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Campaign Diary of Abernathy's Company (runs 51-60) (1829) Thursday, June 20 - (run 51 begins) In the morning Flicker goes out invisibly to scout out the Arch, but comes back reporting that he started glowing blue when he got too close, and some crossbow bolts were fired his way. The party discovers a metal treasure-box beneath the throne; Flicker opens it, fails to find the trap, and is hit by a poisoned needle that paralyzes him (and might have killed him, if not for the Pin of Protection from Poison given to him by the Stormknights.) Then the party decides to haul the Throne out and take it with them back to Tal Hae, but it’s too heavy and cumbersome to move by normal means. Using the carpet to help support much of its weight, the party manages to wrestle the throne up the stairs, and load it onto the folding boat. They sail some ways out to sea and spend the night there. Before bed, Ala (Morningstar’s befriended raven) is sent to scout around the Arch, and comes back reporting that there is no "big metal thing," but there was a "big wooden box" there. The Company deduces that the Burning God people are building some kind of edifice around the arch. That night, Tor has a dream in which Davarian Firemount speaks to him. In the dream Davarian seems remorseful for what happened, and urges Tor to go join the Burning God people coming through the gate, and give them assistance and advice. His people need him! Friday, June 21 - The next morning, a carpet-flight inland to wreck the docks and sink the fishing boats of Seablade Point is aborted, as there are many people walking around that area. The party decides to leave with the Throne and sail back to Tal Hae by way of Lan Hae. Saturday, June 22 - Sunday, June 23 - Ship travel to Lan Hae Monday, June 24 - The Company arrives in Lan Hae and goes immediately to the Church of Werthis there. They talk to a Stormknight name Henric, who actually takes them seriously as they talk about the Ventifact Colossus (the Stormknights from Lan Hae haven’t yet returned from Sand’s Edge) and the army coming through the gartine arch at Seablade Point. Henric promises that a scout ship will be sent to the peninsula to check out the story. Satisfied, the party continues on to Tal Hae. Tuesday, June 25 - Thursday, June 27 - Ship travel to Tal Hae Friday, June 28 - (Day of Windsong - Brechen) The Company arrives in Tal Hae. At the Greenhouse the Company discovers Eddings fast asleep, and is unable to wake him; the cats have knocked some food pots and water jugs off of shelves in the kitchen, and so had not starved. The party then contacts the Tower via the crystal ball, and Thewana appears in the crystal ball, looking very haggard. When they tell her about the Throne, she goes off to tell Abernathy, who appears in the Greenhouse "secret room" a little while later. He looks extremely tired, and his eyes are glowing a very bright green. He casts some sort of spell, and he and the throne both vanish. Makel, having been horrified by the sight of the eyeless and sleeping Eddings, becomes more and more bewildered. The party pays him 100 gold pieces for all he's done, and promises to continue paying him to keep him on retainer. Saturday, June 29 - Friday, August 3 - (7/3 - Strawberry Festival - Yondalla) (7/7 - Day of the Bloodspike - Werthis) (7/12 - St. Jenniver’s Day - Delioch) (7/21 - King’s Day) Training happens. Also during this time: · Makel uses his new wealth to rent a nice house in the better
part of town The party members who are training hear many rumors of war. The Gnoll and Kobold raids near Calnis are getting worse, and there are rumors that Eceren, a small coastal town north of Calnis, has been sacked. From far off, there are rumors of humanoids attacking Feslin, and orcs and goblins attacking Sentinel on the far western shores of the Kingdom. And there are worse rumors that something has completely wiped out the forest villages of Verdshane and Lorverd -- possibly goblins, possibly a small army of imps, possibly some huge monster. No one knows for sure. Also, while Flicker, Ernie and Morningstar train, Tor, Kay and Kibi take a two-week vacation, sailing to Kynder Hold and then taking the flying carpet to Eggemoggin by way of Hae Kalkas. There they convince Kibi's mom to give them her precious Gold Ring(tm) family heirloom. They also learn that there are now no orcs within 100 miles of the place. On their way back to Tal Hae, they stop at Hae Kalkas and pay the Hae Kalkas Sages' Consortium to research several topics: Davarian Firemount, Santo, Het Branoi, Annon Dun, the Inner Flame, and the Orcish Crusades. Then they discover that the Kibi’s mom’s Ring is gone! None of them can remember where they might have lost it, so they trace their flight back to Eggemoggin, where they found the Ring has appeared again on Kibi's mom's mantelpiece. Clearly it has some strong magical tie to Kibi’s mom, and they decide to travel back to Tal Hae without it. They return on July 14th, and though over two weeks have gone by since the Company’s return to Tal Hae from Seablade Point, Eddings is still sleeping. Strangely, his hair isn't getting longer, and he doesn't appear to be suffering from malnutrition. That night, their friend Marbury Tillerson shows up... except that it isn't really Marbury Tillerson. It turns out to be the creature that had possessed the little kid in Sand's Edge and the sailor in Feslin. It introduces itself to the Company as Farazil, King of the Carch Din, but it admits when asked that it sometimes is referred to as a Soul Eater! It announces that it had been sent to kill the party, but won't say by whom. It says that it’s supposed to kill the party sooner rather than later, but that that would be no fun. It also admits that for some reason, it would not or could not possess any of the party. It invites Morningstar to read Tillerson’s mind; it seems that mind-reading no longer indicates the presence of Farazil. However, Tillerson does radiate magic while being possessed. Then, still wearing Tillerson’s body, Farazil departs. The Company is understandably upset. (run 52 begins) Later in the training period the Company receives a visit from Kira, a Stormknight with news from Sand’s Edge. She tells that a building had been found burned completely to the ground, the morning after the Ventifact Colossus attack. Ironically, the building would have been smashed anyway had the Colossus taken one more step before its death. The ashes of the building were arrayed in a specific pattern, as if the burning of the building had been part of some complex ritual. Among the ashes were found a number of small metal pyramids, similar to the highly-magical one taken from the Burning God shrine in Seablade Point. These smaller ones aren’t magical, but the High Stormknight Dalesandro in Sand’s Edge thought the Company might be interested in seeing them. Finally the party is visited by Abernathy and Ozilinsh. Abernathy thanks the Company for the "snack" of the Throne; there was something strange about it (probably the fact that it contained some part of Tor’s ancestor) but it was extremely useful. Abernathy then goes on to ask the party if they’re managing to enjoy themselves while performing their duties. He promises them that they will soon get the answers to many of their questions. Ozilinsh, who you may recall is an expert on magical and exotic beasts, has some vague recollections about Soul Eaters. He knows they could possess people, but thinks that they detected strongly magical, couldn’t control human eyes very well, and could be driven out of their hosts by bright light. He seems to remember that there were Lords of the Carch Din, but thinks that they were all killed or banished. He suggests to the party that they seek out the home of his old mentor, Gadrunas, who had one of the most extensive libraries of exotic creatures extant. While Gadrunas has probably died of old age, Ozilinsh guesses that his daughter Hickory probably still lives in the family farm near the village of Tinderbox. Saturday, August 4 - The Company decides to go first to Verdshane and investigate the rumors of the attacks there, and then to go see if they can find Hickory and learn more about Soul Eaters. With training finished, they set out. Sunday, August 5 - Travel north to Verdshane by way of Calnis. Monday, August 6 - (Eve of Departure - Ell) En route to Verdshane the Company meets a family fleeing south from Calnis to Tal Hae, driven by both the threat of humanoid attacks and by the awful smell of the stink-wiggles. Apparently the whole city now reeks of the creatures. Dranko gives them the address of Berthel, his old landlady, in case they need a place to stay. The Company bypasses Calnis, but passes near enough to smell the faint odor of the stink-wiggles. Tuesday, August 7 - Saturday, August 11 - Travel to Verdshane via Woodfork. Sunday, August 12 - The Company reaches Verdshane in the evening. In the woods around the town there is an odd absence of noises and wildlife. As the party heads toward the Shadow Chaser, a hail of small wooden javelins comes from the trees, though there’s no sign of the throwers and no follow-up attack. In the Shadow Chaser the party finds Minya holed up, and there are torches burning all around the outside of the Inn. Minya welcomes the party and tells them that she is hiding from "stickmen," small wooden creatures that look like twigs with arms and legs but no heads. She also mentions that Meledien’s mercenaries are still camped near the northern ruins. While the party is talking with Minya, a group of stickmen gathers near the edge of the trees. When the party goes out to confront them, many of them start stacking themselves on top of one another, and in a very short time there is a huge stickman, standing about fifteen feet tall, and swinging arms like huge wooden clubs. It continues the attack, along with a number of its smaller brethren who throw small javelins that are actually their own arms! (As soon as they are thrown, the javelin-arms grow back.) The Company defeats the creatures using a combination of weapon attacks, carpet-mounted fire attacks (some of which start a stand of trees burning), and a Wall of Thorns from Kibi, which shelters the inn and restricts the battlefield. (run 53 begins) Later that night two of Meledien’s thugs visit the inn, come to see what caused the smoke and fire. They clearly don’t have much respect for Minya, but depart without causing too much hassle when confronted by some of the party members. Monday, August 13 - That morning around sunrise, the people on watch hear faint screams coming from the north – the direction of the old ruins. An expedition goes out that way on the flying carpet. As they fly above the trees, they note some mercenaries fleeing wildly through the forest, headed south-east. At the ruins there is another (but even larger) conglomerate stickman standing in the clearing. On the ground are many mercenary corpses, some speared to death and some beaten. The gigantic stickman itself has been wounded in several places. There is no sign of Meledien. The carpet expedition flies back to the inn, with the large stickman following, and there is another pitched battle outside of the Shadow Chaser. The Company is again victorious. The party decides to follow the tracks of one of the fleeing mercenaries, and they are lead down the Greatwood road back toward Calnis. They eventually come to one of the roadside shelters and find one of the mercenaries there; his name is Erik, and he’s one of the ones who had come to investigate the day before at the Shadow Chaser. He has some things to say about Meledien – that she’s a pretty harsh boss, that she’s killed at least one mercenary who challenged her authority, and that she’s been letting monsters go in the vicinity of Kinnet Gorge. Apparently, most of the monsters appear on the floor of the gorge, and the mercenaries would kill them or drive them off by shooting them with crossbows from the top of the gorge. (It seemed that there was usually a period of time during which the released creatures were stunned.) But Meledien evidently underestimated the stickmen, which fled into the forest as soon as they were free, and then eventually merged into a huge stickman and attacked their camp. Frankly, Erik seems happy to be done with the job. The party goes back and investigates Kinnet Gorge. They can now see, suspended in midair out over the gorge, brief glimpses of the sides of wooden crates. It’s as if there’s an invisible mist which is mostly keeping them concealed. Through the use of some clever dredging techniques, the party discovers that there are eleven crates, hanging invisibly over the gorge, suspended from invisible cables which are tied to invisible crossbeams. Some of them are extremely large. The party spends the night back at the ruins and makes plans. Tuesday, August 14 - (run 54 begins) Before departing Verdshane, the party inspects the building in which Meledien had been spending most of her time. As they know from their last visit, the oddly-shaped building has a roughly triangular footprint, and is divided into three symmetrically-arranged chambers. (There is a smaller fourth area in the very center, and the entrance is at one of the vertices). In each of the three chambers is a blue crystal globe, entirely encased in a clear crystal mooring that is built into the rock of the building. Also in each chamber is a smooth hemispherical depression in the floor. The globes and the depressions detect as extremely magical. Meledien has freed two of the three large crystal globes from their moorings, and rolled them into two of the hemispherical depressions in the floor. The globes are covered with strange runes, and are magically locked into place. Even after a Dispel Magic is cast, they won’t budge. Dranko pokes one with his pinky, and it freezes to the globe. Some skin comes away, and the tip of the finger goes numb. The Company leaves a Glyph of Warding for Meledien at the entrance to the building, and heads out for Minok. Along the way they come across a large group of soldiers from Minok, heading to Calnis to assist in the ongoing battles against the gnolls and kobolds. They are greatly entertained by the party’s stories about slain monsters, including ones about the recently-defeated stickmen. The travel plan, by the way, is to go west on the Greatwood Road to Minok, and from the take a ship to Kynder Hold on Nahalm. From there they’ll go overland to Kallor (City of Twilight, most holy to the Ellish religion) by way of Medir (the town nearest to Lizardo, from whence came one of the party’s Eyes of Moirel). Kallor is directly on the other side of the mountains from the rich farmlands around Tinderbox, where lived (and hopefully still lives) Gadrunas’ daughter Hickory. Wednesday, August 15 - Thursday, August 16 (8/15 - Chef’s Day - Yondalla) - Travel to Minok, where the party hears rumors of a war going on near the tip of the Balani Peninsula – where Seablade Point is located. Foreign invaders have landed on the shores, it is said. They also hear rumors that there are two adventurers named Jerzembeck and Junaya (either sister-brother or husband-wife), who have been trying to systematically eliminate the stink-wiggles in Calnis. Friday, August 17 - Travel by ship to Kynder Hold Saturday, August 18 - (Festival of Blessed Shade - Pikon) - Arrival in Kynder Hold. Morningstar meets with her mother, who is still acting distant and somewhat strange. Sunday, August 19 - Travel to Medir Monday, August 20 - The Company reaches Medir in the early evening but doesn’t stop, instead continuing onward and camping out farther down the road. Tuesday, August 21 - Thursday, August 23 - Travel to Kallor Friday, August 24 - The party arrives at Kallor in the afternoon. The day is bright, and from outside the city walls it appears that the sun must be shining down into the city. However, after passing through a large gatehouse that straddles the wall, the party emerges into a city in twilight. (The sun shines overhead, but its light is severely muted.) Morningstar goes to the High Temple of Ell, as Kallor is the center of the Ellish religion. She is clearly known there, but not necessarily approved of by all of her Sisters. The Sister to whom she reports, named Corinne, is clearly disapproving and quite hostile toward Morningstar. The Company spends the night at the Night’s Candle. Saturday, August 25 - (Founding Day - Tal Hae) - In Kallor the party learns that crossing the mountains to Tinderbox will not be as easy as it usually is. Orcs and goblins, on their way to the besieged city of Sentinel on the coast, have occupied the two passes that connect Kallor to the farmlands around Tinderbox. With most of the Kallorian soldiery off fighting in Sentinel, and the King’s forces engaged in many other conflicts around the Kingdom, the city doesn’t have the strength to take back the passes or drive the humanoids out of the Tinderbox region. (One of the passes (Twilight Pass) was retaken for a time, but a large force of goblins took it back.) The Company decides to try the other pass, called Five-Stone pass. They head out from Kallor on horseback, toward the mountains. There is a group of Kallorian soldiers stationed a half-days march from the start of the mountain passes, where the two roads diverge. They give the party some information about the uniforms used by the humanoids, and send the party on its way. (run 55 begins) - The party rides up into mountains, following Five-Stone Pass. The first part of the trip is uneventful, but in the late afternoon, Dranko (on point as usual) discover that orcs have knocked a landslide-barrier across the pass, too high for the horses to cross. There are two small wooden watch-towers built on the other side of the barrier, each with an orc look-out. The party discusses options. They ride quietly back a couple hundred yards, leave the horses, and approach on foot the last bend in the pass before the watch towers. Then Kay is made invisible, and, armed with Flicker’s Ring of Jumping, goes forward to scout. She gets right up to the barrier without problem, and even jumps over it with no problems. On the other side of the landslide Kay discovers a small cave, in which are lounging two more orcs, two extremely large and powerful orcs, and one large but "froofy" orc. The froofy one is dressed in purple silks, and has shoes with a slight curl in the toes. As Kay spies on them, the froofy orc motions for the other orcs to be silent, and then begins to sniff. Sensing that she might have been detected by smell, Kay backs away from the cave mouth, and goes to jump back over the barricade. That’s when all her luck decides to leave her. She slips. She falls onto the landslide with a loud crash, sending small stones scattering. The two orcs on the towers snap to alertness, and start looking around and talking loudly, as the other orcs come out of the cave. Realizing her peril, Kay uses the last charge of Flicker’s ring to try a final jump over the barricade – and slips again. This time she falls on the top of the barricade, on her back, feet pointing the wrong way. The orcs are now slashing out at the air with their swords, getting closer and closer with their hacks. With no charges left in the ring, Kay strikes out at an orc who’s gotten too close, and this causes her to become visible. The rest of the party, hearing the loud sounds of orcs shouting, comes running to help, and the battle is joined. The normal-sized orcs aren’t much of a problem, but the large orcs flee through a concealed tunnel, and the froofy orc vanishes. Minutes later, the froofy orc reappears, high up on a ledge looking out over the pass, and it lets loose with a blast of magical frost that hits half the party. The following round the froofy orc is paralyzed by a Hold Person , and as Dranko climbs up the mountainside towards it, two large orcs appear up on the ledge. They poke curiously at their froofy friend, and seconds later, those two are also Held. Tor, meanwhile, has found a partially-concealed tunnel entrance on the far side of the landslide, which seems to lead up to the shelf, and Kibi discovers another tunnel mouth on the other side of the pass. At about that time, a large company of orcs (about two dozen) approaches from behind, from the direction of the horses. Kibi halts their approach (and kills a few of them) with a Wall of Thorns from his staff. Then Flicker, who was watching the other tunnel mouth, hears more approaching orcs. Although these orcs are able to shove Tor out of the tunnel mouth through sheer force of numbers, he and the rest of the party butcher them as they come pouring out of the tunnel, enough so that the final two turn and run in fear. Those two are met by two more large orcs coming the other way; the smaller orcs squeeze past and flee, while the larger two fight and are soon killed. Unfortunately, the smaller ones have escaped into the tunnels, and at about this time the Wall of Thorns drops, and 20 more orcs charge down toward the party. This time, though, the landslide works to the party's advantage, and the charging orcs are cut down like wheat as they reach the barrier. Tor, Ernie, Morningstar and Dranko man the landslide, while Kay and Kibi attack from range up on the shelf. It’s quick and brutal. Tor sends orc heads flying left and right, and in his rage hacks down the final orc, who had thrown away his weapon and was begging for mercy. (run 56 begins) - The Company goes back to check on their horses, only to find that they are gone. Hoof prints head away back down the pass toward Kallor. The party decides not to go after them, and continues along the pass, especially wary because some orcs escaped the previous encounter. But there is no sign of trouble, or returning orcs, for the rest of the day. Sunday, August 26 - The party travels into the morning, finally going to sleep at about 3:00 A.M. in a place where the pass opens up a bit. They wake up later in the morning, and for a few minutes there’s still no sign of trouble, but then the sound of drums starts to echo faintly through the pass. In preparation for trouble, the party makes Tor invisible, and uses Dust of Illusion on Morningstar to make her look like a large ogre. The party progresses cautiously, trying to maintain the appearance of an ogre and a half-orc (Dranko) escorting prisoners. The sound of the drums gets louder and louder, and then a large force rounds a bend in the pass and comes into view. In front are five ogres, and behind them are about fifty orcs. They stop when they see the party, and Dranko walks forward to parley. Unfortunately, the ogres aren’t buying it. They don’t seem to trust a "half breed," and they want to know what happened to the "Uktul Kan." (This means "Pale Giant" in orcish, and apparently refers to Tor.) It turns out that spies have been reporting back on the party’s progress along the pass. Morningstar has been Mind Reading the ogre, and realizes that combat is inevitable. She’s right. The ogres and orcs attack. Kibi opens with a Wall of Thorns, but places it largely behind the large orcish force, and mostly just prevents escape. In response to this, some of the ogres pull out potions and take quick swigs. More effective is Kibi’s next salvo – a Fireball launched
from a scroll. This wipes out a good number of orcs and one of the ogres,
though most of the ogres seem unfazed. The battle rages fiercely; one of
the ogres seems to be magically berserk, the others fight with – well, with
ogre-strength The party questions a captive orc following the battle. The orc confirms that the valley on the other side of the mountains is under orcish control, and providing supplies to the orcish armies as they move through the mountains en route to Sentinel. The orc is also confident that a figure called the "Chun Aggrat" (orcish for the Red General) will easily dispose of the party, despite the failure of the recently-defeated group. (run 57 begins) The party continues onward through the pass, and reaches the other side as night falls. They easily dispose of a token guard at the base of the pass, and travel eastward along the mountains until they find an abandoned farmhouse conspicuously close in. (Ozilinsh had said that Gadrunas’ farmhouse was the closest to the mountains.) This place has apparently already been ransacked by orcs, but there are no bodies within. The party spends the night in the burned out house. Monday, August 27 - In the morning, the Company wakes, and discovers a trail leading from the farmhouse toward the nearby mountains. There are signs that orcs have been that way. The trail leads up into a well-hidden pass, which appears to dead-end at a small grave site marked for Gadrunas. However, the party discovers a secret door into the mountains which the orcs seem to have missed. The party goes into a short tunnel leading into the mountains, a tunnel which empties into a small cave. The cave (and an exiting tunnel on the far side) is guarded by a large floating sphere with one big central eye and several smaller eyestalks; the creature warns the party to leave, or be destroyed. The party does not leave. The creature fire a beam from an eyestalk and vaporizes a rock near their feet. But something about the creature doesn’t seem quite real to some of the party members, and the creature is revealed to be an illusion. Past the illusionary guardian, the party meets Hickory, now an elderly woman, who tries briefly to hold them off with several crossbows mounted on crates. She decides to trust the group when they use Ozilinsh’s name. Hickory has taken shelter from the orcs in Gadrunas’ old library, having abandoned the farmhouse to the rapacious humanoids. She allows the party to examine all the books and scrolls, and they spend the whole day in the library. They read all about all sorts of weird and hideous monsters, and also find some useful information about Soul Eaters . The Kings of the Carch Din, according to one scroll fragment, are creatures from the plane of Shadow, and can only be killed if their host-bodies are killed in places of pure light or pure darkness. The party spends the night in the library. Tuesday, August 28 - As they cross the fields the party considers spending some time rescuing farmers and killing orcs, but ends up chased by a huge orcish force toward the coast. Wednesday, August 29 - In a prodigious display of stamina, and aided both by spells and Burning Sky, the party reaches the shore, unfolds the ship, and spends the night on the ship. Thursday, August 30 - Saturday, September 2 - Ship travel to Sand’s Edge. Sunday, September 3 - Monday, September 4 - Layover in Sand’s Edge Tuesday, September 5 - Monday, September 11 - Ship travel to Tal Hae Tuesday, Sept 12 - The Company completes the long ship voyage to Tal Hae by way of Sand’s Edge. In the three months since the Ventifact Colossus rose from the desert, some real progress has been made on hauling away chunks of flesh from the great turtle. Hundreds of volunteers and city workers are involved in the project, and the party learns that City Council intends to leave the shell as a great roof for a new open market, once the rest of the turtle has been cleared. Still, all is not well there. Hundreds of people have fled the city since the attack, and hundreds more have sickened or died from the "turtle sickness" that has swept the city. Carrion birds and rats infest the town square, where the majority of the vast bulk still festers. And it will likely be a couple of years still until the last of the Ventifact Colossus’s body is cleared away. Wednesday, Sept. 13 - Tuesday, Oct. 17 - - Back in Tal Hae, training happens. During this time, word arrives that the forces at Sentinel have driven out the orcs there, and that the Kallorians have won the pass through the mountains, routing the orcs in the process. Kay complains that she wasn’t there to help mop up orcs. Also during this time is the one-year anniversary of Mrs. Horn’s resurrection (September 25th). As they promised, the party goes to the Church of Brechen to renew their pledges, and it’s confirmed that Tor has done his part. Then a priest of Brechen leads them back into a small room, with a window looking out on the sea. The soothing sounds of surf pounding the shore come in through the window. Abernathy is there, lying in a bed, looking frail and at peace. "Ah, I’m glad you could make it," he says softly. He turns to the priest and asks to be alone with the party for a while. "Do you know what today is?" he continues. "It’s my birthday. Quite clever to have arranged things that way, really. This morning I saw the end of the 997th year of my life. And much to my relief, it’s the last one I’m going to see. Today I finish paying my debt to Brechen, and fulfill my promise. Today I finally kick back and stop saving the world. "You can’t… possibly know what a relief it is. For so many years, the weight on my shoulders has been… well, it’s difficult to describe. I had come to believe that if I failed, the kingdom and all the people in it would be doomed. I had come to believe that no one could replace me. It is a… side effect… of our work that we archmagi live such a long time. But for years now I’ve really just been hanging on through force of will. I couldn’t… die… or who knows what would happen? "But then I was shown the truth of things. I’m not really so important, you know. We have hope now, and we’ll continue to have hope after I’m gone. I’m leaving things in very capable hands. Ozilinsh, if you want to know the truth, is much smarter than I am. He’s quite the prodigy, and he’s already doing everything I’ve been doing, as well as I ever did it. He’s proven ready to adopt the mantle of an archmage. He was apprentice to one of the others for decades. Highly recommended, you could say. Isabel Horn will be his apprentice. She too is a fast learner, though I don’t think the tower life will ever really agree with her. That’s good. If we’re lucky, all of this will be over before she grows too old. "We decided that my tower wasn’t a good place for Thewana after my departure… she’s gone to replace Ozilinsh at his old job… old Grawly’s been barely able to hold it together with only his junior apprentice, and Fylnius has been working his old elven bones off to pick up the slack." He coughs, and his eyes twinkle. "Ah, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Yes, yes, I know I promised that you’d find out everything. Well, I never said that I’d tell you. That would take far too long, and I’m really… quite tired. No, no, I’m not going to tell you anything. I’ll leave that for Ozilinsh. When you get back to the Greenhouse, he’ll answer all of your questions. He knows as much as any of us know. "But I’m still going to urge you to caution. It wasn’t on a whim that I withheld so much from you, and you should continue to act with discretion whenever possible. But things are moving quickly now, and you’ll find that at times action is more important than secrecy. If you can find reliable allies, who themselves can be counted on to be discreet, don’t be afraid to accept their help. You’ll need it before the end." Abernathy pauses, and closes his eyes. His breathing slows. Then he opens his eyes and again, and says softly: "You know, I meant what I said a month ago. I’ve lived many lonely centuries since my master Alander passed away. I had one apprentice before Thewana, but he lasted less than twenty years before he couldn’t take the strain. For most of the time it’s been just me; Thewana was only my apprentice for 63 years. Hundreds of years alone in my tower, pursuing my work and little else. No friends. No time for them. Not a pleasant way to live. And you… you’ve been like a… family to me. I know it… probably doesn’t seem like much… to you, but after the… years of solitude… I know it probably doesn’t seem fair, what I’ve asked of you, but I for… my part have long stopped thinking of… you as… agents. You’ve been friends. I’m glad to… have experienced that… before the end. Thank… you." Suddenly his eyes grow very bright, and a smile of pure wonder suffuses his face. "Oh… my. What a delightful feeling… sand… between my toes. So… beautiful. I think I’ll just… lie down here… and… rest for a while." And just like that, Abernathy is gone. Back at the Greenhouse, the party finds that Abernathy has left them gifts: For Tor, an ornate display case on the living room wall, with a huge black gauntlet (from the Death Knight) already displayed; For Ernie, a large package of honey-and-date pastries; For Kay, a set of wind-chimes, each bell shaped like Abernathy’s tower; For Flicker and Dranko, a huge crate of Blacktallow cigars, and two trinkets – a goblet and an ashtray – which they had filched on their first night in the Tower (Abernathy had caught them and made them return the items at the time); For Kibi, a metal cask of fine Dwarfish wine (Rockbreath vintage from 1801); And for Morningstar, a necklace with the triangular symbol of Ell, jet on one side, and Ivory on the other. Also for each party member is a potion (different for each), of Abernathy’s own concocting. Lastly there is a note bidding them a final farewell, and with instructions that they should collect Abernathy’s ashes from the Priests of Brechen and place them in the Greenhouse’s magic Icebox. That will send them somewhere safe, and out of the clutches of those who would use Ashes of Archmage as spell components. Abernathy had promised that the party would be told everything about his work, though not, it turns out, from his own lips. That job falls to Ozilinsh, who spends an evening dumping huge amounts of information on the party in his typical scatterbrained style. (Ozilinsh is clearly brilliant, but often has trouble expressing himself, and frequently loses his train of thought or goes off on wild tangents.) The highlights are thus: A long time ago (a bit less than 3000 years), the Kingdom of Charagan was ruled by an evil tyrant named Naloric Skewn. Freedom under his rule was virtually unknown; thousands were enslaved in his great cities, both above and below ground. He slew the Elhen Tarathi of the Greatwood, and the Mors Tarathi surrendered to him and were made his servants. The Elves of Ghant withdrew deep into their forest, and the perimeter of that wood was under constant guard. Naloric also conquered and enslaved the Yrimpa, used them in turn to conquer the Dwarves of Karth, and then had them (the Yrimpa) imprisoned in a mountain prison called God’s Thorn. The Fire God worshippers from beyond the gartine arch on the peninsula were allied with Naloric. For about a thousand years, Naloric (who, like the Archmagi, had the knack for longevity, and who was apparently something not quite human) ruled the Kingdom with the proverbial iron fist. But during that time he grew somewhat complacent, and a group of elves and powerful mages – the Spire – began to plot Naloric’s downfall. When they were ready the Spire struck, and the war that followed lasted a hundred years. Eventually Naloric and his forces were banished through an inter-planar gate to an alternate Prime, though the Spire afterward discovered that he had allowed himself to be so banished. Also, in the decade before he withdrew, Naloric hid many fell objects and creatures, hoping to use them when he returned. About a thousand years after that, he did return, forcing his way back through the Planar Gate (at Verdshane, which was once Naloric’s capital of Kinnet Vulthani.) There was a huge war, and the population of Elhen Tarathi (which had grown numerous again in the 1000-or-so years since the first slaughter) was again wiped out. Several Archmagi were slain as well, including Typier, Parthol, Rauth, and Abernathy’s own Master, Alander. But this time Naloric was killed as well, and the surviving Archmagi vowed to withdraw from the general affairs of the Kingdom and devote all their energies to keeping the Planar Gate at Verdshane sealed again for good. They divided themselves into two branches: those who would seek for the permanent solution to keeping the Gate sealed, and those who would keep it closed in the meantime. For Naloric’s son, Naradawk Skewn, was still on the other side, in the other Prime, and he had sworn he would one day come to claim his father’s kingdom. And that’s what Abernathy had been up to all those years: keeping the Gate closed, while Naradawk hammered at it (metaphorically, of course) from the other side. The glowing blue field at Verdshane is a powerful Temporal Stasis zone, set up around the Planar Gate, so that anything Naradawk might sneak through there would be immediately rendered helpless. Ozilinsh also tells the party about the Masking. It seems that when Naloric came back through the Gate, he set in motion the spells that would cause all of the nasty stuff he left behind to "wake up," as it were. A number of the surviving Mors Tarathi, along with the Archmagi, created a massive spell that took years to cast: the Masking. The Masking was designed to do two things: to slow down (if not stop completely) the emergence of Naloric’s material legacy; and to erase from all memory, books, and scrolls, all knowledge of Naloric’s Empire, so that no one would ever seek out things best left buried and hidden. The Masking was generally a success, though now it is clearly breaking down, and has become somewhat random in whom it affects and to what degree. The word "Sharshun," along with information about them, seems still to be especially well "Masked." The Spire doesn’t know anything more about the Eyes of Moirel or their significance, and they don’t know who "P" is. But the Blood Gargoyle had clearly been used as a specific distraction for Fylnius, and it had been timed with Abernathy having been drawn into a short-lived but effective magical trap. (Remember, he had been AWOL at the time.) Fylnius and Abernathy were the two Archmagi most responsible for keeping the Planar Gate well sealed. With both of them distracted or removed, "something big" was squeezed through the fragile planar boundary between this Prime and Naradawk’s Prime. What that "something" is is unknown. Whoever or whatever is whipping the humanoids into a frenzy is also (so speculates Ozilinsh) doing so in an attempt to distract the Archmagi. If the Archmagi are spending their time helping defend the kingdom from orcs, bugbears, gnolls, kobolds, goblins, and who knows what else, then they’re not giving their full attention to the ever-weakening Planar Gate. Meledien’s efforts to free monsters from Kinnet Gorge are probably serving a similar purpose. So it’s not a stretch to think that "P" is somehow allied with Naradawk, though how they communicate is a mystery, as is any connection with Meledien and Octesian. (run 58 begins) Also during this time, Grey Wolf (a fighter/wizard from the forest of Ghant) is introduced to the Company. Ozilinsh brings him by the Greenhouse, and announces that he (Grey Wolf) is now an official part of the group. (The Spire feels that the group needs more wizardly oomph now that Mrs. Horn has gone to Ozilinsh’s tower.) Having made the introduction, Ozilinsh tells the party about their next job. There is an item – the skull of something called a Horned Spycrow – which the Spire badly needs for their spells to close the Gate to Naradawk’s Prime. Another adventuring group, known as Corley’s Crew, had been dispatched to an old Black Circle bestiary to retrieve the skull. Now they are weeks overdue, and the Spire feels that something ill has befallen the Crew. They want O’s group to follow, discover what happened to Corley and Co., and if possible come back with the skull. (The Black Circle had several such bestiaries hidden throughout the Kingdom in the old days. Naradawk used them to create, experiment upon, and house horrific beasts. Knowledge of these bestiaries (including their locations) has largely been protected by the Masking, but recently, as the Masking has started to wear off, details about them have come to light. Horned Spycrows were magical birds used by Naradawk for surveillance.) Wednesday, October 18 - Saturday, Oct 21 -- The party sails to Feslin, the nearest city to the Bestiary. Sunday, Oct 22 – The Company arrives in Feslin. The party goes to the Dragon’s Den, a "theme inn" where Corley’s Crew often stayed. The common room looks like a dragon’s abode, with scales adorning the wall and piles of fake treasure lying about. Each room, while comfy, looks like a small dungeon-room, and even has a secret compartment with 10 copper pieces painted to look like gold. Corley’s Crew was well known at the Dragon's Den, and the party learns that they went into the mountains about 6 weeks earlier, toward the abandoned mining village of Irondale. The party is warned that there are still occasional groups of Bugbears in the area. Monday, October 23 - Wednesday, October 25 – Travel to Irondale; along the way, the party finds signs of a bugbear slaughter. (The bugbears were slaughtered, that is.) Thursday, October 26 - The party arrives in Irondale in the afternoon. As expected, it's abandoned, but there are some signs of a battle. The biggest of these signs is a huge dead monster (a Bulette, as the party remembers from Gadrunas' library) lying in a road. The party also finds a dead man in a tavern, laid out with care behind the bar. The party surmises that this is one of Corley's Crew; wounds on the body are consistent with the claws and teeth of the Bulette. Grey Wolf takes a magical crossbow which was left with the body, presuming that the Crew won't mind if he uses it in their rescue. The party explores a mine entrance at the edge of town, and Kay sees signs that someone had been that way. They make their way through mining passages and discover a more recent tunnel which breaks out into the air, overlooking a large, sheltered valley. At the far end of the valley is a metal structure set up against the mountainside, but the party decides to camp for the night and explore the next day. Friday, October 27 – (run 59 begins) The party approaches the metal structure, which is semicircular with a flat top, and the flat side facing outward. There are a number of stone gargoyle statues perched on top, and these launch themselves and attack when the party crosses an outer perimeter of gray stones. The party backs out of the perimeter, and the gargoyles return to the roof. Seeing as there’s no way into the building without crossing the line, the party decides to just march in and fight the monsters. After the creatures are defeated, the party goes in to the building via the main front door. They find themselves in a large foyer-ish area, with another door facing directly across. Between them and the door, however, is a huge black circle drawn on the floor, which will have to be crossed to reach the door. It detects as a magical trap, and Morningstar dispels it. Ell 1, Black Circle 0. Through the door the party discovers three main rooms on the ground floor. The leftmost is a library, but most of the books are being eaten by a number of small crabs, with eyes looking out the tops of their shells. The crabs scuttle away from people and seem generally harmless, unless you’re a book. The rightmost room contains a magical kettle used for brewing potions, and an empty steel cage hanging from the ceiling. The cage, whose door hangs open, has a green glass seal set into the bars, which is cracked and dim. There is no sign of the occupant, though the cage has an odd odor. The center-most room is guarded by two Flesh Golems, which attack when the rooms is entered. Oops! Still, the party is able to dispatch them fairly easily. In the room is a bed (recently slept-in), and next to it a long green glass slab (about the same size as the bed), also cracked and dim. There is a dark (and dried) bloodstain on the slab, and a trail of blood which leads into a nearby closet. A human body is discovered there, dead, with its throat cut. A bloody dagger rests on the ground next to him. In the hallway that connects the three rooms, there is a stairway leading down at one end. The party descends and finds themselves in a room seemingly used for cattle-butchery. There are blood-soaked butcher-blocks, and drains in the floor. There is also a skeleton standing there, hacking pieces of meat off a cattle carcass, and throwing them into a wheel-barrow. The party blasts the skeleton out of habit. There is an adjacent hallway, off of which are several rooms which seem to be cells. Before the party can do much exploring, however, a hideous creature comes barreling out of one of these cells and attacks! It has a four-legged body like an oversized lion, but instead of a head or tail, it has four thick tentacles rising from the body, each ending in a sharp-toothed maw. It proves a tough adversary, and Dranko’s bold (if curious) strategy of jumping on its back almost gets him eaten, but the party eventually slays it. By this time, after the gargoyles, golems and this beast, the party is in pretty bad shape, so they back out of the building altogether to rest and heal outside. Saturday, October 28 – The party goes back in and starts to explore the rest of the cells. Most of these have a round, dull green-glass seal by the door, and a strip of dull green glass on the floor of the doorways. (The green glass looks very much like the green glass seals that had been keeping the Death Knight locked up below Gohgan’s basement.) All of the cell doors are open, and all of the cells themselves are uninhabited, save one. On that cell the round green seal is uncracked and bright, though occasionally flickering. Inside the room there is a large monster which looks like a huge floating ball with several eye-stalks. The monster is suspended in a flickering green light. The party decides to leave it that way. The nearest of the uninhabited cells is made of stone, and is empty save for a water-filled depression in one corner and some patches of a clear, sticky residue on the floor. There is an ornate wooden door with a marble frame on the back wall; Morningstar approaches the door, and puts her hand up to it as she casts Though Capture. As her hand sticks to the door, and the door attacks (being a Mimic, and not an actual door at all), she gets the thought: "Yum." Ell 1, Black Circle 1. (run 60 begins) The party fights and kills the mimic, as well as some sort of pudding which drops from the ceiling during the battle. It’s a tough fight, but the party’s sheer numbers make the difference. A trail of smeared dried blood leads from an open area at the end of the hallway, back into the cell of the weird lion-tentacle creature. The party discovers the chewed-up remains of most of Corley’s Crew, which have been dragged back to the monster’s nest. (The nest also includes other remains, which may be what’s left of the monsters from some of the other cells.) In the open area are signs of a battle, which include dozens of smaller bloodstains, and (oddly) a number of daisies growing directly out of a stone wall. Always practical, the party loots the bodies of Corley’s Crew. In another cell is the dead and rotting body of a huge alien-looking creature with black skin, sharp teeth and numerous clawed appendages. It has bite marks consistent with the teeth of the lion creature. All of the cells have water-filled depressions in one corner. A stairway down near the butcher block leads to an enormous (perhaps a mile long) underground cavern, in which roam hundreds of blind cattle. There is an underground lake from which they drink, and a spongy edible fungus grows abundantly. A skeleton here is hacking up one of the cows. The party figures that that the skeletons are essentially an automated feeding mechanism for the creatures in the cells; they slaughter the cows and bring the meat up to the main floor of the Bestiary. Exploration beyond the hallway of cells reveals more hallways, and a large room from which a strange chanting is coming. The party goes into the room and discovers a summoning circle in the middle of the floor, with torch-stands around its perimeter. In the circle, a large bipedal frog-creature is being summoned. Up on a platform looking out over the room, a small, imp-like creature (wearing a too-large crown and a makeshift cloak torn from a larger piece of human clothing) is holding a large tome. Upon seeing the party enter, the imp has a hurried conversation with the frog-creature in the summoning circle, and the creature attacks the party. The fight seems to be going well, but before the frog-thing dies it lets out a mighty croak The croak seems to bounce around the room, and it eventually opens a Gate through which enters another frog-creature. This one also attacks. Fortunately, the second one is unsuccessful at Gating in a third, and infinite recursion is avoided. After the frog-creatures are dispatched (with the help of some of Kibi’s summoned Bullywugs, who are again paid for their service), the party subdues the Imp creature. (When Kibi casts Summon Monster spells, he often ends up with the same two Bullywugs. Last time, after they helped defeat some foe, the party actually paid them some gold before they vanished back to wherever they had come from. This second time they were better armed and armored than the first time, having seemingly spent their gold well.) The party drags the Imp outside for questioning; it insists that it’s "the King," and is in charge of the Bestiary. It’s clear from the evidence that the Imp was originally in the cage on the upper floor, and had killed the man whose body was found in the closet, the man who probably was actually in charge of the Bestiary. Since the green glass seems to be an indicator of a kind of stasis field, it’s likely that the Imp came out of stasis first, and killed the man while he was still on his green stasis slab. The party eventually tires of the monster’s lies, and kills it.
Again they rest, heal, and wait another day outside. |