Bilbo, Mossmullet, Orsek, Red Shpee, and Smash awoke from their slumbers, to find that they'd be (re)joined by Robin Hood, Wolfy, and a gnome Wizard named Wilfred Fizzlebang. Fresh from their (for some rather troubled) dreams, they picked up where they'd left off the day before, and began exploring and mapping. They met with a small mischief of large rats, whom they quickly dispatched without difficulty, other than Bilbo almost being gnawed to death by them. Then it was on to a quick pratfall in a pit-trap, leading only to a fake door. Then some more exploring, retreading old ground where previous battles were fought days before. Remains of pies and orcs were found, but nothing else of interest or value. The party did find another pack of giant rats, but remembering Bilbo's prior near-death experience, they wisely decided that this time parley and interpretive dance were the best paths to take past the rodent-ious roadblock. Finding little more of interest (other than grabbing that superior mace from the day before), they descended down to the natural caverns below the dungeon proper.
Once descended, our heroes found things a bit more exciting. Pits and bats and doors without traps led them to...a dimly lit cavern containing denizens of the dead! Undead, that is. A quick melee with a ghoul was immediately followed by a massed charge of 8 skeletons. The group being in rather shaky shape after losing initiative and having three members with 2 HP or less, the clerics of the group did their thing: 6 of the undead were sent packing, Bilbo was spared from dying, and a powerful second level Prayer of Healing powered up the battered heroes to previously unheard-of levels of health. Fully restored and re-armed for battle with blunt-damage weapons, the party quickly dispatched the 2 braver skeletons, then pursued their scaredy-bones brothers. A flask of oil was splashed upon them by a resourceful and vengeful Bilbo, and then flash-fried by a powerful blast of Burning Hands! The only skeleton not immediately charred into powder was quickly blasted with Sacred Flame, as Smash picked up the Spare.
The heroes pressed on into an extra-large cavern, where they met and squished two unpleasantly large (150 lbs) spiders. Despite being bitten by one, Bilbo continued his rampage by dispatching the first. The other Nast-rachnid quickly joined his mate in death. A quick trip down a side passage revealed two goblins playing cards. After a brief and unproductive discussion, things turned ugly, and the heroes resorted to violence. The goblins fell quickly. The door they guarded proved to be a hidden spy-perch, opening into the outdoors, and a narrow ledge 40' in the air. Confirming that the ledge led nowhere, the party went back inside and discussed their options.
The decision was made to back-track to see if the rope still hung down from the first level of the dungeon (which it did), and the group then made the acquaintance of three unhappy lizard-men. These sssneaky fellows were less than cordial, but proved willing to set aside their dislike of us, to express their even greater dislike of the colony of bug men (bugbears?) which were invading their living areas and causing them havoc. Upon our solemn word that we'd help them out with their "bug" problem, they spilled some of the details of where we should go next, to locate these mutual foes. They also (maybe) decided to give us free passage to that area, no doubt so that two of their enemies could meet, clash, and end at least one of their problems for them. What happens when these various forces connect and clash...is the story for another day!
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