The inimitable members of the adventuring group known as Local 509 spent a quiet and restful night in their rooms at the rented villa named Stormwatch in the City of Splendors; or at least most of them did. Krom didn't sleep well as he could not get the days events out of his mind. The day had been a particularly bad one and although his burns had healed, his pride still stung. How could he have been so clumsy? He consoled himself that everyone had days like that, but the thought that his precious belt might have been destroyed by the fire of the Hell Hounds kept returning to him. It always made him shiver when he was forced to remember that the magnificent belt, the source of his super-human strength, could be destroyed. He got to sleep by counting sheep. He imagined that the sheep were jumping over a fence, and as each one was in mid-jump, he lopped their heads off with his two-handed sword. Jump... thowpp... tumble "One!" - Jump... thowpp... tumble "Two!" and so on. Soon he fell asleep and dreamed of mutton sandwiches.

They awoke late the next day as there was nothing much they had to do that morning. Once down in the opulent dining hall, they began to organize the day's activities. Several of Victorex's and Pisheo's followers were sent off to see if they could help with the ongoing work repairing Xoblob's, the shop that had burned when they summoned an Efreet from a bottle. Others were instructed to guard the villa (standard operating procedure) and others were given liberty. As this was one of the last days that the first shift of followers were to remain in the city, they took advantage of this opportunity to get out into the city and enjoy themselves.

The rest of Local 509 gathered around the table and discussed their plans. After a short discussion it was agreed that they would try another sally down into the dungeons of Undermountain and that they would wait until after mid-day to go the the Yawning Portal as they didn't want to wait for someone to lower them down as they had on the previous two days.

Krom took advantage of this time to remove some of the items from his backpack and leave them in the villa. After the disastrous fire he had suffered the day before and the resultant loss of potions and magic, he wished to minimize any further damage. It was a bit like closing the gate after the horse had fled, but better late than never (Krom tended to think in aphorisms). Dromar borrowed an almost new backpack from one of the people staying in the barracks of the villa and packed it with new items to replace the mundane things the fire had destroyed. Victorex borrowed the Staff of Healing that belonged to the party jointly from Kilana who usually carried it. Their previous adventurers had shown them that they would need all the healing they could get. The rest lingered over their breakfast discussing the previous days events and vowing that THIS time they would reach the 3rd level of Undermountain come what may.

It was mid-afternoon when they set out of the villa and walked down the over-crowded city streets to the dock ward where the Yawning Portal was. This time, there were a lot of people in the Inn. Most of them seemed to be taking their mid-afternoon meal, but some had only drinks on their table. They were all glad to see that the 5 adventurers that had helped them down the last time weren't there. The same waitress was there though, and approached them when they entered.

"Hey, I didn't hear that you guys came up. But that doesn't matter, I'm glad you're safe anyway. I hope your trip was more successful this time."

"Good and bad ya know." replied Timber in a non-committal sort of way. "But good enough that we want to go down again."

"No problem! Sit down anywhere and I'll get you a ale and announce you to the place."

She went over to the bartender and put in their order, then turned to the crowd and said "We have some adventurers here that want to go down." and pointed to them. A cheer went up from the crowd and everyone in the place began looking at them. "Of course, they'll need some help getting down, but first things first." She brought their drinks over and when everyone had a flask in hand, gave the traditional toast "To continued health and good luck!"

The whole place toasted them and then came over to the table to help send them on their way. The ones to man the ropes were soon chosen, and they all filed into the room that held the well that led to the dungeon. The whole of Local 509 crowded onto the platform. With so many helping it soon made it's squeaking way down to the gravel floored room. Pisheo got out her maps, but mostly for forms sake. They were very familiar with the path they would take by this time.

It only took a few minutes to pass through the purple statue room and carefully to the room with the spider idol. As they were passing through Neusrat said "Hey wait a second guys. I have something I gotta do." He took his sling from around his waist and placed a bullet in. Then rest of the party wondered what he was doing. He swung the sling and let fly directly at the statue.

"Neusrat, I know you're pissed off at the statue but you're not going to hurt it with that." said Timber smiling. Neusrat just looked at him pityingly and fitted another bullet into his sling. He let fly and this time his bullet flew true. It hit the remaining red gem eye squarely. It exploded with a tremendous bang. Everyone jumped.

"Now let's get out of here quick." he said and for once there was no discussion at all. They fled the room and hurried to the room with the curtain of darkness behind which lay the stairs to the second level.

They went back to the last point they had mapped and then slowed their pace so Pisheo could map as they when along. After passing through a few corridors they had not seen before, they came to a door that was different than all the others they had seen. It was made of steel and had a stout lock. This was interesting, so they decided to investigate.

Pisheo deftly picked the lock of the door and then stood back so Krom could open it. The door banged open, and in the room now visible they saw a very large and nasty looking creature. It looked like a cross between an armadillo and a snapping turtle. The creature's head and hind portions were blue-brown, and covered with plates and scales ranging from gray-blue to blue-green. The large nails and teeth were dull ivory. The area around the eyes was brown-black and the eyes were yellowish with blue green pupils. Worst though was it's size. It was to large to pass through the door unless it crawled and at least 15' long! It opened it's huge mouth and let loose with a loud hissing roar.

Realizing this was a formidable foe, the mages began to encant and the fighters quickly drew their weapons. Galranwyn's hands moved like lightning and conjured small balls of energy which flew unerringly to their target. At almost the same time, Krom and Timber screamed their own battle cry and swung their weapons. Timber struck the beast through the thick armor around the chest and opened a deep gash. Krom struck at the head and was gratified when his weapon smashed through the skull and brain matter splattered all over him. The creatures eyes blinked once then opened and rolled up. With a thump, the horror slumped to the floor. Once again, Local 509 had proved there were few creatures who could stand for long against their combined might.

Neusrat looked disappointed. "I didn't even get to finish my spell. It was one of my best too."

Dromar said "I had a Phantasmal Killer going; now it's wasted."

And Victorex said "My wonderful Blinding Beam was wasted too. Crap!"

With a taunting voice Timber said "You want I should cast a healing spell on it. It might get back up and attack again and you could use your spells." The grumbling stopped. Mostly.

Pisheo said "Let's go in and take a look at the room. Maybe this was a guardian for a great treasure."

"Yah, right." said Dromar, but followed as the other climbed over the enormous corpse that partially blocked to doorway.

Timber took a good look at the body and said "I think this is a bulette. Good thing this was a young one. They can be really tough."

Krom, who was guarding the area near the steel door smiled and kicked the thing in the head. It looked like his luck was turning around.

Pisheo mapped the room and the rest of the party spread out to search, but they found nothing interesting in the room. They opened a couple of doors, but didn't find anything in them either. But mapping rooms was important to Pisheo and she was well satisfied.

And on that rather anti-climactic note, the true masters of the Local 509 decided to set aside their pencils and dice for a time and return from the Realms of Adventure to the real world again.