Escape

Their attempt to sneak undetected into the castle having failed, the party found themselves once again stripped to their skivvies and thrown into a dungeon cell. Total silence reigned - obviously their captors had experience with spellcasting prisoners. The party wished their sense of smell was also magically muted, as the odor of urine, feces, blood, and death filled their nostrils.

Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

Having used the Gatestone to leave Merlin's cavern, the party found themselves standing on a grassy plain, surrounded by a circle of weathered, standing stones, very much like Stonehenge. The land in front of them sloped gently upwards, and a large castle could be seen several miles in the distance. The peaceful scene before them is at odds with the sounds coming from behind them: a tumult of shouts, screams, thundering hoofbeats, and loud crashes.

The Crystal Cavern

After their untimely deaths, our party found themselves in a warm dark tunnel, with a bright light at the end. Distant music could be heard from the direction of the light. As they moved towards the light, it receded away, finally vanishing with a distant flash. The sound of music was replaced by mocking laughter, which also faded away. They floated in the darkness for what seemed an eternity.

Rest in Peace?

When last we saw our intrepid adventurers, they were at the bottom of a pit, under relentless attack by flaming bats and crystalline scorpion-like creatures. They had come in search of some information left behind by the great mage Merlin after he disappeared some 1500 years ago, but things had gone horribly wrong.