The consortes interrogate the captured rucks, whose names are Morath and Tamach. The rucks reveal that they were indeed members of Briareus's own personal guard; they slipped away in fear that the Prince would have them killed for knowing too much. Apparently, Briareus has been secretly withholding tribute from his father, Tereus—and as Prince Nestor approaches Utterbol with an army of reinforcements, Briareus fears that this embezzlement will be discovered. To hide his graft, the Prince constructed an elaborate, secret dungeon beneath Utterbol, stocked with all sorts of nasty monsters. The treasure was hidden away in the depths of the dungeon, and Briareus had his own workers and engineers entombed alive once the work was complete.

Vandoren is immediately dispatched to Heremac with his wondrous boots, bearing a message for Brother Gregory that explains the potential friction between Nestor and Briareus. Gregory appears unable or unwilling to act on this news—and some party members suggest that the Risen may actually want Master Alan to fail at Utterbol. Meanwhile, Morath and Tamach are promised their freedom once the consortes return from the expedition to Utterbol. In the interim, Sir Aleck Rowland agrees to watch over the prisoners.

While Vandoren is in Heremac, Mendelor and St. James travel to Utterbol to locate the hidden entrance to the dungeon, using the confiscated map. While searching along a promising streambed they are captured by a Seeker patrol and brought before Brother Marcus, who is acting as Master Alan's lieutenant. The two sneaks are unable to provide an adequate explanation of their presence at Utterbol, and a suspicious Marcus places them under constant watch, forbidding them to leave the Seeker camp without an escort. Meanwhile, Marcus sends his own Seekers down to the stream—most likely with orders to discover the entrance into the treasure vaults of Utterbol. That night Mendelor and St. James bluff their way through the camp and make an escape.

After everyone reunites in Upchurch, the group immediately departs for Utterbol, being very careful to avoid further run-ins with the Seekers, who evidently did not discover their own way into the dungeon. That night St. James locates a secret entrance cunningly hidden in the stony walls of the streambed. The entrance opens into a small room with a stone door set in the opposite wall. The consortes rest here. Mendelor suspects that no one has been in this room for several months, and St. James reports that the stone door is trapped—but also, that a secret door sits directly to the right of the trapped door.

The consortes praise the thief and then pass through the secret door, which turns out to be a wise decision: the trapped door led only to a grueling gauntlet filled with enough horrendous traps to decimate the party. The long stone corridor beyond the secret door runs parallel to the gauntlet, allowing the consortes to see all the devious traps that they bypassed.

At the end of the passage is another small room with only a single trapped door—but again, St. James finds a secret door next to the trapped one. The consortes pass through the secret stone door, only to find themselves wandering a dark and twisting maze. Too late, they discover that they entered the labyrinth through a one way door. On the other side is a small keyhole that cannot be picked. However, Valerius assures his companions that he will be able to open the door, and the party continues on into the dungeon.

Map of Utterbol Dungeons

Key
1	Entrance
2	Pit-trap
3	Slime Room
4	Well shaft
5	Bone-strewn Room
6	Hall of Webs
7	Chamber of entombed Rucks
8	Access to the Prince's quarters
9	Treasure Vault

The party enters a room containing a wicked trap that dumps St. James and Hamral into a spiked pit, badly injuring both men. The group presses on, discovering several more strange rooms: a dark, damp room filled with filth, another room with a deep well shaft, and a third room cluttered with bones.

Four loathsome trolls surround and ambush the group. In the tough fight that ensues, Hamral is brought low. Fortunately, Friar Sidrach is able to revive the wounded knight, while the rest of the party hacks and burns the troll corpses.

The weary and battered group decides to leave the dungeon and rest—unfortunately, Valerius finds that his even his magic is unable to open the one-way door. The group then returns to the room with the pit-trap and makes camp there. Friar Sidrach and Hamral take the last watch of the night, during which the vigilant knight notices a strange, black pool oozing over the top of the door. The pool flows over the ceiling and slides into the center of the room. Mot throws his club at the pool, but the monstrosity only engulfs the club, which dissolves as quickly as melting snow before a raging fire. And then, the horror divides into two. Valerius conjures up a Shaggy Man—a wood spirit appearing as a savage, white-furred ape. The spirit distracts the vile pudding long enough for the party to use fire and oil to burn the horror into oblivion.

The rattled party breaks camp and continues to explore the dungeon. Returning to the well room, Friar Sidrach creates a heavy stone cover to cap the well, but while searching through the bone room, more trolls attack. After another difficult battle, the group decides to leave the dungeon. The Friar transforms the stone one-way door into a great pentifix, allowing the group to escape. The Gerardian then restores the stone door to its original form.

After a goodly rest the group returns yet again, this time moving even deeper into the dungeon. The group discovers a large room littered with dried husks and broken bones, the ceiling clouded with mats of webs. Valerius sends in another conjured Shaggy Man, but the hapless creature is soon overcome by an enormous spider, as large as a man.

Turning back, the group passes through yet another one-way door—but our heroes carefully prevent this door from closing behind them. Inside, they discover a horrific sight: a room filled with the desiccated corpses of many ruck-men. Some rucks show signs of having been eaten, while other rucks have blackened fingers literally worn to the bone in a pathetic attempt to escape the prison. St. James finds a second one-way door, leading into the room. Friar Sidrach transforms the door into another pentifix, allowing the consortes to pass even deeper into the dungeon.

The party reaches a curious little room: in the opposite wall sits a small window, lined with heavy iron bars. Beyond the window is a mammoth, darkened vault, and in the distant gloom of the vault can be spied the gleam of treasure . . . and something more.

The party can hear the hissing of a guardian, and huge, serpentine coils writhe in the darkness, suggesting a snake-like creature over forty feet long, whose very breath causes some of our heroes to feel faint. The giant, two-headed serpent approaches, a fearsome head at each end of its body. The creature is clearly not of this mundane world, and radiates terrible and ancient power.

Valerius steps forward to address the guardian; the serpent astonishes everyone by responding with human speech. The serpent reveals that it is magically bound to guard Briareus's treasure, and that it can only depart once the Prince is slain. The guardian refuses to part with any of the treasure, explaining that when released from its binding, it intends to take the entire hoard. The serpent cunningly refuses to give Valerius its name, and in fact the conjurer is placed under a powerful enchantment: Valerius becomes convinced that he must kill Prince Briareus. Fortunately, his companions are able to convince the magician that they should rest before undertaking such an arduous task.

When the group returns to the dungeon, they find that beyond the room of the serpent lies a passage with stairs leading up to the apartments of Briareus. There the party overhears the commanders of Utterbol plotting their defense of the castle from an all-out Seeker assault. Our heroes learn that Nestor is due to arrive at Utterbol by the end of the day.

Once the meeting breaks up and the ruck-men leave, the group sneaks into Briareus's personal quarters. They begin searching the place for loot, but accidentally trigger an enchanted alarm which begins wailing "Help me . . . Help me . . . Help me . . ." Friar Sidrach casts the room into silence just as the Prince bursts in with a dozen body-guards and a furtive little Gory-Moon ruck.

In the meantime, Valerius uses some of the Dust of Glamour to conceal himself and his companions. At a prearranged signal, the consortes spring into action, concentrating missile fire on the lone Gory Moon ruck, who is badly hurt but not killed.

The battle is joined. Briareus is enraged at the notion of thieves violating his very own belongings, and his ruck-men charge into the fray. The Prince's guard is made up of tough and seasoned veterans, and they offer the consortes an arduous fight. Sidrach dispels his mystical silence, and the Gory Moon ruck promptly disappears into thin air, proving himself to be a ruckish wizard. Though Valerius conjures tangles of webs and the Friar immobilizes several more rucks with the power of the Five, the Gory Moon wizard is able to dispel this magic.

Inch by inch, the battle begins to turn against the consortes. Sir Hamral, still not fully recovered from his earlier wounds, is forced to retreat, followed by most of his friends. Only Friar Sidrach and Mendelor remain behind. The brave woodsman turns to face Prince Briareus himself, and the two warriors trade blow for blow. Mendelor nicks the Prince, but the ruck shrieks in fright at his paltry wound—only encouraging the woodsman to press on with the fight.

The rucks and the rest of the consortes draw back to watch in astonishment as the Prince and Mendelor battle it out. The combatants fight back and forth, each dealing out punishing blows. At some point, the rucks and the consortes reconvene the battle, and Valerius is knocked unconscious by the invisible Gory Moon wizard.

Meanwhile, Mendelor stands toe-to-toe with the beleaguered Briareus. Neither fighter backs down—smoldering greed kindles the Prince's cowardice into fiery courage. In the end, the woodsman overcomes Briareus, knocking the Prince down and chopping off his head. The remaining ruck-men attempt to flee, but only the Gory Moon wizard escapes.

The consortes rush to the battlements to trumpet their victory, but discover that Prince Nestor's army is, at that very moment, entering the front gates of Utterbol—while the Seeker army is in retreat. Our heroes loot the body of Briareus, seize the severed head, and then turn tail and rush back down into the dungeons, where they discover that the serpent and all the treasure has disappeared. Nevertheless, the consortes continue on to Upchurch, carrying a grisly remembrance of Briareus, fallen Prince of the Rucks.

All values are given as 3E experience points. Mendelor and St. James's Other awards are from demonstrated proficiency in the Frilond Trivia Challenge; Valerius's Other Award is for Curt's work on researching and hosting the Challenge. Vandoren's Other Award is from a cool XP project on wolves.