Session Thirteen: Finally, the threat of doppelgangers is completely over and done with

Continuing their exploration of the doppelgangers' 'hospital', the Cobalt Cavers find a room with two patients. One patient is very positive about his stay at the hospital, while the other is nervous about the constant butchery. The party offers to accompany them out; only the pessimist takes them up on the offer. The Cavers head south then, coming across an operating room with two doctors about to operate on the patient. When they approach, all three turn into doppelgangers. Vincent lets out a girly scream and runs. Darwain fights bravely with his henchmen, but when the patient behind them also turns into a doppelganger, the three remaining Cavers are overwhelmed. Darwain manages to execute a fighting withdrawal, but the craftpriest is cut down.

The doppelgangers pursue Darwain to the stairs, but when it seems like all is lost, Ieho comes charging down the stairs. With the extra help, the doppelgangers are turned back. The craftpriest, it turns out, just has an injured midsection. With a week's rest, he'll be almost as good as new, though he'll have trouble forcemarching for the rest of his life. The only two doppelgangers left were found in a chilly room with piles of body parts. They are dispatched, and Ieho comments, "Didn't we find a dead doppelganger with a backpack full of arms a while ago?"

After returning Zanzibar to Artemis, she rewards them with a +1 arbalest. The Cobalt Cavers then take a well deserved weeks rest. The talk turns to what happened in Pechen. They speculate that it was Vincent who killed Antonito. In any case, they haven't seen him since the doppelgangers. After the craftpriest is back on his feet, they decide to use the treasure map they found in the undead lair to search for some treasure. It takes them six days to find the treasure. The six days are uneventful. On an old battlefield, the mummy general Varnak was laid to rest, together with vast riches for the afterlife. The treasure is so large, the party is only able to take half with them. but it is still a rich treasure, including a ring of wishes! Ieho uses the wish to increase the size of his workshop and library.

The trip back is more eventful. Two lizards attack, but are easily distracted with some scraps of meat. But, horror of horrors, a skittering maw appeared only seven hundred yards away. The party wisely decides against using meat to distract it. (That may have only encouraged it). Instead, they try to stay as far away as possible, and hope for the best. The luck of the Cavers holds, and the beast does not notice them.

When they get back into town, a fighter named Arkerra challenged Darwain to a duel. Darwain accepted, and promptly kicked Arkerra's ass. After Arkerra yields, Darwain heals his wounds. Arkerra left, and the cause of the duel remains unclear.