[FR] Heroes of the Vilhon Reach I

Uktar 24-25, 1372 The Depths of Khundrukar, part II-On Being Soggy and the Art of Diplomacy

Aris agreed, reluctantly, and made ready to explore the pool...

He slipped into the water with a rope tied around his waist by Grim and began to swim around gauging the depth near the bottom to be around 10 feet. Fortunately, the water was moving for much debris and bone lay scattered at the pool's bottom. Then Aris saw something move that wasn't supposed to move. He tugged frantically on the rope and Ellysidell, Benito and Alberia pulled him out.

Shaken, Aris relayed the scant information he discovered as the party made ready to cross the pool to the mud-and-stone wall to find what was beyond. Benito drew the Dragon Summoner and peered into the water searching and hopefully being able to attack what lay beneath. Something grabbed his leg and pulled him into the water.

Spash!glug,glug,glug...
"Benito!" several of the Heroes yelled.

Drawing his scimitar and seeing Benito's sword-light, Aris dove in. Benito and he made short work of what appeared to be an undead dwarf. Fortunately, it was not something worse. The cleric of Tyr continued along the bottom of the pool crunching bones and churning up mud to get to the other side of the pool and examine the blocked passageway. Aris swam ahead and the both of them climbed up upon the rock and mud strewn ledge with little difficulty. While Aris began to tear down the mudwall, Benito secured the rope and held it steady as the rest of the adventurers began to cross. Alberia again decided to follow Benito's lead and sunk into the water to the bottom of the pool walking along the muddy bottom. Grim and Ellysidell had no problems. Neither did the mind-mage or the sorcerer, but they made a big deal about getting soaked and chilled. As the crossing was taking place, Ellysidell and Aris along with Benito at some point made enough room for Grim to crawl through and then the rest of the party. They entered a room full of sarcophagi, but felt no tinge of evil or crawling sensation down their spine. In fact, they felt at peace. Grim explored a little more as the rest of the Heroes caught up. He discovered that the coffins were of dwarven design, only three of them had been used and denoted such on the epitaths, and more impressively, they all rested upon a ledge that overlooked an impressive and huge cavern. Down from the ledge, lay a mushroom forest and glittering stone formations. A path wended its way through the cavern, past two other ledges to an iron door some 100+ feet away. Tired, bereft of spells and power, and feeling safe among the dwarven ancestors, they decided to camp, but after shoring up the hole they had created.

Strange noises that echoed through the caves and tunnels of Khundrukar. A wailing of agony and anger was heard presumably from the troglodyte warrens causing the party to be on extra guard, but no attack came and the "night" passed by uneventfully. Rested and powered-up, the Heroes made ready to head for the iron door. With Grim in the lead, the party headed into the large, glittering cavern. Aris and Benito hung back for a little bit...

"Aris, I can use my sword to see if there is any treasure worth taking up here," whispered Benito.

Aris nodded his head and Benito concentrated. The first attempt indicated the chest from the troglodyte chieftan's lair that Ellysidell carried in his pack. The cleric shook his head, waited and tried again when Ellysidell was out of his line of sight. One of the coffins lit up. He told Aris.

"Well, Benito, if we do not find anything else in this god's forsaken mountain, we will come back here."

"Right, if we don't find anything else."

...And they hurried to catch up to the rest of the group that was making its way along the path. At one point Grim went exploring off the trail to look and see about two entrances--one north and one south--that exited the large cavern halfway to the door. To the south lay a cavern filled with a stream that exited into a sinkhole with much noise. Grim figured this lay south of the pool they had crossed and was what Benito indicated as the path of "woe". He did not enter. To the north, Grim made his way to a crossroads and saw a gleaming exiting from a side passage, but he turned back and reported this to Aris and the others. They decided to continue to the door.

Grim already studying the door from a distance heard a disturbance behind him and saw tentacled and beaked creatures explode from the side of a rock ledge he had passed to attack Ellysidell. Aris, Benito and Grim attacked the creatures as the rest of the party moved forward to engage and Ellysidell tried to break free of their grasp. He cut downward with his sword. A mighty blow that would have severed any creature's arm. This time it only bounced off. Benito and Aris combined with the magic weapons to slay one of the creatures while Alberia moved forward to help Ellysidell against the remaining one, digging her dweomered longsword into the evil thing's side. Grim's bolts bounced harmlessly off the strange monster's hide. Then the creature attempted to scramble back up to its lair, apparently on top of another rock ledge. As it lashed out with its free tentacles at others and to regain a good hold on the wild elf, Aris and Benito slashed and cut, slaying it before it could make a meal out of Ellysidell. Aris motioned to Grim who climbed up the ledge carefully and quietly to check for any treasure. No more monsters, but some treasure. Satisfied, he returned to the party, the path and the door.

It wasn't easy. Grim tried and tried again. Then pulled out all the cool tools that Aris had bought him just for this kind of job. The rest of the party became restless and slashed at invisible foes. Milo started to whistle and got a evil stare from Aris. Nosr snickered. After some time, the sliding of a bar echoing through the immense cavern and Grim's "hah!" of satisfaction brought all of them back. The halfling opened the door with a flourish and bowed--it was becoming his custom.

"Well, little one, your in the lead. Keep going."

Grim glared at Benito, picked up his gear, folded it carefully and placed it back into his pack. Then he began to climb a long set of steep stairs that went straight up into the darkness. He pulled out his wand and went up. The stairs ended in a hexagonal room with three dwarven statues apparently guarding two doors. He heard the faint "ringing of a hammer on anvil"* and followed it. Grim searched the ground and discovered booted prints leading to a wall behind one of the statues. Aris confirmed it as the rest of the Heroes crowded into the room.

"Ellysidell, tell your little brother to go ahead and open the door."

Grim glared at Benito and muttered under his breath, "I'mnot his little brother."

"But you look alike, and I would be honored to be called the wild elf's brother, and you're both from the same place, right?"

Grim glared more.

"Enough." Aris said harshly. "Let's proceed."

Halfway up the stairs, they heard a cry in dwarven "Alert!Alert!Intruders approach!"*

The Heroes all cursed an oath under their breath but kept going, even more cautiously. Grim opened the door easily, and Benito and Aris stepped through first as the halfling glided unseen into the room. The Heroes found themselves in a mighty dwarven hall at least 100ft in length and half that in width. Pillars carved into the fantastic images of dragons and giants lined the hall and supported a vaulted ceiling. Torches in sconces along the walls lit the room and revealed a great dwarven throne at the far end. Apparently tile frescoes once covered the walls, but they now lay strewn about the floor in pieces replaced by graffiti. Curiously a small fire smoldered on the floor in front of the dais where the throne rested with a half-dozen sleeping pallets and packs and supplies surrounding it. A harsh voice called from the shadows of the pillars in dwarven. "Go back the way you came! This is the only warning you will get!"*

Benito replied also in dwarven, "But we come in peace and as friends. We believed these halls to be empty. I am glad that the dwarves still hold power here."

[DM note: at this point Benito's character rolled like a 30 for his diplomacy!]

"Hmmmm....tell me why WE shouldn't kill you where you stand."

"There is no need for hostility. I understand your concern, but we come as friends."

Aris and the rest of the party gripped their weapons and shook their heads. In Aris's head Grim spoke, I can't see anything or anyone.No one is here!

The harsh voice continued, "How much is your life worth?"

Excited at the progress, Benito replied, "I have healing gifts worthy of dwarves of your caliber." He held out a bag of gold and some vials.

"Well then, come forward, alone and tell the rest of your companions to retreat behind the door. I will negotiate a truce with you and you alone."

"Please allow me to confer with my companions."

There was no answer, so he left the gift, and he and Aris retreated back to the stairs closing the door. Aris vehemently shook his head. "I got a bad feeling about this," he whispered.

"Aris, let me. If we can avoid hostilities, all the better. Why get into a useless fight with dwarves? They're generally friendly."
"I don't like it, but go ahead."

As he moved to be alone with the dwarves, Milo came forward and gave him his staff with the crystal attached. "It will allow us to hear what goes on."

Benito took it gladly, said a quick prayer to Tyr and went to the door. In his mind and partially under his breath he ordered Grim to exit the room and not try anything sneaky. Grim relucntantly complied. He shut the door behind him.

"Approach the throne."

Benito did so and a bald, female over 6ft tall appeared in front of him. She looked like a dwarf but is large like one of those northern barbarians he read about in his history books, and she had dry, sickly grey skin. He had a sinking feeling as he realizes what she was....duergar...evil, gray dwarves. Yet, he rationalized that they had done nothing wrong, and while hostile had not attacked and had been so far open to negotiating.

"Thank you for the gift. I am Ghared. We have decided that you may stay here...."

The negotiations proceeded and Benito learned of haunted halls to the north and south that the duergar avoid and of a dragon with which they had a tennous peace. They were willing to escort the adventurers to the entrance to the dragon's lair since they would rather have been rid of the lizard. It had taken tribute which they wanted back and demanded more. Benito is satisfied and proclaimed at the end of the talk, "I will fight by your side in the event of an unprovoked attack by my companions."

Ghared seemed pleased with the talks as well, gave him leave, and whistled. Two more large duergar appeared behind Benito giving him a start. He willed himself not to reach for his weapon and walked calmly back to the door. He opened it to the glares of his companions, but no comments came.

"Sometimes, one must negotiate with unsavory characters," Benito said in his defense as the Heroes set camp near the entrance that they entered.

Two more duergar entered from a door behind the throne and the four males glared at the party as they prepared to rest.

"I hate duergar," muttered Aris.

Ellysidell shook his head and Alberia stared at the gray dwarves half-upset and half-dumbfounded at the situation. Grim growled. Milo took back his staff quietly. Nosr taunted the duergar behind the cover of Aris and Benito but was quickly stopped by the genasi.

Aris looked at the cleric and tried to say jovially, "A Dragon, huh?
Tell me Benito, why DID we come here?"

He only gets a shrug....
============================
*These are direct quotes or paraphrases directly from the Forge of Fury by Richard Baker.

Uktar 25, 1372 The Depths of Khundrukar, part III--The Haunted Halls

"Benito Moltos, my superior requests your presence."

The other Heroes looked at Benito as the gray dwarf named Ghared called him out from across the Dwarven throne room. After a short consultation with Aris, Benito decided to go. Taking Milo's staff, Benito proceeded forward. He was challenged by one of the duergar warriors for taking the staff, but Ghared waved him off and Benito went to meet the female dwarf's superior. The rest of the party watched as Benito went through a door behind the throne. Tension built as the Heroes stared down their fou duergar counterparts.

Beyond the door Benito found himself in a room with a stone table, where another male duergar guarded a door. He half-raised his crossbow, but upon seeing Ghared knocked on the door. Ghared motioned for the cleric of Tyr to sit at one of the chairs at the table. Another female duergar, this one carrying a double-sword entered the room and stood at the opposite end of the table from Benito. They began negotiations for the dragon's treasure. Nimara, the duergar leader, began at 60/40. Before anything further was discussed, Benito requested that Aris, his leader, be brought in. Ghared was sent to fetch him.

Aris went and left Ellysidell, the voice of reason, in charge. Alberia and Nosr stared at the duergar issuing non-verbal taunts. Ellysidell also made sure Grim did not sneak off anywhere. With Aris and Ghared resting their hands on the hilts of their weapons, the discussion continued. The result: The duergar would get 1/4 of the monetary, gems, and magical treasure as three separate 'piles'.

Aris and Benito returned to the group conflicted. From a practical stand point they were avoiding an unneccessary fight with more than seven duergar (they still had not seen who was working the forge). From a moral standpoint, they were forming an 'alliance' with evil creatures. They decided that the best way to alleviate any tension was to go exploring. The Heroes gathered their gear and set out to explore the northern halls. The duergar began a money pool (to which Aris and Benito contributed) betting on whether the adventurers would live or perish in the haunted recesses of Khundrukar.

The heroes ignored a warning in orcish about death awaiting within and they entered a shrine that was formerly dedicated to dwarven gods. The place was ransacked and bones littered the room. Two corpses, one of an orc and the other of a dwarf--both in half-plate armor-- lay across a defiled altar. As they fanned into the room, the bones gathered together and the two shrivled and desiccated corpses rose with malevolent green light shining in their eyes. Benito held his sword before him and called upon the holy might of Tyr. The skeletons blasted apart and the other two creatures cowered in the corner. Grim fired at the cornered undead slicing the orcish-thing in the arm. Aris and Ellysidell closed on that one and to their horror, the wound closed. Aris felt the evil and cold as the orc-things claws raked against his chain shirt. He struck back with his scimitar and then he decided to use his weapons more defensively to protect against the undead thing's evil. Ellysidell struck the same creature with a mightly blow that would have decapitated a normal orc. Instead, the wound nearly closed. This would be slow. Grim did not help things by hitting Aris in the back with an arrow. Fortunately, his chain shirt protected him again as the misfire skirted off his armor. Alberia meanwhile closed to within twenty feet of the cowering undead dwarf and called upon her own Tyr-given gifts. Alberia charged and struck the other creature. While Benito continued to hold the creatures at bay, the Heroes hacked away. Aris, now fighting more with defense in mind was not as effective. Ellysidell continued to do damage, yet the undead thing seemed to shrug off most of the impact of the attack. Milo's attacks were ineffective agains that undead much to his embarrassment. Seizing the moment, Nosr repeteadly struck with his magic missles against both foes making sure Milo realized who was hurting the undead. Alberia traded blows with the dwarf-thing. When the creature struck her, Aris and Ellysidell saw her turn very pale and her skin shrivel a bit. She gasped as her life force was drained from her. Yet she did not falter or retreat, finally felling the creature with Nosr's help.

"So cold...so cold..." she mumbled. Distraught and overcome by the foul nature of the attack Alberia sat down and shivered in the corner. She also began to cry sensing the futility of her quest to find her father. Not knowing what to do the rest of the Heroes examined the altar and the twice-dead bodies and the rest of the room. They discovered treasure and something less heartening. Aris recognized the dwarf as the same one who's face they had seen carved throughout the halls. Here was Durgeddin. It was little consolation that the armor he wore was made of what Aris believed to be legendary darksteel. He had Benito perform some rites after reconsecrating the altar, finally laying the forgemaster's soul to rest.

Grim in the meantime had found a set of secret doors hiding a hallway that led into darkness. He began the doors in the hall for traps and discoverd that the hall led into a larger room with a well. It was here that terror struck again. The halfling, Benito and Aris about 20 paces behind began to hear a babbling whisper. Grim was captivated by the sound and stared at the source, a incorporeal ghost of a mad looking dwarven priest. Somewhere amidst the whispers, Grim thought he heard the undead thing say, "Come, let us embrace madness....."

As it covered him it drained his precious wisdom. Benito and Aris lept into action. The rest of the party, save the paladin, seemed hypnotized by the whispers. Benito drove the ghost away and as it was fleeing Aris hacked with his scimitar, but the blade passed right through. By the time the paladin worked her way through the sheep, the thing had fled. The grumbling began. However, there was no argument about exploring the rooms in the hall before the well room. They did not find much, although Benito blasted half a dozen skeletons into nothing in one of the rooms, and the heroes found another of Durgeddin's blades--this one a scimitar. There was more grumbling as the party went forward. Aris wanted to explore the halls more, but Benito called for leaving to recover and go fight the dragon. They regrouped in the well room and saw that many door lay in another long hallway leading out. The whispers began again, but this time the heroes were ready. Benito and Aris were unaffected by the babbling ghost and the cleric once again,holding his sword aloft, forced the creature to flee with divine might. This time Aris gave chase. Alberia did as well. Ellysidell not affected this time by the incoherent voices, began to rouse the rest of the party from their blank stares. Once shaken Nosr and Grim moved to help the rest of the heroes as best they could. Aris and Alberia continued to strike at the creature while Benito forced it back. Nosr added some magic to the fray, although some missles struck and others passed right through the mad ghost. Grim was determined to stay with the majority of the party.

Ellysidel and Milo began to argue vehemently with Milo wanting to go back to the main room and the wild elf trying to keep the group together. The barbarian not liking the arguement tried to grab the Ravenar and force him to join up with the party, but the wily Milo slipped free, threatened the barbarian, and disappeared. The barbarian made a sound of disgust and went to rejoin the rest of the heroes. Eventually with much dripping red goo and the sound of the tearing of fabric, the ghost was destroyed in a room where many orcish and dwarven bones lay. Aris believed that he saw an un-maddened cleric thank him for putting his soul to rest before the spirit fled.

More grumbling. "Alright, that's it, we are out of here," said Benito. "I have had enough of these haunted halls. We need to go back to our camp in the dwarven throne room, heal up, go defeat the dragon, and get the Orb and get out of here."

"What's the point of adventuring? There are several doors and maybe more passages to discover," replied Aris.

"Are you motivated by greed, Aris?" added Nosr.

"We still haven't found any clues about my father," Alberia meekly chimed in, again on the verge of tears, still wearied from the touch of Durgeddin's undead form.

Grim and Ellysidell remained silent, although Grim stepped closer to Aris's side lending support. "One more door then!?" Aris said half-decisively, but also half-pleading especially since there were at least nine more doors to examine.

It was agreed. Going back to initial well room Aris called for Milo. The new companion wanted to stay invisible and where he was away from the uncouth barbarian that hand tried to manhandle him. Aris convinced him to rejoin the group, but as Milo glard at Ellysidell, the normally taciturn wild elf was heard to mutter, "There will be a reckoning..."

Grim was sent ahead to examine the last door and enter the room. This room was not rubble and refuse filled like the other rooms. There was a very nice carpet, a tapestry and a bed. Grim began examining the walls of the room making his way along them to the bed.

Searching under the bed, Grim found paydirt! He pulled a chest from under the bed, dragging it onto the carpet and easily opening it. Copper and gold filled the chest and Grim smiled, rubbing his hands in glee at the coin. He pulled on the carpet to roll everything up and his world turned upside-down as the carpet attacked and rolled into him. Caught unawares, The Heroes standing at the doorway now heard the snapping and popping of bones as the halfling disappeared within the folds of the carpet. He tried but could not escape. Ellysidell went into a rage to save his little buddy and Alberia and Aris hacked away at the carpet. Milo attacked with his staff to no avail. Benito pulled out alchemist's fire and dropped it on the carpet-monster. Nosr shook his head, "Benito..." and put out the fire with ice. He blasted the carpet with an ice dagger. It cracked and burst and let Grim go, apparently no longer animated.

"Now we go!" Benito said dragging the carpet behind him, not waiting for the others to follow him.

The remainder of the group picked up the broken chest and followed him out. The duergar were suprised to see them return and money was exchanged in side bets while the pot went to those who had bet for a positive outcome for the Heroes (Ghared and a duergar warrior named Skor).

"So what did you find?" asked Ghared.

Benito replied, "This...this carpet is all we found!" Turning to the heroes he saracastically told how when they returned to Alaghon they could boast about the deadly carpet and its grand hoard. Aris gave him THE LOOK and Benito stopped his rant.

Without a sound, the Heroes of the Vilhon Reach began bedding down for a rest before they decided to tackle the black dragon in its lair. Alberia did not look any better and she was still shivering uncontrollably. She sat down in corner and huddled, emotionally frayed and hurting. Benito sulked and kept shaking his head when he looked in Aris's direction. Nosr and Milo rested to recover their magic. Grim healed physically but stared blankly into space a few too many times. Ellysidell contemplated how to better control his anger with his companions. Eventually, however, the heroes put aside their differences in opinion and sat down to plan; exploring the rest of the halls would come another time. Aris, Benito, and Grim gathered around and drew up what was in their minds the best strategy to take out the black wyrm......

Next time: Into the Dragon's Lair!

Uktar 26, 1372 The Depths of Khundrukar, part IV--Every Dog Has His Day

We've been here for three days, thought Aris as he roused himself from sleep.

He relieved Alberia and Milo from their watch and awoke Grim and Ellysidell to help him pass the last few hours before the heroes, under the auspices of the duergar were led to their glory or to their doom to face the dragon. The three adventurers stared at each other a lot and occasionally glanced non-chalantly at the five gray dwarves, two of which were awake.

Boss, big forest brother, I don't trust them, Grim telepathed to Aris and Ellysidell.

Neither do I. I expect treachery. It's just practical to expect the worst, but they haven't double-crossed us yet so don't try anything, Aris thought back staring at the wild halfling for emphasis.

Ellysidell went over battle scenarios in his head to himself. How many of those gray dwarves could he line up in a row? He smiled. Nothing happened and at the appointed time, the three on watch shook the others awake. Their duergar counterparts mirrored their actions. Shortly, and without incident, the Heroes of Vilhon Reach readied themselves for the coming fight. They made the final adjustments on the straps of their packs, belts and baldrics.

"It is time," said Aris to his companions looking them over and beamed with pride. Whatever, their differences, his company were able to set them aside in a fight. And they were a formidable force. Hopefully, their tactics would work.

"Take us to the dragon!"

The duergar led the party past a set of double doors into a room with several forges only one of which was active. A stream split the room and two bridges crossed the stream. They also spotted three more dark dwarves.

Ten... Benito mouthed to Aris.

Aris nodded and looked around appreciating the beauty of the dwarven forge. He caught a glimpse of the pile of raw ore and the purified metal that the dwarves were pounding on. Mithral! He pointed it out to the cleric of Tyr and they both made a silent agreement to re-negotiate if they made it back. They were led to the end of the stream where it cascaded into a chasm that looked very deep and was very wide. One could not see across the spray and gloom. Grim got the ropes ready and several were tied together very carefully and secured with pitons to some stalactites near the rim of the chasm. With Aris leading, the heroes rappelled into the chasm one by one. Milo glided down with the help of his mind magic. Although the walls were slick, the climb was without incident. Benito cast protective magics on himself and several of his companions (notably Aris and Nosr) when they reached the bottom. Nosr cast a spell from a scroll that would help him climb along walls like a spider. As the adventurers hit the ground, they found themselves in a room with a misty pool into which the stream cascaded. A muddy and rocky ledge led to a tunnel that turned the corner 30 to 40 paces ahead. Grim and Aris discovered the tracks of a large, lizard-like creature in the mud. With haste they spread out with Grim in the lead and moved out across the ledge, turning the corner to see two bridges. They hurried across the first bridge (passing a chain ladder that led up into darkness) at their quickest movements and without stopping Grim led the way across the second. This seemed the only path to take them across a rapidly rushing stream into a cavern containing a large underground lake. As Grim outdistanced the rest of the party he used his wand to light his path.

[DM note: The order of the companions as they move along the ledge/path is Grim, Milo, Aris, Ellysidell, Nosr, Benito, and Alberia]

The halfling crossed a series of stepping stones that interrupted the ledge which ran along the edge of the black lake. As he hit the other side he heard a crash and a yell that echoed throughout the cavern. Benito looked back and saw that the second bridge was gone, tumbling into the rapids below.

"Alberia!" Benito cried and turned back fearing that the paladin was lost.

To his relief, he saw her gauntleted hands peeking over the edge. He rushed over to her to help her. Alberia hung on for her life, looking down to see if she could catch a glimpse of her magical longsword. Nothing. Her shield was still strapped to her arm but the edge was pressing hard against her wrist and causing her to slip. Benito pulled her up in the nick of time just as her grip began to give. Seeing that she was safe, Milo pressed on at Aris's insistence--since the heroes were starting to bunch--jumping across the stones to join Grim on the other side. He rushed ahead to find that the ledge ended. Then darkness covered Nosr, Ellysidell and Aris. Benito rushed into the darkness running into Nosr and knocking him to the ground. Much to her suprise, Alberia found her sword resting against the wall. Thanking Tyr for his blessing, and recovering her weapon, she looked at the blackness that hid her companions. Before she could act, her eyes widened and her heart raced as she saw a black dragon rise from the water and spew acid into where her companions were. It then chuckled, sinking silently back into the water. She heard screams and curses. On the opposite side of the darkness, Milo and Grim watched in horror as acid hissed in the water and over the stones that they had crossed only second ago.

Alberia let loose her Tyr-given light into the curtain to reveal Nosr and Ellysidell burnt horribly with acid; Benito and Aris were unscathed as their magic held. The paladin rushed over to see to Nosr while Aris drew his bow. Milo and Grim fratically searched the water for the dragon and Benito went over to heal Ellysidell who was beginning to rage with pain and anger.

The dragon attacked the party's flank, pouncing cat-like onto the ledge and bearing down on Alberia. It bit and clawed her, seeming to have no problem penetrating even her full plate armor. "You smell familiar..." the dragon hissed as she tore Alberia's flesh.

The dragon's eyes widened in recognition and she howled with anger striking out at Nosr with her wing as an aside, almost knocking him into the water. His sticky magic held him teetering on the ledge. The paladin's sword bounced of the wyrm. Alberia screamed in frustration.

Aris cried, "Nosr, unleash hell!" as his poison-tipped arrow penetrated the monster's scales .

The dragon only appeared angrier. Blue fire erupted from Nosr's outstretched arms and the wyrm responed with a cry of pain and suprise, although her agility allowed her to not take the full force of Nosr's spellfire. She redoubled her effort on the paladin even as Benito weighed in attempting to strike her--his sword too was deflected by the tough scales of the dragon. Alberia dropped. Milo positioned himself and waves of mental energy rippled through the cavern air. The dragon seemingly shook off the mental wave, but Nosr fell to his knees and then prone, stunned by the attack. Benito mused that it probably saved the mage's life as he alone faced the dragon.

"I must thank my loyal servants for sending me sheep for sacrifice, " said the dragon, jaws dripping acid and blood over the downed paladin, smiling in arrogance and triumph.

Aris fired another arrow but this one did not strike true. Ellysidell dropped his bow, drew his greatsword and swung at the dragon--to no avail. The dragon's hide was too tough. The wyrm concentrated all her effort on Benito, but Tyr smiled on the Solemn Brother as his armor held, absorbing some if not most of the force of the attacks.

Sticking to the plan, Aris yelled, "Flat up against the wall!"

Milo depleted strength from his body to fuel another mental blast. Again, the dragon was unphased and Benito and Ellysidell winced as the force ripples passed inches from their bodies. Grim's crossbow bolt bounced off her scales, as she slunk into the water causing cries of fear and frustration from the heroes. Aris slammed his fist against the cavern wall in anger. With the respite, Benito used his faith healing to stabilize and raise Alberia from unconsciousness, while the wild elf readied to strike if the dragon re-appeared from the murky lake ignoring his burnt and dripping armor and flesh.

Milo and Grim searched frantically on their side and Aris lept/levitated across the stones to join them just in case. By the will of Savras, Milo saw her coming and was ready. As she sucked in air to unleash acid spray on him, he again depleted body energy, shrivelling drastically to fuel his mind blast. This time the dragon could not resist the strike to its nervous system and it dribbled acid spittle as its face splashed into the water. The wyrm twitched and fought to regain the use of its limbs. Milo collapsed with exhaustion and in utter weakness onto the cold stone. The dragon was not yet dead, and Grim dove in the near-freezing water, swam to the dragon, and climbed aboard. Aris moved over to check on Milo satisfied that the dragon was as good as done.
....But then it started drifiting.

"No! We're not losing this one!" shouted the genasi.

He dove into the frigid water to join Grim. Ellysidell pulled out his bow and began shooting. Alberia and Benito waited where the ledge jutted into the lake to hopefully get a shot at the stunned she-dragon. To Nosr, this was all like a dream as he lay stunned himself on the ledge, perceiving but unable to take action. Aris undid his silken cord as he held on to the creature and tossed it to Ellysidell. All the while Grim searched and found chinks in the black wyrm's scales and dug his short sword deep into her vitals. Finally with the dragon secure and not drifting, Alberia, Benito, Ellysidell and even Aris got their strikes in. As Grim kept digging his sword found some vital organ inside that burst with an almost imperceptable pop!. The dragon shuddered and lay still. Ellysidell loped off the wyrm's head with his mighty greatsword and sat down trembling out from the rage.

The rest of the party sat down on the ledge, tying the dragon's body fast and let out a collective sigh. Their adrenalin began to fade and the started to feel the cold and damp chill of the cavern and the lake. Grim and Aris began to shiver partly realizing that their task was not quite done and partly from the cold water that seeped into their bones. There was still the wyrm's hoard to be found and there was still the matter of leaving Khundrukar alive.....

Player dialogue

Originally posted by honorwolf--

Aris speaks:
(In a private conversation with Grim,and Nosr) Aris relates to them...

"No! I am not motivated by greed in this, I am motivated by efficiency and the fact that Durgidin the great Dwarven smith left many of his secret forging process here as well as many secrets in the art of metallurgy. It should not fall to the Dark Dwarves. The agreement struck up is a win, win situation for the Dark dwarves, not for us, and if those secrets were to fall in their hands we will only have to come back later to deal with an even bigger threat, with those dark dwarves armed with Durgidin's superior weapons. They deal too much with the Zhentarim,drow, and other evil denizens for my liking. And whether the Black dragon was lying or not, it would make practical sense to me to betray us to the dragon and betray the dragon to us, either way they win. They can always rely on Benito's Lawful Naivete, to cause enough doubt and trouble in our ranks to outright attack them look wrong. But we must keep going until we relieve this place of those secrets. I do not want to face Dark Dwarves armed with that ancient smith's secrets... Do you?"

More PC

Originally posted by I, Milo--

Milo speaks:

I Milo the Magnificent have taken it upon myself to give to you, the reader--and fellow mentalist or adherant of Savras, who rises from the mists of obscurity--an archive to learn from. As the All-seeing god divined, my path has joined me with adventurers from across the Sea of Fallen Stars. They tell me that I am wise beyond my years, so I travelled to Alaghon. He Who Parts the Mists of Time led me to these heroes.
Most of my thoughts are "recorded", my teachers tell me, and transferred to this repository through my trusty psi-crystal. My teachers, being wiser than I, embued my pseudo-personality with a transfer device. Fortunately, only I know the codes!
While I trust the god who divines and grants us our mind-magic, I am sometimes wondering, as you will see, why I have thrown my fate and my lot in with these good intentioned, but wanna-be heroes. In their arrogance they call themselves the Heroes of the whole region. Oh, how I hope that He Who Reveals what is Hidden, and their own gods, may not humble them....

Aris’s Performance reports:

Originally posted by honorwolf--
Welcome to my journal! I Aris shall in all fairness put my party to the mark

Ellysidyll : B+
Pound for pound the most Haus as far as dishing out the damage and taking it.
STRENGTHS: He is strong and fast(18 in both dex and str) He is an excellent warrior, not afraid to take chances and his rage abilities makes him invaluable in a staight up fight with the main bad guys.
WEAKNESS: Not trained as a fighter, fewer feats, his fighting style lacks depth and it is ferocity that carries the day. Sufficient when faced with less experienced but an equal enemy in strength and dexterity could give him a run for his money.
IMPROVEMENTS: Just a few more fighting feats would render him more of a skilled walking quisinart. With precise shot, great cleave and mobility, he could do greater damage in range and close up.
Overall he makes up for finesse in a brutal and final way.

Nosr: B+
The tall, lanky, half-elf is the main magical
artillery in the group.
STRENGHTS: Nosr is a resourceful,adaptive,cunning sorcerer. His ability to cast spells on the fly is a definitve asset for the tactics of the group. His ability to go beyond what perceived limits in response to his leaders call for artillery is a boon. He is able to attack on cue, albeit with a smart mouth, and a rebellious atitude, he always delivers the artillery on command. He possess awesome magical potential, his powers will grow, and with it a future War mage of great destructive power.
WEAKNESS: His youth, his rebellious and obstinate attitude can be a detriment to group harmony and make simple requests a chore.
IMPROVEMENTS: As Nosr matures so does his understanding of battle and becoming more aware of his own significance and importance in the group, and tactics. He is also starting to shed some of his rebellion as his trust starts to deepen. His loyalty proven.

Benito: A-
STRENGTHS: Benito is an exuberant combatant. He combines divine magic with physical strength, sharp blade, and a beginnings of a sound tacticly sharp mind. He brings healing magics, and a good style of sword and shield fighting. This cleric of Tyr does what is called upon, he has a no retreat, no surrender type of style.
WEAKNESS: His stubborn, youthful naivette. To Benito if it is not the way of the Temple of Tyr it is not a good way. His inexperience and his tendency to charge headlong into battle without consideration of his teammates is a dangerous potential deathknell waiting to happen. Benito is all to willing to throw pragmatism out the window in order to follow the rules, even if it disadvanteges the group. His constant emotional charged arguments with his leader. Benito is perhaps the only one to infuriate Aris into an emotional response. Not very smart if you hope to move Aris to change his mind.
IMPROVMENT: Benito has come a long way, his stubborn, youthful naivette is being killed in Kundrukar. He has even argued less with his leader. Benito has grown into a strong negotiater, and also a burgeoning tacticly sound battle mind. Aris and Benito have been coordinating more of the battles together. It was invaluable with facing the Black Dragon, Nightscale. His understanding of his pragmatic leader has grown by leaps and bounds and in the process he has helped influence his brusque leader to more gentle means of influence within the group. Now if we can teach him tact!

Alberia: B+
STRENGHTS: This beautiful paladin is a no nonsense enemy of evil. She is strong as well as she is beautiful. She fights well and her style is a straight up fighting style. With sword and shield. Her ability to smite evil and detect evil has proven a great boon. And for being so resolute she has proven her strengths.
WEAKNESS: Although she is not as naive as Benito was, she does have a tendency to want to engage every evil being we come across. Her calling and her penchance for being such a crusader against evil, has the huge potential to get the group in a fight. Her emotions at present may be an hindrance, but this is somewhat excusable do the strain of Kundrakar and the bleak fate of her father.
Her luck is not that great, a warrior at times need great luck.
IMPROVEMENTS: Overall she has improved in ability and strength, but her recent shock and trauma has made a setback, but this can be a blessing in disguise. She has a heart of a champion, and thus must bounce back from her current emotional state.

Milo: A
Strenghts: Milo the magneficient, well in his mind anyway. It still helps him to do what he does his best. This mentat is superb at his job. He can restore, heal, and layeth the smacketh downeth. In every encounter he has kept a professional manner. He follows tactical commands and other than a nondescript fighting style with his staff, his strenghts lie in his mental artillery. It complements our style of combat.
Weakness:
For physical combat he can perform enough to protect himself but his lack of armor, is horrible for mano a mano type of fighting. Other than his rising ego, and his brotherly, teenage like fighting with Nosr, it is trying my patience. Very unprofessional.
Improvements: His loyalty proven, I am very proud. He has recenty confessed that he had an alterior motive, this easily forgiven by me even though I have very few words to say.
Tacticly he understands his place as artillery and does follow orders and does not endanger anyone with recklessness.

Grim: A
Strengths: As a halfling scout he is superb, his combat skills are adequate, he can move silently and his hide is so good, you may as well consider him a figment of your imagination, or shadow that belongs to you. He is that good. He is willing to brave dangers for the good of the group, as a warrior scout he has no peer. Grim possess a pragmatic streak that compliments Aris and allows for other views since he is always about fighting from the weak position.
WEAKNESS: If he were stronger he would fight
more effectively in a square up fight, but this is not his strength, so he always attacks were opportunity allows. Other than a weak will,and a feud with Nosr Grim has no other real weakness.
Improvements: His tumbling ability has come to save his life, especially in dire straits.
His scouting ability has improved,along with his common sense. Grim is always ready to fight the good fight, especially where profit is to be made.

DM note: I think that the assesment reports are pretty biased and they in no way reflect any favoritism from me, the DM

Scars...

Uktar 26, 1372 The Scars of Khundrukar, part I--A father's fate

There was still the wyrm's hoard to be found and there was still the matter of leaving Khundrukar alive.....
....so the Heroes got to work. To kill the chill, they started a fire with some of the torches that they had created. Beniot made sure that Milo was bundled, could resist the cold, and would receive complete bedrest.

"Benito, you are like an older brother to me," mutterd the mind-mage very weakly.

Since Nosr's ability to climb walls was still in effect he let Grim climb on his back and they crossed the ceiling over the shattered bridge. On the other side they re-examined the chain ladder and tried to determine another way across the rapids of the underground stream. They decided on a simple two-rope bridge. Nosr, meanwhile on a whim decided to get as close to the stream as possible with his sticky feet holding him fast to the side of the cavern. A gleam caught his eye and he reached onto a very small ledge to discover a brass ring with a purple dragon engraved upon it. Excited, he climbed back over to the other side and showed it to Benito. He recognized it as the symbol of Cormyr and showed it to Alberia. She became very excited and declared that her father must still be alive somewhere down here.

"He must've left the ring so we could follow his trail."

She gave Nosr a big hug, which embarrassed the lad. Grim whislted and put his hands upon his hips in annoyance, feeling forgoten waiting across the rapids. Rolling his eyes, Nosr went to retrieve the halfling and then Grim and Ellysidell went to work securing the rope-bridge. Nosr then went exploring in the other direction.

Benito was not as optimistic as the paladin in her assessment of what had happened to Dorthan. He discussed this with Aris and they decided to question the spirt of the dead dragon. Benito reached out to the spirit world, his eyes rolling to the back of his head, his body trembling and becoming clammy....The heroes saw him mouth words that they could not recognize....

Seemingly forever, Benito travelled down a dark corridor fighting the resistance and evil of the black wyrm. At some point, lost in time, he broke through the veil of darkness.

"Did you kill the paladin whose daughter you recognized?"

Yesss.......noooooo.....

"What happened to the paladin whose daughter you recognized?" Benito demanded of the dragon's spirit.

The dragon, Nightscale, screamed as the memories were torn from it. Benito saw a smoky paladin racing across the ledge to the bridge were Alberia almost lost it. He saw from the dragon's point of view that she had a gash across its body from sternum to hip. He felt her pain. The dragon dripped its life's ichor into the black lake. The paladin made a stand at the bridge, waiting for the dragon, but the beast did not go for him. Instead it breathed on the wooden supports of the bridge, weakening the structure. Before the hero could act, the bridge collapsed from under him, just as it had done under Alberia, sending the paladin into the rapids. The last thing the dragon saw as it sunk into the water filled with rage and hurting was the hand of the man who dared her lair slip from the rocks and disappear beneath the dark, rapid stream.....

....Benito shook in spasms as he came out of the trance.
"Dorthan is dead."

Uktar 26, 1372 The Scars of Khundrukar, part II--Treasure and Greed

Aris looked to see if Alberia had heard and saw the hope on her face dashed to pieces.

"NO! He can't be dead! We can find him! He's just been swept down the river! He's not dead!"

Ellysidell and Benito restrained the paladin as she fought her way to the edge of the trail that fell away into the rapids.

"Alberia," Benito tried to say in a soothing voice, "No one could survive that." He retold the story to the rest of the group.

"That doesn't mean anything." Alberia clenched her fists and rubbed the Purple Dragon Ring. "He could have survived."

"Look," Benito said pointing down the tunnel. "The stream passes through the rock. It is totally submerged. Who knows how far it goes? Let it go. He is gone."

Alberia looked at Aris for support. The genasi was lost in his own thought, scratching the ground absentmindedly with his scimitar. He looked up at Alberia, fighting back his own emotions, and shook his head. Tears welled from Alberia's eyes and they would not stop.

While Benito, Ellysidell, and Aris tried help Alberia, and prevent her from doing anything crazy, Nosr and Grim tried to remove themselves from the situation and do something else. They decided to explore the rest of the cave, making their way along the ledge that went around the underground lake. Nosr still had his sticky feet and hands and was able to cross a break in the ledge along the cavern walls. His superior vision inherited from his mother allowed him to make out an island two or three of his 6'4" bodylengths from this continuation of the ledge. He thought he saw piles of coin and other items in the dim light! The ambient light from Grim's wand that helped Nosr to see was beginning to fade from view, but Nosr continued. He saw that the cave wall came within five to seven feet of the island. So he climbed down there and ssttrreetched, and was barely able to hang on to the shore of the island as the lake's current tugged at him. A bit wet, he slopped onto the island and was rewarded: piles of silver and gold, a waraxe, a shield. He used his ability to detect magic--potions, a wand, some goggles, a necklace. Nosr hooted and then caught himself. What if the dragon had friends? He paused and nothing happened. Then light erupted from behind him and he saw Grim across the water. Grim had been able to tear the wild elf from the rest of the party long enough to have him toss the halfling across the empty space to the second part of the ledge. Nosr rifled through the piles and put the goggles on. He was able to see in the complete darkness of the back of the cavern--albeit in black and white. He saw another ledge and a trail leading out from it, but it was 30 to 40 feet away.

The transport of the treasure began, but not without greed surfacing. Nosr retrieved the halfling, put him on his back again and strecthed out like he had before. Grim climbed over the sorcerer and removed the goggles from him. Nosr tossed a bolt at a pile of coins near him and an arguement ensued until Aris yelled from across the lake that they stop and get back to work. The rest went smoothly although slowly, with Nosr grumbling on occasion. They also transported the hefty coin in various sacks across the makeshift rope bridge without incident as well. Again it took a long time. Benito, Aris and Ellysidel kept a watchful eye on the paladin as she crossed. Alberia brooded. Nosr plotted. Milo began to recover.

Aris with Grim on his back, climbed the ladder. As they reached the top, they saw that it led to a ledge upon which two duergar sentries armed with crossbows watched with vigilance for anything climbing up the chain ladder. Not in the mood to fight at the moment, Aris and his halfling backpack, went back down. They informed the party of the trap waiting for them.

Benito stuck to his gut feeling that the duergar would not betray the trust. However, he acquiesed and the group planned for the contingency of a combat with the gray dwarves. But first they would assume the best and first they would rest.....

Uktar 27, 1372 The Scars of Khundrukar, part III--A Kiss is Just a Kiss

Too long, we've been down here too long. Four days.... mused the genasi.

"All this treasure and yet no Orb. I don't understand it, where could it be ?" Benito relflected aloud to Aris and Grim as they counted the money and catalogued the gems and magic.

Milo was roused from his sleep, "Orb, what orb?"

"Why the Orb of Khundrukar . That's why we came here," answered Aris. "You know, same name. Dorthan was looking for it. He came here. We followed him."

Milo smirked. Aris noticed and furrowed his brows.
"What do you know?"

Milo didn't answer and turned his bedroll so he would not face the trio and they would not see him suppressing laughter.

"Milo," Aris grabbed his shoulder and pulled him over and stared down at him. "Milo, come clean."

The smirk fast fading Milo replied, "Well..ummm...the orb, you see....Well, I have it on good authority that it was recovered in the Sabreen by the Red Wizards two or three years ago." He looked around seeing blank stares on Benito and Grim, and a Aris with arms folded squinting at him. "That is...beneath Raven's Bluff. Where I'm from."

"Why did you not reveal this to us previously?" asked Benito
"You never asked." He turned back around.
Aris got up and paced. Benito shook his head and his finger at Grim, who reached for his weapon. Aris laughed...."He's right."
==========================================
The watches were uneventful, although some of the characters had feeling of being watched.

The next "day", with Milo getting some restoration from the cleric of Tyr and several of the players recuperated, they went up the ladder, but in a unique way. Aris carried Milo, then Benito (Milo disappeared from site, warping the light around him with his mind to become invisible), then Grim to near the top of the ladder. Grim slipped some 30ft causing the chain to rattle and echo in the cavern.

"Halt! Show yourself!" shouted the gray dwarf watchers on the ledge.

Aris paused and looked to Benito. Benito hailed, "It is I, Benito Moltos Solemn Brother of Tyr along with my companions coming back from slaying the foul beast below!" and climbed up the ladder.

Milo had gone up quickly before him, to assess the situation. Aris readied his bow. However, Benito with his quicksilver tongue smoothed things over. One of the guards went for Nimara and the Heroes came up without incident. The treasure was traded and a new deal was negotiated to buy 90 lbs of mithral that the dwarves were processing at the forge. While the situation became tense as Nimara called out the heroes on their Ace in the Hole (Milo invisible) and revealed that the duergar had their own wild card, Benito was proud of his team. Everyone behaved and no weapons were drawn. As the heroes left the negotiating table and returned to their 'camp', Aris started discussing with Benito the merits of finishing their exploration of the dwarven halls.

After some arguement and begging from ("Benito I can not do this without you."), Benito agreed on the condition that as soon as one member of the company fell, they would leave. Aris quickly countered that the party should stay until two members had died. Benito not believing they should bargin with the lives of the party summarily refused this offer, but agreed to continue on the original terms. They first set off to explore the kitchens to the south as the duergar began filling out the mithral order. Almost as soon as he entered, Grim was attacked by a table. It smashed him against the wall, but was subsequently cut to pieces and burned by the rest of the Heroes. Benito gave Aris a look and a shake of the head as Grim popped open one of his potions to drink and heal himself. After a thorough search of the kitchens and ancient larders, the party did not find anything of value.

As they crossed the dwarven throne room again to finish searching the northern halls, Benito threw a leg of the deceased table onto the burnt carpet as a souveneir of their "Heroic" deeds for the folks back home. Grim standardized his proceedure. Check door for trap, open door, search room. Most of the rooms were empty except for a few baubles here and there. Alberia was looking down in the dumps during this whole process. Aris asked Benito to encourage her.

"Alberia, do not look so glum. Just think, now that Dorthan is dead, he is sitting at the right hand of Tyr in Asgard."

She was not encouraged, and slumped her shoulders as she retreated to the back of the party. The heroes crossed another large room where the remains of six dwarves lay fallen in the center of at least three times that many orcs. They opened a room where an arms and armor were once arranged. As Grim began to search, two arming dummies animated and attacked. This time the party faired even better with no injuries and Ellysidell leading the way with his new toy--a magical dwarven waraxe from the dragon's horde-- smashing and slashing the cursed items to bits.

"One more door, Grim," Aris motioned him forward.

The rest of the party was getting skeptical about finding anything else. Grim went through the proceedure and opened the door. Inside they found a library, and saw a stunning, raven-haired woman rise to greet them.

"Please, if any of you is good, grant me permission to leave. I was imprisoned by an evil wizard and one of you goodly folk must free me."

She batted her eyes at the manly men in the party. Alberia used her paladin ability to detect evil and took a couple of steps back. "This woman is more evil than the she-dragon!"

Benito stood up and raised his sword as a holy symbol to Tyr. "Go back to your grave you foul creature!"

But nothing happened. In fact, the woman laughed. It was music to Benito's ears for a second, but he shook it off. Then, Benito whimpered as he gave a worried look to Aris. Milo stood up and tried to stun her with his mental powers. The ripple of force crossed the room....nothing. The woman backed into a corner, sensing the hostility. Nosr stood forth and fired his missles of energy. They dissapated harmlessly around her. Aris and Alberia could take it no longer. They charged. Alberia used her powers against evil to smite the woman and connected. The strike would have felled a lesser creature, but the wounds miraculously closed right in front of everyone's eyes. Aris just failed to hit. This woman, even though wearing only old and musty robes, had some sort of supernatural armor as well. What was this thing?

"You are starting to try my patience," she said.

To Aris, her nails suddenly became iron-like claws as she came inches from ripping into his chain armor. His deft manuvers with the scimitar and handaxe warded the attacks off.

Benito regained his composure and decided to summon celestial help. Then all of a sudden, Grim, who had been hanging back from the group, yelled, "I must save the fair maiden!".

He charged Aris, and stabbed him in the back. Aris groaned in pain, but through his pain he yelled, "take him down".Ellysidell shocked by what his little friend had done tired to weigh into the melee but could not find an opening. Nosr, suprised as the rest of the heroes were at this uncharacteristic betrayal,replied in primal anger"not my big brother" unleashed his spellfire and severely hurt Grim. Milo briefly thought he saw Nosr smirk as Grim fell to his knees. Then six celestial dogs arrived and surrounded Grim. They quickly finished the work Nosr had begun.

"I see that you are as crude and uncouthe as that beast of a Paladin that violated me. In fact," she said looking directly at Alberia "your father acted more like a Blackguard of Bane than a supposed Paladin of Tyr."

Silence filled the room as everyone stopped trying not to believe what they had just heard. They attempted to find some hint of dishonesty or deceit in the woman's voice, but they could not. She was apparently telling the truth about Dorthan. Alberia backed off, stunned. Aris hastily retreated still facing the mysterious woman and carrying Grim.

"I am waiting," the woman said as she crossed her arms. "All of this could have been avoided if you had honored my request. Do not lie to me like the Blackguard of Tyr. Now, I will ask one last time. Say that I am able to leave this place or face my wrath."

Aris stood at the front and replied, "I will, but first you must answer two questions. 1.)tell me what you are. 2.) Tell me what you know about Dorthan."

At first the woman frowned and then said,"Because I like you, genasi, I will grant you some insight."

The woman's eyes glowed a malevolent green and in his mind Aris saw the woman grow wings and small horns on her head, and he saw she had a barbed tail. He shuddered and grabbed his weapon.

Sensing his thought, she told him, "You cannot win. Honor my request!"

Aris sent the rest of the heroes into the hall, bowed and said, "I give you permission to leave."

The woman laughed and it sent shivers down Aris's spine. "Genasi, you are so gallant. Come forward. Let me reward you. "

And Aris let her. It was the best kiss he had ever experienced as if he was putting his life into it. Then she disappeared without a sound.

Aris felt weak and called the others in. Benito saw that he was pale and looked physically drained. "What happend? You look horrible."

By this time, Aris had realized what had transpired. "I don't want to talk about it."

When Alberia offered to heal his wounds, he declined. "I feel I have just been violated by a woman. Please give me a minute."
=====================================
Well the library was theirs at last! The Heroes perused through the tomes and discovered secrets and magic. Aris and Benito found secrets to create darksteel in the history books of the forge. Benito uncovered a magical tome, bound in mithral and embossed with platinum, that had as its title Moradin's Prayers of the Faithful. Nosr found another book that radiated magic. This one was called A dwarf's guide to effective leadership and understanding. This book was also handsomely bound in what looked like the shimmering hide of a silver dragon. Benito took as many history books as he could for the Temple of Justice.

Then the heroes left the halls and returned to retrieve their mithral ingots. Benito and Nimara agreed to meet again to set up and establish a regular trade at the first week of spring and the first week of fall. As quickly and as safely as they could, the Heroes of the Vilhon Reach exited Khundrukar. Their hearts began to soar as they felt the cool wind and sun on their faces. However, as they hurried with excitement down the trail, their joy turned to a mixture of sorrow and anxiety as they saw ravens circling down in the snow-covered valley below where they had left their horses and retainers....

Next: What lies in the valley below!

player post

Originally posted by I, Milo--

From the archives of the Watchers of Savras...

Teachers, we made it out from Khundrukar alive. I feel that I am permanently scarred. I spent one whole day lying on a cold stone floor in darkness. I nearly killed myself.

But masters, I have to say that I have created bonds with these adventurers. With all respect, you were wrong about their kind. Alas, my mission is getting harder and harder to perfom the longer that I stay with these heroes. Truly they are. They are so accepting even though I know that sometimes on purpose--or is it really my character--that I come across arrogantly. They give their lives for each other. I see how selfish I have been and how I must change for the greater good of the group.

There is this cleric of Tyr, Benito Moltos, who treats me as a younger brother. He make sure that while I was as helpless as a newborn babe, that I was comforted. A woman, named Alberia, who is blessed by that same god, has been continuously kind to me. I never had a sister....

And I have a rival! We are like squabbling siblings close in age. It is that same one whom you want me to bring in for enlightenment. The ripple that we felt was very real and the person from which it came has great potential. But, my brothers, I do not know how much longer I can keep with this ruse.

They are like family to me. I see I must repent of my prejudice especially towards elvenkind. There is something to be said about experiencing and cheating death together! Please do not write away my feelings recorded here as youthful exhuberance. I have grown tremendously. Yes, there is something to be said about balance in the weave and there is the All-seer's desire to get back at the One who imprisoned him, but sometimes...and I will be real, masters...that mission seems so far away. Slaying evil and almost being consumed by the acid breath of a black dragon; that is real!

Brothers, please do not be angry. I will not be coming back to the City of Ravens soon. I believe that the work of Savras is here in the trenches. I will reveal myself to the others to no longer betray their trust. Teachers, trust me, please. I beg of you. I will continue in the spirit of what you have tasked me. The Power of the Weave WILL NOT fall into the hands of those who would destroy what the Lord of Divination has set down. I take it upon myself to protect him.

He is my rival, but he is my brother in arms as well...
==================
P.S. I will continue my duty to the Order and send my thoughts regularly. Again, please do not be angry.
Milo