Once back in town, they decided to return the head to the Mage School for their reward when they realized that Lanolin had it and there was no sign of him. They scoured the town but could not track him down. They then decided to visit there new home under the cemetery and check on the work they had commissioned before leaving for Trianglee. Immediately upon arrival, Edgar and Glim noticed that something was amiss. The wooden door they had was now replaced with a heavy bronze door; they didn’t order a bronze door. There was also a heavy-duty lock upon the door and they had no keys for it.
Concerned, they asked J’Saahuis to inspect the lock. He determined that it was trapped and set about disarming it. He realized it was beyond his skill when a needle pieced his finger and delivered a dose of acid that ate away the fingertip above the first knuckle. To add insult to injury, a plate on the door flipped over to read, “No Solicitors.”
Glim, having enough of this, used a knock spell to defeat the remaining locks and the group entered. There were torches burning which indicated that someone was home. They crept their way through the corridors until they entered the four-way intersection. Phyllyp, who was leading the group, was suddenly struck by an arrow out of the northern passage as the sounds of footsteps running away could be heard down the same passage.
Just then, out of the eastern corridor, came a familiar face along with four unfamiliar ones. The recognized man was Pierre, the mad lumberjack that Marlon had a run in with several years ago. He was accompanied by three humans, a half-orc, and a fearsome hill giant. Suddenly the battle was on. The group was feeling confident until Glim decided to soften the enemy up with a fireball only to have it countered by a hidden sorcerer. Then things really got ugly as J’Saahuiswas decimated by the giant; Phyllyp and Soulan had fallen and were dying; Roland was forced to do a strategic retreat; and Edgar was magically held. The others were not faring much better, for Bryce was in dire straits and Glim was losing the magical duel to their sorcerer. In the end, the only option was surrender.
After disarming the group, the squatters brought them to their “master”. When they entered the large eastern chamber, their jaws dropped as they saw, sitting atop a makeshift throne, Marlon. He looked equally surprised and tried to explain that when he saw the dwarf, whom he didn’t recognize, he thought that they were a band of marauders trying to rob his place. The term, “his place,” only served to rile poor Edgar even more, as he laid into the Ranger with a stream of very unhalfling-like expletives. After calming Edgar down, Marlon went on to explain that he did not know that anyone claimed the catacombs and apologized for the misunderstanding. As a sign of good faith, he paid to have J’Saahuis resurrected and the rest of the group fully healed. He also told Edgar to keep the trapped door at no charge. In the end, all was forgiven as Marlon and his gang took their leave.
Just then, you hear a noise coming from the western corridor and see...