Episode 30: 8/28/10

The Party:
Ashelia Raminas, elf ranger 5/rogue/3
Nineve, human knight/8
Xicar, human cleric/8
Haroldur, human wizard 3/cleric 4/mystic theurge 1

We pause to heal up before climbing through the hatch into the unknown. In under a minute, we are forced to access the Tome of Knowledge, which contains the Laws of the Universe.

The hatch leads to a cramped corridor that heads off into darkness in two opposite directions. A metal grate provides a level surface on which to crawl over the tangle of pipes, hoses and tubes that cover the floor, walls, and ceiling. Other than the lights we’ve brought with us, the darkness here is complete. We go left.

Unable to stand, we have little choice but to crawl toward the unknown, hoping that we made the right decision. Here and there other, similar corridors join with the passage we are following; it wouldn’t take long to get hopelessly lost in this maze of passages...

After crawling for some time along the narrow passage, we see a light glowing faintly in the distance. As we approach, I determine that it is a hatch, similar to the one you climbed through previously, although this one has a weakly pulsing green light attached to it. Wary, I check the hatch for traps. Sure enough, I find one, and it's magical. Xicar determines that the spell is from the Abjuration school of magic. Haroldur then dispels the trap, and Nineve and I force the hatch open with her handy crowbar.

Lifting the heavy hatch, the clatter and whir of machinery from below fills the passageway. I stick my head through and report my findings. About ten feet below, a narrow metal catwalk hangs suspended over a large chamber. Dim red lamps and the occasional shower of sparks are all that illuminate the area. A complicated metal apparatus stands at the center of the chamber, covered with levers, flashing lights and glowing gauges. Numerous piles of metallic parts and apparatus litter the chamber, clearly in various states of repair. I also spot some laser turrets and a few mechanical beetles.

We descend onto the catwalk (which is unstable) with varying levels of grace. Nineve drops down first, causing the catwalk to creak and sway in a manner that is not at all inspiring. Xicar follows. I quickly decide the catwalk was never meant to support several adventurers in heavy armor, so I drop down from the hatch and immediately vault gracefully off the catwalk onto the arcane engine below. Turns out I had the right idea - Haroldur cannonballs onto the catwalk and it collapses underneath the men! Xicar reacts quickly and lands well, but Haroldur crashes to the ground in a heap.

Nineve gets things started by blasting the closest laser turret with her pew-pew gauntlet. Mechanical beetles assembled from a coppery metal clank and hiss as they scuttle toward her, a high-pitched whine emanating from somewhere within their blocky metal carapace. Jagged metal saws protrude from beneath their heads, which vibrate threateningly as they swarm her on the catwalk. Fortunately, she dodges to avoid their lightning blasts. A silvery clockwork beetle clatters as it scurries across the room on thick, heavy legs. A tubular apparatus emerges from its carapace as it settles into a stable position, and fires at dart at a weak point in Nineve's armor... Only Nineve's armor doesn't have any weak points! The dart ricochets harmlessly off her bulwark of defense.

Meanwhile, I am attempting to disable or simply break the arcane engine. I scurry over its surface, prying off panels and interfering with delicate mechanisms while the machine tries to blast me with jolts of electricity. It's fun!

Xicar and Haroldur are on the ground dealing with a second laser turret. Xicar fires a shard of entropy at the turret and heads to my aid, while Haroldur loads his crossbow (from the ground), avoiding enemy darts in the process.

Suddenly, Nineve swats one of the copper beetles off the catwalk with a mighty blow. This seems to give her an idea. With a maniacal laugh, she overruns the copper beetle in front of her and heroically bullrushes all the remaining beetles off the catwalk!

Unfortunately, all the beetles Nineve punted off the catwalk are now on the ground, menacing Haroldur. He is surrounded and alone and things are not going well. Seeing this, Nineve drops off the catwalk to help him out. Xicar and I continue to fight with the arcane engine, which has been healing the beetles with bolts of electricity. We continue to pound on it, and Xicar manages to finally disable it. We both rush to Haroldur's aid.

He is immediately threatened by several copper beetles. From across the room, I also spot a golden beetle-like automaton, which darts into the chamber with smooth, precise movements. Arcs of electricity flash across its intricately engraved golden casing, as a circular saw whirrs menacingly beneath its head. I take out two of the copper beetles while my companions manage the rest. Haroldur finishes off the last beetle, and he and Xicar get zapped by a burst of lighting I easily manage to avoid. Undeterred, I rush forward and engage the golden beetle. It wounds me gravely, but the party is right behind me. Xicar heals me and we all beat on it. I land the killing blow and deftly avoid the shower of fire and debris which pelts my companions.

With the clockwork horrors defeated, we rush over to the arcane engine for some kind of clue. A few lights continue to flicker dimly, accompanied by a loud metallic grinding from deep within the apparatus. Soon even those signs of activity cease as the machine gives one final shudder. Silence and darkness descend on the chamber like a thick blanket. Almost immediately, we hear 31E’s voice, although it is distorted and incomprehensible. It seems to be coming from a part of the apparatus, but it is currently damaged to the point of barely functioning.

After fiddling with the remains of the apparatus for some time, 31E’s voice suddenly comes through clearly:

"…abled the Arcane Engine in your sector. Good. I am able to use this connection for communication only; I am unable to perceive anything in your location.

"ROOOF! Your companion animal is… eager for your return. To that end, I will guide you to a less damaged area as quickly as possible.

"After leaving the maintenance facility, follow the illuminated path, it will lead you to a bank of lifts. According to my analysis, one of which should still be functional. One lift has a broken cable about halfway down the shaft, and it is not next to the lift with disabled brakes. The functioning lift is not next to the lift with disabled brakes. One of the lifts has a damaged safety override, and it is next to the fully functional lift. That lift will take you to a lower level; I will attempt to contact you there."

"It seems you have disabled… ". The message repeats itself from the beginning.

We all agree that we're in no condition to explore further at the moment. We loot the room for loot (since we've already killed it with HPs), and heal up and rest.

We all have disturbing dreams. In the morning, despite protests from Nineve, Dr. Xicar makes sure we're all sufficiently healed before we head out.

The door of the maintenance area is locked. Nineve again offers the use of her crowbar, but I insist it's not necessary. I easily pop open the locked door and we head off into the unknown. As the doors slide open, an intermittent series of lights trails off into the distance down the otherwise featureless corridors we’ve become so familiar with. After following the lights for some time, we cannot help but realize the sheer futility of attempting to navigate these corridors without 31E’s guidance.

A motion amidst the darkness at the far end of the corridor where we entered catches my eye. A huge figure pauses at the edge of the shadows, then swiftly vanishes. We move on quickly.

Eventually we arrive at a circular balcony overlooking a vast atrium. Numerous similar balconies disappear into darkness both above and below. A series of four double doors stand before us, most likely the lifts 31E mentioned earlier.

We spend a few minutes investigating the lifts and trying to figure out which one is functional based on 31E's enigmatic clues. We narrow it down to 2 possible choices, and then guess. Fortunately, we guess correctly! The lift begins moving smoothly downward as the last of us step aboard. Through the glass walls of the lift we can see the vast interior of the Nexus pass by in its abandoned, silent splendor. After a few minutes the lift comes to a stop, and the doors slide open quietly.

A familiar series of intermittent lights guides us onward for several more minutes as we leave the lifts behind. The lights lead into a wide-open space, and stop.

The air in this massive cathedral-like space is strangely cool. Above us, a series of narrow balconies encircle the chamber, beyond about sixty feet, they disappear into darkness. The chamber walls are carved and polished with exceptional skill to look like cascades of silvery liquid. The eerie effect continues on the floor, giving the impression of walking along the surface of a silvery pool. The floor slopes down into a pool of dark water. A graceful bridge arches out over the pool, ending in a platform and a strange chair with 3 sets of arm-rests. Six similar platforms extend from the balconies on the levels above this one.

Inside the massive chamber, we come to a series of doors leading into a bank of small rooms. We approach the first one. The metal door is covered with a thin rime of frost; a seven-pointed star is carved into the door.
Nineve, Xicar and I try the doors to no avail. Suddenly, Nineve remembers seeing the seven-pointed star symbol before - on Haroldur's Sihedron Medallion! Haroldur walks up to the door and opens it with a touch. I follow him inside while Xicar and Nineve keep watch.

The chamber is empty, save for six faintly glowing, frost-rimed cylinders set into alcoves in the walls. A tangle of cables and hoses is attached to the metal base of each of the cylinders. A vague and unsettling feeling of despair and loss begins to settle upon me, sapping my will to continue. In fact, I feel it might be best to just sit down, forget the horrors I’ve already seen, and the ones I’ve yet to see, and give up. Why continue with this pointless quest? We’re lost here forever, or something will just kill us, picking each of us off, until only one remains, to die forgotten and alone. As I struggle with my thoughts, I absently wipe off one of the frost-rimmed cylinders.

Brushing the frost away reveals the desiccated figure of an elf hanging motionless as if suspended in fluid or encased in glass; hoses, cables, and other unnamable implements pierce the figure’s withered flesh. As I paw at the glass, it jerks violently away, seemingly recoiling from my approach. This unnerves me. I frantically wipe off the other cylinders, looking inside each one with a mounting sense of despair. They are all elves. The next elf’s mouth opens as if in a powerful scream, but I hear nothing. The corpse suddenly pounds violently but silently on the inside of the cylinder. Another desiccated figure begins tugging and tearing at the implements piercing its flesh, but with no apparent effect.

Oh god I'm so emo! I crumple to the floor and begin wailing dirges in Elven, overwhelmed by the suffering of this place and the hopelessness of our situation. The rest of the party engages in a lengthy debate over whether or not the dessicated elves are our problem. Haroldur takes the position that they are not. Xicar and Nineve aren't sure - shouldn't these souls be sent to Wee Jas? From the floor, I switch to common momentarily and moan that we don't even know if they're alive or dead. This seems to make an impression and Haroldur abruptly smashes one of the tubes, which shatters in a shower of ice and glass. I crouch over the shards and hunt through them; curiously, I find no elf bits. The debate rages while I morbidly examine the frosty remains of the cylinder. Suddenly, I freeze as I hear a sound the humans have missed - the doors to the lift down the hall have opened! I interrupt the debate to announce our doom.

A security detail of Clockwork Horrors has moved in to investigate the activity in this area. Nineve rushes headlong into the fray, with Xicar at her heels. Morosely, I pick up my swords and join the charge. Haroldur rushes in, too, but is attacked by a malevolent noodly appendage which emerges from the murky pool at the center of the room. We fight through wave after wave of clockwork horrors as we struggle to help Haroldur escape the Tentacle. Nineve finishes off the last of the beetles as Haroldur finally breaks free. We decide to move along quickly before something else emerges from the sinister-looking pool.

At the other end of the cathedral-like chamber, we find yet another door. It slides open to reveal a corridor filled with a tangled lattice of icy strands and beams that stretch from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, and everywhere in between. I scout ahead, moving acrobatically through the corridor like a ninja through laser beams. Beyond the lattice is an octagonal chamber. The walls are carved with strange and disturbing runes and images that seem to shift and change. At the center of the chamber stands a narrow pillar composed of grey and necrotic flesh. A deathly chill emanates from the pillar, and now and then a tortured visage forms and then fades away on the pillar’s surface with a faint whisper. I relay my findings along with my strong impression that there is something important here.

Nineve clears a path through the ice lattice the only way she knows how - by bashing. Delicate shards of ice tinkle and clatter to the floor as she crashes through the corridor like an elephant in the underbrush. Haroldur and Xicar follow her swath of destruction to join me in the strange octagonal chamber.

We spend some time trying to decipher the shifting runes on the walls, but their meaning always seems just beyond our grasp. After a while, Xicar examines the strange necrotic pillar, but can't make much of it, either. Experimentally, he casts a healing spell on it - the pillar crumbles to the floor in a pile of fine dust. Nineve and Xicar decide we're not getting anywhere and are anxious to leave. I'm hesitant to abandon the shifting runes but agree that we're not making any progress. Haroldur has to be dragged bodily from the room.

The end of the cathedral-like chamber opens into a long, wide corridor. It is overlooked by small balconies for its entire length, and continues on into the distance. Here and there luminous globes suspended from the ceiling cast the same, familiar, even grey light that we have seen throughout the complex. 31E’s voice seems to be coming from that direction.

After a little while we enter a large, and desolate foyer. This appears to have once been a sort of gathering area, several broad corridors intersect here, and banks of “terminals” seem to have been placed for ease of access. Most of the “terminals” are dark, but several show a ghostly green image of 31E’s faceplate. We can make out 31E’s voice clearly, “I am currently attempting to locate you. Please access the nearest terminal so that I may determine your position.” The message repeats itself every few minutes.

We move towards the terminals when Xicar and I freeze suddenly, throwing out our arms to stop Haroldur and Nineve and gesturing for them to be quiet. At first, it seemed like a blacker shadow in the darkness; a massive, terrible shape, the personification of savage grace. Moving with the slow, easy stride of a great cat, the shape vanishes into the gloom. We wait breathlessly for a few moments until we're sure it's gone, then we move on to the terminals.

Xicar accesses a terminal and 31E's voice comes through:
"Ah, I had every confidence you would be able to follow my guidance. We are not far from being reunited. There are two lifts in the large chamber north of your current position. The eastern lift should be able to bring you to my position. However, there may be an… obstacle.

"The lift security protocols show a minor malfunction as a result of operating autonomously. It is possible that the lift will not function without the security node for that sector being shut down. You can attempt to access the lift, or I can give you instructions for locating and shutting down the security node."

We tell him to give us directions, just in case.

"Very well. The shortest route to the node is through Specimen Containment Theta-7-2. Specimen Containment Theta-7-2 shows an 87.573% specimen fatality rate, but otherwise appears to be secure. I expect doors in the Specimen Containment labs will have to be forced. I cannot open them from here, nor can I determine if they are operational at all." Nineve pats her crowbar.

We ask him if he knows anything about huge shadow cats stalking us from the darkness. He claims to know nothing and dismisses our concerns, however, we're pretty worried about it. To emphasize our point, I warn 31E that a shadow cat could attack us at any time, when we least expect it... and then feign an attack, flailing dramatically and sinking below the terminal's screen pretending to gargle blood. Disappointingly, 31E doesn't fall for it. We decide he'd be a lot more fun if he were more expressive. Haroldur makes a very popular suggestion and we decide to look into macaroni eyebrow upgrades for him when we get back to Istivin.

As we walk over to the lifts (on the wild chance that they actually work), we discuss the 87% specimen fatality rate in Theta 7-2. What does it mean? I suggest that maybe the 87% aren't dead - maybe they've just escaped containment and are prowling the corridors of the Nexus while the system thinks they're dead. Xicar posits that perhaps all the specimens in Theta 7-2 escaped containment and that millennia of ceaseless combat has molded the surviving 13% into ruthless, unkillable predators. Since the lifts aren't working (big surprise), it looks like we'll get to head to Theta 7-2 to see for ourselves.

We follow 31E's directions and arrive at a locked door labeled "Specimen Containment Theta-7-2". Standing in front of it, Haroldur contemplates the choices which have led him to this point in his life: about to force open a sealed door behind which almost certainly lurks violent and hostile creatures eager to bring about his unspeakable demise. I stop fiddling with the lock long enough to shrug "Such is the life of an adventurer". While I'm distracted, Nineve "helps" me open the door with her crowbar.

The doors slide open with a loud metallic screech, revealing a large chamber similar to an amphitheater. Rows and rows of dark glass cylinders stand on curved, raised platforms. Here and there one of the cylinders glows faintly in the dim light from the ever-present illuminated ceiling panels. We identify three intact cylinders containing a human female; a gaunt, humanoid figure with rough yellow skin and large pointed ears, serrated in black; and a human male.

A pair of much larger cylinders dominates a raised platform at the far end of the room. One of these is dark, but the other glows faintly and something massive and revolting occasionally shifts within its confines. As we approach, we see it more clearly. Many-jointed legs and squirming tentacles cloak this horror in a haze of hideousness. A thing from darkest nightmares, it is curled upon itself like a titanic shrimp, half-centipede and half-squid. The thing glistens like a scarab’s shell under the harsh light illuminating the cylinder.

I want to smash the smaller containers and free the "specimens" inside. What if they are tormented souls, like the elves from earlier? And if they are being kept alive by unnatural means, surely Wee Jas resents that their souls are kept from her. No one is buying it, though. Haroldur insists that we've gotten ourselves into enough trouble by smashing things, and we need to stay focused on our mission. Reluctantly, I lead the way to autonomous security node.

The far wall of the security node chamber is dominated by a complex control panel. Dozens of flashing lights, dials, switches, knobs and gauges cover the wall. The whir and clatter of the intricate clockworks fill the air. Shutting the controls down will be as much guesswork as anything else. We struggle with the controls and eventually manage to manipulate a final portion of the mechanism. Suddenly everything goes dark. Somewhere nearby we hear the clatter of clockwork mechanisms, the crash of shattering glass, and then silence.

Concerned, we rush back to the specimen containment area. Although it’s been only moments since we left this room, in the brief intervening time it has changed horribly. Sticky heat and the cloying stink of bile and crude oil now fill the chamber. In the darkness we hear something thick and horrible bubble and splatter as it falls on something hard.

As we advance our light glistens repulsively on sagging fleshy growths that now stretch from floor to ceiling, and seem to pulse and quiver of their own accord. Thick streamers of black fluid slowly creep uphill from a pool of the stuff dripping off the raised platform at the far end of the room. The nightmare creature so recently contained, lies free and loathsome in a growing pool of black putrescence.

A single alien, black eye stares fathomlessly from the thing’s octopoid head, as it bathes itself in an endless flow of oily black fluid dribbling from its hideous mouth. It writhes repulsively within an ever-expanding pool of the same black muck, as it slowly turns its cyclopean head in our direction.

The unspeakable squid-thing seems to be somehow creating minions from the specimens inside the intact cylinders. The human female and the strange humanoid creature are gone - from the sticky pods which covered their tanks emerge dripping black sludge monsters. Nineve calls them bearadactyls.

Haroldur quietly suggests we just skirt along the back wall and leave the containment area - maybe it hasn't seen us. Nineve apparently disagrees with this plan of action, and immediately rushes forward to engage the squiddy. I move to smash the last cylinder before the human male inside is turned into another bearadactyl. Xicar lays down Order's Wrath. This really draws the ire of the squid-monster, and it blasts him from across the room with a bubbling acid spit. He collapses just as I finish breaking the cylinder. I grab the human's lifeless form and sprint to Xicar's aid, reviving him just in time.

While Xicar recovers, I take a moment to examine the human I rescued. He is dead.

Meanwhile, Nineve has attracted the attention of the squid. It looks at her strangely, then grabs her and uses its horrible tentacles to start pulling her apart, almost out of curiosity. Haroldur savagely attacks the thing to force it to release her, while Xicar rushes to keep her alive. The battle swiftly degenerates into a wild melee, with Xicar and Haroldur trying to kill the squid and keep Nineve alive while it is literally ripping her apart in front of us. I hit the monster with a line of lightning and teleport in to melee range, but my will crumbles under the unspeakable terror of the thing, and I am forced to watch helplessly, dazed. In the end, Haroldur lands the killing blow and Xicar sends the thing to Wee Jas with Death Knell.

Nineve is barely alive, lying in a pool of her own blood and partially eviscerated. It's obvious she can't go on like this, and we are all exhausted and no longer have the resources to heal her. We have no choice but to rest. We retreat back to the safest place we can think of - the disabled security node room, and rest for the night. Everyone but Xicar has horrible nightmares.

In the morning, we patch up Nineve and head back to the lifts, which are now working. We ride the undamaged lift down to reunite with Dog & 31E. The lift doors part with a hiss, revealing our missing companions. Dog sits patiently at 31E’s side for a moment, then trots forward to greet me, tail wagging furiously and his pink tongue lolling from his mouth. 31E raises his one hand in his odd, but familiar gesture of salutation (which is not at all a Nazi salute), “It is… very good to see all of you again. Come, the Libram is this way.”

31E strides confidently through the metal corridors, still but for the automaton’s metallic footsteps. Soon he comes to a set of doors no different than any of the dozens and dozens of others we’ve seen in the Nexus. However, when the door slides open silently it reveals a chamber unlike any we have ever seen, or will likely see again.

The chamber is vast and vibrantly lit. The click and whir and hum of machinery fills the immense space. Banks of tall, glossy, black equipment awash in flashing red lights are orderly arranged on the transparent yet reflective floor. Through the floor we can see that the chamber is suspended above a deep gulf, congested with tangles of hoses and cables. At the center of it all is a metallic pillar surmounted by a collection of brightly lit terminals. Standing next to one of the terminals is an automaton very similar to 31E, although it shows none of the wear and degradation of our clockwork companion.

31E and the other automaton regard each other briefly. For a few moments they seem to communicate in a rapid-fire series of clicks and beeps. After a pause, 31E turns to you, “It seems we have a significant… problem. You’re curious about our conversation. Our discussion was wide-ranging. W4Nk3R is considerably agitated regarding your presence this deep within the Nexus, as well as your activities leading up to this point. The facility’s stability has been reduced 2.387% since we became separated, primarily due to your actions.

"W4Nk3R is convinced that there is no higher Imperium authority available, and that it is therefore entitled to the Fragment that you carry. I asked for, and was denied, access to the Libram. We also discussed, very briefly, the ambient barometric pressure.

"I am… conflicted. It is imperative that we deliver the Fragment to the Grand Terminus. But, I am an agent of the Imperium, and aiding, even indirectly, in the destruction of another Imperium agent directly opposes my root directives. However, W4Nk3R is quite mad, and I cannot progress further as long as it remains functional. It seems the only course of action is a direct confrontation.

"I cannot aid you. Were I to participate in the coming conflict I would be subject to an autonomous process which would have, as its aim, your deaths. However, I can keep an eye on your animal companion. Including him in a physical confrontation with W4Nk3R would be profoundly unwise."

In an unprecedented turn of events, we take a moment to strategize in the entryway. Buffs are cast and a plan is enacted. Unfortunately, the best laid plans of mice and men fail when W4Nk3R negates our invisibility with some kind of special lighting effect. From his position on the platform, it seems he can control everything in the Libram: the lights, the floor, even the clockwork beetle defenses which are now marching towards us. It becomes obvious to me that we need to level the playing field.

I lightning bolt up onto his platform and he seems very surprised. I manage to distract him from the controls, but he's so strong and fast that I can't seem to do much damage. Haroldur uses his clockwork wings to jump onto the platform and help me out. Meanwhile, Nineve and Xicar battle clockwork beetles on the ground.

Realizing his position on the platform is no longer advantageous, W4Nk3R leaps to the ground with the aim of using his superior agility to defeat us. However, he didn't count on Nineve's Bulwark of Defense! The tide of the battle turns in our favor as Haroldur, Nineve and Xicar quickly corner him. I Call Lightning and he collapses to the floor in a smoking pile of twitching clockwork limbs. The Libram is ours!

Almost immediately, 31E strides into the chamber, and kneels next to the remains of his counterpart. Quickly and methodically, he begins disassembling the construct, separating its parts into several orderly piles. “This will take me a few minutes, even with Greycloak Sarek’s aid. Then I shall find a route to the Starry Mirror.”

we set upon W4Nk3R, cannibalizing him for spare parts for 31E. Nineve and I are delighted to find that W4Nk3R does in fact have an expression upgrade - macaroni eyebrows!

For the first time, we see a complete 31E37. His movements are much more fluid now, almost predatory. He extends and retracts his twin arm-blades experimentally, obviously pleased with the new parts. Nineve and I are especially pleased about the expressive new macaroni eyebrow upgrades! “I have gained a great deal of information from W4Nk3R’s memory plates, as well as restoring myself to 99.784% functionality. Come let us find a route to the Mirror and the Terminus.”

~Ashe

Episode 21: 10/25/09

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

We find ourselves in a stone chamber, empty except for the bodies of Filge's minions. At the edge of the chamber leading deeper into the caverns, I recognize a large patch of yellow mold. We carefully burn a path through the dangerous mold with alchemist's fire. Then, we use our troll gut rope to navigate down a small cliff and deeper into the caverns. We advance down a rough-hewn stairwell and are ambushed by more Nerullian cultists and some acid zombies. We bravely charge in with Hezzrak by our side. We blast through the competition and take a moment to examine our surroundings.

Crates of slightly disturbed dirt and individually hand-crafted storage crates line the walls of this cavern. We notice some finely traced runes along the outside of the door leading to the adjacent chamber. Nineve insists on kicking open the door, and we eventually let her. She gets blasted with a glyph of warding, but successfully disables the trap!

We proceed cautiously into the next chamber. Blood stains over the floor of this high ceilinged room. A broken column lies undisturbed on the floor, and a large pile of skulls occupies the center of the room. Atop a raised dias rests a twisted altar to Nerull. A horrible skeleton horse-daemon flies towards us on moth-eaten wings and booms out a warning. Apparently, we should not be here, but we'll never be able to leave! (Dun dun dun!) We wade in.

The daemon blasts us with waves of sickening air and swirling clouds of choking flies. His disease-ridden weapon bites cruelly into our flesh, dripping with pestilence. At the end of the long and difficult battle, poor Nineve is suffering from Plague, Red Ache, Cackle Fever, and Slimy Doom. She just seems to catch every little thing that goes around! I suggest she look into vitamin supplements.

We quickly investigate the remainder of the complex. Through some locked doors we find a well-appointed office. We root around and find:

coded ledgers!
a small statuette of a jade falcon
a small chest containing 600 gp of diamonds
Journeyman's staff
potion - Resist Electricity
a scroll of Sending

We collect the loot and return to the Cabal to get Nineve sorted out.
A few days later, after we've all had time to recover from our ordeal, we get debriefed by Mossad.

There is no need to look into the warehouse. Other agents were sent to investigate and found nothing there. We've destroyed the cell of necromancers and Justice Ironbriar has been arrested. Mossad is sure our next step is the Shadowclock, referenced int he coded ledgers we retrieved. He thinks the Shadowclock is in the district of Fallen. He thinks our quarry is the Wanton of Nature's forms. The plan is this: Too many agents wandering around Fallen looking for the Shadowclock will spook our prey, so Mossad and the Legionnaires will be waiting outside the gates of Fallen. We will go in as bait and look for the Shadowclock. When we find it, we'll send to Mossad and he'll back us up.

Immediately, we head out to this ruined section of the city. We unlock the creaking gates and enter the district of Fallen.

Fallen, formerly called Godsgate, is a large district with wide expanses and dense construction, but a portentous dearth of visible life. From the tangle of chimneys, scarcely a wisp of smoke is visible, and the multitude of tall, ruinous towers looms stark against the horizon. Nearby, one is crumbling down at the top, and in another, there are only gaping black holes where masonry has fallen away. The vast huddle of sagging roofs and peaked gables conveys with offensive clearness the idea of wormy decay, and as we approach along the now uneven road, we can see that many roofs have wholly caved in, or the buildings have collapsed completely to rubble.

Skill challenge!

We enter a slum. A few of the crumbling buildings here show signs of inhabitants. Here and there we spot a wisp of smoke or a hastily closed shutter. The few residents move around a lot, making it hard to recall anything useful about this area, but the locals are easy to push around, if we can find them. We meet no one on the rubble-cluttered road, but presently begin to pass a few inhabited houses with rags stuffed in the broken windows and bones and dead fish lying about the littered yards. Once or twice we spot listless-looking people working in barren gardens or digging in the piles of rubble, and groups of dirty, simian-visaged children playing around weed-grown doorsteps in the growing evening shadows.

We move on into a desolate area, the swath of destruction caused by the fall of the Glass Tower many years ago - the event that sealed the fate of the Godsgate district. There is little here but mounds of rubble, making navigation difficult. Even the locals avoid these areas, as the rubble can be hazardous. The decay is worse further into the district. The ruins, long clogged with rubble, are enclosed by mounds of stone; on which we can just discern the minute forms of a few solitary figures, and at whose end are what look like the foundations of another bygone tower.

We pick our way through to a ruined area. This area is little more than piles of rubble and garbage. A few buildings and towers remain, but even these are damaged so badly the desperate residents of this area have abandoned them. If anyone lives in this area, they hide themselves well, making it very difficult to interact with the locals. Here and there the ruins of towers jut out from the tangle of buildings to end in indeterminate decay and collapse, those closest to the swath of rubble seeming the most ruinous. And far out in the district, despite the multitude of high, crumbling towers, we glimpse a tall, decrepit clock tower rising above the sagging roofs and crumbling spires, yet carrying a suggestion of odd latent malignancy. This, according to our directions, must be the Shadow Clock mentioned in the cult’s notes.

In the distance something howls, a long, agonized wailing, as if from fear. The sound is taken up elsewhere, and then another and another, till, borne on the wind which now sighs softly through the ruinous buildings, a wild howling began, which seems to come from all over the district, as far as the imagination could grasp it through the gloom of the evening. Soon, the shapes of wolves, huge and shaggy in the dim light, appear behind and ahead of us. An especially large grey wolf leaps upon the remains of a fallen statue and regards us with keenly intelligent eyes. Few things would seem more out of place in the squalid ruins of Istivin than this pack of wolves. We hurry along towards the tower, and enter another slum.

Ahead of us a small group of thugs is viciously beating someone on the ground. As we approach the thugs flee, leaving a pitiful figure groaning and struggling amidst the rubble. Xicar and I quickly render aid to the person, who gives us directions in thanks. Though still trailed by the shaggy grey wolves, we follow the directions and come to a sort of open concourse or radial point with the ruins of churches on two sides and the bedraggled remains of a circular green in the center. On the far side is the clock tower we seek. The structure's once white stone is now gray and mold-stained and the black and gold sign on the pediment near the steps is so faded that we can only, with difficulty, make out the words "The Bells of Godsgate" with the word “Danger” scrawled across the sign in red paint. As we strain to decipher this inscription, we are distracted by the raucous tones of a cracked bell high in the tower. The tolling bell sets the wolves to howling again, the loud, sharp howling of many wolves together.

The sound came from the sagging belfry high above the roofs of most of the houses and towers, which was built in a clumsy Gothic fashion, with a conical black roof. Though the hands of its clock are missing on our side of the tower, we know that those hoarse strokes were tolling the hours of late evening. It was surrounded by a high wall, of ancient structure, built of heavy stones that has not been repaired for a large number of years. The gates are of heavy old oak and iron, all eaten with rust. There are many dead and skeletal trees nearby, which makes the area even more gloomy.

Then suddenly all thoughts are blotted out by an onrushing image of sharp intensity and unaccountable surprise which seizes each of us before we know what it really is. The doors of the tower stand open, revealing a rectangle of blackness inside. And as we looked about, a certain object crossed or seemed to cross that dark rectangle...

It was something living - the first we have seen apart from the wolves since entering this part of the district of Fallen - and under other circumstances we would have found nothing whatever unusual in it. Clearly, we realize a moment later, it was the form of a child; clad in filthy rags. The thing which had probably caught your first subconscious glance and supplied the touch of bizarre horror was the strange way in which it moved, jerkily crossing the doorway.

We send to Mossad that we've found the Shadowclock, and approach. The grubby, pale little girl inside the tower entreats us to play with her. Anxious to get away from the pack of scraggly wolves, we go in. As we're closing the doors, the little girl's friend, "Mr. Bigs", slams into Haroldur. Mr. Bigs is a huge hunchback gravekeeper. He tells us to leave. With his shovel. Haroldur casts Hold Person on Mr. Bigs and I coup de grace him. The creepy little girl gets angry and tries to escape by jumping into a pile of straw. We burn it. Unfortunately, after the straw burns away, we can see several large cracks in the wall through which she could've escaped. We grudgingly move on to the stairs to ascend the tower.

The inner walls of the tower are traversed by a winding wooden stairway supported by an intricate network of wooden beams, but lacking, in many stretches, a handrail or other enclosure. In certain places, two or even three stairs are missing. Far above we can dimly see the great bronze bells swaying gently in the belfry. Apart from the occasional mournful howl of a wolf outside the tower, the silence is complete and oppressive.

Nineve, Haroldur and Xicar have difficulty managing the treacherous spiral stairwell, and fall a few times. About halfway up the tower, one of the bells comes crashing down and almost takes us all out. It hits Xicar squarely but since he is tied to me, I manage to prevent him from tumbling down the yawning gulf of blackness. At length, we arrive at the top of the tower. I sift the broken mount for the bell - it seems like someone is trying to kill us!

Looking around, we see the smoky, filthy rooftops of Fallen sprawl below this dizzying perch. Above, the conical roof supports an onyx statue of an angel. Towering above the stricken district, her weathered features are streaked with grime, giving her a demonic appearance. Beyond the open doorway is a chamber strewn with cushions, silk curtains, and other incongruously fine bits of décor. Antique lanterns throw long, quivering shadows about the room as their flames flicker in the draught of the open door.

We enter the strange room. The décor of this odd chamber shows extraordinary evidences of wealth and taste. The antique lanterns are beautifully wrought and each must be of great value. The curtains and upholstery of the chairs and hangings are of the costliest and most beautiful fabrics, and must be of fabulous value, as they are clearly centuries old, though in excellent order. One area appears to be a small library. The bookshelves contain numerous volumes of the most varied kind; history, geography, politics, law, economy, all relating to Istivin and Caledonian customs and manners.

As we're looking around, we are suddenly addressed. The voice came from the entry behind us. Just inside the doorway stands a tall, voluptuous woman with long black hair and clad in black from head to foot, without a single speck of color about her anywhere. On her side hangs a simple sword in a black scabbard. Her face is strong, aquiline, with high cheekbones; overall an exceptionally beautiful woman, although with a pronounced predatory aspect, and an unhealthy pallor. From far below, we can hear the howling of many wolves. The sound seems to please the woman, as her strange, dark eyes gleam with sudden emotion.

She begins with a welcome, but relations quickly sour. We deduce that she is Akasha Von Stratt, also Wanton of Nature's Pagan forms, and a vampire. In particular, Akasha seems to have been expecting Nineve. The vampire asks if she has come to follow in her father's footsteps. A heated conversation ensues, wherein Nineve's past, and Akasha's involvement in it, is revealed.

Nineve's grandfather and Mossad were great friends, and served together. They had been tracking a vampire, Akasha, for some time, and finally saw their chance to take her out. They enlisted the help of Nineve's father as well, as he was a good man and a seasoned warrior. At some point during this foray, Akasha claims to have brought Nineve's father under her power, and in the climactic confrontation he secretly betrayed and murdered his own father, Nineve's grandfather. The battle was lost, Mossad and Nineve's father were forced to retreat, and Akasha escaped. Nineve, troubled by the death of her beloved grandfather, investigated and through magical means discovered that he was murdered by his son, her own father. Filled with a desire to avenge her grandfather's death, she challenged her father to a duel, and defeated him, losing an eye in the process.

Now, Akasha insists that this has all been part her plan, and is the will of Nerull. Akasha claims that Nineve serves Nerull in all but name, that she cannot deny her fate, her destiny is inescapable, etc. Nineve has heard enough and it's showtime!

Vampire spawn drop in from the ceiling, and Nineve is Dominated almost immediately. We rush forward. Captain Lorring's longsword bites into Akasha and unleashes a powerful blast of searing light through her undead form. That's about the extent of our success, though. The vampire spawn quickly swarm us as Nineve stands idly by. Xicar and Haroldur throw down buffs and use our newfound falcon statue to attack Akasha. Meanwhile, I am dazed by one of the vampire spawn and stand by helplessly while Xicar and Haroldur struggle against increasingly overwhelming odds. Just as I'm about to break free of the vampire spawn's thrall, Akasha crushes my will, Dominating me. I am again forced to simply stand by and watch. Xicar takes up Captain Lorring's sword and makes an impressive stand, but the tide of the battle has long since turned against our party. Just as things are looking bleak, Mossad and the Legionnaires burst in and save the day. Akasha flees, and we return to the Cabal.

We are ushered into Mossad's office for a debriefing. Immediately, he gives Nineve and me amulets of Protection from Evil. This suppresses Akasha's domination and allows us to act and think freely - for now. He encourages us to sit down, while he begins pacing his office. His excitement is as palatable as it is unexpected.

"Akasha von Stadt is a foe I have pursued most of my life", he begins. "She is the bitch of Nerull, a whore of Darkness! She lives beyond the grace of the Gods – a wanderer in the Outer Darkness. She is Vampyr, Nosferatu. We may yet stop this foe – this concubine of death – but not on an empty stomach!" He laughs heartily. We stare at him in shocked disbelief. But, we ARE pretty hungry... Just then, an acolyte delivers a tray of food.

Mossad continues with a cheerfulness which shows that the serious work has begun.

"Let me be accurate in everything,” says Mossad, “for though you and I have seen some strange things together, you may at the first think that I, Mossad, am mad. That the many horrors and the long strain on nerves has at the last strained my sanity. There are such beings as vampires, some of us have evidence that they exist. Even had we not the proof of our own unhappy experience, the teachings and the records of the past give proof enough for sane peoples.

"I have studied, over and over again since you returned from the mountains, all my papers relating to this creature, and the more I have studied, the greater seemed the likelihood that she had come again to plague me. All through the city there is evidence of her designs. The corruption of Justice Ironbriar and the recent murders carried out by Ondore Lillybrook’s walking corpse are only the most obvious, and most recent. I thought it impossible that this creature would be so brazen to return to Istivin. But return she has, as you have found in that clock tower. Now we must bend our every effort to stamp this creature out!

"The vampire lives on, and cannot die by mere passing of time, she can flourish when she can feed on the blood of the living. She throws no shadow, she makes no reflection in the mirror. She has the strength of many men, and within her range, she can command all the meaner things, the rat, the bat, and the wolf. She can come and go in a mist and disappear at will; those slain by her hand rise later as her thralls. She can see in the dark, no small power this, in a world which is one half shut from the light.

"Well, you know what we have to contend against, but we too, are not without strength. We have on our side power of our faith in the Ruby Lady, a power denied to the vampire kind, we have sources of science, we are free to act and think, and the hours of the day and the night are ours equally. In fact, so far as our powers extend, they are unfettered, and we are free to use them. We have devotion in a cause and an end to achieve which is not a selfish one. These things are significant.

"Now let us see how far the general powers arrayed against us are restricted, let us consider the limitations of the vampire in general, and of this one in particular. She can do all these things, yet she is not free. Nay, she is even more prisoner than the slave of the galley, than the madman in his cell. She cannot go where she wishes, she who is not of nature must obey some of nature's laws. She may not enter anywhere unless invited by one with the authority, though afterwards she can come and go as she pleases. Her power ceases, as does that of all evil things, at the coming of the day. By day this Vampire is limited to the powers of man, and till sunset she may not change her form, nor enjoy her unearthly powers until sunset. Finally the vampire cannot stray far from the unhallowed earth of her burial. The vampire must always return to this unhallowed earth, which restores her strength, and without which, she is powerless. This is, of course, the purpose of the cases of earth scattered about the city.

"We are faced with a grim duty, and in such case do we turn away? For me, I say no, but then I am old, and life, with its sunshine, its fair places, the song of birds, music and love, lie far behind for me. You others are young. Some have seen sorrow, but there are fair days yet in store. What say you? None will think the lesser of you, should you turn away from this foe.

At this point, we all agreed (especially Nineve) that we were willing to see this through to the end.

Mossad looked pleased, and continued. "My plan is this: We will trace each of these boxes, and when we are ready, we must kill this monster in her lair, or we will sterilize the earth, so that no more can she can seek safety in it. Thus in the end we may find her in the form of man between the hours of noon and sunset, and so engage with her when she is at her most weak, or drive her from the city and confront her with no sanctuary in which to hide. Then we cut off her head, and drive a stake through her heart, and burn her remains, and then may she find peace."

After the meal we returned to our chambers to reflect on the plan, and this new side of Mossad. We stayed in the Cabal for a few days recovering, while the Legionnaires hunt down and destroy the boxes of desecrated earth. Around mid-morning one day we receive an urgent message from Mossad to meet him at the Aerodrome in the city's center.

We rush to the Aerodrome and find him with Arrad and a squadron of Legionnaires. Mossad explains that despite placing checkpoints along all the roads in and out of the city, Akasha has managed to escape via ship! She is traveling downriver on a vessel called The Harbinger. He thinks her most likely target is Varna, a large port city. He's already made the arrangements - he bustles us all onto an airship as he explains his plan to intercept Akasha and The Harbinger at the docks in Varna.

As soon as we arrive in Varna, Mossad secures permission to board The Harbinger as soon as it docks, thus trapping the vampire. We wait for the ship, but it never arrives. Mossad gets word from the Legionnaires that The Harbinger sailed past Varna in the night!

Not to be outdone, Mossad charters a ship and we set off down the river after our quarry. We find The Harbinger 2 days later, run aground on the riverbank. A quick investigation finds most of the crew dead, and signs of several people dragging something heavy onto the bank. These tracks end in a set of deep, muddy wagon tracks.

Consulting his maps, Mossad determines that Akasha is headed for the Borgo Pass, a narrow pass 70 miles to the west. Once through the pass, she will be nearly impossible to find in the mountains.

He decides to split the pursuit up. Wagons are slow, so our advantage must be speed. He will go with several Legionnaires via boat to the next sizeable city, and then by carriage. Arrad will take his Legionnaires and travel to the nearest town by land to continue the pursuit via carriage, and the party will take the first horses they can find, and head to the Borgo Pass immediately, ensuring she has no chance to escape.

Skill challenge!

We run inland and happen upon a tiny fishing hamlet nearby. They don't have much, but Nineve's keen eye spots a few swift horses for us from a pen of mules and nags. I guide the party inland for 2 days, picking paths through the mountainous terrain I hope will lead us swiftly to our goal.

Near the end of the third day, we arrive at the pass. We're the first ones there. We have a chance to set up a bit of an ambush for once. In the distance, we can see Akasha's wagon, with riders along side, coming up to the pass. But, we're ready.

As Akasha draws closer, we see Mossad and Arrad's carriages, from different directions, also closing in on the pass... and Akasha.

As Akasha's party approaches, we pick off the horsemen with arrows and spells. Akasha's wagon attempts a charge to burst through our barricades, but we've set up several layers of impediments, and they hold firm. The horses rear, upsetting the wagon. The crate carrying Akasha topples and shatters upon the stony ground. The still form of the vampire lies within the box upon the unholy earth, scattered with dirt from the rude fall. She is deathly pale, just like a waxen image, and her eyes glare red with a horribly vindictive and savage light. With an eerie smooth motion, she rises from the scattered dirt, bits of soil clinging to the white and gold of her burial shroud.

On even footing, Akasha is no match for us. She waves her sword around in an impressive display, but we easily overwhelm her and her remaining lackeys. Nineve lands the killing blow just as Mossad arrives. He jumps out of the carriage and strolls up to the wreckage of Akasha's wagon. He reaches down and unceremoniously beheads the fiend, then straightens and pats Nineve on the back. He looks up at all of us, nodding, and says simply "Good job....Good job."

~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 17: 8/15/09

The Party:
Ashelia Raminas, elf ranger-rogue/2-3
Nineve, human knight/5
Sarek, human wizard/5
Xicar, human cleric/5

*FLASH FORWARD*
The sun rises over the rim of the valley as we finish placing the last stones on Captain Lorring's cairn. The sunlight turns the heavy smoke still drifting across the valley from the ruins of Blackwall Keep gold and crimson in the early light. The few surviving rangers and convicts share a solemn moment of silence over their fallen leader. Edain, his arm in a sling and his face badly burned, turns to us and mentions that someone should say a few words for the Captain.

Skill Challenge! A few kind words
We're on the spot and we hardly knew the guy, but as professionals, these survivors-turned-funeral-attendees are looking to us for peace, comfort, and profound insights on the nature of mortality. Drawing from our deep well of experience in service to the goddess of death, we take turns addressing the group and manage to put in a stirring eulogy for Captain Lorring. Edain offers us the Captain's sword (a +1 Spell Storing longsword), which we graciously accept.

*FLASHBACK TO BLACKWALL KEEP, BEFORE SETTING OUT FOR THE ORC STRONGHOLD*
Xicar finds some time to talk to Captain Lorring and confirms that the dragons do seem to be working with the orcs. The orcs have become much more organized in the last 6 months or so, and Lorring suspects the appearance of the dragons around the same time is related to this change in orc behavior. They discuss some details of Lorring's proposal to strike at the orc leadership while the bulk of their forces regroup.

Sarek finds Black Bart working among the convict teams and pulls him aside. He commends Bart for doing such an excellent job, and rewards him with a necklace of dragon teeth reclaimed from the wyvern cave.

I look around for my dog and realize I haven't seen him in a couple of days. He must be in the woods. After we set out for the orc caves, a few of us notice the elven hound shadowing us from the woods. I leave some food out for him at the edge of our camp that night.

*FLASH FORWARD*
We finish of the half-dragon arcanist and advance to a large chamber, deep in the cave. The chamber is basically empty. It's lit by a large fire, and orc bedrolls and supplies are scattered about. Like the rest of the cave, this chamber reeks of foundry smoke.

The chamber slopes upwards. At the far end, three orcs spot us and the hostilities begin. Suddenly, orcs and goblins pour in from all sides - an ambush! It's a long and grueling fight, but we manage it.

We advance down a passageway that seems to be the source of the smoke. Emerging from a tight corridor filled with choking smoke, we find ourselves in an exceptionally warm chamber...

At the far end of the room, crudely formed iron racks suspend stony black and red ovoid objects over a large, tended fire. Could these be dragon eggs? Suddenly, an incredibly cute red dragon hatchling hops up to us and seduces Nineve into attempting to feed it. Then, it tries to take her face off. Two other hatchlings, as well as two hellhounds are drawn to the commotion and join the fray. Waves of fire wash over the party as we battle fiercely on. Soon, a red dragon wyrmling flies over to join the fight. Swords flash and spells fly as we are locked in a life-and-death struggle with what are essentially dragon TODDLERS. However, they're so evil and dangerous that when the last one finally falls, we're just happy to be alive. We smash all of the dragon eggs - no sense taking any chances.

Moving on, we climb up the crude steps into a large cavern. Fire from huge cauldrons casts dancing shadows on the rough stone walls. Along the edge of the chamber, a large gathering of orcs of all ages and stations look down on us, just watching. We cross the wide, recessed floor of the cavern and can't shake the feeling of being in an arena. At the far end of the room, seated on an iron and bone throne, is the first old orc we've ever seen. At our approach, he gives a nod, and several orcs and ogres jump down and charge us. So much for diplomacy.

An orc battle royal ensues, where groups of orcs and ogres jump in and attack us in waves while the crowd looks grimly on. The last champion to fall is an orc riding a dire boar, and we survive by the slightest margin. Exhausted and battered, we wait in tense silence for another challenger to appear. Suddenly from behind us, we hear one person clapping in slow, grim applause.

We turn to see the old orc, now standing in front of his throne, applauding us. He was obviously once tall and broad shouldered, but his thin frame is now hunched and bent, and long stringy white hair hangs around his face. When he has our attention, he stops clapping and begins to speak:

"Congratulations, pinkskins. You've done what old Kroghut could not." He thumps his chest dramatically, indicating he must be Kroghut. "You've freed my people from the tyrant, and I expect, destroyed the other pinkskins in the bargain. We will fight you no longer. You have bested my champions, and you have surely brought burning doom upon my people. Go now. Your work here is done. My people will not hinder you further. Were I you, I would scurry back to the walls of the pinkskins so that you might die heroically at their sides when their doom comes on fiery wings."

He sits back down with a note of finality, and we are aware that the conversation is over. After a pause, we turn around and leave the cavern the way we came in, watched grimly by the orc crowd, our footsteps echoing loudly off the walls of the silent chamber.

Once free of their oppressive stares, we heal up and discuss our options. We realize we don't really have any. We've accomplished our mission - the orc leadership is definitely broken, and the dragon-orc alliance is almost certainly on the out since we smashed up the hatchery. We decide there's nothing left to do but return to Blackwall Keep, so we head out.

The first half of our journey goes uneventfully, though we're all tense over Kroghut's parting words. No one is in the mood to talk, and we travel for hours on end in silence. I notice the elven hound periodically, watching us from the woods.

As we travel from the orc hold through the deepening shadows of the mountainous foothills, around late afternoon of the second day, a flicker of light from a high distant peak catches our eyes. Far off, the peaks are barely visible on the darkening horizon; mostly screened by the hills and pine forest at the far end of the valley. Suddenly the peak flickers back to view, a brief glow touches it and fades away.

We continue on, trying not to think about what this might mean, when suddenly, a great light appears in the low place in the hills where the orcs make their lair, and the gathering evening clouds turn golden. Faintly, in the distance we hear warning trumpets sounding,and drums booming and echoing along the rocky foothills as the glow fades, then flares again, even brighter than before.

We press on towards the keep. An hour passes. Distantly we can see something; a spark of fire low in the sky rushing towards us and growing ever larger and more bright. Before long, so great is its speed that the fantastic shape of a fiery dragon appears over the tall trees. Soon the roar of the dragon's terrible approach grows loud, and the rocks turn red as fire beneath the awful beating of its wings. Roaring it sweeps over the valley, leaving flaming desolation in its wake. We crouch behind what cover we can find as it flies past us, perhaps 100 yards to our right. Frightened, but with no other options, we continue our desperate march towards the keep.

We're still several hours away from the keep when the valley trembles with the dragon's approach. Things happen quickly as we look on helplessly from the far side of the stony valley.

As the dragon wheels to swoop upon the keep, a hail of dark arrows leap up and nap and rattle on its scales, and their shafts fell back kindled by the dragon's breath, burning and hissing into the swift running stream. At the twanging of the bows and the shrilling of the trumpets the dragon's wrath blazes to its height, til it was blind and mad with rage.

Green and scarlet fire leaps from the dragon's jaws. It circles for a while high in the air above the keep lighting all the valley; the trees shine like copper with leaping shadows of dense black at their feet. Then down it swoops straight through the arrow storm, reckless in rage, taking to heed to turn it s scaly sides towards the foes, seeking only to set the keep ablaze. Fire leaps from thatched roofs and wooden beams, and hard stone flows like wax as it hurtles down and past and round again, breathing gouts of terrible fire. Back swirls the dragon. A sweep of its tail and the tallest tower of the keep crumbles and smashes down. Flames unquenchable spring high into the night. Another swoop and another, walls crumble and towers spring alight and fall, burning. Still, no arrow hinders the dragon or hurts it. Men jump from the walls on every side. Weapons are flung down and the dragon vents its full wrath upon them at its leisure.

At last the dragon circles the blazing keep with a broad sweep of its dreadful wings. It swoops to snatch at a pair of fleeing figures, and then roaring and belching fire, spirals up through the low clouds to vanish into the darkening night sky.

With heavy hearts, we continue onwards to the now destroyed keep. When we finally arrive late at night, the keep and most of the valley is still ablaze. As we arrive, we find a few of the rangers and convicts have actually survived the attack, Vander Anderhoff among them. Vander is with a group of people searching the rubble near the ruins of the wall, evidently for survivors. Another group of 4 or 5 is huddled around a still form near the base of one of the walls.

As we approach this group, we are shocked to see they are gathered around Captain Lorring, who is pinned under a huge piece of stone. He's dying, but still cheerful. He sees us, and insists on knowing if the orcs have been stopped. We tell him their leadership is broken and they've been thoroughly routed. Upon hearing this, he coughs out a "Jolly good show, chaps" - his last words.

The rest of the night is a blur of activity - putting out fires, tending to the dead and dying, and trying to rebuild order in the wake of utter destruction. We learn that Astrid was taken by the dragon in his final dive, and that Black Bard died defending her. Jakardos was killed when his tower fell, his remains were found int he wreckage of the stairwell. Parne and Torkan were killed defending the walls, and Orin, Astrid's brother, died in the subsequent fires. Edain and one other ranger have survived, along with a mere 15 of the convicts.

After the last of the bodies has been buried, the survivors salvage what they can from the wreckage. We find a leg for 31E in the ruins of the observatory tower, along with a large golden scarab. We also scavenge:

a Sepulchral vest
oil of Greater Magic Weapon +2
potion of Greater Magic Fang +3

Talk turns to what to do next. Obviously, we will return to the Ruby Temple in Istivin, but what of the survivors? Vander and the rest of the convicts refuse to return to the city, i.e. prison. Edain proposes they take up residence at the Broken Bow lodge until the Keep is rebuilt, if that ever happens. Until then, they can continue the rangers' work of maintaining the frontier by keeping the orcs, ogres and goblins in the mountains where they belong.

This sounds like a reasonable plan. With things pretty much wrapped up at the ruins of Blackwall Keep, we agree to set out with the survivors for Broken Bow lodge in the morning.

Episode 16: 8/8/09

The Party:
Ashelia Raminas, elf ranger-rogue/2-3
Nineve, human knight/5
Sarek, human wizard/5
Xicar, human cleric/5

The giant falls, the keep's defenders sally forth, and the siege is broken. We rush down the hill and start stabilizing the wounded convicts. Edain, Astrid, and Black Bart have come through the battle okay. As we're seeing to the fallen and wounded, a rider approaches from the keep.

He introduces himself as Captain Lorring and seems to be quite crestfallen when he realizes we haven't brought any luxuries from Istvin with us. We patiently explain that we've been out of supplies for almost a week and fighting for our lives through orc-infested countryside to get here and save his ass. He immediately stops sulking. After surprising Haroldur with a congratulatory slap on the back and handshakes all around, sprinkled with lots of "Jolly good show, chaps!", he leads us down into the keep. As we're passing through the courtyard, we notice 3 of the Sawfish boys among the convicts. They seem to notice use, too. After we get cleaned up and settle in, we go to see Jakardos.

Jakardos is a middle aged, dark haired human. He is charming and friendly, and politely invites us up to his office. His lab is littered with automaton parts, clockwork horrors, and clockwork beetles like the one 31E carries. Jakardos explains he's been expecting us. We chit-chat a little about his collection and he shows us how the clockwork beetles are navigation devices of some kind. When placed on a map, they spring to life and skitter off to a precise location - each beetle seems to be keyed to a certain place, and will plant itself on that same place each time. The beetles also seem to be sensitive to the scale of the maps, so if the beetle is keyed to a distant location, but the map it is placed on is a detailed, small-scale map, the beetle will run off the map, off the table, and across the floor, presumably in the direction of it's marked destination. It really is quite intriguing!

After an appropriate amount of chit-chat, we get down to business. We fill Jakardos in on 31E - his missing limbs, memory loss, strange protocols and references to people and places that don't currently exist... the artificer is intrigued. He agrees to help us (for a price), but needs 31E's exact model number... and of course we don't know it. Sarek sends to Moussad for information:

Convicts delivered. Freed keep from siege from giant, orcs, ogre. Ranger outpost sacked, loss of life great. Can you ask 31E his model number? Praise Wee Jas.

Moussad answers:
Good work! Model number? 0FB3A4F3D4, why? When will you be returning to the Cabal? Praise Wee Jas!

With that sorted, we head back to our rooms. As we're returning to our chambers, we're approached by Captain Lorring. He requests our help in getting the keep squared away over the next few days... we agree to start work on the various issues tomorrow morning. However, we don't even make it to our lodgings before the first problem presents itself:

Rebuilding the Wall: Tamklar vs. Rangers!
The rangers and Tamklar are discussing the rebuilding of the keep's walls. Tamklar is suggesting making improvements to the wall which would make it stronger and better, but would take a little longer to build. The rangers want to rebuild the wall exactly how it was, as quickly as possible. The rangers seem to think that Tamklar's plan is over-engineered and will waste valuable time and resources. Tamklar points out that if the keep's wall had been properly fortified in the first place, they wouldn't be wasting time and resources rebuilding it now. They argue back and forth a bit and we attempt to convince the rangers to do it the right way: the dwarf way. Unfortunately, the ranger foremen and their convict laborers will have none of it - a hastily built wall is better than no wall at all. We fail to convince them to heed Tamklar's advice.

Next up: R-E-S-P-E-C-T!
Looking through the wall's rubble onto the remains of the battlefield, we can see a crew of convicts carelessly shoveling dead bodies into a mass grave. We hurry over to them and find out what they're up to. The convicts complain to us about heavy work and the daunting number of bodies that need dealing with. They claim they don't have time to provide proper burials for each of the fallen. We instruct them on the appropriate, respectful way of dealing with battlefield graveyards, trying to impart to them a sense of honor and duty to the dead. I don't feel like we're getting through to them, though. In the end, they follow our advice mostly because Nineve is really scary when she threatens people - nobody wants to find out what comes after "or else!" But, at least we succeed in seeing that the dead are properly buried!

Evening falls and Captain Lorring has broken out the reserves to provide a great meal as a victory celebration for the survivors. A raucous party ensues. We relax a little for the first time in weeks, and everyone enjoys themselves. The whole keep sleeps in later than they probably meant to, but the next day we're back at it, helping out.

Talk of Surrender
Despite last night's party, there's talk of surrender among some of the convicts. They see defeat as inevitable and they're wondering why Captain Lorring doesn't just give in to the orcs instead of being slowly ground down by them. A couple even propose slipping out of the keep and taking their chances in the wilds instead of being trapped behind the walls again. It takes some stern words, but we manage to convince the convicts that they don't stand a chance outside the keep walls by themselves.

Lazy Lumberjacks
One of the keep's rangers directs us to a copse of trees where a group of convicts is supposed to be harvesting timber for the repairs. However, the sounds of woodcutting are intermittent at best. We find Parne and Torkan, the barbarian Anderhoff brothers, among the layabouts. When the Anderhoff boys see us, they perk up and try to look busy. After some displays of strength and pointers on how to work smarter, not harder, we've whipped those convicts into shape and they're deforesting the countryside like pros!

Looters
On our way back to the keep we notice one of the convict gangs assigned to dealing with the corpses is returning from the battlefield, laden with spoils. Here and there we spot a thick orcish armband or torc, and several convicts have armed themselves with particularly fine examples of orc weapons. Each has a heavy pouch tied to the belts that clinks with newfound coin. They've clearly been looting the remains on the battlefield. We stop them and explain the difference between looting for personal gain (bad) and reacquiring useful items for the survival of the group (okay). We're sure to speak slowly and use small words. Eventually, we get through to them, and they agree to turn in their loot to the keep's treasury so it can be distributed as needed among the group.

It should be noted that throughout all of this, Nineve is constantly flirting with Vander Anderhoff, Buttercup-and-Westley style. She barks orders at him, like "Polish my armor, swine!" or "Fetch me that water jug!" and the like, AND HE DOES IT.

At the end of the day, Captain Lorring rewards us for moving things along from his cache of useful things: (Magic bag! Magic bag!)

Nineve: CLW potion x2, Everlasting Rations, Resist Fire potion, letter of recommendation (good for +1 influence)

Xicar: CLW potion x2, Scroll of Mass Snake's Quickness, vial of Black Veil powder, Pearl of Power lvl 2

Sarek: 2nd lvl scroll, 3rd lvl scroll, Quall's Token Whip, Scroll of Dismissal

Ashe: CLW potion x2, Amulet of Toxin Delay, Naivia (MW Comp. longbow +3), letter of recommendation (good for +1 influence)

As we're thanking him for our rewards, he mentions he's looking for a resourceful group like ours for a "small task". He wants us to slip into the main orc stronghold and take out the leadership of the tribe while the larger orc force is regrouping in the woods. He would also like to find out more about the dragons seen among the orc forces, since this is pretty weird. We agree this is probably a good idea, and there really isn't anyone else handy who can do it. We tell him we'll leave in the morning.

That evening we meet back up with Jakardos. He produces a leg that will fit 31E. He also recommends we get some scrolls or spells of Repair for healing the automaton. Unfortunately, Jakardos won't part with the leg for less than 5K. We tell him we'll discuss it with him further after we get back from our task for Captain Lorring.

In the morning, we leave for the main orc camp. Following Lorring's directions, we ride through the mountains for about a day and a half and at last find ourselves at the entrance to the orc cave. Since the main orc force is still slowly regrouping farther down in the valley, the "main orc camp" is sparsely populated, as advertised. That's always a good sign. I scout ahead, but clumsily. I spot some sentries just inside the cave, but they see me, too. They shout and throw stuff at me as I schlep back to the party to let them know about the sentries, and, oh BTW, they know we're here.

We enter the cave and the sentries are waiting for us on the other side of a rather inconveniently-placed 20-foot chasm. We exchange fire and Xicar fills the cavern with a cacophonous roar which stuns the vermin.

We soon tire of fighting from a distance. Nineve throws herself down to the bottom of the chasm and Xicar follows suit. 10 feet of falling damage? That's gonna leave a mark! I opt for the express route and leap gracefully across the empty space, drawing my swords in a flourish as I land cat-like on the other side. Sarek provides artillery support as I cut through the remaining sentries. Nineve and Xicar scrabble at the walls of the chasm like rats in a bathtub. The orcs keep coming, but eventually we kill them all, and get everyone past the chasm. A quick healing break and we're ready to advance down the corridor, deeper into the cave.

Suddenly, two flaming hellhounds streak towards us. Gouts of flame erupt from their glowing maws, and envelop me in fire! Then, a half-dragon arcanist like the one we faced while taking the ballistas during the siege appears in the corner and blasts the party with a fireball! The battle is joined. As before, these guys pack some serious firepower, and things get pretty heated. Sarek makes a big stink(ing cloud), which of course sickens everybody. Xicar chases the arcanist around, threatening(?) him with his dagger. Sarek takes pot shots at the enemy caster while the rest of us stagger around, retching. It takes FOREVER, but we eventually finish him off.

~Ashe