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Campaign Diary of Abernathy's Company (runs 61-70) (1829) Sunday, October 29 – (run 61 begins) The party still hasn’t found any Horned Spycrows or their skulls; the only lead is that one of the empty cells had some blood-matted feathers in a corner, and several bars up near the ceiling that might have been perches. But there are more places yet unexplored, so the party continues to search. One hallway leads to a pair of iron doors which form a sort of air-lock to whatever space lies beyond. Thinking that the Spycrows might be in there, the party cranks open the doors, and discovers that the place is the lair for a very young White Dragon! A very tough fight ensues, in which several party members a nearly frozen to death by the dragon breath. After the fight the party once more leaves the bestiary and heals up outside. Still no Spycrow. Monday, October 30 – The party takes an extra day of R&R. Tuesday, November 1 – One last time into the Bestiary? The party hopes so. One of the only places left unexplored is a stairway leading down beyond the cells, a stairway from which a familiar and disgusting smell is emanating. Part way down the wide stairway, just off a landing as the stairs bend around, the party discovers a large stone pit, filled with the rotting skeletal remains of dozens of misshapen monsters. The most awful is a skeleton of a three-headed chimera, where the middle skull is human, with a grey circle burned into the bone. The revolting smell from below turns out to be coming from a gigantic Otyugh (a.k.a. "stink-wiggle"). It seems that the skeletons cart all of the refuse of the various creatures down here, and feed it to a giant living trash disposal. A brief melee ensues in which Grey Wolf, forgetting for a moment the clouds of methane gas from the offal, casts a Flaming Sphere spell. It turns the entire cavern into a flaming sphere, blistering characters and monster alike. The Otyugh turns out to be mildly psionic, and communicates mentally with the party, asking them what they want, and to stop attacking. The party agrees to spare the creature if it will let them search its refuse-pile home. The Otyugh actually helps them, pulling up bones and such from under the pile, and one of these turns out to be a skeleton of a bird that matches the description of a Horned Spycrow. Success! (Less happily, it also pulls up the last remnants of Corley's Crew, who must have dumped down here by the skeletons.) Wednesday, November 2 – (run 62 begins) So now the party can leave behind this abominable place… or can they? They recall the flickering glass ward on the room with the Eye Creature (someone thinks they remember it’s a "Beholder," from Gadrunas’ library), and worry that it will soon be free like the other creatures were once the stasis fails. They debate for a while: now that they have the Skull, should they risk further delay or disaster by fighting a potentially deadly enemy? But on the other hand, what if the monster escapes, and finds its way to inhabited regions where it then could kill many innocent people? In the end the Company does the Good thing, and stays to fight it. They go into its cell and surround it, while Tor smashes the flickering glass seal. Its stasis-field drops, and a melee ensues. It turns out that the creature isn’t a magic-using beholder, and that the "eyes" at the end of its "eye-stalks" are actually blood-sucking mouths. It’s a tough fight, and Grey Wolf (still getting the hang of this whole spell-casting-in-combat thing) almost kills himself with a ricocheting 2nd-Edition Lightning Bolt. But the party wins out without any losses, and leaves the Bestiary with a clean collective conscience. They travel via carpet back to Irondale and spend the night camped there before starting the journey back to Tal Hae. Thursday, November 3 - Saturday, November 5 – Travel to Feslin Sunday, November 6 - Monday, November 7 – Ship travel to Tal Hae Tuesday, November 8 - The party arrives in Tal Hae, and finds the city awash with refugees. There are families huddled under awnings and in alleyways, and the temples and churches of the city are packed. It seems that while the party was away, Calnis was finally sacked by a huge force of gnolls and kobolds come from the mountains, and that many of its inhabitants fled south to Tal Hae. The party delivers the Spycrow Skull to Ozilinsh, and also tells him about the grim fate of Corley’s Crew. While sad to hear about the other adventuring party, Ozilinsh is very excited about using the Spycrow skull in their rituals. It's entirely possible that it could prove the key to keeping the Planar Gate closed forever. Wednesday, November 9 - Wednesday, December 21 -- (run 63 begins) Training happens. On the party’s first day back, Eddings shows them a strange list he received while the party was away, a long list of numbers, seemingly without pattern. Morningstar receives a dream-warning from the Avatar who has been training her, telling that the Dreamscape is no longer safe, and also that her training is over. When Morningstar tries to go into Ava Dormo afterwards, she discovers that, unless she chooses a place firmly under the control of Ellish Dreamwalkers, the Dreamscape is filled with a mysterious (and disturbing) oily black fog. When she tries to penetrate it, her body back in the real world starts to fade, and the party wakes her up. In the crowded streets, a madman named Samuel is yelling at a crowd that a thousand years ago there was a terrible war, and armies of the dead are now returning to exact revenge. Most of the party enters the Fall Tourney of Werthis. Kay advances in the two-swords division, and after a couple of rounds is paired up against a huge fighter named Longmire. During the fight, Kay is knocked over, and Longmire reaches out his hand to help her up. However, when Kay reaches to take his hand, he reaches past her, grabs her by the throat, and squeezes. He’s insanely strong, and he grins at Kay as he reveals that he is, in fact, King Farazil, inhabiting the body of this massive fighter. Kay pummels him, but his grip doesn’t relent. She hears a cracking in her neck, and her legs go numb. But Farazil didn’t reckon with Oa-Lyanna – she attacks Longmire, buffeting him until he is forced to release Kay. Werthans rush forward to grab Longmire, and in the chaos, Farazil leaves Longmire’s body and vanishes into the crowd. Kay’s neck is broken, but a healing spell saves her life. The party receives a strange letter from Califax , who is suspected of having joined Mokad and the Black Circle. The letter is filled with weirdly-phrased threats, and seems like it was written by a madman. But the party applies the list of numbers received earlier as a deciphering key, and finds another letter contained within it that indicates Califax has rediscovered his faith in Delioch and renounced the Black Circle. He warns the party not to trust Praska. And he tells the party about some illicit Black Circle project going on in Hae Charagan. (After making his promise to Brechen for Mrs. Horn’s life, Dranko tried to speak directly to Califax in an attempt to make up with the old Scarbearer, but was rebuffed. Then he wrote a letter of reconciliation, but the letter went unanswered.) Also during the training period, yet another letter arrives , this one from the Sages Consortium of Hae Kalkas. It contains some information on a variety of subjects that the party had requested weeks before. Thursday, December 22 – Friday, December 23 (run 64 begins) The party heads out by ship to Hae Charagan, to investigate the Black Circle project mentioned in Califax’s letter. Saturday, December 24 – The Company arrives in the Capital and spends much of the day picking up some rumors. Word is that only a skeletal force of arms remains to guard the city. Many of the King’s Elite (known as the Royals) are stationed in the nearby town of Riss (which stands between the capitol and the humanoid-infested mountains). Others are scattered among the forces fighting (or defending from) humanoids in Feslin, Minok and Tal Hae. Some have been dispatched to fight the invaders on the Balani Peninsula. There is a muddled rumor that an army of Dwarves had arrived by ship from Karth, but no one has seen them. It is said that the King himself has pleaded with the Archmagus of Hae Charagan for aid (given the way the kingdom’s armies are stretched), but has been turned down. Soon, people say, there will be forced conscription. Lastly, there is a rumor of several disappearances in the Poor Quarter, but not much is being done about it. The party investigates the Rock, which is a mostly-Dwarfish tavern – it serves a strong drink called "Elf Killer." While doing his usual rooftop reconnaissance, Dranko notices marks in the snow that indicate someone else is also scoping out the place. With some keen observation, he watches footprints being left in the snow by an invisible person, and dives off a rooftop onto the place where he thinks the person is. They grapple, and eventually the invisible man capitulates. The man (named Hamner) agrees to talk with the party in a tavern, but only if he remains invisible. During that talk Hamner reveals that he is part of a group that is opposed to the Black Circle, and thinks something evil is going on in the Rock. He makes no promises about cooperating with the party, but says he’ll talk with his colleagues meet them back at the tavern in the morning. Morningstar casts Mind Read outside the Rock, but all the thoughts of the Dwarves inside seem innocent. Sunday, December 25 – In the morning, the party goes to meet Hamner, but he’s not there. He has left a note, in which he says his colleagues were not convinced that they could trust the party. However, they will not (they claim) interfere with any attempts by the party to infiltrate the Rock and learn what’s going on. The note is signed with a picture of a shell. Through judicious use of spells and magic items, the entire party is made invisible, and that very night sneaks into the Rock. There are some hairy moments, as dwarfish patrons often nearly walk into invisible party members as they pick, dodge and weave their way across the commons. But eventually the group reaches their target; a closed door that leads into a back room. (To cover opening the door, Oa-Lyanna blows the main exterior doors open, creating an effective diversion.) There are some brief scuffles with dwarves in some back rooms, in which the opposition is Held and otherwise rendered helpless. Further investigation reveals a trap door that leads to a recently-excavated tunnel below the tavern. The party descends, travels through a freshly-dug tunnel, and eventually finds a hole that has been knocked in the floor. This leads to a large chamber and thence to the cavernous remains of a large and mostly-buried underground city. Sneaking along, the party makes its way through caverns filled with buried ruins, and eventually into a very large cavern in which some ritual is taking place. At the far end of the cavern, the party can see that a large Gartine Arch is being excavated. Standing near to the arch is a man well-known to the party – it’s Manzanill, the evil wizard who escaped from them in Brinth. There are some dwarves about, continuing to chisel out the Gartine Arch from the surrounding stone. A melee soon ensues, in which Manzanill launches a Lightning Bolt into the passage from which the party is emerging, and the dwarves put up a decent fight defending the wizard. Also, part way through the combat, a large green humanoid creature, with wickedly sharp claws and demonic features, emerges from a side-building to join the fight. Its claws go through armor as if it were cheesecloth. During the battle it retreats back into its building and emerges with what seem to be five allies, but in fact this turns out to be a Mirror Image spell. In the end, the battle is won, the strange creature slain, and Manzanill, largely rendered powerless by a Silence spell, is also killed. No last minute escape this time! The party interrogates the surviving dwarves. It seems that they are miners from Karth who were sent to work with Manzanill by their master, a dwarf named Silvernose. Manzanill has been placing kidnapped prisoners (homeless beggars from the poorer parts of town who won’t be missed) underneath the Arch, and draining their life energy to bring the green monsters (called Chriks) through into Charagan. The Dwarves have been told that the prisoners are criminals who would have otherwise been executed or rotting away in prison. They actually find the Chriks to be good company. They think that about 15 Chriks have been released, and a nearby pit of drained bodies corroborates this guess. The dwarves have no knowledge of Manzanill’s long-term plans. One Dwarf in particular, named Bludgeon, seems exceptionally remorseful that he was killing innocent people. He asks the party lots of questions and seems eager to be allowed to redeem himself. In an adjacent room to the Arch cavern, the party finds some interesting correspondence from the mysterious "P." that includes mention of a thing called the " Crosser's Maze ." (run 65 begins) The party returns to the Rock and finds that Ballast and a few other Dwarves have "left on some emergency." Most of the remaining Dwarves are drunk, but one of them shape-changes (back) into a Chrik and attacks. When it does so, Bludgeon also reveals himself to be a Chrik, and joins in the fray against the party. The party defeats the monsters and goes to bed. Monday, December 26 – Beneath a makeshift tent set up in a park, some priests of Delioch are tending to some sick refugees. One of them, Sister Noreen, tells Dranko that Praska would love to see him and his friends. So the Company has a paranoid visit to Praska, who seems in fine sprits, passes a Mind Read test with flying colors, and generally seems to be her old happy self in spite of Califax’s warnings. The party does not mention Califax’s letters to her. The party also informs the city guard of what they discovered beneath the Rock. Tuesday, December 27 - Wednesday, December 28 – The party sails home to Tal Hae through a terrible storm. Makel and Tor (who’s learning to pilot the ship in case anything ever happens to Makel) manage to get Burning Sail and her passengers home safely. Thursday, December 29 – The party arrives back at Tal Hae and gives Ozilinsh a full brain-dump of their adventure in Hae Charagan. Ozilinsh has heard of Kivia (a place mentioned in the letter to Manzanill), but only knows that it is a land hundreds of leagues to the east, beyond the Uncrossable Sea. It seems clear now that Kivia is the land on the other side of the Gartine Arch on the Balani Peninsula, and it is from there that the army of the Burning God is coming. Ozilinsh tells the Company that in a few days’ time they will be summoned to a meeting of the Spire, the ancient order that has long opposed Naloric and his son Naradawk. Friday, December 30 – Against the better judgment of the rest of the party, Dranko plasters the city with notices that he wants to hire a torchbearer. Saturday, January 1, 1830 – A child named Thomas shows up at the Greenhouse, wanting the Torchbearer job. Kay dissuades him, but gives him a dagger and the important mission of protecting his mother if humanoids should come to Tal Hae. Sunday, January 2 – A brusque, competent woman named Syria arrives to audition for the Torchbearer job. She actually seems like she might be cut out for the position, but the rest of the party still can’t really believe that Dranko is serious about the whole thing. They ask Syria to come back the next day. Monday, January 3 - Friday, January 7 – The party basically hangs out, waiting to be summoned to the Spire Council. During this time, Syria comes by to see if she got the Torchbearer job. The party tells her no thanks (over Dranko’s protests), and gives her a bag of gold for her troubles. Saturday, January 8 (run 66 begins) – The Company is summoned to the Spire Council. Ozilinsh gives them magical bracelets, which are used to teleport the party somewhere in the forest near Ghant. Right before the teleportation, Grey Wolf feels a strange churning in his guts, as if all his internal organs were sliding sideways. Nevertheless, he and the rest of the party arrive safely. Once in the forest, the party is blindfolded and led through a winding forest path for several hours. They eventually emerge in a clearing, in the center of which is a huge, majestic tree. Inside this tree is the meeting place of the Spire. Tor uses a pinch of his Dust of Illusion and goes in disguise, so that any high-ranking nobles who might be there won’t recognize him. After spending some time in a waiting room (talking with a large and vaguely unpleasant man named Matthias), the Council is called to order. In addition to the Company, the following people are in attendance: Ozilinsh The man who runs the meeting is the only Archmage present other than Ozilinsh. His name is Grawly, and he is the Archmagus of Hydra. His familiar, a parrot named Paciorek, sits on his shoulder. Yale opens the meeting by introducing the party to the others, and thanking them for their recent help with Manzanill. She says that a Chrik was discovered impersonating a Palace Guard, and there were indications that it had been there for some time, gathering information on the Kingdom’s disposition of troops in the field. The second order of business is the coordination of the Kingdom’s military forces. Carbuncle turns out to be an expert at impersonating humanoids, and speaks most of their languages. He has been spying at Feslin, and his knowledge gathered from the Bugbears was key in their recent defeat. He also has knowledge that the Bugbears were led by (or at least terrified of) a tremendously large bugbear in red armor called "The Crusher of Skulls") Warfield has already recognized the party; he has talked with the Galeb Duhr near the Nifi front. He reports that the war on the Peninsula is going well, though the Nifi have holed up in an old stronghold of theirs, and adopted a strong defensive position. Matthias opines that the various attacks are being coordinated to draw the Archmagi away from their tasks concerning the Gate in Verdshane. Lastly, Duke Nigel expresses his grave doubts that the Kingdom can long sustain a war on five or six fronts. The next items discussed are the Sharshun and the Eyes of Moirel. Cencerra knows that the Sharshun are in possession of at least one of the Eyes, and that their stronghold is somewhere in the Greatwood. The party talks at length about all they have discovered concerning these matters. No one present knows what "traveling nowhere" means, or why one would want to do it. Next the party is asked to speak about everything they learned about Manzanill. After they finish, Cencerra talks about similar work she has been doing. She has recently led a group of adventurers into the mountains near Hae Kalkas, to foil the excavation of a second Blood Gargoyle. An enemy mage named Lapis had hired a strong mercenary force, but Cencerra and her group prevailed, and the Blood Gargoyle was removed and destroyed. Lapis escaped the battle. Grawly then talks briefly about the Gartine Arches. He knows that they were built long before the Travelers (as the Gods who are not Pikon are called) arrived in Charagan, and no one had gleaned their function until the party had been to Seablade Point. There are records that an arch was in the city of Poal Cathan (formerly where Hae Charagan is now.) The party is asked to speak at length on the Black Circle. As a related topic, the Order of the Silver Shell is mentioned, in light of Hamner’s note to the party with the shell symbol on it. Long ago, when the Black Circle was more active, the Silver Shell opposed them and sought to wipe them out. While a force for good, the Shell often acted with a fanaticism that made the Spire uneasy. It is not surprising, given the apparent emergence of the Black Circle, that the Silver Shell has also become active again. Finally the talk turns to the Crosser’s Maze, the item mentioned in the letter to Manzanill that seems so crucial to the plans of "P." Cencerra and Grawly have heard rumors of it; it has something to do with planar travel, and they seem to think that it can be used to prevent or sabotage such attempts, or to destroy extra-planar creatures. Given that Naradawk is trying to cross a planar boundary, it’s curious as to why his allies would want it. Most of the Council believe that some third party has discovered its location, and that Naradawk and "P" want to keep it out of enemy hands. Some of the Council know that Kivia (also mentioned in Manzanill’s letter) is another continent, referred to in some ancient scrolls. It cannot be reached by ship; legend has it that Brechen and some other God of the Sea are at constant war, making the sea between too violent for ships. And that’s the end. The party is told to expect orders shortly, and then is returned to Tal Hae via the same magical means as brought them to the Tree. Sunday, January 9 – Ozilinsh informs the party that they are to be sent to Kivia, to find and bring back the Crosser’s Maze. Whatever reason "P" has for wanting it, a legendary magical item that can prevent planar crossings could be the answer to the Spire's greatest need. Since the only known way to get there is through a Gartine Arch out of which a hostile army is currently pouring, the Spire will want some time to plan and prepare certain devices to make it possible. It will likely be a few months before things are ready. Friday, January 10 - Wednesday, March 1 – (run 67 begins) Training happens. During this time, Morningstar is approached by a fellow priestess named Obsidia who recently was called to be a Dreamwalker. She had a powerful dream, of which she can remember little save a vision of Morningstar’s black-and-white holy symbol given her by Abernathy. She believes in the work the Illuminated Sisters are engaged in, and wants Morningstar to train her in being more resilient in the Dreamscape. She is timid but resolute. Also during training, some city guards show up at the Greenhouse. They have been instructed to inform that party that a Nifi Priestess has been kidnapped from the front (at some cost in human lives), and will be kept in custody until or unless the Company wants her. (The party had requested that a Nifi Priest be kidnapped, since they had information indicating that only such a one could enter God’s Thorn, where the Yrimpa are held prisoner.) The party plans to go the Gahantropalas Islands and look for God’s Thorn after they finish training. One night in mid-February, all three party clerics have highly unusual dreams on the same night. Thursday, March 2 – – Before departing, the party collects the Nifi Priestess, named Sovrenna. She is middle-aged, thin but strong, with white hair. She promises to cooperate with the party as long as she is well-treated. She has been promised that if she serves well, she will be returned to her people unharmed. The party heads out overland, intending to go to Oasis and then take Burning Sail straight to the Gahantropalas. Friday, March 3 – Thursday, March 16 – The party travels across Harkran to Oasis. They stop in Dingman’s Ferry en route and visit Ernie’s parents, who seem well. Friday, March 17 - Monday, March 20 – Makel and Tor sail the party to the city of Gahan. They stay the night at a Corilaynan inn called The Coin’s Edge, in which patrons can make a double-or-nothing wager for the cost of lodging. Tuesday, March 21 - Friday, March 24 – The Company marches inland through the snow to the town of Yen Hae. They learn that no one ventures deep into the forest because of the "Forest Demons," but no one knows anything about them. Saturday, March 25 – The party sends a scouting mission out on Burning Sky to locate God’s Thorn. They spot the Thorn in the distance, but before they can approach they are turned back by a small greenish-brown dragon-like creature that rises silently up out of the forest. Fortunately the dragon does not pursue them back to the town. Sunday, March 26 – The party decides to march into the interior on foot, through deep snow. It’s slow going. As they near the Thorn, the party is attacked by small, preternaturally quick, red-skinned humanoids, which dart almost instantly from tree to tree, and hurl javelins at them. The fight reminds the party of the "Stickmen" at Verdshane. The party uses Continual Darkness spells as a defensive measure, and it seems to work – beyond the darkness, the creatures stop attacking. There is a moment of eerie quiet. And then the dragon, in perfect silence, pokes its head through the ring of darkness and breathes a jet of searing steam. At the same time, a blue ring of light draws itself under the snow around Kibi, and in a flash, Kibi vanishes. (Gray Wolf recognizes the circle as similar to those used in some Summoning spells.) (run 68 begins) A fight ensues, which ends not with defeat of the dragon, but with a truce called, followed by a generous food-bribe provided by Ernie. (A Create Food spell produces deer carcasses.) With the dragon satiated, the party presses on to God’s Thorn. It is a huge spike of rock jutting up from a deep valley with a rocky, treeless floor. They camp above the valley. Monday, March 27 – The party descends into the valley by carpet, and goes around until they find the magical fiery gate which is the only way into or out of the Thorn. Now it’s time for Sovrenna to do her thing. While the party watches, she grips the burning iron gates, and while she grimaces in obvious pain, the iron vanishes, leaving only a latticework of flames. The party jumps through the flames, into the first dark hall of God’s Thorn. Sovrenna lets go of the gates, and staggers back. She is still outside the Thorn. After falling in the mud, she gets up and begins to laugh. And she reveals that she is, in fact, King Farazil of the Carch Din, Soul-Eater-At-Large. She notices as Morningstar begins to cast an Abjuration, and flees out of range. With a parting laugh at the party’s (seemingly) hopeless predicament, Sovrenna/Farazil departs, leaving them trapped in an ancient mountain prison from which no one has yet escaped. The party finds itself in a large chamber littered with debris and bones. There is a faint skittering sound all around them, and the source of this is soon apparent. Two giant ants emerge from the debris and attack the party, but are easily dealt with. Dranko goes alone into a side-chamber to explore and is attacked by even more giant ants; the rest of the party comes to his rescue. At the far end of the chamber is a wide arched opening with a passage continuing on the other side. A black circle is drawn on the floor, blocking the entrance, and a skull with a silver crown rests inside the circle. Dranko uses Find Traps to discover that the black circle is (surprise!) a trap, and Morningstar Dispels it. When things have calmed down, the party descends into the bowels of the Thorn. It is soon apparent that the place was once a dwarven mine before it was converted into a prison, and there are several desecrated statues of dwarves in the place. As they continue, the party hears a distant inhuman groaning coming from somewhere deep down in the Thorn. Nothing seems to come of it, but it’s disturbing nonetheless. Also, something in the place is terrifying Oa Lyanna, and it’s not just the usual discomfiture of being below ground. The ground starts to become littered with white, desiccated giant ant corpses, though there is no sign of what killed them. In one chamber there are old some dwarvish tombs, and as the party nears them, hideous dwarven mummies emerge from their crypts and attack! The battle is gruesome, since the Mummies are oozing out of their bandages and smell pretty awful, but the party is victorious, and finds some valuable metal chits in the crypts. Then they find a chamber in which to camp, far from the scene. After the party has been asleep for only a few minutes, a cry from Flicker startles everyone to alertness; some horrible vaporous creature has lifted him off the ground and is draining his blood through misty tendrils. Oa Lyanna, in absolute horror, whispers to Kay: "Death is here!" (run 69 begins) The party fights the misty monster, though it’s tough; as it drinks blood from victims, its white vaporous body starts to swirl with red streaks, and when struck blood spatters out if its body. Eventually, when the fight seems to be going against it, the creature flees by flying through a small crack in the ceiling. After some healing, the party rests for what they guess is the night. Tuesday, March 28 – The party searches the nearby tunnels;
there are lots and lots of desiccated ant bodies, and they eventually find
a small cavern which seems to be the vapor-creature’s lair. There is a huge
pile of ant bodies, along with many humanoid bones and a pile of treasure.
After looting the lair, the party discusses how to deal with the creature
if and when it comes back. They formulate a plan that involves finding a
stretch of hallway with almost no "escape cracks." Dranko prays for the
Stone Shape spell, and the party waits… Wednesday, March 29 -- …and waits… Thursday, March 30 -- … and finally the creature attacks again. The party, pretending to sleep, is ready to spring the trap. Stone Shape spells trap the monster in a restricted stretch of corridor, and in a heated battle the party finally slays the beast. It bursts open, and a huge splash of blood splatters on the stone floor. The party moves away, and waits out the remainder of the day, healing and resting. Friday, April 1 -- The party continues down through the old dwarven mining tunnels. There is still no sign of prisoners or prison cells, and no Yrimpa. There do appear to be many small, low-value gems exposed in the walls, and Flicker often pauses to pry them out with a dagger. The party continues to hear the groaning sound, but by now it has become more of a running joke than anything else. After a few minutes, Tor (in front) turns his head to peer down a side-passage, and sees the end of a very long, thick tentacle hovering in the air a few feet from his head. After a few seconds the tentacle quickly retracts, whipping down the passage, around a corner, through a hole and out of sight. With nothing else to do the party continues on. Eventually the passage widens, and the party can see that in the distance, the corridor opens up into a large cavernous space. Then, from that direction, two long tentacles come snaking out of the darkness. They stop for a few seconds, twenty feet or so from the party, and then they shoot forward and twine around both Tor and Kay. Tor manages to quickly land a critical blow to his, which severs the end. The second tentacle, after taking massive amounts of damage the following round, tries to pull Kay back toward the open cavern where (presumably) the body of the creature is. But it (the tentacle) is injured enough that it has to pull slowly, and the party damages it enough before it can "escape" with Kay that it flings her away and retracts quickly back into the darkness. The party advances into the cavern and discovers a chasm dividing it. (The tentacles had come up out of that chasm.) There is a thin stone bridge crossing the chasm, but there is also a small but passable tunnel opening on the near side of the gap. The party opts for that option, rather than for the bridge. After they have been in the new tunnel for a few minutes, they hear the sound of a cave-in, and discover that the tentacles have battered the entrance, and trapped the party inside. The new tunnel continues in random-seeming directions, and the walls and ceiling are filled with the strange gemless divots. The tunnel branches in a few places, with the branches going at odd directions, even straight down at once place. Eventually a strange sound of grinding stone is heard. The party heads toward that, and discovers, in a small natural cave, a most unusual creature. It was three stumpy legs, three clawed arms, and a mouth at the top of its head. It is slowly tearing rough gemstones out of the wall with its claws, and eating them. It seems slow and peaceful. Morningstar communicates with it via Telepathy and learns the location of some man-made tunnels nearby, that the creature has discovered but wants no part of. The party heads in that direction. The creature's tunnels break into a wide and well-carved corridor. The party travels down it for a ways until Kay feels a sudden chill. Looking ahead, the players see that the walls of a section of corridor a short ways down are covered with a brownish mold. Tor goes ahead to investigate (he feels no chill since he’s wearing a Ring of Warmth) and takes a torch to burn off the mold. When the torch comes near the mold, it (the mold) begins to grow at an alarming rate, spreading along the walls toward the source of heat. Tor quickly snuffs the torch. Figuring that a mold that likes the heat might hate the cold, Grey Wolf decides to use his Wand of Ice to cast Ice Storm on that patch of corridor. It seems to hurt the mold, which turns a darker color, and no longer radiates a chill. Beyond the moldy area is a stretch of corridor with slight protrusions in the walls. Thorough investigation reveals this to be a trap, in which two iron slabs cut off a stretch of hallway, and then that stretch floods, presumably drowning anyone trapped within. The party gets past the trap by purposefully setting it off, and using the Decanter of Endless Water set on "maximum suck" to prevent the water from completely filling the trap area. After a few minutes, the trap resets and drains, which allows the party time to make it across. On the other side, the party rests. Saturday, April 2 – (run 70 begins) Beyond the water trap the party finds a set of prison cells, but they are guarded by two tall stone statues that attack when the party approaches. After the guardians are dispatched (not an easy fight!), the party discovers a number of empty cells, but also finds a specially-protected cell door, with a now-familiar green-glass seal. A faint sound of crackling flames can be heard on the other side. Expecting trouble, the party rests another day to get back spells used in fighting the statues. Sunday, April 3 – Thinking that the Yrimpa might be beyond, the party breaks the seal, but inside they find a strange sight: a man is there, suspended in a field of crackling flames. He himself is not actively on fire, but his expression is one of obvious torment. Furthermore, the man is a Sharshun. The party decides to free him, which they do by breaking another glass seal they discover on the inside of the cell. The flames go out, the man falls with a scream, and then he falls unconscious. While he’s out, Morningstar casts Memory Read and learns that the Sharshun had been imprisoned for assassinating a high-ranking Nifi Priest. (Nifi is the name of the Burning God.) Eventually he comes to, and the party questions him thoroughly. His name is Inivane, and he is (understandably) shocked to find that over 2000 years have passed while he has been imprisoned. Last he remembers, the Emperor ruled the Kingdom, and the Black Circle was the prominent religion of the realm. The party doesn’t trust him, but doesn’t kill him either. (run 71 begins)
Directly below Inivane’s prison is another, similar prison, with another
eternally-burning inmate. This one is a woman garbed in a robe with the symbol
of the Silver Shell. Sensing the potential problems, the party makes Inivane
promise that he won’t start any trouble with her; he agrees, on the condition
that the Shell woman won’t start any trouble either. |