about the "sand of time." Once the letters were in place they pushed the R block over the edge, then the E, then the C, then the L. As the L dropped into the darkness the R and E cubes appeared near the celing of the room they were in and dropped down, nearly crushing Kriskahn. The GoG were unabated, they finished pushing the blocks over the edge as more dropped from the ceiling until the M was slid off the floor and into the pit.



The moment the M slipped over the edge the stone cylinder in the ceiling made a cracking sound as stone and dirt was shaken loose. Then, it plummeted down into the shadows, twisting like a massive drill as the stone walls flew past them. As suddenly as it had started it stopped with a loud crash. In front of them, now, was a spiral staircase which lead down.

The GoG descended into the darkness, hoping that the Asylum would be at the bottom. No such luck, they now stood at the entrance if a labyrinth. Maiz, able to walk through walls, scouted it while the GoG began to explore. Keeping his right hand on the wall, Vath lead them into the maze. Their first obstacle was a gelatinous cube, in tight quarters, such a creature could be deadly, but the GoG have become powerful during their time in the shadow. Seconds after it's appearance it exploded as electricity left Atreides' hand and violently caused its membrane to rupture. The ghostly visage of a bugbear wailed as it passed through the walls and towards Kaszuk who charged it with positive energy and caused it to dissipate.

After the battle Maiz reemerged. He eplained that the center of the maze was not far from their current location, but he did now know how to guide them through. A simple solution, the walls of this maze were made of stone, stone that could be manipulated and reformed by Kaszuk. Maiz told him which walls to remove and in a few minutes they were standing at the final wall between them and the center. In the center, according to Maiz, were a few scholars reading books by a fireplace. Could this be the asylum?

Kaszuk removed the wall, surprising its inhabitants. The GoG entered the room and Bastion began to converse with its residents. They had no idea what Reculdum was, had never heard of Maiz and were clueless about Scourge, they had heard of the wandering wizard, and apparently had a few encounters with him, but offered no more information than that.

After all this, the puzzles, the battles, the clues about the Wizard's Asylum they were no closer to any answers about Scourge. Before they could analyze this new information a plume of black smoke flowed from the dresser next to the man Bastion had been speaking with, it was a trap!