Episode 20: 9/26/09

The Party:
Ashelia Raminas, elf ranger-rogue/3-3
Nineve, human knight/6
Xicar, human cleric/6
Sarek, human wizard 6

We're standing over the smoldering remains of Mohrg Ondore, and we notice he has a note pinned to the inside of his jacket, along with a key.

Ondore,
You have served the Circle quite well. A pity you were not more careful. Alas, your carelessness has brought your demise early. We are still in need of you, though now, you shall serve in a much...different capacity. Your return did not go as we had hoped, but you may yet prove more valuable than we had dared dream.
Your antagonists continue to harry you, and are responsible for your current form. If you must dispose of them, do so quickly. It would be unwise to toy with them. That could draw them into the Circle's business.
When you find your mind cleared after the trauma of your rebirth in His dark Name, and capable of understanding the tasks before you, return to your ancestral manor. There, we shall contact you, no need to trouble the Circle yourself.
~Your mistress, Wanton of Nature's Pagan Forms

We collect what remains of his remains and search the cavern. We find his desk area, and it is clear that his transformation into Mohrgdom was unhinging to his mind. We find another note, along with several sketches of us, dying horrifically.

Ondore,
Do you recall the working of the ancient runes that I showed you? Of course you do. You were always so very...clever. Father Skinshaw will provide the list of proper victims for you in two days' time. Commit that list to memory and destroy it before you begin your task. Who can know how your works will shape the future? Each murder inescapably alters the destinies of us all, drawing us inexorably towards His dark designs.
The ones you sacrifice must be marked as they die, otherwise they bring little glory to His dark Name, and their souls will go to waste. You may do with any others as you please - it matters not to me. I ask only that you mark them properly, and let their deaths serve our Bleak Lord as well as your lust for murder.
~Your mistress, Wanton of Nature's Pagan Forms

There's nothing else to see here, so we climb the stairs back to the mansion basement and make our way out. As we exit the house, we notice that thousands of silent black birds are perched on all available surfaces, watching us. It's very odd, and we're uneasy, so we hurry to put some distance between us and this cursed place.

As we leave the mansion behind, the troubled sky clears and the moon illuminates the countryside - the storm seems to have vented all its wrath. Reflecting on our recent trials, we find ourselves cresting the rise overlooking the House of Lillybrook and its grounds. Suddenly there shoots through the air a resounding crack, like thunder, from the direction of that forlorn house. Turning about, we gaze as a fissure rapidly widens across the abutment of land and the antiquated structure, and much of the cliff, wavers and abruptly falls, sliding and tumbling into the churning lake below. There is a long tumultuous crashing and rumbling sound, like the voice of a thousand breaking waves - and then the deep and ominous lake closes sullenly and silently over the fragments of the House of Lillybrook.

We move on and find an abandoned farm to sleep in for the night. In the morning, we find we are all afflicted with Red Death, and Nineve has another case of Ghoul Fever. Fortunately, Xicar is able to cast Remove Disease on all of us, and we feel much better, though we still look like hell. We head back to Istivin and arrive in the afternoon. We spend the evening in the Flask and the Terrasque, a tavern on the outskirts of the city. In the morning, we approach the gates of Dura. As expected, we encounter a unit of town guards at the gate, but we slip past them.

We find ourselves in the Wealthy district. A merchant, mistaking us for common laborers, offers us 2 gp each to help him unload his fragile goods. To avoid drawing attention to ourselves, we help him out. He pays us and offers us a ride through the district. We take him up on it and find ourselves in the market district. A street urchin takes a liking to us, but Xicar puts him off. However, we manage to make our way through the district without attracting undue notice.

We next find ourselves in a poor quarter. We round a corner onto a murder scene, but we manage to slip away before being noticed by anyone. Unfortunately, we draw undue attention to ourselves while trying to leave the district, and are forced to high-tail it to the neighboring market district.

There, we spot a group of town guards up the street, but we evade their notice and exit the quarter without encountering any problems. In a civic district, we pass a paladin of Heironeous and his retinue, but fortunately he is too full of his own self-importance to notice us. We return at last to the Cabal.

We visit Mossad's office and find him hanging out with Arrad, reminiscing on old times. We give our full report. They congratulate us, but are disappointed in our lack of clues. Nonetheless, he and marten have decided to indoctrinate us into the Ritual of the Lady's Favor, in honor of our service to the Church. That evening, amidst much pomp and ceremony, we undergo the ritual and gain one action point, usable once per day! Afterwards, we show those clerics how to party!

Nineve and Sarek undergo additional rituals the next day. The following morning, an acolyte summons us to the Great Library to meet with Mossad & Advocat. They explain they've been researching the manifest I brought back. Several other crates of earth have been delivered to multiple locations around the city. Mossad would like us to investigate a warehouse and a papermill, while other agents check out other locations.

We start with the papermill on Cliffside. The Ministry of Justice is still looking for us, so we must tread carefully. We evade guard patrols, get momentarily lost in the maze of the poor quarter, and unlock a neglected door in a market district which leads to the Cogs. With their knowledge of history, Sarek and Xicar lead us through these underground passages to the slums. We slip past the gate guards and make our way to a large papermill clinging precariously to the side of a cliff. The waterwheel running the papermill is powered by a giant waterfall. The wheel itself is a marvel of engineering at 45 feet across!

We open the door, and a mill worker tries really hard to get us to leave, but we eventually convince him to let us speak to his manager. The manager is evasive to all our questions and signals his worker-thug to attack us! The "worker" charges into Xicar, pushing him into the mill machinery! As he slams into Xicar, we recognize him is Kinto Anderhoff, the one that got away. A vision of The Trumpet appears to me. It is clear that this papermill is just a front for a group of Nerullian cultists. The workers and manager (who is a cleric) suddenly don raven masks, but Sarek blasts through them with an unnecessarily massive fireball. Figuring we've alerted everyone in the building to our presence after that display, we disable the lift and run up the stairs.

We find an office area with more stairs leading to yet a higher floor. We take a moment to rifle through the desk, but don't find anything incriminating, so we kick through the double doors leading to the main room on the floor. The Nerullian cultists are ready for us. Sarek throws down another fireball, but to his great disappointment, doesn't manage to ignite any of the machinery. Suddenly, an armored Nerullian cleric appears behind Sarek and attacks. Sarek blows out the windows with another massive fireball as Nineve falls under the cleric's curse. More cultists pour in and join the cleric as the battle shifts back into the office area. The tide of battle turns against the Nerullian dogs, and the evil cleric attempts to flee, invisible. Luckily, Sarek pegs him with an old glitterstone he must've been carrying around for 5 levels! We follow him up the stairs onto the third floor of the papermill. We finish off the ringleader cleric and most of the cultists, taking some of them prisoner. The cleric, like all the cultists, is wearing a strange raven head dress called a Reaper's Mask, which we collect for the Cabal. I find a secret passageway deeper into the cliffside, and we secure the prisoners. We regroup and heal up before heading into the natural caverns revealed behind the hidden passage.

The passage descends steeply and Xicar, Nineve, and Sarek all slip and tumble clumsily down the corridor. I manage to dodge them as they crash past me, but when Xicar's shield pops out of his hand, I jump up on it and surf down the passage like Legolas, BECAUSE I CAN! It's good to be an elf.

Thus, with varying degrees of grace, we enter a stone chamber containing 2 Filge-special acid zombies and 2 (hiding) alchemical horrors. Just as we're coming to grips with Filge's pets, a shadow appears and attacks Xicar. Sarek and Xicar dissolve the shade as Nineve and I wade through the zombies and horrors.

~Ashe

Episode 19: 9/19/09

The Party:
Ashelia Raminas, elf ranger-rogue/3-3
Nineve, human knight/6
Xicar, human cleric/6
Haroldur, human wizard 2/cleric 4

Mossad is very concerned about what we have to say. We present him with our evidence - the charred parchment, and hope he believes us. Fortunately, he doesn't have to. Mossad sifts the letter himself, and after a few moments tells us to get what rest we can here at the Cabal - he'll take care of this. We're keyed up from our adventure, but exhausted from our long and frantic journey, and it IS the middle of the night, so we head off to get some sleep (in our REAL rooms!)

A frantic Hezzrak wakes us early in the morning. He insists that we come down to the crypt RIGHT NOW because he has something to show us. He pesters and pushes us into the depths of the crypts, and then shows us... absolutely nothing important. After some antics, we piece together that the town guard is currently at the Cabal searching for us, and Mossad has sent Hezzrak to hide us in the crypt. About an hour passes, and we are summoned from the crypt to Marten's office.

Mossad is there as well. Marten restores us to our position and returns our stuff, and awards us Influence for our deeds. Then he leaves. Mossad helpfully fills us in. The Church is protecting us because Justice Ironbriar has moved against us in the night and has sent half the Ministry of Justice after us. They are currently trying to figure out what to do with us. Since we need more hard evidence to clear our names in the eyes of Istivin's authorities, Haroldur suggests we go to the lair of the Morg, which we assume must be Lillybrook Manor, to look for clues. This sounds like a pretty good idea to Mossad except for the fact that the city is crawling with guards looking for us. We'll have to sneak out.

We make preparations (including having Remove Disease cast on a few of us who are feeling rather unwell), and discuss tactics for escaping the city and confronting the morhg. Xicar comes up with the idea to cast Searing Light into Captain Lorring's sword, since that spell is particularly effective against undead. Also, a few days ago when Haroldur and Sarek were researching the Nerull human sacrifice runes, I checked out the history of Lillybrook Manor. I share what I learned.

83 years ago - the Lillybrook Manor is built by Vorel Lillybrook. Construction is partially funded by an unknown outside source.
63 years ago - Lillybrooks living in the Manor perish mysteriously over the course of a few years.
30 years ago - Vorel's great nephew Traver Lillybrook and his family move into the manor; Ondore Lillybrook is born.
14 years ago - The servants' quarters at the manor are destroyed in a fire. Ondore's mother commits suicide by flinging herself from the Conservatory window, and Traver kills himself. Ondore is taken by a fleeing servant to Istivin to be raised by relatives.
1 year ago - Ondore returns to Lillybrook manor and begins restoration work.
8 months ago - Ondore found dead.
5 months ago - Ondore's body stolen (from second funeral)

We finish our preparations and begin our attempt to sneak out of Dura.

We begin our escape in a civic quarter. Civic quarters are home to government buildings, temples, and trade houses. Guard patrols are heavy here, as well as being more alert, making hiding difficult. However, the tall, ornate towers, bridges and sculpture gardens make vaulting from building to building or scrambling up a wall a fairly simple affair. We escape the civic quarter without incident.

From the civic quarter, we find ourselves in a slum. Guards rarely enter the squalid slums. Crumbling old buildings, flop houses, run-down taverns and other seedy establishments dominate this quarter, along with tenements filled to overcrowding. The thugs and criminals of this quarter have little use for social niceties, but respond well to strength and bravado. Streetwise individuals may easily find dives that the guards avoid, side alleys, and other ways to keep out of sight. We round a corner and are face-to-face with an accident: a cart has overturned, and a small contingent of patrolling Ministry of Justice agents has stopped to assess the situation. It's terrible luck, and of course they recognize us and drop what they're doing to give chase. We scatter like quail and after several very tense minutes of ducking down alleys and hiding in plain sight, we manage to lose our pursuers. We escape the slums and find ourselves in a poor quarter.

The poor quarter is an impoverished area home to laborers and the downtrodden. Failing businesses, warehouses, and seedy taverns populate this quarter. The poor folk here pay little attention to genteel language, but this quarter provides ample opportunities to blend in with the crowds of laborers, or slip into a rowdy tavern. Our bad luck follows us here as we encounter a group of town guard. Fortunately, these guys will usually seek any excuse to avoid a fight, and we manage to convince them we're not worth it. We get away from them, but a few blocks later a swarm of rats suddenly pours out of a sewer grate, sending the crowded street into a panic. Xicar doesn't move in time and gets slightly trampled by the fleeing mob, but I realize that we can use the sewers to escape this quarter - there's no way we'll find guards down there! It's hard to convince Nineve, but we all hop down the sewer and once I get my bearings, we're home free! We emerge in another civic quarter.

We spot a group of soldiers patrolling a little ways up the street, but we manage to avoid their notice. At last, we find ourselves at the gates of Dura. I bribe an urchin to make a small disturbance and we slip past the distracted soldiers guarding the gate with ease.

We escape Dura and reach the boundaries of Istivin at dusk. A little ways outside of the city, we find a farm family to stay with for the night by passing ourselves off as traveling priests of Pelor. The evening takes an awkward turn when Haroldur suddenly drops the Pelor bluff and starts trying to convert our hosts to Wee Jas, but we leave in the morning after a great breakfast.

After several hours of hiking, a storm rolls in. The clouds hang oppressively low in the heavens as we pass through a singularly dreary tract of country. At length we find ourselves within view of the House of Lillybrook. An unredeemed dreariness seems to hang over this part of the countryside. The manor's principal feature seems to be that of excessive antiquity. Minute fungi overspreads the whole exterior, hanging in a fine tangled webwork from the eaves. The manor clings remarkably to a sheer cliff overhanging the dark waters of a small lake far below. The foundation stones of a ruined outbuilding thrust up from the weed-choked earth like rounded and decayed teeth. Several large, ragged black birds perch on the old stones, eyeing us warily.

In front of the house, we find a neglected hedge maze that appears to house a mausoleum at its center. We enter and wander around for a few minutes, eventually
finding a weeping marble statue. Just as we're moving past the statue, we hear a strange rustling in the bushes... a spellstitched ghast, accompanied by ghouls, bursts through the maze and attacks us! It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and we're all out of gum! The West Side Wee Jas crew (complete with hand signs) cleans up, and we move on towards the crypt.

Two corroded bronze doors carved with the Lillybrook crest bar our entrance to the mausoleum. I begin to pick the lock, but then Haroldur remembers we have a Lillybrook key! We try it and it works! We advance down the stairs and arrive at an octagonal chamber in the depths of the crypt. Three crates full of completely normal dirt are in the center of the room. Shipping manifests are tacked to the outside of the containers. I take samples of the dirt while paranoid Nineve stabs the dirt to ensure nothing is in there. Nothing is. I also collect a shipping manifest. As there is nothing else of interest here, we exit the crypt.

It starts to rain as we pick our way through the ruined hedge maze and approach the house. Politely, we ring the doorbell. No one answers, so we go in. The doors close ominously behind us. The entry hall is large and lofty. The windows are long, narrow and pointed, reaching upward to a vast distance from the black oaken floor. Dark, stained draperies hang upon the walls, and moth-eaten, rotting trophies hang crookedly here and there. Upon entry, Haroldur and I smell the faint scent of burnt fur. Suddenly, Haroldur dodges out of the way and swears the stuffed manticore head on the mantle has lunged to attack him, but he as avoided it, saving the party! We smile and nod and move into the parlor.

The dark paneled parlor seems unaccountably gloomy, as motes of dust drift through the air and settle on the dilapidated remains of a once magnificent piano. Hezzrak bangs on the keys, but mercifully no sound comes out. Suddenly, Xicar inexplicably begins waltzing with an invisible partner, but comes to his senses after a few moments. We shake our heads and move on.

Nineve hears some scratching behind a side door. She opens it and finds a washroom. An ancient metal washtub stands against the far wall, a ring of mold crusting its inner surface. Several eyeless, tumor-covered rats are scrambling frantically within the filthy basin. We leave them and advance to a gloomy lunge.

A sagging couch slumps in one corner of the lounge, opposite a grand fireplace. Motes of dust and ash skitter and swirl along the warped floorboards near the hearth. Xicar is suddenly seized with a sense of impending doom and tries to push us all out of the house. Nineve restrains him, and after a few moments he regains his composure. We move on, through a damp, mildewy drawing room and into the library.

The door to the library creaks loudly as we open it. Feeble light struggles to illuminate rotten books, sagging shelves, and stained rugs and tapestries. Oddly, amongst this gloom is a splash of bright color - a red silk scarf is draped over the side of a fallen and molding chair. I attempt to sift the scarf. When I pick it up, a shriek startles me. Then, I see Lord Ondore's face as he suddenly wraps the scarf around my neck and chokes me to death! I pass out. Xicar heals me, and Nineve and Haroldur tell me I strangled myself with the scarf - she had to cut it off my neck! We quickly leave the library and move to a stairwell that takes us upstairs.

We pass through a landing and enter a small, unremarkable bedroom. We advance through large double doors to a musician's gallery. Large dusty windows dominate the curved wall of the gallery. Despite the heavy glass, we can hear the rising wind and the branches of the trees crashing together in the yard outside. Aside from the mold and dust of ages covering the room and several ruined musical instruments, nothing is remarkable. We continue on.

Nineve gets bored first and opens the door to another fungus-covered bedroom. Suddenly, she slams the door shut and starts clawing at her own face! She regains her composure and starts to complain about the fungus attacking her and causing boils on her face. She also mentions a child. Before we can make sense of her ramblings, Hezzrak comes up the stairs, eating cancer rats. I try to dissuade him, as they are CLEARLY diseased, but then I remember that outsiders are usually immune to disease. I shrug and tell him he can eat what he wants.

We wander into a gallery with covered portraits on the walls. We uncover the portraits and the room grows icier and icier...until they explode outward in a shower of freezing dirty water. Afterwards, I feel ill, but I try to shake it off.

We move on into a completely preserved bedroom! However, the lack of dust and mold does nothing to dispel the bewildering influence of the dark and tattered drapes which, tortured into motion by the rising tempest outside, sway fitfully to and fro. Haroldur rushes to a writing desk in the corner and appears to contemplate stabbing himself in the throat with a large splinter of wood, but then decides against. We move on.

Nineve and I force the door to a small bathroom. An iron tub, scaly with rust, squats in the center of the room. The floorboards sag and bow with the tub's weight. Green scummy water fills the tub to the brim, and dribbles over the side to pool on the floor in several nasty puddles. As I approach, the floorboards crack and give way! I barely manage to jump back in time to avoid falling through the floor. The tub falls into the cancer-rat bathroom below and explodes in a shower of water.

There's only one more door to investigate. We open it and find ourselves in a large bedroom. Everything in the room, including the bed has been torn to pieces - with one exception. A portrait hangs backward, untouched. Xicar turns the picture around and claims to recognize the beautiful woman depicted therein. As we turn to head back down to the first floor, Xicar inexplicably kicks Nineve down the stairs! Then, he turns on me with his shortspear! He shouts "Traitorous women! You filthy whores! I'll kill you all!!!" We easily restrain him and Nineve intimidates some sense into him.

We abandon the idea of going back downstairs and head up to the attic, which is full of steamer trunks. Among the random luggage, we find a well-appointed study which has an amazing view of the lake at the bottom of the cliff several hundred feet below. We proceed cautiously. Scorch marks mar the walls. A battered telescope stands in one corner, and a trapdoor leading to the roof is tied closed. I sift the scorch marks and witness a brief scene: A man and his wife are arguing. She is accusing him of something; he denies it. She throws a lantern at him and accidentally catches herself on fire... Just as I snap out of it, Nineve flails about like she's on fire and throws herself out the window! I toss one end of my troll gut rope to the boys and dive after her. Luckily, her armor had gotten hung up on the ornate roofing, and I barely manage to rescue her before she plummets off the cliff to her death! We climb back into the study, regroup, and head for the assumed safety of the basement.

We find ourselves in a vast kitchen which is damp and completely dark. It's silent at first, but soon the walls are alive with the sound of hundreds of diseased rats. We brace for impact. Several large cancer rats like the ones we saw in the bathtub emerge and approach us. I cut two of them down, but then 2 large swarms pour out of the walls and over our party. The clerics detonate negative energy bombs and we are soon saved from what would have truly been a fate worse than death! We leave the rat-ridden kitchen and investigate an unremarkable servants' quarters, complete with rusted, sagging bunk beds.

Moving on, we find the rotting pantry, which is filled with dozens of blind, bloated, diseased rats. The stench is horrible. Despite the smell, I take a moment to closely observe the rats. They appear to be suffering from some kind of bubonic plague variant. We all realize we're feeling less than stellar, all of a sudden. We're concerned and quickly move on.

Next we find an ancient wine cellar. Haroldur and I poke around and identify 8 bottles of non-vinegar that are probably worth something. We collect them and move on to a ruined workshop.

Broken glassware, shattered pottery, and rusty tools litter the floor. Suspicious crates of dirt, similar to the ones we found in the mausoleum, stand in the center of the room. As we're looking around, Xicar suddenly falls through an unseen trapdoor and disappears! Hezzrak spots a darkened doorway behind Haroldur and starts down the stairs he finds. Meanwhile, I locate the release mechanism for the trapdoor that claimed Xicar. After a brief conference with Nineve and some crate-shuffling, I open the trap door and send her down to the cavern below, riding a crate, Dr. Strangelove-style!

Haroldur disappears down the stairs with Hezzrak and calls for a locksmith. Usually that's my cue, but through the open trapdoor I can see a skeletal figure menacing Xicar and Nineve! It's the morhg, and I'm not really surprised to see it's none other than our old friend Lord Ondore. On hearing this, Hezzrak whizzes past me and flies down to the action. I call for Haroldur to quit being such a baby and get his ass down the hole like everyone else, as I line up the morhg in my Line of Lightning Sword sights. Reluctantly, Haroldur flings himself down the hole, clockwork wings flapping.

Xicar accidentally blinds himself with his own spell, and Morhg Ondore and Hezzrak point and laugh (who can blame them?). Flame leaps from Morhg Ondore's fingertips as Nineve is fricasseed! Things are dire. In a truly unimpressive display of lightning, I zap Ondore and teleport into a flank behind him. Nineve throws herself at Morhg Ondore with the last of her strength, and then I draw Captain Lorring's longsword (previously prepared by Xicar!). I savagely slice through his undead body and discharge the stored Searing Light. The glory of Wee Jas and Xicar's plan rips through his husk, destroying him utterly.

~Ashe

Episode 11: 9/20/08

The Party:

Ashelia Raminas, elf ranger-rogue/2-2

Haroldur, human cleric/4

Nineve Floret, human knight/4

Sarek, human wizard/4

We proceed down the stairs after Vander Anderhoff. Just as we're leaving, we hear armed men running to the front of the building. Captain Tevlis of the city guard, accompanied by two of his men, bursts through the door. He demands we cease and desist. We try to convince him that his goals and ours are not mutually exclusive. He concedes, but insists on accompanying and keeping an eye on us while we investigate the slaughterhouse.

We decend down the stairs and Vander is waiting for us in ambush! We rush into combat. As Nineve and I flank Vander, a vision of The Twin appears to me, and I gain a mirror image! Haroldur and Sarek take on Vander's burlier, angrier brother, Parn. Nineve eventually convinces Vander to surrender to her. Haroldur finds himself in a bad spot and flees across the slaughterhouse... only to run into another of Vander's barbarian brothers, Torkan! The cleric whittles him down eventually. In the meantime, the city guards turn on us and their erstwhile leader! Captain Tevlis, totally caught off guard, gets stabbed in the back by his own men and goes down. The guards are dealt with. Sarek also falls, but I manage to navigate the treacherous gauntlet of chutes, platforms and machinery, making it across the slaughterhouse floor just in time to save the wizard from certain doom. As the battle wraps up, we stabilize the three unconcious Sawfish brothers, time them up, and hang them by their bounds from the hook line in the ceiling. Then, we proceed deeper into the slaughterhouse in search of Lord Ondore's missing body.

As we're exploring the warrens of the slaughterhouse, we stumble upon an ogre, who attacks! He catches me on his hook, but fortunately, Nineve disarms him of his weapon before he has a chance to drop me into the mysterious vat of bubbling slime he's presiding over. As Nineve and I are battling the ogre, another stealthy Sawfish brother, Kinto, sneaks up behind Haroldur and Sarek! Nineve and I finish off the ogre and turn our attentions to the last Sawfish boy. We quickly subdue him and tie him up with his brothers.

At last, we enter a room obviously used for illegal necromancy and other foul-smelling evils. Disturbingly, the walls of this chamber are lined with familiar-looking cylinders - acid zombies! We've all been through this drill before, so rather than waiting for them to burst out and attack, I pop the cylinders from afar with my bow, and surprisingly, the zombies slump lifelessly to the floor.

Throughout, I can hear frantic chanting in an ajacent room, followed by some panicked-sounding but fluent cursing. Something must be going poorly... Suddenly, our old friend Filge the Necromancer bursts into the room. He must've heard our approach because he doesn't seem particularly surprised to see us. He animates the zombies with his familiar "Arise, my beautiful monstrosities!" line. Then he runs away like a little girl.

The battle is joined. We mow through the zombies and chase after Filge. We burst through a door farther down the hallway and find him - with some friends. Filge and a closely hooded female seem to be arguing over the shambling, reanimated corpse of what used to be Lord Ondore. Two acid zombies, massive skeletal monstrousity, and two cultists (from the shadows!) attack us. In what is becoming a disturbing trend, Filge uses foul magics to escape our wrath. The female and Lord "Shambles" Ondore escape up a concealed elevator of some sort while we are locked in a battle royale with the rear guard. Between Filge's pets, the cultists, and Haroldur's uncontrolled spider swarm, it's a tough fight, but we somehow manage to stay up and put them all down.

~Ashe

Episode 10: 8/9/08

The Party:

Ashelia Raminas, elf ranger-rogue/2-2

Haroldur, human cleric/4

Nineve Floret, human knight/4

Sarek, human wizard/4

Zolara interprets our Harrow reading:

"Through your aid and prudence one who was lost without hope of salvation has been allowed to bring forth information from the darkness of forgotten history. One who has watched his comrades fall and was thought lost forever has been found. Elsewhere, a woman of dark power masks herself and shapes the events that will divide your future. A safe journey leads to a place of fellowship and camaraderie. Four crows, brothers in violence, plot in the depths where none who are led emerge alive. Within this place, a dark soul awaits the creeping touch of true corruption."

Our return trip is uneventful, and we arrive at the Ruby Temple in Istivin without incident. We return to our cells to recover from our journey and await debriefing.

In the morning, we give Mossad our full report. Privately, I also turn over the curiously sinister box with the writhing runes. With these formalities out of the way, I find I'm feeling slightly adrift, like I may be losing my focus on Wee Jas after our recent adventures and departure from monastic life. I elect to spend 2 days in meditation to refocus on The Lady's will. During this time, Sarek undergoes the ritual of the Ruby Initiate.

At the end of my meditations, I take 31E with me and we pay a visit to the (really creepy) lab of Dr. Morgus. The 'good' doctor is completely disinterested in the construct, but he takes my nutritive goo samples and says he'll get back to me. He snatches the vials from me and immediately begins experimentation; he shooes us out of his lab without even looking up. 31E seems to take it all in stride (which is impressive, as he only has ONE LEG!!!), but I'm glad to leave the freakshow lab and go about my business.

The next day, I meet with the completely disinterested Marten and obtain a writ to undergo the Ritual of the Deathly Scholar, as well as the Ritual of Intuit Pattern. At dusk I head down to the crypts to learn these new secrets. Later, back in my cell, with my new found power I am able to finally translate the rune above the inactive portal in Icosiel's tomb - "Amsophar"! I'm quite pleased with this bit of progress. Just as I'm putting my notes back in order, Dr. Morgus's 3-legged hunchback appears and informs me that the Doctor can create an elixir which will permanently grant 5 HP to the user, at the cost of 1 pt. of Influence (for Morgus's time). Unfortunately, I am no longer in a position to benefit from this discovery, but I share this information with the others, and Nineve and Haroldur each get a vial of the elixir.

Days pass and we begin to fall back into the routine of temple life, when we are summoned to Marten's office. He assigns us to oversee Lord Ondore's funeral (pt. 2), and introduces us to Myra, a severe-looking middle aged woman. He informs us that Myra will be observing us for a while. We hardly have time to ponder the meaning of this new development, as we are ambushed on our way out of Marten's offices by an attractive young woman who introduces herself as Elidara Lillybrook. She pleads that the decision to leave her uncle Ondore in the realm of the deceased be repealed. She is quite animated and insistent. I swiftly lose interest - we've heard sob stories like this one a thousand times. As she shamelessly throws herself at Sarek and Haroldur, I notice she has a tattoo underneath the glove on her left hand, but I can't quite make it out... Haroldur takes the bait and agrees to meet with her privately. I roll my eyes and stalk off to the requisitions officer. I put in a request for a wand of CLW and supplies for Ondore's funeral tomorrow, and then spend the rest of the day in the library.

I'm looking into Jodai, a forgotten god of luck who is enjoying a popular resurgence among the commoners. Jodai is Chaotic Neutral (the worst kind!) whose portfolio is Luck and Games of Chance. His followers hold lotteries where they redistribute church donations to a few lucky faithful.

Meanwhile, apparently finished with his private audience with Ms. Lillybrook, Haroldur works with Advocat to determine if there's any way to reinterpret the ruling on Lord Ondore. I'm a bit surprised by his tenacity, actually. However, he eventually runs up against the brick wall that is Marten, and eventually must admit defeat. The next day, he breaks the news gently to the crestfallen Elidara, and manages to make his failure to reverse an irreversible ruling seem like Marten's fault. She gives him a small token of her appreciation for his efforts - a mundane ring bearing the Lillybrook crest. Humans are so melodramatic!

It's the day of Ondore's burial, so in the evening we proceed to the graveyard to preside over his second (and hopefully final) funeral.

Nineve gives a truly moving service, but it is once again interrupted by that interloper, The Hawk! Chaos erupts as thugs and zombies appear out of the woodwork, and the hearse bearing Ondore's body takes off suddenly and crashes through the crowd!

The crowd surges forward in panic, and Nineve magically doubles in size, striking out at The Hawk, his followers and anyone looking suspicious. I manifest Expeditious Retreat (thanks to Zolara) and dash off after Ondore's renegade hearse. Nineve, Sarek and Haroldur are reluctant to let The Hawk's meddling go unpunished, but with some prodding from the ever-present Myra, they join in the chase. Some of the villains had crashed a carriage in the roadway in a well-coordinated attempt to impede our pursuit and make good their comrade's escape in Ondore's hearse. Fortunately, giant Nineve rights the toppled carriage in no time and Haroldur and Sarek use it to advance the chase. They soon overtake me as I sprint through the city after Ondore's corpse.

We race through the streets, weaving through traffic and dodging obstacles. Sarek and Haroldur manage to catch up to the hearse and stop the escape - Nineve and I run up just in time to butcher the villains. Some of the men are dressed as thugs, and some are in robes. We do manage to subdue one of the band and take him as prisoner, along with the hearse-driver, who has clearly been charmed. However, a quick search of the coffin reveals that Ondore's body is missing! We head back to the Ruby Temple with the hearse, the coffin, our prisoners, and the bodies.

Once we arrive, Haroldur and Sarek immediately set to the unsavory task of torturing the captive thug for information. Sarek is enthusiastic about the prospect... Maybe we should start calling him Sarek the Sadist... Nineve, the charmed hearse-driver and I rush inside to report to Mossad. We quickly explain the situation, and he meets us outside to search the hearse for clues while we remove the bodies. Mossad finds an empty potion vial and several black feathers. We commence investigation into the whereabouts of Ondore's body immediately.

Haroldur and Sarek learn that the thugs were hired from the docks in Cliffside, and were told to steal the hearse. The captive claimed he saw some of the men in rust-colored robes pour a vial of oil on the corpse, which then promptly shrank to an impossibly small size. One of the robed men had a crow with him; he tied the tiny shrunken corpse to a crow's leg, and the bird flew off.

In the hearse, Mossad and I find muddy bootprints, but upon closer examination, I determine the boots were caked in mud AND cow manure - which is rather unusual. Also, we notice the robes on the bodies are stained with blood along the hem... We conclude the robed men must've come from one of the local slaughterhouses. We're about to split up and search all the slaughterhouses in the area when Mossad wisely suggests we interrogate one of the robed corpses using Speak with Dead. He finds an acolyte to cast the spell for us and we learn that the villains were supposed to rendez-vous at the Sawfish Boys' slaughterhouse. With the help of the Cabal's resources, we soon locate the establishment in question. We have no time to lose, so we set out for it immediately.

The Sawfish Boys are an unsavory lot of brothers, but as they fulfill a need, their brutish behaviour and questionable exploits are tolerated. When we arrive shortly after dark, the building's lights are off and things are quiet. I scout the perimeter, but we decide to take the direct approach and knock on the door. A man who calls himself Vander Anderhoff answers, and we use our authority as agents of the Church of Wee Jas to convince him to let us have a look around. He is quite congenial, chit-chatting with us as he leads us to his office and shows us around. Next, he starts leading us down some stairs. Just before we reach the stairway, his veneer of civility drops. He draws his rapier and calls his dogs!

A pack of hounds, led by a dire wolf, bursts out of a room some distance behind us, and we are trapped between the beasts and their master. We beat up on Vander, but are unable to finish him off before he escapes down the stairs. However, the hounds are giving us some real trouble, so we are forced to let Vander go as we turn our attention to the vicious dogs. It's a very tough fight, but after what seems like an eternity we managed to finish off the beasts. There's no time to rest and regroup, though, as Vander has escaped into the bowels of the slaughterhouse...

Episode 1: 1/12/08

The Party:
Ashelia Raminas, elf ranger/1
Haroldur, human cleric/1
Sigmund Gorn, dwarf fighter/1
Nineve Floret, human knight/1
Sarek, human wizard/1

First, some background. My associates and I are Keepers of the Grey Covenant, or Greycloaks, for the church of Wee Jas. Essentially, we are one of the tools the church uses to fight unlawful necromancy. We are custodians of the deceased, and also an investigative team that can be sent in to handle any threats to the church or its tenets. We are based in the Ruby Temple, the grand church of Wee Jas in Hookhill, the capitol city of Caledon.

We were assigned to oversee the funeral of Lord Ondore, a minor noble and slumlord, quietly infamous for his oppressive dealings with the local poor. A knife found its way into his back, and now his family wants to have him raised. For that, they have to come to Wee Jas, so here we are.
The open-casket ceremony was... interesting. Nineve and Haroldur totally botched the service in front of a large crowd of nobility and the well-to-do. In their defense, there really wasn't much flattering to say about the late Lord Ondore, and I doubt many of the mourners present were terribly interested in anything except whether he would be raised and how much they stood to inherit if he wasn't.

In the middle of a particularly uncomfortable speech by Nineve, interlopers led by a man calling himself "The Hawk" crashed the ceremony. Some form of violent outburst was not entirely unexpected, but this group seemed to be reasonably well organized and prepared. Shouting things like "An end to Lord Ondore's injustice!" and "Vile Lord Ondore will pay for his crimes, even in death!" (humans can be so excitable), a group of miscreants deployed smoke sticks as they moved through the now panicking crowd towards the casket. Meanwhile, the leader of the band bravely hurled haughty insults at us from the relative safety of a nearby rooftop, peppering us with arrows all the while. As we all rushed to meet the coming threat, The Hawk deployed - get this - actual hawks to dive-bomb the casket with alchemist's fire. This stately funeral was swiftly turning into a cheesy roadside circus. Unfortunately, one of the hawks managed to catch Lord Ondore's body on fire, so I broke off my attack and rushed to put it out. Just as the flames were extinguished, one of the ground-attack crew produced another vial of alchemist's fire and with a lucky shot managed to ignite the corpse again. Out of water and patience, I slammed the casket closed and hoped the flames would extinguish themselves. Nineve, Sigmund, Haroldur and Sarek managed to turn the battle in our favor while I was putting out fires, and the remaining brigands beat a hasty retreat. The funeral (such that it was) was over, but the corpse of Lord Ondore was badly burned.

Naturally, the Temple is not pleased with the condition of the Lord Ondore's body, but it can be salvaged, and at least it wasn't stolen or completely destroyed. However, if he is raised, his "dashing good looks" certainly won't be coming back with him!

A few days passes and we are summoned for another mission. Alastor Land, a Seeker, has been missing for 4 days. (Seekers, like Greycloaks, are another of Wee Jas's tools. They are tasked with research and investigation for the church, however, their role is primarily academic.) We will travel by coach to Diamond Lake, a large mining town in the vicinity. From there, the Greymere Convent will provide us with their ship, The Harkness, to ferry us across the lake to the hamlet of Kolbenburg, where Alastor was conducting his research. There have been rumors of orc and goblin activity in the mountains near Kolbenburg, so we should be on our guard.

We did some research on Alastor Land and his mission before setting out: Alastor moved to Kolbenburg to follow up on another Seeker's research. Several years ago, a seeker named Ulavant led a band of Seekers into an ancient site he believed to be from the Age of the Imperium in search of relics. They too vanished suddenly. The Imperium was a great empire that spanned the multiverse ages ago. Ruled by enigmatic beings called Spell Weavers, they linked their vast empire together through a strange amalgam of magic and science. The empire stood for millennia, holding whole worlds under its sway until centuries ago, when the Spell Weavers suddenly vanished. Their immeasurable empire collapsed in an instant of terrible destruction and chaos. However, relics from this time are occasionally found, and such relics have served to greatly advance our understanding of magic... Sounds like Alastor Land may have gotten in over his head.

The 3 day journey to Diamond Lake was pleasant. When we arrived in town, however, we found the Greymere Convent abandoned and in disarray. To make matters worse, the Harkness, which is moored at the pier, has been commandeered by a band of ruffians in the employ of Balabar Smenk, a local mine manager.

Further inspection of the Greymere Convent revealed obvious signs of violence. We discovered 3 discarded holy symbols of the church, some dubious-looking dark stains (blood, perhaps?), and someone had taken a greataxe to most of the furniture. This convent hadn't just fallen by the wayside and slowly dissipated - it had been raided.

Armed with this knowledge, we set about discovering who had done such a thing. In short order we found the man in town to talk to was Lazare, a sage, mine owner, and renowned chessmaster. He claims to be able to answer any question - for a price. We visited Lazare in the afternoon at his nicely appointed chess parlor and found him to be well-mannered and courteous. We chatted for a bit and learned that he too has a beef with Balabar Smenk. We explained about the Harkness and our mission to get to Kolbenburg. At length, we paid his (rather steep) 20 gp fee and asked our question: Who was behind the attack on the Greymere Convent? He told us to come back in a day for our answer.

We spent the next day cleaning the Convent and putting things back in order. At the appointed time, we returned to Lazare's for our answer. He told us that it was Cullen, Balabar Smenk's right-hand man, who had led the attack on Greymere. We thanked him for his time and trouble, and immediately set out to report our findings to the local authorities.

We arrived at the Sheriff's office, and, to our horror, found it to be in a terrible state. Papers were in disarray, and two lazy guards were drinking wine and playing cards (!) at the desk. The sheriff himself was sleeping off a hangover in his office. Nineve, who became rather impatient at this point, may not have made the best impression as she slammed her shield down on the card game and demanded attention. Fortunately, Haroldur managed to smooth things over before too many hackles were raised, and we reported that there had been an attack on the Greymere Convent (which was old news) and that we suspected Cullen (and therefore Balabar) was behind it. They seemed completely indifferent to these allegations of desecration and slaughter! I'm not even sure they filed a report. Realizing these people were useless and we were getting nowhere, we returned in a huff to the Greymere Convent.

As we were tidying things up, I noticed that some of the graves in the graveyard looked to have been recently disturbed. Quickly and carefully, we exhumed one of the disturbed graves to find our fears confirmed - the interred corpse was gone! We decided then that we needed to guard the graveyard at night and attempt to apprehend the culprits. I put the "grave" back in order and, in the gathering dusk, we settled down to wait.

We didn't have to wait long. Between dusk and dark, we noticed a light bobbing into the graveyard in the distance. Soon, it split into two lights which moved off in opposite directions. Sarek and I headed for one light and Nineve, Haroldur and Sigmund took the other one. We were able to get fairly close before we were spotted by our quarry. Sarek cast a sleep spell and 2 of our 4 graverobbers instantly fell into a deep slumber. The other two sprang to attack, but I handled them easily. I glanced over at the other scuffle and saw that Haroldur and the fighters had their situation well in hand, so I tied up the sleeping survivors.

The last graverobber in Haroldur's group escaped, sprinting off into the night. In all that armor, catching him was out of the question. As Nineve shook her fist at the fleeing ne'er-do-well in frustration, he darted behind a crypt, let out a blood-curdling scream, and fell silent.

We figured he'd gotten his just desserts. After all, he was just a superstitious commoner, cavorting around in a graveyard at night. He probably got frightened by his own shadow and passed out cold! We tended to the fallen (all dead) and I was just re-checking my knots on the sleeping survivors when the real source of the fleeing brigand's terror became known. Ghouls had sneaked up on us!

Our group was separated, Haroldur, Nineve, and Sigmund being quite a distance still from myself and Sarek. I could hear Haroldur rebuking the foul aberrations and the sounds of clean-up - I mean, battle, as I sprang to slay our undead attackers. I cut one down in short order, but meanwhile the other ghoul decided to take his chances with a softer target. I turned my back on him for one second, and the next thing I knew, Sarek was paralyzed! I always forget about that! Cursing my carelessness, I called for backup as I finished off my opponent and rushed to save the helpless mage. The others showed up just in time. Haroldur rebuked the ghast, who stopped gnawing on Sarek and stood there, awestruck, while the rest of us cut it down.

With the battle in the graveyard finally over, we took the still-sleeping prisoners and their incriminating gear (shovels, lanterns, bodybags) inside and I ran to town to fetch the sheriff. I had a tough time convincing the lazy sots in the sheriff's office to get up and actually do their jobs. In the end, I had to drag them out of the office by their collars and threaten to wake the sheriff at home to get them to come along!

I arrived at Greymere with the useless deputies in tow. The prisoners had awoken, and were putting up a fuss and whining to be let go. We reported the events of the evening to the disinterested law enforcement officials, and handed over the graverobbers. We were assured that for such a serious crime, they would definitely spend "at least one night" in the lock-up. Talk about justice...

We finished putting things in the graveyard in order and went back to our rooms at the Able Carter Inn for the night. Sarek sent a message to the Ruby Temple relating the events so far:

"Diamond Lake church was found abandoned and in disarray.
Harkness taken by thugs.
Balabar Smenk believed to be responsible for razing.
Bodies stolen from graveyard.
Advise."

The next morning, we received a reply:

"Please determine more hard information.
Four replacements to be sent in three days.
Your target is in Kolbenberg.
Diamond Lake is a secondary concern."

Accordingly, we decided to see about securing passage across Diamond Lake. With the Harkness seemingly inaccessible, we needed to find another vessel to take us to Kolbenburg. At the docks, just down the pier from where the Harkness was moored, we found a shabby but suitable-looking vessel being tended by an ancient, spindly-looking man. Ignoring the heckling calls of the thugs on the Harkness, we entered into negotiations. The old man would take us across, but was afraid to cross the lake on his own, for some reason. Because of the ambiguity of our mission, we had originally intended to book one-way passage to Kolbenburg, take care of our business, and arrange the return trip later with a ship on the other side of the lake. However, the skinny little man flatly refused to return to Diamond Lake alone. We offered to arrange for his lodging once we reached Kolbenburg, but he was hesitant to commit to being away from Diamond Lake for an unspecified period of time, and was very concerned about becoming "stuck" on the wrong side of the lake. We told him to think about our offer, and we would give him a day or so to make up his mind.

As we walked back up the pier past the Harkness, the heckling grew more intense, and at last, Haroldur could stand it no longer. He wheeled around and informed the brigands that it was exactly this sort of attitude that had cost them our business, and we'd be paying that other ship to take us across the lake... for a whole gold piece! (One gold! Can you imagine? These country bumpkins had probably never seen so much money in their whole lives! Doubtless they'd sell their own mothers for such a paltry sum!)

At seeing the color of our coin, the thugs' attitudes changed immediately. They were falling over themselves to allow them to take us across the lake, claiming to be a much better, stronger crew (which was almost certainly true) and asserting that the Harkness was a better, faster and more seaworthy (or maybe "lake-worthy"?) vessel.

However, the damage had been done, and Haroldur rudely informed them that they had missed their opportunity for fame and fortune. Our noses in the air, we began to leave, when one of the brigands shouted, "Let's get 'em and just take their bloody gold!". Burly thugs rushed down the docks at us, and the battle was joined. Sailors on the deck of the Harkness fired crossbows and threw marlin pikes at us as the ones on the dock attacked us with belaying pins. At first, I tried to merely subdue my opponents, hitting with the flat of my blade, but when one thug lunged past me to strike at Haroldur with murderous intent, I sliced him open from stem to stern. The first casualty seemed to enrage the thugs even more, and they attacked with renewed viciousness.

Nineve and Sigmund boldly cut a path of blood through the surging mob, as Haroldur and Sarek traded fire with the brigands on the deck. For my part, I reproached myself for being so rash as to kill that first ignorant thug - death by my longsword, Aernin, Rite of Law, was too good for him - and I resolved to take a different approach. I shoved the body off the dock into the water, in disgust. To my surprise, within seconds, huge, man-eating gar surfaced from the depths and devoured the corpse! This gave me an idea. The thugs that managed to rush past Nineve and Sigmund's deadly gauntlet were met by me, as I slammed into them and threw them off the docks and into the water. Those who couldn't swim fast enough learned a final lesson about survival of the fittest.

However, a few did manage to swim to safety, and began to climb up onto the pier. Also, a few of the thugs on the ship leaped off the prow onto the docks (some missed and ended up in the water with the gars). The push of sailors running up the docks through Nineve and Sigmund had thinned, and it seemed the remaining thugs were bypassing the fighters and closing in on our unprotected flank - Sarek and Haroldur. Sigmund and I moved to defend the casters, and we left the indomitable Nineve to deal with the remaining threats running up the dock from the ship. In my haste, I sustained a grievous wound, but Haroldur healed me, and I returned the favor by neatly dispatching his attacker. Meanwhile, Sigmund was bravely battling two thugs, but one managed to slip past him and struck Sarek down! Sigmund and Haroldur finished off the remaining brigands and stabilized Sarek, and the melee at the quayside was finally over.

~Ashe