The Collected Journals of Artemis Heuw Cannith

The Collected Journals of Artemis Heuw Cannith, excerpt 16

Yes, I know the numbering is off, but that's what # Devo gave it. He hasn't been able to post this yet and I want to post Caelen's latest entry in chronological order, so I'm putting this up on Devo's behalf.
sniffles


"...commonly find myself in need of an extra hand or two. I was looking at HU when I thought this, and paused to admire his bronzed, well-crafted arms. He tok'd me once, sternly, and spun around. With his back to me, he folded his arms up under his lid and sat still, looking like nothing more than a normal chest. I made a note. Retractable would be a useful feature, too....."


. An Excerpt from the Craft Journal of Artemis Heuw Cannith, Volume 7



"I tried again to engage the DC in conversation, drawing CA in by asking what he had been doing for the past few weeks. I even feigned interest in his response, but the conversation dried up in less time than it takes to extract a simple dram of millaissance from a Tagdrim matrix. I gave up at that point.

No matter, MA was on stage, below us, performing that witty piece we'd been working on earlier in the week about a three-headed bull. She had some musical accompaniment, which I didn't think the piece needed, but she was the artist, not I. She really is quite the poet.

ST's formal introduction to the DC went easily enough. They doubted my claim that House Cannith had a vested interest in my protection, despite the fact that the proof was right there in front of them. I considered telling them that I have become one of the more skilled artificers in Sharn -- owing in some part to the depletion of skilled craftsmen during the War, but in no small part because of my own talent. I didn't want to sound conceited, though. Modesty is a gentleman's virtue.

My exceptional talent is the reason we were all together, though, so I thought it time we got to business. Money would bring them into the conversation. We discussed again the trip into the Talenta Plains, the dragonshard I was after [ref: PJ-V7-18], the possibility that KA had already sent agents to recover it, and the necessity for speed. Not one of them was impressed that our return from this trip would culminate in attendance to the non-annual social event of the year -- the christening of the Golden Dragon. The DC do not move in the same circles that I do, however, and somehow, it seems, they do not understand the significance of having acquired an invitation. I could only hope that such ignorance did not lead to disaster when the event finally did take place.

We agreed to leave the day after tomorrow, and I turned my attention back to MA. DA was doing the same, leaning intently forward and staring across the room to the stage. I thought to tell her that she should not gawk so, but I did not want to detract from her enjoyment of the performance. ST, who had taken a guardian's position near the balcony entrance, suddenly announced -- in a voice far too loud for a place such as this -- that there were skeletons attacking. I turned towards him, intent on issuing a stern instruction to keep his voice down, when his words sunk in. What were skeletons doing in the Terrace Rose?

The stairs to the balcony... weren't narrow, but neither I would call them spacious. You could pass someone coming in the other direction if you were boorish enough to do so, but an adamantine-bodied warforged wielding a blade of psychic energy made the space seem positively cramped. I could see multiple attackers, but they were bottlenecked in the stairway.

I stood and engaged one of my many wands [ref: CJ-V6-68] to encase myself in protective energy. Unlike the rest of the DC, I had the good manners not to wear full armor and weaponry to the Rose. HU pulled himself up to the edge of the railing and looked out. He tok-tink'ed at me that no one else in the Rose had reacted yet.

Before I could gain control of the situation, the fight had boiled up onto our balcony. One of the creatures had pushed past ST and came to threaten the rest of us. My trained eye immediately told me that this was no skeleton, but a man dressed up to look like one of those particular undead. I was about to point this out when IR commanded the creature gone. He did not noticeably react to her presence. It was, I think, because she was using her powers to command the undead, not mortals. Quickly realizing her mistake, she announced that these were no skeletons, but were Stillborn.

Somehow, that sounded worse.

I had all of my wands with me, but was concerned about hitting my companions with the barrage of magical energies I had at my disposal. Placing myself in harms way, I entered the fight bodily. I clouted one of ruffians with my cane. DA was employing her specialized magic to hamper the villains, while ST and CA mechanically hacked away at their enemies. XL was in the fight too, with his staff. One of our enemies fell.

ST still held the choke-point at the top of the stairs, but pulled back onto the balcony when IR urged him to let them through so that we could all engage them. CA, eager to get into the fight, leapt off of the balcony and sped across the Rose to engage our foes from behind. A split-second later, DA used her magic to hasten the rest of us.

More of our foes stormed past ST, displaying a keen interest in IR. Stepping back, I used another of my wands [ref: CJ-V7-42] to throw the first bodily from the balcony. He landed with a satisfying crump on the walkway below, but soon staggered to his feet. IR and VA were working in tandem with ST to drop our foes one at a time. IR even had time to summon in some reinforcements, in the form of a brace of dead elven warriors. I kept my distance from those.

Before long, we had cleared the balcony and pushed down into the Garden Room. CA was standing atop a table far across the room, enjoying himself immensely, it seemed, while surrounded on all sides by enemies. XL rushed to assist. DA went to help him, too; just as her magic had hastened us, she used it to slow down CA's enemies. He really did look like a hero of legend, his blades a blur of motion while his enemies moved as though stuck in some cube of gelatinous material. I should mention that to him; I'm sure he would appreciate hearing it.

IR was warning us that a small dragon was hiding in the lattice wall of the Garden room when a small bead of fire flew through the lattice and into our midst. I knew immediately that one of my best cloaks was about to be ruined.

The fireball hit almost everyone. CA and some of his opponents were the only ones too far away to be damaged. It hurt a lot -- doubly so for me because it hit HU, also. The fire almost destroyed VA -- perhaps he is particularly susceptible to it? Regardless, I had to do something, and quick, to protect the DC from our unseen opponent. Pulling another wand [ref: CJ-V7-30], I used it to scan the immediate area. The magic located everything within about twenty feet of me -- including the presence of the dragon. I pointed it out to ST, who used his blade to remove a large patch of lattice. The dragon fell away, lost to sight as it plummeted downwards.

Opposite us, about eighty feet away from the tower, was an elven man standing atop a flight disk. It was a wonderful piece of work, seemingly a single roundish crystal about four feet across and crackling with energy. I knew very well that it was the manifest zone within Sharn that kept the disk afloat, but still I was impressed. The power necessary to charge such a device, and the complicated matrices involved in it's construction would have been an interesting challenge, even for my unparalleled skills. I wondered if the crystal had to be natural, or if the construction process itself built the crystal? Were I to build such a thing, I would start with a lattice of Tagdrim matrices, built into a frame that would eventually surround the constructed crystal. The frame could be submersed in encillated quicksilver for dismemberment at the project's completion. Concurrently layered Stromm fields in the presence of tor shift-light generator and eight silvered refraction lenses would work as a basis to build the device. Naturally, the seed would be a Syberis dragonshard with a Kinsian octal cut. It's center would need to be bored out, however, to redistribute it's millaissance alignment into more of a flattened torus paradigm. Sixteen rierdra crystals would need to be embedded into the construct for control, but how co-linear containment be achieved?

My apologies. I seem to have drifted away from my story. Regardless, that is what was going through my mind when I saw the arcanist. He had just completed a spell and a half dozen air elementals, each about the size of HU, broke through the lattice to surround IR. They tried to spirit her away. XL dropped back to help her, as did a number of the summoned elven warriors.

Something else happened outside, and where the wizard stood just a second ago, the psuedodragon now stood. I quickly pulled out a wand [ref: CJ-V6-81] and blasted him with beam of electricity. The creature flew backwards, severely wounded. It flew out of sight in a barely controlled dive.

DA had managed to use a light spell to stun most of the elementals, and IR had extracted herself from their midst. She and VA moved back into the main room of the Rose. I threw a quick enchantment on STs blade and told him to clean up the last of the elementals. He jumped to obey.

Through the main entrance to the Rose strode the elven wizard. He must have teleported to the far side of the tower. As he came in, he challenged IR to a conjurers duel. The prize would be the orb she carried. Naturally, IR wanted nothing to do with the duel, but VA pointed out that the man was Aerenal, and the challenge was a valid one. Velrys, as he named himself, summoned up an earth elemental and waited.

Patrons and staff both were flooding out of the Terrace Rose and onto the landing outside."


. An Excerpt from the Personal Journal of Artemis Heuw Cannith, Volume 7.



"Monique Hasdin, server at The King of Cups; nice smile"
"Adelienne Silverstar, bard; great voice"
"Glorianna Hopebringer, ex-paladin; well equipped"
"Samm Hardpole, blacksmith; strong arms"
"Tarya d'Cannith, artificer; House Cannith"

. An Excerpt from the "List of People Mistakenly thought to be Xil, and Their Noticeable Traits", by Artemis Heuw Cannith

Caelen's letter continues...

The Aereni wizard seemed to be watching the earth creature intently, so I took up a position where I could strike him if he threatened any of my companions.

I could hear Dalia chanting some arcane words behind me. Kylara ran down to aid her summoned zombie when the earth elemental dealt it a heavy blow. The wizard seemed concerned by my presence and tried to cast some enchantment on me, but I heard Dalia say something and he hesitated.

The human hurled something at the wizard's feet. Two pebbles hit the floor and then exploded in a thunderous blast. The wizard didn't seem injured or disturbed by the noise. After he tried to cast a spell on me I let him feel the edges of my blades. I knew I'd hit him hard several times but he must have had some magical protection because I drew no blood.

The Aereni had two bladed chains at his waist that seemed to move of their own accord, and these attacked me viciously. I tried to cut through one of them but it was too hard for my blade to sever.

The wizard began to retreat down the steps toward his summoned elemental. Dalia and I followed him, Dalia surrounding them in silence so the Aereni couldn't cast his spells. Then the artificer fired off a spell from one of his wands that caused the wizard's chains to fall limply at his sides.

This was too much for the Aereni. He jumped down to the amphitheatre floor and was surrounded by a strange vortex for a moment. When it cleared he was gone and a tiny dragon-like creature stood in his place. It took flight toward the terrace.

My companions must have known what this meant as they all pursued the dragon-thing, all but Kylara. The earthen creature had attacked her and she nearly fell. I ran down to her aid. The creature was tough to hurt, but the artificer reappeared and blasted it to dust.

After Kylara had summoned the magic of the Undying to heal us, we searched the corpses of the Aereni she'd called Stillborn and found they all had enchanted bracers and targath longswords. We took these.

While we gathered up our loot I overheard the others discussing why the wizard had been attacking us. He wanted a talisman Kylara's father had given her. He'd challenged her to a duel of magecraft but he hadn't followed the proper courtesies. I believe he only made the challenge when his minions failed to take the talisman by force.

I expect we'll run into him again. We seem to attract this sort of attention. I hope he lets us be until we return from Talenta. Wizard's feuds don't hold much attraction for me.

Caelen
______________________________________________________

From: Caelen Siorath
Sharn
Breland

To my family;

Our trip to the plains may be delayed a little. Apparently we've been seconded to the City Watch.

On our way to the lightning rail station we took a detour to follow up on an errand that Dalia and Artemis had arranged. We were accompanied by a dwarf from the Watch. We went to the shop of a merchant who was suspected of gaining his merchandise by theft.

When we arrived we found the shop in the process of being robbed. The warforged slew one brigand who attacked us. Dalia brought another to a halt with magic. The other thieves set the shop on fire as they fled.

I ran inside and put the fire out while the dwarf caught one of the thieves. Then the shopkeeper arrived and began wailing that they'd stolen a key. At first he insisted it was a family heirloom, but eventually he confessed that he'd had our nemesis Caiber steal it for him. It was a magic key that could open any door. This concerned the dwarf, since it meant thieves could go anywhere and take anything.

I thought it was the Watch's responsibility to deal with the matter, but the dwarf pleaded with the human to help. The captive thief named an orc called Irontusk as leader of their gang, so we set off to the Grayflood dock district to find him.

We located Irontusk easily enough. He started to run when he saw us. I pursued him over a series of moored barges, which proved difficult when their decks were all covered in rubbish and fish offal.

By the time I caught up to him he'd fallen in the water. Kylara summoned up a couple of winged creatures and swooped down on him. One of her creatures snatched him up in its jaws and I pummeled him into submission.

He wouldn't talk even under threat of being slain and raised as one of Kylara's minions, but Dalia had a spell that made him speak the truth. He told us he'd been hired by a sickly elf at a guildhouse in the Precarious district. He didn't know the elf's name.

The changeling made itself useful for once by taking the orc's form when we went to the guildhall. It went in with an invisible Dalia. She cast another spell so she could speak with us while inside.

They found the elf right away, along with several other sick people. The changeling didn't get anywhere so he left, but Dalia stayed invisibly in the room and listened to the elf's thoughts.

When the changeling came out we burst in and I followed him back to the room occupied by the elf. The door was locked and I couldn't kick it in. Dalia had to use another spell to open it from inside.

I held the elf at bladepoint while the others questioned him. He agreed to tell what he knew after Kylara offered to cure what ailed him. He said he'd been hired by a priest from Thrane to steal the key. The priest had told him he'd cure the elf's sickness in return, but he'd lied.

For some reason Kylara insisted that she couldn't leave the city until she healed all the sick men. I don't know why she wanted to waste her care on thieves. But we all agreed to wait until they recovered before leaving for Talenta. We're not giving them our aid for free, though. The guildhall was abandoned, but I don't believe the gems and tapestries we found belong to the building. We took some to cover the cost of the healing scrolls Kylara wanted.

Speaking of tapestries, there was one with the image of an unusual structure with two towers. It reminded me of a tale I've heard about an Aereni diabolist who was exiled. It also reminded me of some ruins we saw when we were hunting the vampire. It's odd how everything we do seems to be so interconnected.

We should be leaving for the halfling lands soon, unless the human finds some other way for us to do the City Watch's jobs for them.

Caelen
_______________________________________________

Quips & Quotes:

Hedrin: "His wrack is ruined."

Devo: "Artemis plays the bad cop. Or plays a cop badly."

Zora: "Dalia casts detect thoughts."
DH: "On Artemis? You get nothing."

Zora: "He's part of the Watch, not the Help."

The Collected Journals of Artemis Heuw Cannith, excerpt 17

Devo's latest entry.

"The next step was to connect the re-inforced plates to HU's frame. After that, I would add the interior lining and be done. Each of the nuts and bolts necessary for this operation had been hand-picked for quality, durability, and aesthetics. HU was fine with the bolts, but didn't like the nuts for some reason: he claimed they were too thick and made him feel bloated. I argued with him, but he wouldn't stop tok'ing back. I even rolled them around in the palm of my hand, showing him how much he would enjoy them. Eventually I succumbed to his desires, put his nuts in a vice, and shaved them down. The things I do to make him happy!"
. -- An excerpt from the Craft Journal of Artemis Heuw Cannith, Volume 7

"Summoners are funny people. I suppose, though, that this is only a true statement if you are the type to consider Aerenal elves "people". I do, but I am a well educated man, and not prone to the narrow-minded racism that all of the lower-ward illiterates share.

I could tell immediately that VE and IR were engaged in a conjurer's duel. They couldn't have picked a better spot for it, I thought.

The interior of the Rose is the better half of a round tower, making it a near perfect semi-circle. One can consider the entrance to be the "ground" floor (preposterous, I know, given the fact that we were half a mile up in one of Sharn's nicer districts); it is a circular area defined on one side by the bar, on the opposite side by the front entrance, and on the two remaining sides by broad stairways that sweep up to the second floor balcony. From the edge of this balcony, one has a clear view of the combatants down below, without being close enough to get hurt. It was this balcony that the two duelists occupied, VE on the right side of the tower, IR on the left.

Of course, this wasn't an arena, this was a place of business with innocent spectators. A duel of summoned creatures would do tremendous damage to what was quickly becoming my favorite social spot.

Fortunately for us, VE chose not to follow the rules of a conjurer's duel. He tried to cast a spell at CA, but DA stopped him in his tracks. If he attacked us, we were free to attack him. HU and I both lobbed Thunderstones [ref: CJ-V4-19] in his direction. They were square on target, but it didn't appear to deafen VE as I had hoped they would. CA, never one to back down from a fight, leapt forward to embrace the battle. XL stood ready, a dart held high in case VE tried to use his magic again. It looked like the scene was well in hand.

I turned and walked past ST, who was methodically destroying air elementals. One flew past me, on it's way to attack IR. Another breach of ettiquette in a summoners duel. Continuing on, I went back to the far edge of the tower where I used one of my many wands [ref: CJ-V6-53] to bring the soarsled into the room with me. It was an interesting piece of work.

Coming back into the main room, I saw that the duel below between zombie ogre and earth elemental was going as expected. They stood there, toe-to-toe, bashing one another. IR was part way down the stairs and behind her ogre, using a wand and her magic to keep the dead ogre healed.

Across the room, the DC were having a hard time taking out one solitary wizard. I regretted leaving this fight to them: the only other person in the DC who could properly handle a wizard was IR, and she was distracted following the rules of the duel. It looked like DA was making a difference, but perhaps not enough of one. I sent HU over to give a healing potion to CA, who seemed badly abused.

Resorting to one of my untested wands [ref: CJ-V7-11], I struck VE with a burst of flat grey energy that left much of his magic drained. The animated chains by his side went limp, giving CA one less opponent to deal with. DA, taking my cue, cast a zone of silence around herself and ran up to the cornered wizard to negate his spellcasting. CA stepped forward to engage once again, but VE had had enough: he turned and leapt into the air. In a flash, he was gone, replaced once again by his dragon. It raced away, but not before I got one more shot at it with my wand [ref: CJ-V6-44]. Both beams of fire struck the creature, but it's natural resistance shrugged off the magic. It was just past the confines of the tower when DA stunned the creature. It stopped flapping, and started falling.

I raced over to the sill of the tower, looking down, but I could not see the creature. DA raced over as well, but didn't bother stopping. Completely silent, she cleared the ledge and was gone, plummeting downward after the dragon. I looked to ST, who had followed me, and shrugged. We turned in unison to go back to the main room.

The zombie ogre was destroyed, gone. The earth elemental persisted, however, and was doing considerable damage to CA, IR, and XL. Not one of them would survive another hit from the creature. Using the wand I had to hand, I struck the elemental with two beams of fire and it exploded in a shower of burning rock and ash. Before the detritus even had time to settle, the remains of the creature faded from view. HU clapped, the only one with courtesy enough to thank me for saving the DC. Again.

I came around the balcony's edge, calling down to the patrons and staff to see if everyone was all right. A crowd of people unfolded from behind the bar and out of the back rooms -- customers and staff who had been too fearful to intervene, but too curious to leave. Many of them congratulated me on driving the interloper away. Naturally, I had the courtesy to suggest that the rest of the DC had some small part in clearing the place of ruffians. No one was injured, much to my relief.

The same could not be said of the DC. ST was badly damaged, and all of the rest of us bore deep wounds -- most from the fireball. Hutch was rather beat up, as well. Some quick magics from IR and myself set things mostly straight.

We were barely healed up when the owner of the Rose came to us and suggested that we didn't need to be there when the Watch came. He volunteered to tell the watch captain what had happened and handle all of the ensuing questions. I thanked him and we headed towards the door. At his suggestion, though, we turned around and took our exit through the kitchen and down into the lower part of the tower, where we were able to find our own way out.

It just occured to me that I am using a single mnemonic to annotate two different people: Sten and Stark. From this point forward, Stark shall be referred to as S1.
The next day was spent in preparation for our departure. I realized that my supply of healing wands was a bit low, so set S1 to creating another [ref: CJ-V7-50]. I arranged for a horse and with gear to be ready for me down near the lightning rail station, and set about putting my affairs in order. I was expecting be gone for the next twenty or so days.

The day of our planned departure, the DC met at my tower for breakfast. We were more than ready for a trip out. JE was there, too. He had stopped by the evening before to ask me to complete one more task in the investigation that DA and I had been working on for the past week. It involved questioning a suspect to see if he needed to be brought in for interrogation. I told JE that we would take care of it in the morning and he said that would be fine. I asked the DC if they wouldn't mind the slight detour, and no one around the table objected. After waiting for XL to finish eating, we left with JE in tow.

We were on our way down to the lower wards, to ask a merchant by the name of Theldryk (TH) about his sudden rise in wealth. Our investigations had followed a string of recent robberies, and we were looking for how they had been acheived. Many of the thefts had seemed impossible to pull off, including the last: the burglary of a Kundarak vault. Through circumstance too tedious to dictate here, TH's name had become attached to the investigation, and we were going down to ask him a few simple questions.

The lower wards can be a maze at times, and the area around the shop was no exception. As I came around the corner, my well-trained senses warned me that something was amiss. The door to the shop stood open, and a seedy-looking fellow stood watch on the front step. Loud crashes and rustling noises came from the interior. At our approach, he yelled over his shoulder that there was trouble. The man was a clairvoyant!

That was sarcasm. He didn't really seem anything important.

I ordered the man to stand down, and CA came to back me up, flashing his blades dangerously. The yellow-tailed thief (sarcasm, again) clumsily pulled a weapon, and looked at me with obvious fear in his eyes. He was rooted to the spot. Evidently, he had heard of me.

Two more would-be robbers came out of the shop. One sprinted away. The other threw a knife at me, which I easily side-stepped. ST, who seemed to take the assault upon my body personally, threw his energy blade at the man who tumbled to the steps, bleeding.

XL raced past the group and into the shop, only to cry out in fear when he learned that a lantern had been spilled in the confusion and a fire had started. DA bound our first thug in magic, while IR finished a spell that summoned a fleet-footed skeleton to chase down the one getting away. The sound of their clattering, wailing chase faded into the distance.

ST moved forward to secure our captured brigand while CA and I moved into the building to salvage what we could. XL and CA tried to put out the fire. I had better ideas, though, and used a wand [ref: CJ-V7-30] to instantly search the area. Three of the stolen items were hidden about the shop, and the wall-mounted lock-box had been broken into. The shop itself seemed full of spices and unusual herbs. Other than the stolen goods, though, there was nothing "illegal" about the place.

A commotion outside took my attention away from the shop. TH, the shopkeep we had come to question, had just arrived and was lamenting the ransacking of his shop. With wide-eyed terror, he rushed past us to check on his lockbox, then cried aloud at the loss of his key.
When pushed, he admitted that the key lead to a Lost Room, and that from this room one could go anywhere. Anywhere at all. We produced some of the stolen items, and he admitted to taking them. JE had his man.

Our captured robber knew nothing about a key. He had been advised by an orc friend named Irontusk (IT) that this place would be easy pickings after IT was through with it. Evidently, it was this IT that had the key. After a few more questions, we learned that IT lived down in the Grey Flood wharf district. The watch had arrived by this point, so we turned TH and the robbers over to them.

We had a debate at this point, though. Our rail was leaving soon -- if we continued the investigation then we would very certainly miss our departure time. This was the only lead we had, however, and JE asked that we follow up on it while we could. The DC decided to delay our departure, and moved to finish the investigation.

If I had known how complicated it would become, I might have pushed onward instead.
Grey Flood is right on the river, a stinking, decaying wharf district characterized by a virtual boardwalk of tied-together skiffs, barges and boats. The river boats on the very outside of the flotilla were out in the river fishing when we arrived. Our prey was much closer.
I had just spotted IT, half a dozen boats away from where we stood on the pier, when a shrill-voiced halfling woman cried out a warning to him. At the sound, he took off, leaping boat to boat away from us. CA immediately gave chase, following him in kind. The rest of the DC, with JE still in tow, ran back up the pier and between the warehouses in the hopes of circling around and cutting of his escape.

DA disappeared at some point during our mad rush. IR and VA had the lead and ran as fast as they could towards the third warehouse down, beyond which lay a lane that would take them to the farthest pier. HU and I passed ST easily, his adamantine frame causing hiim to run very slowly. We took the first chance we found to get back to the river. XL was right behind us, but ST kept on running, following after IR and VA.

Emerging from the shadows of the warehouse, I saw CA on the river. He was having trouble getting across some of the boats. Ill repair, fish netting, and the slime left from months of cleaning fish on the unwashed surface of different boats was slowing him down. CA found his stride, though, because he suddenly picked up speed, jumping from one boat to another in rapid succession. I shouted my encouragement to him.

I paused on the causeway to see if I could spot our quarry, but there was a whole flotilla of madly bobbing boats between he and I. XL scampered down into the boat that we had first seen IT in, looking for clues. HU and I moved adroitly down onto a long barge tha jutted farther out into the river than any of the other boats. My intent was to go out as far as possible so that I could see my prey.

Unfortunately, CA had just scampered across this particular barge, rousing the ire of three guard dogs. I tried to warn them back, but was forced to defend myself when they attacked.

Meanwhile, farther down the line of boats, IT had almost made it to his getaway boat. He would have made it, actually, if he hadn't stopped to set a barge on fire. He was trying to dissuade his persuers. If I had been given the opportunity, I would have warned him of the futility of that act. DA, having used her magic to go invisible and fleet-footed, was one step ahead of him. The boat she chose to make her stand in, unfortunately, was occupied. A giant spider in a wicker cage slung a web at her, it's infallable spider senses ignoring her invisibility. She was entrapped.

Two dead wyverns circled above us, summoned, no doubt, by IR. One performed a diving attack on IT and the boat he stood upon. He managed to keep his feet, but was seriously wounded by the bite. The other zombie wyvern looked lost, if that is possible for one of the dead, until IR summoned both creatures to her side. ST arrived on the scene, but his pursuit was slowed when he had trouble navigating past the flaming barge. No doubt, he would be asking me to fix the fire datmage he sustained.

IT made another run for it, but collided with the invisible DA and they both tumbled into the river. He came up first, and tried to scramble onto his boat. CA was there by this time, and kicked the orc in the face. IR and VA flew in on their newly acquired dead zombie wyverns. When one of the wyverns grabbed IT and lifted him free of the water, CA knocked the orc out with another kick to the face. DA struggled up out of the water, and once the spider cage was covered, our fight was done.

Our investigation, it turns out, was far from the same.

After some magical persuasion from DA, IT was more than happy to tell us his side of the story. He had been hired by a sickly elf to acquire the key; and had been paid only 100 gold to do it, too. We handed IT over to JE, who took him up to the nearest watch tower, and followed the only lead we had left. IT told us where he met this elf, and that is where we were headed.

We were on our way up to an old guildhouse, located in the lower wards on the east side of Sharn. I don't even remember what distraict it was in. XL had the idea of disguising himself as IT to infiltrate the guildhouse, and we liked the idea. DA volunteered to go with him, invisibly, to see what additional information she could glean and offer what protection she could. IR, VA, and CA came towards the guildhouse from one side. ST, HU, and I came at it from the other.

The area of town we were in was rather run down. The architecture of the place was rather interesting, though, and I spent a few of our waiting minutes discussing some of the more interesting construction with ST. He was fascinated with my lecture, naturally, but had a hard time forming the type of interesting questions that would have turned a lecture into a companionable discussion. Ah, well. House Cannith sent him to me not for his social skills, but for his ability to protect me from harm.

There were a handful of ruffians in the immediate vicinity, and it looked like they held ill intentions towards the three of us. They were probably curious to see what riches HU contained. As I did not want to draw attention to our position, however, I made the universal sign of "Do not approach and you will not be harmed, what you are thinking is dangerous to your health" in the direction of the unsanitary-looking gang. They probably noticed one or more of my wand sheaths as I did so and decided, rightfully so, that I was far too dangerous to tussle with. I suppose they could have seen ST, as well, but when they slunk away, proverbial tails between their legs, I was the one their fear clad faces kept turning towards. HU stooped down to examine a shiny rock.

I judged the time was right, and the three of us moved forward. IR had begun her approach a scant prematurely and was at the guildhouse a few seconds before us. A narrow passage led to the entrance of the building. As we approached, we could hear XL, playing at IT, in the doorway talking to a couple of goons. Something about the way the hooligans spoke nagged at me, but we were in motion and I didn't have time to ponder the situation.
IR and VA rushed into the house, bullying one of the brigands back against the wall. CA went in swinging, and the other one dropped to the ground, dead. I took one look inside and stepped back.

The sour scent of sickness suffused the soiled house. HU handed me a silk kerchief, and I quickly covered my nose and mouth. A quick infusion [ref: CJ-V3-12] bolstered my immune system, and a second [ref: CJ-V1-11] made me more resistant to whatever sickness lay within the house. Cautiously, and without touching anything, I moved forward. I told HU to touch nothing. Right on queue, he folded his arms up under his lid. That was handy.

Our remaining brigand did not put up a fight as VA tied him up. The man was too sick to resist. IR looked the two men over and pronounced them sick. I made some comment to her, but her elven ears must not have caught my sarcasm, muffled as it was by the rumpled silk I held before my mouth. Blinding Sickness, I think she named the disease. Sounded uncomfortable.

XL showed us the way upstairs, where the head man was. I took a moment to appreciate the splendor that the guild house once contained. It was obvious that the place had been abandoned long ago, then taken over by this gang. There was still a fair amount of wealth scattered through the house -- tapestries, carved furniture, and the like -- but one would need my trained eye to see past the filth and wear to see it. I am sure that the rest of the DC did not appreciate their environs on the same level I did.

The leader of the gang sat alone in a large, dim room. For a moment, there was a locked door that seperated us, but it was either CA's strong shoulder or DA's clever fingers bypassed that obstacle. As I came into the room, I noticed that someone had spilled oil just inside the door. Sloppy.

After one look at us the leader shrunk in on himself, surrendering in self-pitied acquiessence. He was an elf, as we'd been told, and sick, though not as bad as some of his followers. It took very little to convince him to tell us his tale. He claimed that a sickly, crooked-toothed priest of the Silver Flame by the name of Veltargo (VT) had approached him and made him a deal. VT offered to hand over to the elf a curative for the disease that he and his men suffered under, if they would procure for him a certain key.

The leader of the gang agreed, and hired IT to steal the key from TH. IT broke into TH's shop, then sold the information about the robbery to another gang, who came in after IT to clean up the shop. It was luck that ran into the very last gang, but skill that took our investigation from them to IT to the elf, and now to VT. Unfortunately, we had no leads that would help us find VT.

I took a look at the "potion" VT had given over as a curative, and had to suppress a laugh. It was nothing more than a (very poor) mead. There were no additives at all that I could discern in the "potion".

IR took pity on the sickly elf and his men (it must be an elf thing), and offered to heal all of them. After a quick assessment of the gang (there were eight in total; half a dozen of them were too sick to move from their beds) IR determined that an immediate stop-gap measure was needed for four of them or they would not live through the night. At some point, she must have been told about the valuable properties scattered about the place, because she informed the gang that we would be taking all of the nearby items of value to help pay for the necessary scrolls. No one put up a struggle.

IR informed the DC that she would need four days to heal these men. We agreed to delay our trip.

So now I have four days before we leave. I can probably spend most of that in my lab. What to do? Maybe I'll reinforce HU, for the rigorous travels ahead...."

. -- An excerpt from the Personal Journal of Artemis Heuw Cannith, Volume 7

"Yes, a Companionable Homunculus Elocating Storage Trunk."
"No, it is self-perambulating asset containment apparatus."
"I appreciate that you admire my chest, but I do not craft that way."
"What are you, some kind of blind man?"
"Why don't you go back to staring at women's chests, and keep your eyes off of mine?"
. -- An excerpt from the List of Witty Responses to Yesterday's Question, "What is that, some kind of chest?", by Artemis Heuw Cannith

Caelen writes home

From: Caelen Siorath
Sharn, Breland

To my family;

Once again we've delayed our trip to Gatherhold. But it was a more worthwhile delay than caring for a diseased gang of thieves.

The human and Dalia found more information about the false priest who took the enchanted key. He dropped a stone with some runes on it that the warforged recognized. We made our way to the Cogs in search of the place those runes could be found.

After descending a long flight of steps we came to a chamber with a channel of lava running through it to a pool. Dalia searched the area carefully and found a way to drain the pool, revealing another flight of stairs. The pool started to refill quickly and I had to leap over the lava to get through the doorway.

We came into a winding passage with more stairs. Zombies swarmed on us right away. Kylara sent several of them tumbling off the side of the stair into darkness. The rest overran the warforged and knocked it down. They clawed the changeling and weakened it before I could get into position to attack them. I destroyed one and Kylara took care of the rest.

Dalia then found the mark of a green hand on the wall. It set off a blast of sound that hurt. This was by the entry to a room full of crates and barrels and discarded clothing. More zombies attacked while we searched.

Kylara drove some of them off. I overran the zombies this time and killed two. The warforged fired energy projectiles out of its hand - a useful ability. The human fried some of them with lightning. They smelled foul. Kylara said they weren't typical zombies but something called ghasts.

After we finished the ghasts off the human put an infusion on our weapons to harm undead. He's getting to be more useful now. I appreciate the belt he made for me. But neither he nor Dalia realized the danger when we came to a passage with lots of holes in the wall near the floor. We were swarmed by undead rats. They were hard to hit.

The artificer infused us with resistance to flames and had his walking chest throw alchemist's fire on the rats, which did a good job of eliminating them. Perhaps I'll have him make me something that does fire damage.

After descending further we came to another lava pool. Across it we could see a colonnaded structure. There was a sculpture of a dragon head protruding from the wall on our side of the pool. It reminded me of a mural we saw in the goblin ziggurat, you know, the one where we slew the vampire. I told the others what I remembered and Dalia realized that there was an invisible bridge across the lava.

Creatures made of lava rose out of the pool and hurled blobs of magma at Dalia as she crossed. Kylara followed her while the warforged shot at the magma creatures. I ran across the narrow bridge and jumped past the women to get into the building.

When I landed I saw a man come out from behind the columns. He yelled a warning out to someone called Veltargo - that was the name of the false priest. I charged him. A door opened behind him and a tall bony creature with long claws attacked me.

I turned to fight the bony creature. It was like chopping wood with a sword. Even with the infusion against undead on one end of my scimitar it took me a long time to destroy it. Blasts of lightning and vials of alchemical fire flew over my shoulder as my companions attacked it too. Kylara summoned of a glowing thing to fight the man.

I was sorely wounded by the time the bone creature fell. It had claws like long knives and unerring aim. I ran through the doorway behind it and found myself face to face with a soldier wearing the hated green claw emblem. I cut him down with one slash.

There was a priest in the room. The warforged dropped him. But he wasn't the false priest we sought. The artificer ran back and opened a door, revealing a room containing the false priest and more green claw soldiers. He slammed the door shut, trapping the false priest in the room with us.

The false priest had the magic key. The warforged knocked it out of his hand and he ran. I chased him, but he had some spell that would let him move in little hops and leaps, disappearing from view in between. He got away, but he took one of my arrows with him, stuck through his shoulder and coming out his chest.

The artificer and Kylara and Dalia are all excited about some book they found. All I care is that the false priest was also the false vampire we met at Whitehearth, and the airship privateer who led us into trouble on the way to Darguun. It turns out he's a changeling called Garrow, if that's his real name.

I'm going to have his scalp.

Caelen
____________________________________

Quips & Quotes:
[sblock]
patv: "I don't do undead."
Devo: "That's not what I've heard."

DH: "You travel down to the bowels of the city."
Devo: "Let's get out of here and disembowel ourselves."

Zora: "Want somebody's knees broken? Because that's as far as I can reach."

Zora: "I've only heard of crap rolling downstairs."
Hedrin: "So you're at the bottom of the stairs?"

Jubilee: "I didn't hear you rolling any dice!"
DH: "I'm rolling them in my head. I'm that good."
Zora: "Well there's something rolling around in there. I guess it's those dice you shoved up your nose when you were a kid."

DH: "The dragon head has gemstone eyes."
Zora: "Had."
Devo: "They're very hot."
Zora: "They will be once I take them."

Zora: "Ooh, lava sharks jump over us."
Jubilee: "I thought we were supposed to jump the shark."
Zora: "Oh, we did that a long time ago."

Devo: "So you're invisible and displaced?"
Jubilee: "Aw, Dalia's a displaced person."

Hedrin: "I attack with my longsword."
Jubilee: "Wasn't that a bastard sword?"
Zora: "Shrinkage."
Jubilee: "Well, there are some cold spells in here."
[/sblock]

The Collected Journals of Artemis Heuw Cannith, excerpt 18

At last, an update!
sniffles

"My arm was achingly tired by the time I finished the last rune. It hung in the air with it's companions; the complete spell copied over and over again like sentences on a chalkboard. The blue glow from the runes drained all color from the room. With a sigh, I picked up the uncharged wand I had constructed earlier this morning and walked around to the other side of the writing. I had just finished retracing the first line backwards, erasing the runes by absorbing them into the wand, when Hutch, bored, started juggling. His antics were distracting me at a very critical time. I gave him two of the hard-boiled eggs I hadn't eaten with my lunch and took away his alchemist fire. I hate it when he juggles those. They are very expensive to make."

. An Excerpt from the Craft Journal of Artemis Heuw Cannith, Volume 7



"It was DA who had first heard that the Five Nations express wouldn't be leaving as scheduled tomorrow. Something about needing to load a very special freight aboard it's cargo cars, delaying the lightning rail excursion by one day. I sent letters to those of the DC who do not live in this tower. CA and XL must have been looking for something to do when the letters found them, because they came to the tower for an early dinner before we all headed out to track down VE.

Perhaps an explanation is in order. Our investigations a few days ago led us to the name "Veltargo" (VE). He was dressed as a priest of the Silver Flame, and is the man who ultimately ended up with the magic key. Unfortunately, all we had was a name -- nothing else to go by and no way to find him. It was a simple matter to learn that none of the known Silver Flame temples in Sharn had a priest by that name. What was harder to come up with is that a young priest had been robbed a few days ago, and his outfit stolen. DA went to talk to the priest and came back with a small rounded stone, with a goblinoid rune on one side. She said "Veltargo" had dropped it when he mugged the priest. I recognized the rune for "Strength", but knew nothing else about the stone. ST, on the other hand, had seen it's like before; on the wall of an ancient crypt, buried in beneath the Cogs below Sharn. Once the DC had gathered once again, we were under way.

I am no stranger to the depths below Sharn; my family has had foundries there for the last four generations. It took us very little time to find our to the area ST thought contained the crypt. After a bit of searching, a bit of backtracking, and a few questions directed towards ST to gauge whether or not we were in the right area, we finally reached our destination.

We stood before a narrow stairway that led downwards. Hot, sulfurous air rose up towards us, and the tell-tale red glow of a lava pit spoke of the dangers we would face. While DA scouted forward, I used a pair of infusions [ref: CJ-V5-7] to protect HU and ST from fire. I checked the wand that would provide the same protection to the rest of us [ref: CJ-V6-23], and put it someplace handy. Ready, we moved downwards.

The hall was narrow, dark, and extremely dirty. I warned HU against touching anything he didn't absolutely have to. A short cross-corridor attracted my attention, as it contained a thin rivulet of molten lava that crossed our paths. I turned down the corridor to find a tight, round room that held a waist-high basin of lava, which acted as the source of the flow. I studied it to see if it had any magical properties, but it did not. I lost interest at that point. VA had followed me into the room, interested in the goblinoid carvings that filled the walls. They seemed to be some sort of funerary exhortation. Quite dull, really.

We caught up with the rest of the DC and found ourselves in a rectangular room with an alter of sorts opposite the entrance, and niches in the wall, each holding a cracked and broken-into sarcophagus. There were remains of ancient goblin heroes scattered around, but nothing more of interest. The wall held a large number of the lapidary runes -- ones very similar to what the false priest had dropped. Many spots that once held stones were empty, as if this place had been plundered for years and years.

In the center of the room, bordering the religious carvings along the back wall, was a rectangular pool of lava, this one large enough to be considered a comfortable bath. DA, who had been here long enough to conduct her own investigations, was crawling along the relief, looking for a button or other opening mechanism. She found it, evidently, as, with a grind of stone moving, the lava pool started draining away. A short flight of stairs was revealed below line of the lava, leading to a short corridor that continued onward. After waiting for the stairs to cool, we moved forward. We were hurried along a bit when a doorway started closing and lava started filling in the pool once again.

Coming out in a rush, we were a bit surprised to find ourselves on a wide ledge overlooking a pit that descended at least one hundred feet. The red glow coming from below, plus the oppressive heat, told me that the pit was filled with lava. DA mentioned stairs leading down on one side, but I didn't get a chance to look around much before trouble found us.

Half a dozen hobgoblin warriors, long dead and yet animate enough to defend their ancient grounds, attacked us from two sides. Three of the creatures had climbed up the cliff to attack VA and IR. Two more raced up the stairs to attack XL and ST. IR used her divine power to drive the creatures back, and the bright light scintillating off her holy symbol caused the creatures to burn and melt. Still, they came. Wherever they stood, they tried to claw at the DC, but we stood firm. I used one of my favorite wands [ref: CJ-V6-19] to disable one of the creatures. CA went for a good old-fashioned body-block, knocking the creature off of the ledge to go sailing down into the lake of lava so far below. ST used a blade formed of his own energy, methodically chopping and hacking at the creatures. Even XL jumped in to bash and stab with his spear. DA was no where to be seen. The safety of my companions is my paramount concern, so I called out for her. From somewhere nearby she whispered that she was okay. I still could not see her, but once I knew she was safe I returned to the fight. In very little time, we had the creatures bested.

The place smelled even worse now, if you can imagine such a thing.

With our enemies gone, I took a moment to survey our surroundings. We stood at the edge of a large cylinder of space, surrounded on all sides by rough, natural stone. One hundred feet below was a pool of bubbling, churning lava. The far side of the chamber was difficult to see with the smoke and heat shimmers coming up from below, but it almost looked like there were other chambers looking out over the pool. I didn't bother mentioning this to my companions, having assumed they saw the same thing. That was probably a mistake, as they have not all shown their senses to be as well developed as my own.

DA was leading the way again, going down the rough stairs on our left. CA was close behind her, hoping to find another fight, not doubt. With a curt reprimand to HU against throwing stones down into the lava pit, I made my way down the stairs. ST, ever vigilant, was a pace behind me. HU tok'd his displeasure at being crowded, but ST didn't seem to listen. I'll let them sort it out.

The stairs wound downwards through a darkened tunnel. I could tell from the ambient light that the landing below opened up onto the lava pit. The striations on the walls, the movement of thick, sulfurous air, the shape and placement of ash deposits, marks indicating prior lava flows -- all these were the subtle clues that my trained senses picked up. Plus, DA told us as much when she got down there. The landing was much broader than the one we had just had a fight on. It was naturally occurring, as was everything but the steps so far, and nearly circular in dimension. The far side of the circle opened up onto the pit, and a nearby passage held more stairs leading downward.

What immediately caught my attention was a large, clawed hand painted on one wall in bright green. I knew immediately that it was magical, so HU and I went to investigate. ST stood in the center of the room, ready to defend my person from any assault. The rest of the DC were carefully making their way along, either coming down the stairs to join me, or continuing downward into the next passage. A quick curse from DA, heading onward, was the only warning I got.

The green hand pulsed, a resonate chiming that shook my body and rattled HU, sending me reeling. CA had been hit by the blast, as had CA. The rest hadn't quite gotten into the room, yet. I shouted for everyone to stop where they were, until we could find the triggering mechanism, but DA volunteered it's location. She had stepped on it. And without even looking! One would think she would be smarter than that.

I moved cautiously over to her and we examined the mechanism. Crude was the best word I could use to describe it. DA, ashamed that she had stumbled over such an obvious trap, gave me the honors of disarming it. She even produced the Design Slate [ref: CJ-V7-30] that I had made for her. I offered to let her disable the mechanism, but she deferred, admitting that I was better suited to the task. She was, naturally, correct in that assessment.

After making sure the room behind me was clear, I jammed the trigger then disabled the device. It took about four seconds.

I went back to look at the hand print to see what else could be learned from it. DA took up the lead again, and shouted up that there was a fair amount of House Cannith property where she was. I went to her immediately. The stairs leading downward were through another rough passage, this time opening into an oblong cavern with two other openings. The heat was far less oppressive here, but a tell-tale red glow indicated that at least one of the two exits on the far side of the room led to another chamber overlooking the lava pit.

The room was packed with boxes, crates, and other storage containers. There were property marks not only for House Cannith, but other forges, foundries, and industries from the nearby Cogs. I started rummaging through their contents, but they seemed mundane. Some were little more than iron shavings.

A cry from the far side of the room indicated trouble. Before the echo of said cry died, a nauseating stench filled the room. More undead. DA and CA were fully engaged by the time I had a weapon ready. XL was charging forward and ST was letting loose with his energy bolts. I just had time to scorch one of the hobgoblin dead when IR lifted her holy symbol on high and caused half of the creatures to flee in terror. The rest of us pressed the attack, driving the undead back into the tunnel they hailed from.

Our combat must have roused some other nearby ghasts. From the other tunnel came three more of the undead, charging into the room before we could react. They scratched and clawed at my face, their teeth snapping and breath foul. I beat them back with my coatl cane, noticing as I did that it was starting to look somewhat battered. A shame, really. It has been a fabulous accessory.

My natural fortitude was more than enough to keep their stench from overpowering me, though XL appeared sicker than I had ever seen him. XL, ST, HU, and I fought back against our adversaries, using staff, wand, and energy to efficacious effect. IR, VA, CA, and DA fought off our original attackers. After a brief but violent struggle, we stood unopposed. I quickly checked my nearby companions, then rushed to the next room to see what had befallen the other half of the DC. They were all of them battered, but okay. We performed some quick healing before moving on.

The platform we passed looked out over the lava pit, as predicted, but we chose not to tarry. Rather, we moved forward, looking for those ghouls that had fled from IR. They were a ways away, having run down another passage to yet another pit-side ledge, lower still, where they crouched in a cowardly clutch. Rather than fight them ourselves, IR summoned up a great ogre zombie to dispatch them. I thought that a sub-optimal summoning, but IR did not ask my opinion, so I did not offer it. Though cornered, the ghasts fought back with startling ferocity, and the ogre was quickly ripped into small, bloodless chunks. CA, IR, and a few of the other DC jumped into the fray. ST and I offered ranged support. Our exertions were soon rewarded with a decided lack of enemies. Once again, no one was seriously hurt.

I was tending those wounds we did have when DA called out again for my assistance. She had discovered what looked like large vents from of a poison gas trap. Excited at the prospect, HU and I rushed over. We needn't have been so excited. As I approached, hordes of undead beetles poured from the "vents" and swarmed all over us. They were everywhere! DA (or perhaps XL) screamed and ran away. ST started slashing across the swarm with his blade. I opened my mouth to tell him that his actions were the acme of foolishness, when a deceased vermin crawled into my mouth. I spit it out and clamped my mouth shut, and got about the business of destroying the creatures.

With perfectly choreographed timing, I brought up a wand [ref: CJ-V7-30] and set all of the nearby DC resistant to fire. HU simultaneously drew out a vial of alchemist fire and dashed it onto the ground in the center of the swarm. The sound of shattering crystal punctuated the wands command word like the cymbals of the Wroat Guild house Symphony. A bright explosion of fire filled the chamber and dead bugs fell dead. There were more vermin than one vial could take care of, though, and while HU utilized another vial, I brought out a wand [ref: CJ-V5-33] to scorch what remained. Remnants of alchemist fire sloughed off HU, my jacket, ST, and IR burning in the hot air but leaving the lot of us unharmed.

One last flesh-eating beetle scuttled across the floor, but XL stomped on it. Good for him, it probably made him feel useful.

That excitement behind us, we moved cautiously forward. The ledge behind us was close enough to the lava that we knew the glowing red chamber ahead of us could very well be completely flooded in boiling hot magma.

Our luck held true, and the chamber we entered into was completely flooded.

It was a large pool, fifty or sixty feet across. It was separated from the pool of lava we'd been traversing by a thick natural rock wall, but it was level with that pool. The ledge we stood on was maybe ten feet deep and twenty wide. Across the room, just visible through the heat shimmer, was the remnants of a temple entrance. Two rows of weathered and worn columns lead away from the pool, out of sight. A rivulet of lava fed the main chamber, traveling in a channel from deep within the temple. The architecture -- and I know my architecture -- was old.

On the wall to the left of the ledge, looking out over the pool and towards the temple, was a crudely carved lion's head. It stood about three feet above the lava. I was crouched down near the floor, getting a level view of the lava pool, when CA mentioned the carving we had seen in the ziggurat some months back [ref: PJ-v6-83]. That particular piece of art had depicted a hobgoblin warrior walking above flames from a lion's head towards a large, stone marker. IR pulled out a crude wand and pointed it at the pool: there was magic there. An invisible bridge of force that led from the carving on this side to the temple entrance on the other. We had our way across!

CA insisted on going first, clambering up onto the lion's head and hopping down -- with great faith and a fair amount of bravado -- onto the invisible bridge. He rushed across, seeming oblivious to the fact that a mis-step would send him to fiery and final oblivion.

VA moved into position to go next. That's when trouble arrived.

Two creatures rose from the lava, bright rivulets of fire and magma draining off of their burning forms. They had massive shoulders, monstrous heads, and arms shaped like elongated scoops. In near unison, they vomited lava into their hands and flung their waste at CA, who was still making his way across the bridge. CA managed to duck one of the attacks, but was struck solid by the other. I heard the impact from where I stood almost fifty feet away. Somehow, CA managed to keep his feet on the narrow, invisible bridge, using his new-found momentum to lurch forward and onto paving stones that supported the columns. He was across!

VA had started across, too, and was most certainly in trouble. I pulled my most potent wand [ref: CJ-V5-30] and infused it to produce cold instead of fire. I was hoping these creatures were vulnerable to their opposing element. HU moved in front of me, throwing a smokestick out into the pit to block the line of sight between myself and the nearest of the creatures. ST was throwing energy out towards the farthest creature, trying to gain it's attention. It worked.

The creatures were not great shots -- lava not being the most aerodynamic of projectiles, but I heard a grunt as another of the DC was struck. Focused on my task, I shouted out the command word and two blue beams of energy arced across the lava, both beams striking true. The creature solidified and shattered; broken chunks exploded outward and rained down across the chamber. It companion, showing more intelligence than I thought the creatures had, disappeared below the lava.

VA made it across and pulled out his bow, covering the pool in case the creature returned. ST covered the pool as well, as I took a moment to infuse his armored plates, granting him a better sense of balance [ref: CJ-V1-7]. I knew he would need it to cross the beam.

As XL made his way across, the rest of us stood ready. Sure enough, the creature rose up again, but this time we were prepared for it! VA and ST fired at the creature as best they could, but then I hit it with beams of cold. It got one attack off, but it, too, died an explosively frigid death. One more kill for the Artificer. Blowing the frost off of the tip of my wand (so it would not stick in it's sheath), I put the weapon away.

With those obstacles gone, it was child's play getting across the lake of lava.

I arrived on the broad, pillared avenue leading up to the temple doors to find a fight underway. Sixty or so feet away, in the shadowy entrance to the temple, an armored defender stood, fighting CA and IR. DA, once again, was no where to be seen. XL tossed aside a potion bottle that he had just emptied. I thought to reprimand him -- as I know from experience that those bottles are expensive -- but thought better of it. He would need his fighting spirit if the temple was still occupied.

ST, XL, HU and I joined in the fight at the same time something else did. From inside the temple came a horrific sight; an undead creature in the shape of a man, but easily ten feet tall. It had enormous clawed hands, and thin bony arms that were so long it had to tuck it's elbows in to pass through the broad double doors. HU threw a vile of home made alchemist fire at it. The creature was not amused.

In front of the creature, battling CA, was a human warrior in a shining breastplate, wielding a wicked looking mace. Every time the man struck out at CA, vicious energy exploded out from the weapon, hitting man and elf both. The warrior, who looked rather confident at the start of the fight, was starting to look a bit worried. He slid over into a corner, to better defend himself.

IR was in the front line of the fight. She summoned up a ghost of some sort, a creature of shadow, and sent it against the warrior. She used some of her magics to heal CA, who stood fighting man and monster both. VA stood in the back ranks, using his long spear to good measure, while XL danced back and forth, getting in an attack where he could. ST started with ranged attacks, but eventually went in to do melee. I used various wands, slinging fire and electricity both, while HU merrily slung alchemist fire at our two opponents.

A great deal of shouting and running around could be heard from within the temple. My guess is that DA had made it in there, and was disrupting whatever opponents were still awaiting us.

Outside, our warrior friend was starting to panic. He was finally catching on to what we had already figured out -- he was losing. Attacking the shade in desperation, he left himself open to VA and XL's blades, and finally fell. With his death, CA was finally able to turn his full attention on the bone creature. He and IR were doing what they could against it, but the thing was immensely powerful. Fortunately for both CA and IR, they had an artificer along with them. Scorching rays made quick work of a dangerous foe.

With the creature down, we rushed into the temple. The shade made it in first, and dropped an Emerald Claw soldier in one hit. The man must have been something of a push-over at villain finishing school. DA stood in a mocking pose next to a man in priestly raiment, but as I watched, she was slowly faded from sight. A thousand tell-tale signs told me that she had conjured an illusion of herself in her efforts to keep the guards distracted. That means she was probably invisible, and from the layout of the room I gauged the best place for her to be was....

She materialized at the point I was watching. I gave her a quick thumbs-up to let her know she had been doing well, then turned my wands on the priest. He fell with a short, angry scream. CA was there, his blade still in the man, as was XL. ST stood nearby, after having just fired one of his energy bolts at the remaining Emerald Claw soldiers. DA winked at me (she does so love to flirt with me) and solidified the shadows near the last two soldiers, trapping them. Our enemies were defeated.

Deadly combat is always so abrupt. It starts in a flare of adrenalin and excitement, then is over before you know it. Sometimes you come out unscathed, some times you wake up after the fact, your friends standing over you. And some times, you finish a fight, recover your breath and quell your beating heart, and an old enemy walks into the room. This was one of those times.

Garrow (GA), who we had first met in the Mournlands, walked in through a side door. The air that followed him into the room I would normally describe as hot and muggy. Seeing how we were just one room away from an expansive pool of lava, however, I would instead classify the air as cool and damp. GA was wearing the clothing of a House Lyrandar sky captain, and he was conversing rather casually with a trio of Emerald Claw soldiers who were coming up behind him. He turned and saw us. We turned and saw him. A beetle the size of my thumb lazily flew from one side to another between us. Then we all jumped into action.

GA had a familiar looking golden key in one hand. I was the first to react (naturally), but CA reached GA first for the simple reason that he was closer to the man than I was. In a blur, CA's sword came out and he struck GA in the arm with the flat of his blade. The key flew upwards in a slow, lazy arc.

I had seen the chamber that GA was stepping out of, with it's light gray stone and natural lighting. We had been told that the key opened any door to "another place" -- the Lost Room, and that from there the key would take you to any other door you could describe. My quick-thinking mind had ascertained that GA had just come from this Lost Room, and that when that door closed, so, too, would his escape route. I slammed into the door, driving it closed. One of the soldiers on the far side automatically put his arm out to hold the door, but he was still too surprised to put any effort into it. The door clicked shut.

As if by magic, DA appeared on the other side of GA, her hand outstretched to catch the key. It bounced once in her palm, then disappeared from sight, hidden away in a heartbeat.

GA stood in shocked amazement at our quick reaction, then cast a spell. I recognized it instantly, and cursed. With a pop, he disappeared. I shouted out that it was only a short range teleport, and we all rushed out of the temple and to the pillared causeway. ST and XL were closest, and they reported seeing GA appear briefly before casting the same spell and disappearing again. There was no way we could catch him. He had escaped.

Again."

. An Excerpt from the Personal Journal of Artemis Heuw Cannith, Volume 7.



"Identification and circumvention of enemy magics."
"Acting rationally and without prejudice."
"All artificers are intelligent and charismatic."
"Traps that blind, burn, or explode need detection and disablement."
"The ability to handle any situation at any given moment."
"Training."

. An Excerpt from the "List of Reasons Why An Artificer Should Always be in Charge," by Artemis Heuw Cannith

Caelen writes from Talenta

3/14/07
I'm retconning this letter to accomodate Kylara's departure.
sniffles

From: Caelen Siorath
Near Gatherhold, Talenta Plains

To my family;

It's hard to be so close to home and not be able to go there.

We've arrived safely in the Talenta Plains after a long and boring trip aboard the lightning rail. But I should tell you about the rest of our adventure in the ancient goblin ruins beneath Sharn.

Some of the others thought a big cylindrical stone in the wall might be the stone mentioned in a prophecy about the goblin hero - you'll recall, the one whose breastplate was stolen and we recovered it. We think we found his shield in the ziggurat where we fought the vampire.

The warforged and I went to remove the stone, which turned out to be bigger than we expected. Dalia discovered a trap set on it but she couldn't disarm it. It burned me a bit and left the changeling and the human blind for a short while.

After we pulled the stone out of the wall all the surrounding stones blew out and fell on me. The others claimed they heard something whisper "I'm free at last" but I didn't hear or see anything. There was nothing in the niche behind the stone.

Dalia tried out the magic key on the door the other changeling had come from. It took her to a room in a tower somewhere. She figured out that one had to go through that room to get anywhere else. When we all went through into that room, Valirdrynn told us we were on the coast of Argonnessen! I would have liked to stay and explore, but the others were afraid of the dragons.

We came out into the human's rooms in his family manor. We took the stone back with us. After we arrived there was a long argument about what to do with the magic key. For some reason Kylara thought the Watch should take charge of it. I don't know why she thinks they'd be any better at guarding it than us. They haven't demonstrated much capacity for that in my estimation. But she seems to think we'll misuse it. I'd like to use it to explore Argonnessen, but perhaps that should wait until we're stronger.

We boarded the lightning rail the next day. They were carrying a huge obelisk from Xen'drik, which they wouldn't let us see. I'd rather see it in its native setting than on a rail carriage.

As I said, the rest of the trip was dull but for Kylara's departure. She's chosen to pursue a career hunting the undead. Her decision makes me wish even more that I could return to Valenar and battle the Karrnathi, but I can't desert my companions now.

After six days we came to Gatherhold and spent a night in a comfortable but expensive inn run by halflings. The map the artificer had showed us that this crypt we sought was about two days out from Gatherhold.

When we came to the spot where the Crypt of the Crimson Stars was supposed to lie, we found some halflings grazing a herd of threehorns in the area. Most of the halflings were in Gatherhold for the big gathering of tribes. We just had the misfortune to run into the ones who'd stayed with their herd.

Dalia and I snuck off to scout out the cave we thought led to the crypt. I stood watch while she went inside, as she can see better in the dark. After a few minutes I heard a roar and she came racing out warning me that there was something big in the cave. She babbled out a spell and as I snatched her up I could feel myself moving much faster than usual. She rattled off another incantation and surrounded us with a globe of invisibility, although of course I couldn't see any change.

I caught a glimpse of the thing in the cave when it squeezed out the entrance in pursuit. It was a manticore. Dalia said it had hit her with a couple of its spikes before she even saw it.

I sped back to camp, leaving the manticore far behind. After we told the others about the manticore, we spent a long time discussing how to get into the cave without attracting the attention of the halflings. I suggested taking out their scouts, but no one wanted to try it. Dalia had already tried to drive off the threehorn herd with an illusion of fire, but it hadn't worked.

Finally we decided to move at night, riding all the way around the small lake that's next to the cave to come at it well out of sight of the halfling scouts. The human and Dalia can cast spells to let our horses walk on water and make us silent and invisible. Then we'll just have to see if we can kill the manticore without alerting the halflings on the plateau above the cave.
_______________________
Quips & Quotes:

Devo: "Can I find out more information about the key? Knowledge (Arcana)?"
patv: "Actually, Knowledge (ar-key-na) might work."

patv: "Who puts a door in front of a pool of lava?
sniffles: "People who need a quick dinner."

Jubilee: "Anybody want this vicious mace?"
DH: "Actually, it's gel-filled. It's viscous."

Gwaenna Goldenbrow of the Quiet Folk joins the campaign

My previous character, Kylara (IR in Artemis's journals), parted ways with the company in Karnath and we introduced my new character last session:

… On my way into the Crypt of the Crimson Stars I saw one of the strangest things I have ever witnessed. After I had evaded the halflings who camped on the cliffs above and climbed down the cliff face, I was about to enter the cave when I scanned the area one more time to make sure I was not observed. Much to my surprise, I saw a large warforged, illuminated by the light of three half-moons, riding across the lake on a sturdy, though somewhat nervous-seeming, horse! As I watched, wishing I had the artistic skill to render the scene on canvas (it was so perfectly absurd, and I think it would make even Hunter smile), he began to pull on the reins, steering his horse toward me. I concealed myself behind what little cover there was beside the cave to see what would happen. Unfortunately, in my haste, I chose the side with no avenue of escape save back up the cliff or into the water. I think I will not tell Hunter about that bit of foolishness.

As I watched the warforged approach, I realized with some distress that I could no longer hear the sounds of the night around me, nor the breeze I could feel on my face, or the sound of his horse. I cursed and crouched lower, hoping whatever magical companions this warforged had wouldn’t notice me, but I was not entirely successful. The warforged and his horse stopped about fifteen feet out from the cave mouth, still hovering slightly above the water. My second surprise for the night came in the form of a Valenar jumping out of the air and landing (silently, of course) on the shore in front of the cave. He began moving towards it when another figure and her horse appeared at the shore. She took a moment to tie the horse to some scrub and follow the Valenar. The warforged wheeled his horse and rode ashore before he joined the other two at the cave.

I foolishly assumed these three to be the only adventurers, as the female was dressed somewhat like a wizard or sorcerer and carried only a short spear. I should have known something more was afoot when the warforged did not ride straight forward! However, as soon as the three of them moved into the cave, I peeked around the corner to see what was happening. I couldn’t see past them in the narrow entrance, and thanks to that silence zone, I couldn't hear what was happening either. I crouched low again, and waited for the wizard and her awful silence to go with her, but once I counted several heartbeats, I still couldn’t hear anything. I'll admit here that I began to feel a bit panicked and trapped at this point, so once again I took the risk of peeking into the cave.

A large form, a horse I later learned, though I couldn’t see it at the time, nearly trampled me and knocked me from my feet as I moved. I scrambled upright as quickly as possible and tried to back away from the cave, but didn’t want to risk falling into the water. A moment later, a well-dressed human jumped down from his invisible horse (almost stepping on me himself). As he turned, brushing his coat straight and untangling his gorgon-headed staff from the reins of his horse, he looked straight at me. He was clearly startled, not to mention paranoid, because he gave me a false smile, waved in what I presume he imagined was a friendly manner, and began reaching for a wand. For my own part, I knew I could draw my sword in half a heartbeat, but I didn’t want to fight so many if I could avoid it, so I raised my hands and tried to look friendly. I don’t think I will tell Hunter about that, either. He wouldn’t understand.

A few moments passed while the human tried to decide what to do with me, but some glowing writing appeared on the cliff face beside us – “Artemis, our companions need you inside, I will take care of it.” Without a pause, the human turned and ran inside the cave. I learned two vital pieces of information: This man was Artemis Huew Cannith (Hutch appeared on the other side of the horse and hurried after him another half-heartbeat later, confirming my guess) and there was a spellcaster, of unknown power and disposition, out here with me. I knew I could probably negotiate with Artemis, so I raced in after him.

As I came up behind him, I saw that his other companions had discovered a manticore inside the cave (I counted the blessings that had made the warforged visible at just the right moment and kept me from entering the cave alone to be its next meal), but I was still within that cursed zone of silence, so I continued circling around the chamber, hoping to help them and thus make my benign intentions clear to Artemis and his friends. I didn’t have a chance to fight the beast, curse my luck!, for the woman I had mistake for a wizard struck it a fatal blow between the ribs just as I was about to charge. Instead, I yelled out that I was no enemy and called Artemis a d’Cannith just for good measure. Artemis’s only response was to correct my usage of his name – it must be a sensitive issue.

Before I had the chance to respond, a gnome woman came up beside Artemis and began to spellcast. As I felt her spell settle over me, I found myself not really caring what she had done to me. At the same time, a nasty, tentacled creature popped out of the shadows of a sarcophagus behind me and struck at me. The warforged made a fine shot, right past my ear, which struck and killed the tentacled beast and the Valenar ran past, searching another spot where the warforged claimed another was hiding.

Artemis and the gnome began to argue, and I again tried to explain to them that I wasn’t here to hurt them, when the woman I had mistaken for a wizard picked up her crossbow and pointed it at me! Well, this was when I realized that the gnome had cast a charm over me, and I was quite angry that she should have distracted me so her ally would have the time to hurt me. I demanded to know why she did it, and she exclaimed that she couldn’t be sure what my intentions were, and Artemis cried out that I was from Sharn and knew his name. I thought they were all fools to be arguing about this on the field of combat (perhaps I should have parted ways with them right then, despite what I might find deeper in this vault), and told them their priorities were all out of alignment as I stepped forward to dispatch the tentacled beast that had appeared out of the shadows to attack the Valenar.

The gnome continued to argue with Artemis as the Valenar and I spread out to either side of the chamber to check for more gricks. We each found one and dispatched them with ease. Finally, everyone had quieted down enough for me to explain whom I was and that I was after the knowledge that might be contained in the vault, not here to steal their riches. They didn’t press for details, and I have been laughed at enough for my theories that I didn’t volunteer an explanation.

Artemis introduced the rest of his companions: Dalia was the gnome; Sten, the warforged; Caelan, the Valenar; and Xil was the last. Xil turned out to be a changeling with a variety of skills but no particular specialization as near as I can tell. I shall simply call him by his name and not worry about it. I explained to them that I had been exploring ruins like these for most of my life and Artemis invited me to join them. He even promised me an equal part in the treasure if I should do my equal part of the work. I told him that I would protect them with my sword, and asked if they had a trapsmith. He declared that he was a specialist in all things mechanical and that Dalia had some skill as well.

Well, he was competent enough when he put his mind to it, but everyone else did seem to rush around a bit and he was easily hurried, which didn’t do us much good; especially considering they didn’t have a healer with them. I am used to doing things the hard way, though, and am confident I will manage. Hunter would think me a fool for trusting these folk. But I must trust somebody; I am not as strong as Hunter.

There was a broken door at the other end of the chamber, and a body probably three weeks dead was lying there. I knelt beside it to search for anything useful as the others clustered around and peered into the room beyond. Some of it seemed of very fine quality, so I cast a dweomer to look for magic; lo, some of the poor unfortunate’s gear WAS magical. Artemis expressed surprise that I could cast spells; no one else seemed to notice.

We moved into the next room, which was guarded by a statue. Artemis swept the room for magic and declared that there was only something at the far end of the chamber, where another body lay. As we stood contemplating this room, a ghost rose out of the body behind us! I’ll admit here that ghosts frighten me a little – I have no defenses against them, and they can be devistating foes. It had its pick of targets, but didn’t damage any of us before I got a chance to strike at it. I discharged the scorching rays I had stored in my sword when I hit it, and the brilliant flash of fire dissipated the ghost immediately. I breathed a sigh of relief and stepped away from the body, just in case. Dalia assured us that she could see invisibility and that the ghost had not simply disappeared to attack again.

As Xil and Dalia moved into the room, a cacophony of noise and pain assaulted me. In the room was the sound of whirling blades, while the statue itself came oddly to life, swinging the crook it had in a circle, striking Artemis, Sten, and myself. It struck Sten so forcefully that it knocked him against the wall and then to the ground.

I should take a moment to describe the statue, for it is quite remarkable: It stood about twleve feet tall and was definitely humanoid, but of no particularly discernable race. It appeared to be wearing some kind of draping robe over its body and a hawk-head mask over its head. In one hand it seemed to hold a dragonshard and in the other a staff with a hook at the end. This stony staff is what it used to batter us about. It was too weathered by time to discern a gender; however, I am confident it was built not by the Hobgoblins who placed their tombs in the room before, but by those who originally built this place. I believe the traps are also their construction.

I crouched at the base of the statue and looked to Artemis, waiting to see if he had any instruction. He began to search the statue over to see what was causing it to batter us when Caelan rushed past to rescue Dalia from the blades and sent the statue spinning again! We all took quite a beating and Artemis screamed, a bit shrilly (I think I would have been a little shrill if people were making my job harder), that no one was to move! He took a few more minutes searching the thing and I asked, politely I think, if I could move. I had no desire to get hit by it if his trap-working set it going again. He growled at me, so I stayed in place and drank a potion.

He did disable it and he, Xil, and Dalia began a systematic search of the room for more traps. There was a pit in the room beyond the statue, so as soon as the floor was declared safe, I moved up to peer down. It was only about 40 feet deep, with a floor of rusty spikes that had impaled another of the hapless adventurers. As I was contemplating the best way to retrieve the body (there was magic upon it), another ghost rose up from the body! I was thankful I had taken the time to set another scorching ray into my sword, because I was able to dispatch it almost at once. I felt the chill of its touch all the way to the marrow of my bones, but suffered little permanent damage for it.

I am not sure how it came about, but Dalia suddenly fell like a rock to the ground in the middle of a sentence while Sten, Caelan, Artemis and I were discussing whether one of us ought to climb down to the body or if we should try to pull it up to us. Artemis insisted he had the magic to lift it up instead. After some muttering and some examination of Dalia by the others (I have no skill or knowledge of healing myself, so I kept out of the way), Artemis pulled out yet another wand and used it on Dalia. This seemed to revive her immediately and she told us the blades of the trap in the corner had poisoned her.

In short order, we recovered the body and salvaged his useful gear, including a dragonshard. The body didn’t appear to have a dragonmark, or perhaps the body was too far rotted and mangled to see one. The door presented the problem of being guarded by two magical traps that couldn’t be disabled without triggering them. Dalia and Artemis managed to suppress the magic for a time, but couldn’t disable them before they reset. Two shadowy forms appeared in the chamber between us and the two trapsmiths at work, but they seemed to have no great effect. Dalia kept muttering about how ingenious the trap was.

The final body lay crumpled directly in front of the door. Sten and I stayed close; ready to strike if another ghost should appear. Of course, it did while Artemis was standing over the body to examine the door. I was too careful about hitting him and missed the ghost! Once again, we dispatched it without much trouble and Artemis finished picking the lock (a very fine set of lockpicks had been left there by the previous owner). After he was finished, he backed away and Dalia volunteered to open the door. She pulled a mummified hand out of her pack and slipped it around her neck. After a moment's concentration, the door opened ahead of us. Remarkable!

What followed was a couple of long, narrow, winding corridors that seemed not to have been walked on in generations. Like the rest of the complex, the walls were smooth and completely bare – if these people had any form of art or decoration, it was something they took with them. We came across a room that was filled with ranks of stone guards. They looked much like the statue in the first room, with hawk-headed masks and standing about twelve feet tall, but they were dressed and armed as guards. It was rather eerie, and we all moved through it cautiously.

After we got through the guardroom, Artemis began moving faster. I suspect he was not searching as thoroughly as before, having declared that one traps their front door, not their living room. I would trap every room in my house, if I had the knowledge to do so (and a house!). Vignaroth would teach me, I think. I would, of course, know how to move safely about my own house, but an invader wouldn’t.

I heard a loud crash in the corridor, around the corner from where I stood. I called out to know what had happened and Sten yelled that a portcullis had come down and that Artemis was trapped on the other side. I felt a chill; why use a portcullis instead of solid door? Dalia said she would disable the trap and make the portcullis rise, and Artemis declared there was nothing he could do from his side. I waited, counting heartbeats.

A swarm of beetles overtook our party. The swarm was massive, and the creatures were faster and much more vicious than anything I had encountered before. I cast a scorching ray into them, while others began to drop flasks of alchemical fire at their own feet. They dodged around both rays, which struck harmlessly at stone. I backed away, giving them fewer targets to choose from, and Xil clambered up onto a statue. I thought about telling him the creatures could probably climb it better than he, but decided not to demoralize him.

Dalia came scrambling out of the swarm, coughing and retching, absolutely covered in the biting creatures. She splashed alchemist fire at herself before she fell writing to the ground. I stepped past her to face the swarm again, readying a shocking grasp and reached out to discharge it at the creatures. Hutch, too, withdrew past me into the guardroom and I heard a soft pop of displaced air. Artemis was standing there and I surmised that Hutch must be back at the other side of the portcullis. Artemis pulled out another wand and knelt by the writing Dalia. He waved it, but nothing happened. He cursed.

I swear to you, I only blinked, but between one look and the next, there was nothing left of Dalia but her clothes and the remaining beetles scattering away. They had consumed her, right down to the bone and I was sure for a minute I was looking down at my own sad fate when the beetles once more swarmed over us. Artemis fell to the ground with a broken curse. I reached out with another shocking grasp and dispersed the rest of them. I cried out to Sten, who was about to throw another alchemist fire at my feet (I had been splashed a number of times, I noticed afterwards. That’s one kimono ruined), that the beetles were gone, as was Dalia, and that Artemis was unconscious.

Xil administered a potion to Artemis, who then used his wands to heal himself and the others a bit more as we all stood, sadly contemplating what little remained of Dalia. We speculated whether there was anything of Dalia left on that blade trap that had shredded her earlier – could we use that to have her brought back? But Artemis reminded us that Dolurrh was too distant for resurrection magics to work for at least another year. Dalia could not be saved by us. I didn’t know her well, and we hadn’t gotten off to the best of starts, but that’s not a fate I’d want for anyone; and besides, I thought we might have gotten on quite well, given enough time. I’d gotten the feeling she’d have understood the kind of life you lead in Blackbones better than any of the others. ...

Description and Background for Gwaenna

Most of the other characters don't know and likely won't find out much about Gwaenna's background, but I figure why write it if no one is going to read it? So here's some more about Gwen.

***
The most striking feature of this small, purplish-skinned goblin girl is the
fine, golden ridge of scales on her forehead and her inquisitive, flashing
golden eyes. She seems to have a sunny disposition, with a smile on her
lips and a laugh in her eyes. She is usually dressed in a silk wrap-around
kimono over her fine chain shirt. If she doesn't have a sword in hand, it's
likely she has a book instead. She is tidy and stands upright, making the
most of her mere 3'6" of height. She has bluish-purple hair, which is
usually pulled back in a bun.
***

Gwaenna grew up in the warrens underneath the sewers of Sharn with a clan of goblins known as the 'quiet folk' to the denizens around them. Their way was to stay quiet and out of the way, for their elders had decided the best way to survive was to live without being noticed. This was their path to survival, but not prosperity. They gathered what little food was to be had in out of the way places and ran away from any conflict before it could begin.

When Gwaenna was very young, a purple-skinned stranger, who looked somewhat like a man, took sanctuary with them and began to hunt for them. Gwaenna knew that the stranger, whom they called Hunter for his gifts, was not one to run away and hide as her kinsmen taught her. He met his foes straight on and defeated them. He was dangerous and terrifying; Gwaenna wished with all her young heart she could be a man like him instead of a small and frightened goblin.

Years later, halflings from the world above came upon a group of Quiet Folk gathering their food. For sport, they gave chase and caught Mok, who was leader of the food gatherers and Gwaenna's father. He let the halflings have him so the others could escape – and he submitted to their beating until they grew bored. The rest of the gatherers found him then, and brought him home. Then they sent for Hunter.

Hunter's rage was terrifying, quiet and seething. Not long after, he returned to them with the halflings who had done it, one of them dead and the other nearly so. The other did not live past the night - Gwaenna's heart swelled with pride when it was her father's own knife that landed the killing blow. But this one night of triumph over their fear did not change the Quiet Folk. On the following day, they once more went creeping about the warrens, searching out food and fleeing from danger.

Gwaenna urged them to fight back and make a better place for themselves with youthful vigor. She wanted a better life for herself and her kinsmen, but they did not believe it was possible. They told her to stay quiet, to stay in the shadows as their people had always done. They assured her it was the only safe way to live, the only way they could survive in this world of wild folk and people bigger, stronger, and meaner than them. No matter what she said, her kinsmen would not listen and began to distrust her. They told her she would bring doom upon them all if she lived so loudly.

She did try staying in the shadows and quiet as a mouse for a while. But she did not run away from conflicts; instead, she sought them out - sometimes to watch others brawling in a tavern, sometimes to take her anger out on one of the feral halflings with her fists and a sharpened stone - when she could catch one alone. She picked up scraps of fighting as her kinsmen searched out scraps of food. Eventually, she grew so bold as to sneak above the sewers Sharn, where she could witness some true magic. These scraps she treasured and practiced, determined to find a way for her people to rise above their pitiful existence.

When she showed her father the little cantrips she had gleaned, and the skills she had developed with her fists and a sharpened rock, he was horrified. He begged her to stop and warned that she would bring danger and death to them all if she continued this way. They were the Quiet Folk, and had survived that way for generations. Her loud ways were destruction to her kinsmen.

Gwaenna saw that she was not yet strong enough to defend them, as Hunter had done, and so in a way her father was right - She had to be able to roar like Hunter before she could hope to bring a new way of life to her kinsmen. And she could not learn how to roar while she lived with them - her mewlings would bring predators that would harm them all. So she took her sharpened rock, and her little bits of magic, and began to delve into the ruins of the Dhakaani even further below Sharn than the Quiet Folk’s home.

She was trying to make a living and a name for herself in Blackbones, beneath the Cogs, when a group of topside adventurers came to her and asked that she act as their guide. They were looking for an ancient Dhakaani ruin, but were anticipating trouble navigating the twists and turns of the corridors so far below Sharn. She wasn't interested in the gold they offered (having that much wealth in Blackbones just made you a target), but when they offered her a metal knife and a wand that could shoot rays of frost, she accepted.

In short order, she helped them find their ruin. There were many large and dangerous creatures there, and many deadly traps. For the most part, she stayed out of the way, but something in the final chamber caught her attention. One whole wall contained a carving of a host of goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears, all bowing down before a goblin queen. A veneer of colored and metallic pigments was still present on some of the wall carvings. The goblin queen had a golden crown low on her brow -- one that looked just like Gwaenna's birthmark!

Unfortunately, the halfling trap finder botched his attempt at getting into a vault built into the wall. Red-hot magma flooded into the chamber, pinning the small man where he was and burning him alive. At great personal risk, Gwaenna leapt from statue to altar to pillar over to the halfling, and was just able to rescue his sword. She made it back to safety as his cries finally died down. Now she had a magic sword! Her goblin queen, though, was quickly being covered in lava.

A year later, her newly acquired wealth nearly gone (for, somehow, none of the adventurers had made it out of the depths alive, but their monies had), Gwaenna was deep in the library of Morgrave University. She had learned to read and write, and was still looking for information on her goblin queen. An ancient goblin came up to her, his eyes gold and mysterious. He told her that what she was looking for was not in this library, but on a mountaintop far to the west, in Droaam. Without being able to explain why, she believed the old goblin. He would answer no more questions, though, and as she followed him around a stack of books, he was suddenly gone.

So she left Sharn and found her mountain top with nothing on it, but was not there long before she was approached by a gold dragon with mysterious gold eyes. In his strange, draconic way, he confirmed that there was once an empire ruled by goblins, more than a thousand thousand years before the Dhakaani empire rose to supremacy – so long ago that not even the elves remember it, and only the dragons do. He told her of other ruins that predate the Dhakaani, and of a hobgoblin hero’s tomb that may reveal even more secrets. She has been traveling Khorvaire, investigating ancient ruins and seeking more information about the hero’s tomb ever since.

The Collected Journals of Artemis Heuw Cannith, excerpt 19

Here's another post from Devo. This one comprises two game sessions, hence its length.
sniffles

"Hutch, on the seat next to me, tried his best to remain stationary as the lightning rail rocked slowly from side to side. His upper lid was open and I was working with Stark, deep within the containment box that was Hutch's top-most shelf. Stark must have seen the movement of the car, because he asked to be let out so that he could it's faulty design. We had a quick discussion about what might be wrong with the Orien coach, then I turned his attention to the scroll I wanted him to work on today. I had already complained a dozen times to the chief porter, but he wouldn't let me anywhere near the main drive car. If I wasn't allowed to fix it, there was no way I was going to let Stark have all the fun."


. An Excerpt from the Craft Journal of Artemis Heuw Cannith, Volume 7



"I pride myself on my ability to be prepared for any contingency. The craft of artificing lends itself to infinite capability, but in my secondary profession as an "explorer" time is invariably one of the components of an obstacle that makes it tricky to overcome. As mentioned, an artificer has infinite capability but needs a finite amount of time to prepare said ability. Often enough, the obstacles one encounters must be overcome quickly, or one pays for one's failure.

Sometimes, though, someone else pays the price.

Dalia Sunrule has died, and I find myself culpable.


Our journey began in comfort. After many delays, we finally made our rendezvous with the Five Nations rail on it's way towards Karnaath. The delay to the train was caused by a keenly interesting monolith of epic proportions and ancient design. So large was the construction that it took two conjoined cargo cars just to hold it. I sought out the person in charge of the artifact but was rudely rebuffed. It was as if they knew who I was and intentionally ignored me. I spent some minutes looking over the monolith from a forced distance, but then had to join my companions in the ever-growing crowd of the passenger car. The one day delay had affected a great number of travelers, I saw.

Soon enough, we were on our way. It would take four days to reach Karnaath. I spent the time reading and holding intelligent discourse with HU and S1. Each morning, I would instruct S1 in the work he was to accomplish that day, and by evening I had a newly created scroll [ref: CJ-V7-80], wand [ref: CJ-V7-82], or other artifact [ref: CJ-V7-85/91] to add to my collection. I was preparing for all of the eventualities that I could foresee.

I have come to enjoy traveling with my dedicated wright, and will have to start carrying more materials.

I spent time with the DC, also. We had a merry discussion in the dining car about the finale of the temple of lava below Sharn. I was ribbing DA good-naturedly about her attempts to remove the marker stone from the wall. The same attempts that resulted in an cacophonous explosion of stone and dust that left most of us blind and all of us bleeding. It got better, of course, but the explosion absolutely ruined one of my best traveling shirts. Fortunately, the stone was undamaged, and, after a long, long discussion of what to do with the key, we had made our way back home.

It's funny. Over the last few months, DA spent a great deal of time flirting with me. HU and I even had a discussion about it a few weeks back. Whether I should encourage it or discourage it. I even thought to talk to MA about it. DA always wanted to show off what she knew about mechanisms, traps, locks, and the like. She really wasn't very good with them, though, and managed to set off more warding devices than she overcame. It occurs to me now that she was probably trying to show an interest in something that I excel at as a way to get closer to me. I think that she put herself in harms way just to impress me, and I never even thought about it. A shame, too, since day by day our journey was leading us ever closer to some of the most cunning traps we had ever seen. And the last that DA ever would.

The monolith was unloaded in Thrane. I tried to see it moved, but they simply disconnected the cars and moved them into a rail house that stood under heavy guard. We were in Thrane for less than an hour, then on our way again.

Crossing the border into Karnaath was a bureaucratic nightmare. Long lines. Dull, pointless questions. A body cavity search for HU. It was obvious that they were up in arms over some trivial matter. Perhaps it had something to do with the attempt on the king's life when he was down in Sharn last month. I don't know. National politics have always bored me so.

It was in Karnaath, though, that we got our biggest surprise of the journey. IR decided to leave our company. I'm still unsure on the specifics of the situation. I know that there is a group calling themselves the Deadgrim, and that IR was off to join them. Whether this group came to IR, though, or she to them, I am uncertain. We tried to talk her out of leaving, but she would hear none of our arguments. Our split must have been causing IR some distress, for she was trying to get it over with as quickly as possible. I have to admit, I was a bit choked up, myself. IR is the only one of the DC whom I can suredly assert saved my life. On more than one occasion, too.

I presented some fierce arguments as to why she should stay, but she chose not to listen. She was convinced that the Deadgrim were doing more useful work than we were, and that joining them would be better than breaking into an ancient crypt. Come to think of it, though, IR was probably right. History may record that what we were doing was being done for noble causes, but in the end, it was a search for material possessions.

Unfortunately, material possessions are the lifeblood of the artificer. I don't care what she said: this trip was necessary. It is sad, though, that it cost us two true companions. IR and DA will both be sorely missed.

We had very little time to talk to IR before she was gone, but maybe she planned on that. Our rail had a schedule, and so we did too. Karnaath is a rough country -- not the idyllic scenery of Breland -- but the hours passed by quickly. Before long, we were routed south into the Talenta Plains, then to Gatherhold.

Gatherhold. City of halflings. It was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. Somehow, I had imagined myself towering over a town of tiny buildings. But such was not the case. Some of the buildings were small, true, but most were built for regular people. And there were a lot of people.

Well, to be specific, there were a lot of halflings. Turns out we arrived just in time for some tribal gathering of some sort, and there were tribesmen in from all over the plains. They brought their beastly dinosaurs in with them, too. Nasty creatures. They smell like snakes, every one of them. Seriously. Every - single - one of them.

Still, Gatherhold is the center of House Ghallanda, and their hospitality lives up to the reputation. The food was extraordinary, and everyone enjoyed themselves. All of us except ST, that is, who was complaining about having to pay for a meal that he could not eat. Warforged have no sense of humor. No sense of taste either, I suppose.

The next day we left Gatherhold and went north. I would have expected CA to take the lead, as his people are supposed to be skilled plains riders, but, as is appropriate I suppose, the DC turned to me to lead them. Somewhat surprisingly, my natural gift with navigating the complexities of the city translated well to the Talenta Plains, and I guided our little group in direct and safe measure to our goal. It took a day and a half, which is what we expected. Our crude little map was some help, assuredly, but it is the skill of the craftsman that shows his quality, not the tools he uses.

The small lake we had come all this way to find was a placid affair -- quite quaint. We approached from the south. A plateau on the east side -- no larger around than many of the towers of Sharn -- restricted approach from that side. Extending from the plateau around the north side of the lake was a steep and crumbling cliff face. The Vault that we were looking for was supposed to be at the junction between cliff and plateau, and we could just make out the entrance over the distance. Unfortunately, it was that distance that was going to cause us problems. It was occupied.

A... herd -- for I can think of no better term -- of monstrous three-horned dinosaurs grazed on the south side of a long hill, on the other side of which was the large plateau. We could see camp smoke rising from the plateau, and as we watched, three halflings mounted on quick-looking, two-legged dinosaurs came loping around the hill. They circled the herd then disappeared around the hill again. Waiting, we saw them return. It was, perhaps, a twenty minute circuit.

DA used her magic to spy on the plateau. She told us that more halflings lay encamped there, and they had with them a pet of rather unusual qualities. It was a dinosaur, naturally, but larger than anything DA had ever seen. It was the size of a two story building, easily, with massive jaws. It stood on it's two back legs, and had tiny little arms. To be honest, I was having a hard time visualizing such a creature -- it seemed rather comical. DA assured us, however, that it looked quite dangerous.

Given that we were interlopers in the halfling's domain, we thought it unlikely that they would be willing to parley. Our first plan was to drive the herd dinosaurs away. DA conjured an illusion of fire, heat, and smoke. As expected, the animals panicked and ran directly away from the lake. We got our first glimpse of just how fast the riders were. Two raced out to cut off the pack and steer it back around. One of the halflings, however, came around the other side of the hill to investigate what might have startled the herd. DA dropped the illusion just in time, and the poor fellow could find no trigger for the stampede. After a while, the herd and riders calmed down and settled into their previous routine.

Our next plan was to to send scouts towards the cave. While the rest of us hung back, DA and CA crept forward. They were gone for quite some time.

They returned in a hurry, as if DA's dinosaur were right behind them. They were bloodied, both of them, but assured us they were not being followed. As I set about healing them [ref: CJ-V5-12], they told us their tale.

Under a cloak of invisibility, DA and CA had snuck forward to the entrance of the cave. They told us that the entrance is rather tight, but it opens up into a worked chamber very quickly. They had just stepped inside when a roar and a fusillade of spikes washed over them. It was a manticore. They turned and quickly exited the cave, hurrying all the way back to where we had set up camp, some distance off.

Now that we knew all that we were up against, it was child's play to come up with a plan. It was complicated, however, by the fact that no one other than myself was willing to leave the horses behind.

We set out to approach the cave under cover of darkness, when the watchers would be least likely to notice us and the manticore most likely to be settled in for the night. Rather than pitting ourselves against the halfling patrol, however, where our tracks would surely be noticed, I put into my new gorgon-headed cane a spell that would allow each of our horses to walk on water [ref: CJ-V1-12]. Circling around, we came across the lake from the west. DA, riding with CA on his horse, put up a ring of invisibility around us. CA held all of our reigns, so that we would stay close in together. To complete the screen of non-detection, DA put up a zone of silence around us, too.

The plan was to approach the cave from over the water. The melee specialists among us would then go in to the cave to engage the beast. DA would then move her silence spell over the entrance to conceal the signs of our fighting. DA and I would go in next, then HU and XL would come in with the horses when the fight was done. The perfect assault.

I have to remember, though, that whereas my plans always proceed flawlessly in the laboratory, as soon as I bring the DC into the mix, something will go awry. And out in the wild, there are always unknown variables.

The first deviation from the plan was introduced by ST. His mount was uncomfortable moving over open water, and ST had a hard time controlling the beast. In his efforts to control the animal he managed to separate himself from the group. Eventually, too far away from the invisibility that DA provided. We were fortunate that neither patrol nor plateau looked out towards the lake, or they would have seen a warforged out standing in the field of water.

HU was the first to notice ST's disappearance. He tugged on my jacket and showed me where ST had gotten off to. I sighed heavily, and though I could not be heard, I felt better for expressing myself. I was about to reach out to DA when an illusion of an arrow, just under the water, appeared in front of ST and began guiding him back towards us. DA had seen him, then.

I still could neither see nor hear the rest of my companions, but we made our way over to the cave entrance none-the-less. And then we stood there.

And stood there.

Had everyone forgotten the plan? I looked around, searching the area for any sign of disturbance that might have caused CA or ST to hold where they were. It looked clear. ST was just sitting behind us, waiting. HU motioned him forward, but I reminded my comrade that ST could not see him. HU made a comical gesture towards the warforged, and I had to laugh.

Tired of the delay, however, I reached out and found CA. Grabbing his shoulder plate, I nudged him forward, towards the cave. He immediately moved forward, dismounting. A moment later, he was out of the invisibility zone. ST joined him on the shore. A second later, Xl joined them. What was he doing?

The trio disappeared into the cave as HU commiserated with me about the headache of having poor assistants. We never had to deal with this kind of amateur behavior in the foundry. I mentally directed HU to go retrieve the farthest horse, and dismounted.

I stumbled for a moment on the soft, uneven ground of the shore, then tied up my horse. As I finished, though, my eyes fell on a goblin woman hiding in the bushes right next to me. Of all the random variables my master plan had accounted for, seeing a three foot tall goblin woman dressed in a silk kimono over a chain shirt, carrying a longsword, in the middle of the Talenta Plains, had not been one of the possibilities I had accounted for.

She was just watching me, though, so I smiled politely and slowly reached for one of my more potent wands [ref: CJ-V7-55]. The goblin raised her hands in either surrender or challenge -- I really couldn't be sure which. I was about to resolve the situation when ghostly words appeared to my right: DA telling me to move into the cave, letting her deal with the goblin.

If there was one goblin outside, it stood to reason that there could be many more inside. I backed slowly away from the woman in front of me, then turned and hurried into the cave. I am sure my companions needed me.

The fight inside was raging. We stood in a large, semi-rectangular chamber trisected by a row of columns. XL and CA stood opposing the manticore, while ST moved outside the fight, shooting beams of energy at his enemy. I saw no other foes. As soon as I cleared the silence zone, I let loose with two scorching rays [ref: CJ-V5-43] and burned the beast terribly. It roared. Manticores are quite large!

ST had said something about an enemy hiding in the corner. I turned to look in time to see the goblin girl race around from behind me and to one side of the chamber. "Deal with her," indeed! I wondered if DA were all right. It wasn't until she was deep in the room, though, that the goblin drew her sword. It was clean, so I stopped worrying about DA.

The goblin introduced herself as Gwaenna Goldenbrow (GW), and called to me by name. Actually, she called me "Artemis d'Cannith", but it was close enough. I corrected her on my nomenclature, and told her that we could talk once the danger was over.

Right behind GW, however, came DA. I was ready to direct DA's attention to the manticore, who was in the process of applying tooth and claw to CA, but as soon as she cleared the silence zone she charmed GW. That was rather rude. And I told her so. Still, an enchanter is going to do what enchanters do. We argued for a moment.

ST had time to get one more shot in before XL leaped under the manticore's wing to deliver a powerful thrust with the butt of his spear. The cuts, bruises, and abrasions proved too much for the creature, and it finally succumbed to it's wounds, collapsing noisily onto the ground.

DA and I were still discussing the goblin situation when ST turned and fired his energy towards GW. An ugly creature like a thick-bodied snake with a clutch of powerful tentacles around it's beaked mouth squealed and fell dead. GW had the good nature to thank ST for killing the creature behind her before racing across the room to slice another of the creatures in two. CA leapt to action, and killed another. XL sat down where he was and looked over his wounds.

Finally at peace, we settled down to introductions and explanations. I went around the room applying what healing I could to the DC while we interrogated GW. HU, meanwhile, had started to bring the horses in. GW told us that she was from Sharn, but I had already gathered as much. The common tongue was obviously not her native language, and I had detected the tell-tale sign of a Morgrave education in her speech. She did not know we would be here, but recognized both HU and myself as soon as she saw me. The name KA came up during the discussion. GW knew the name well, and vowed that she would never have anything to do with such a villain. Good marks in her favor.

As I had already gathered, GW had, in fact, been a student at Morgrave University. She was something of a historian, specializing in pre-Dhakaani history. I thought that odd for a goblin, but did not comment on the matter. Once I was assured that she was not here for the same dragonshard that we were after, we agreed to travel together. This place was obviously dangerous. So long as she did an equal part of the work, though, she would get an equal part of whatever we found. Minus the dragonshard, of course.

With that out of the way (even DA was mollified by this point), we continued our exploration. The chamber we stood in was remarkably bare of ornamentation. Smooth walls and columns were marred only by the crude addition of several hobgoblin sarcophagi. Crypts that were obviously added to a pre-existing structure, and had been looted many times.

Beyond the manticore's nest was a destroyed doorway. Just on the other side of that was the body of an elf, perhaps three weeks dead. It was obvious that the manticore had gnawed upon the dead elf some, but it was still in decent shape. All things considered.

We searched the body and came up with his travel papers. He bore the sign of the Deathsgate Guild -- the same guild that KA works with. This, then, was one of the agents he had sent to take the dragonshard. The guild is no ally of ours, so we took what things of value we found and moved on. The hallway the body occupied turned and opened into another large, rectangular chamber. Standing vigilant before the chamber was a massive statue, a good twelve feet tall, of a smooth-skinned human in a hawk mask. His arms were crossed over his chest and in one hand he held a crooked staff. In the other was a massive dragonshard. We were in the right place.

GW and I stepped up to examine the statue. A wailing moan from behind us drew our attention back. A ghost had risen up from the corpse of the ex-adventurer, and it was angry! With nothing else to do for it, the DC laid in to the creature. It touched XL once, it looked like, but between ST's blade and my wand [ref: PJ-V3-72], we dispersed the creature. Once I had verified that everyone was okay, we continued our study.

I scanned the statue and room for magic, and told everyone that there was something at the far end of the chamber. Warning them to tread carefully, I returned to my study of the statue. Though old, it had held up well to the ages.

DA moved into the room going one way around the statue, and XL moved the other direction. Somebody triggered something, unfortunately, and the statue sprung to life. Spinning around and sweeping it's arms out, it clobbered GW, ST, and I, hitting ST the hardest. I was hurt badly, but ST was knocked clean off his feet and slammed into a wall. What a brilliant device!

Simultaneously, DA and XL found cunning devices of their own. In the near corner, a dozen churning blades appeared and sliced deeply into DA. XL narrowly avoided the same fate in the other corner, but managed to dive away in time. That movement set off another trap, but fortunately XL was one foot farther to the right than would otherwise be dangerous. CA, hero that he is, dove forward to pull DA from the blades. Unfortunately, that set off the statue again, and we were all struck heavily. ST had just managed to get to his feet again, too.

I yelled for everybody to please stop moving, and tried to figure out what was triggering the statue. I immediately found a locked over-ride mechanism. Instead of moving into a position where I could disable the mechanism, I called to DA to use a knock spell against it. With a click, the trap turned off.

Stepping back slowly, I advised my group to not move into any area that had not been searched for traps. After applying some healing wands [ref: CJ-V5-13], I began my search. DA was searching up the right wall, XL up the left.

My priority were the mechanisms already in action. They were making such a commotion. A quick search turned up the triggering device for each, and after a minute or so, all of them were quite again. They disappeared into the floor seamlessly. Brilliant!

DA and XL made it to the far side of the room without finding anything new. DA called out that the magic I had detected earlier was a trap of some kind, so I made my way over to her.

GW, meanwhile, went to the pit that was near the middle of the room, but off-center a bit. It looked like a pre-sprung trap. I was walking by when a ghost rose up suddenly, moaning piteously. With blinding speed, GW drew her sword and struck the creature. Fire danced along the blade and the ghost vanished, completely destroyed. With barely a word, GW cast another spell into her sword.

A spellcaster? How surprising! We spoke for a moment about spells before she attempted to divine the presence of magic down in the pit. I looked down to see the desiccated body of another tomb-robber, impaled on a series of nasty looking spikes. She said that there were, indeed, magic items on the creature, and prepared to climb down. Warning her against other traps within the pit, I tried to lift the body with a wand [ref: CJ-V6-40]. It was too heavy, even after almost a month of deterioration. ST pulled out a line and grapple hook, and I guided the hook down with another charge from the wand. Once it was secured to the body, ST pulled it up. A quick search confirmed that this was another member of the Deathsgate Guild. He had some minor magic on him and a few coins.

CA ran past us in a rush, crying out. DA had fallen, seeming dead. We rushed to her side, and she was alive, but paralyzed. Poison, perhaps? I told CA to watch her and went back to the trap DA had been pulled out of. Sure enough, a sticky black substance on some of the blades hinted at poison. I checked through my wands, scrolls, and potions, but I had nothing to deal with that kind of injury.

Fortunately, IR had the foresight to send a restorative wand along with us when we parted company. It was the most powerful healing wand we had, so I tried it. Before that, though, I had HU apply one of my antitoxins to her. Just in case, I told him. Applying the wand, I activated it.

DA's color returned immediately, and she began to move. Thank goodness!

We turned our attention to the magic trap on the far end of the room. It was a ward of some kind, triggered by a proximity alarm attached to the doorway ahead. We couldn't approach the doorway to disable it, and couldn't move on any other way. Someone else had already tried: the body of another Deathsgate adventurer lay before the door, his lockpicks still hanging from the lock.

Using my search wand [ref: CJ-V7-29], I discovered all of the traps within twenty feet of my location. There were the two stones that represented our traps, but the corners of the room were trapped, also. Spears, if I wasn't mistaken. Pulling a different wand, I devised a plan. It would take masterful timing, though. DA -- every adventurous -- agreed to it.

We each set ourselves up as close to the warding stones as we could, with GW behind us scanning the area for magic. I warned everyone else back, but ST opted to stand immediately behind me. On cue, DA and I attempted to dispel the wards, me with my wand [ref: CJ-V7-8] and her with her magic. GW called out that we were both successful.

I raced forward, tools in hand, and immediately got to work. Before our plan had been set in motion, I had infused both DA and myself with greater skill in trap-breaking. I hoped it would be enough.

I was rushing, because I knew the ward would only be down for moments. With elation, I finished just as GW cried out that the magic was active again. I was a second too late.

The air in the room changed as it was suddenly displaced. Immediately behind me was a magnificent warforged battle titan. It was beautiful -- gleaming adamantine, red glowing eyes, and an axe with a blade edge longer than I was tall. It raised it's axe up high and in a mechanical voice intoned "Artemis Cannith, you will pay for the enslavement of my race!"

How did it know my name? The answer was obvious. It didn't. I knew my name, and this was not a construct of metal and wood, but of my own mind. An illusion. I recognized it for what it was and it's blade passed harmlessly through me. With a muttered "Bastard!", it disappeared. Strange. I didn't think titans swore....

I turned to see DA standing there ghostly white. She had obviously seen her own nightmare coming to kill her. She must have gotten the better of it, though, because she stood there unharmed. She turned, and winked at me. I smiled and nodded, gesturing invitingly to the traps behind us.

GW told us that the magic was gone again. Now that it was triggered, I was sure that it was gone for good. Just to be safe, though, I reached over and turned my spanlock a quarter turn to the right, disabling the trap. Taking up my tools, I moved to the nearest spear trap. Disabling that one was a joke.

Unfortunately, DA can't take a joke. Spears shot

Wow. That was in poor taste. My apologies, DA.

DA had troubles disarming her own trap. Perhaps she was still shaken from her illusory encounter. Maybe she was rushing again, so that she could show me that she was just as good as I. Whatever the reason, her trap sprung and nearly a dozen steel spears launched out of the wall. Four of them hit her, and two barely missed CA, who was unfortunately also in the path. I leapt over to her, and judicious application of a healing wand got her back in fine condition. I made sure everyone was feeling fine before we continued on.

The last of our obstacles out of the way, we moved over the the body in front of the door. Right on queue, a ghost rose up to terrify us. GW was in position to deal with this one, too, and even ST stood ready. The ghost managed to hit GW, but did not survive past that. We sent it to it's final resting place.

GW had already seen the magic this man held, and we stowed that away. He had a little bit of money and the symbol of the Deathsgate guild.

While the DC were separating magic items from the corpse (have I ever described how grisly it is to pull magic boots from a decaying corpse?), I turned my attention to the door. Obviously, something bad had happened to this man while he tried to open it. I searched the area and there it was, like a huge sign with bold red letters: TRAP! He had missed this? How could a total incompetent have gotten so far?

I shut off the trap then bypassed the lock. I was about to shoulder open the door when DA offered to do it. Shrugging, I stepped back. She put the mage hand around her neck and pointed at the door. It resisted at first, but then opened. Dust, and the still air of ages past blew into the room. We were now moving into an area that man had not tread in thousands of years. I was very excited!

With another check to make sure everyone was in top condition, we moved forward. DA was up front with me, helping me search for traps. It was an arduous process, and the dust was soiling every peice of clothing I wore, but it seemed necessary. The traps in the out room had been so cunning and masterful that we were taking no chances.

We were in a tight corridor, not even wide enough to spread one's arms. The hallway angled off to the right, continued fifty or so feet, then angled off to the right again. It took a couple of minutes for us to get to the next corner. We were being cautious.

Around the corner, the hallway continued before turning right again. We had been going downward since first entering the hallway. No one else had mentioned it, so I just assumed that everyone else already recognized it. ST drew attention to the fact at this point though, and I just turned and looked at him. HU tok'd at me, and I shook my head. We got back to work and continued searching the hall.

We didn't find anything interesting until we got around the next corner. The corridor opened up into a wide, long room filled with statues. They looked like warriors, all of them. Just like the outer statue, they were human-seeming, with hawk masks; each man standing twelve feet tall and facing the entrance that we stood at. There was a narrow walk-way in between them. We moved cautiously into the room, searching for traps or anything else of interest. There was nothing. Out the other side of the room, the corridor continued, sloping downward and angling off to the left.

And this is where I made my fatal mistake. We had come what seemed a long way without encountering any traps -- nor anything else of interest. Except for the statuary in the room behind us, there was nothing of interest in here. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all smooth stone, unadorned in any way. I rationalized that one traps one's front door, not one's living room. We moved forward again, but I was much more casual in my searching.

From the statue room, left, down a short corridor, and left again. We were still moving down. I paused to search then moved five or ten feet forward. With a squeal and a crash, a metal portcullis slammed down behind me. I realized I wouldn't make it to the far side, so didn't even bother jumping for it.

The sound of the slamming portcullis died down, to be replaced by the sound of my companions, shouting to find out what had happened. We were spaced apart some, and part of the DC were still around the corner. I tried to calm everyone down (HU seemed particularly agitated), and asked DA to look for an opening mechanism on her side. I searched where I stood, but found nothing.

DA found the mechanism and started working. A sound like rushing air -- or waves pulling back from a pebbled beach -- came to me, and I pulled out a wand [ref: CJ-V5-42]. Looking down the corridor, I had no chance to react as a swarm of coin-sized beetles scuttled into view. There were millions of them!

They were on me before I could do anything, biting and gnawing and burrowing into flesh and gear. I screamed. Almost as quickly, they continued forward, passing through the portcullis easily to swarm over my companions.

I fought the creatures off as best I could, and dove away from them. Coming up, I activated my wand, strafing beams of fire across their mass. I managed to score one beam into a pile of creatures swarming up and over DA. The other hit one or two, but the creatures adroitly avoided it.

Screams and swearing filled the hall. DA, trooper that she was, was still trying to get the gate raised. I told her not to worry about it -- just get away! I heard the pop and explosion of alchemist fire again and again as my friends used the only weapons they had to hand that could affect these creatures. Two more scorching rays lit up the hallway coming from who I could only assume was GW.

DA finally stood to run, but was having trouble fighting off the swarm. I shifted my vision to see what HU was seeing, and it was chaos. Pure pandemonium. GW cast a spell and one hand glowed with stored electrical energy. ST fought as best he could, but neither he nor CA had a weapon that could affect these creatures. XL had already scrambled all the way back to the statuary room, and was looking to climb one of the hawk men.

I tried to visualize the shape of the statuary room. I built in my mind a blueprint of the corridors between where I stood and the center of that room, taking into account the angle of descent and measurements that I had seen but not actually measured. I mentally ordered HU into the statue room and pulled out a wand [ref:CJ-V7-67], hoping it would be close enough. I displaced.

It's the first time I've actually used that particular wand since I created it three weeks ago. It worked flawlessly. With no sense of movement whatsoever, I suddenly stood where HU once stood, and I knew that he was on the far side of the portcullis. One more mental command sent HU up to that doorway, holding vials of alchemist fire through ST on the other side.

DA screamed and I saw her stagger towards the room, smashing a vial of alchemist fire against her own chest. She was distorted and oddly formed, a patchwork of ripped flesh, burns, and smooth skin, all of it bubbling and puckering unnaturally. I realized with horror that some of the beetles had gotten under her skin, and were burrowing through her living flesh. And not just a couple. Hundreds of them. I almost retched at the sight.

A discharge of electricity from out in the hallway announced the continued movement of the swarm as an explosion of beetle corpses pattered into the doorway moments before the swarm itself. DA staggered forward and fell, propelled more by the wave of tiny creatures than her own strength. I leapt forward to catch her but was struck by the physical force of the swarm, still in their thousands. The flesh-eating creatures did their work, and I, too, fell, overcome by loss of blood. The sear of alchemist fire and another flash of GW's electricity was the last thing to cut through the darkness.

I awoke to that strange surge of energy that always comes from powerful healing. I lay on a blanket of dead beetles, still sizzling and popping from the electricity and fire. I remembered seeing XL in my last moment coming down to splash DA with a healing potion. He stood over me now with the empty bottle of another. Only seconds had passed.

DA was alive still, but just barely. So much damage had been done to her little body that it was amazing she was still struggling. XL's healing potion had managed to counter some of the continuous damage that the swarm inside of her was doing, but that just gave them more to feed on. I didn't think I had anything that could save her, but I had never been trained for this sort of thing. IR had.

And maybe she had given us what we needed?

As quick as I could, I drew IR's wand. The most powerful healing we had. I pressed the tip into DA's convulsing sternum and pushed against it, willing the magic to work. Suddenly, the magic in the wand was gone. I had done something wrong. The magic had failed. The wand did not activate.

The wand didn't fail. I did.

DA's body expanded suddenly, and I had an instant of hope -- the briefest moment where I thought that the wand had actually worked -- but the truth was far different. And far, far more horrifying.

With a final surge, the beetles inside of DA burst forward, consuming every last bit of flesh, blood, bone, and hair. Bloated, perhaps, the tiny flesh-eaters scattered in every direction, leaving us with nothing left of Dalia but the shredded equipment she wore into this place.

She wasn't just dead. She was gone. Wholly and irrevocably. Utterly consumed."


. An Excerpt from the Personal Journal of Artemis Heuw Cannith, Volume 7



"Robe of Useful Items: window, door, pit"
"Wand: Dimension Leap"
"Wand: Benign Transposition"
"Scroll: Stone Shape"
"Infusion: spell (any above)"
"Infusion: spell (Gaseous Form)"
"Infusion: Swarmbane Armor - Dalia"


. An Excerpt from the "List of items I could have used to save Dalia" by Artemis Heuw Cannith

Caelen writes from Talenta, part 2

This crypt is proving to be a challenge. I regret Kylara's decision to leave us. We could use her magic and Valirdryn's battle skills. We've acquired a new companion but I don't know yet if she'll prove a worthy successor, although she does seem talented in both magic and warrior skills.

After nightfall we made our way across the lake cloaked in spells. I was the first to dismount on the narrow strip of land before the crypt entrance. I made my way cautiously into the crypt with the warforged and changeling at my heels. The manticore pierced me with several of its tail spikes before I could get out of range.

I took cover behind a pillar and drew a sunrod from my pack. The changeling ran to the opposite side of the antechamber and followed my example. It gots its light out quicker and the manticore turned its attention to the changeling. As I made my way behind the beast a creature like an octopus attacked me but I shrugged it off.

When I flanked the beast it turned on me. The changeling managed to get below it when it reared up and stabbed it through the heart. After it fell more of the octopus beasts emerged. Then the rest of our group entered the crypt and I discovered a female goblin had been spying on us. While the human and Dalia argued about whether to trust her, I took care of several more of the octopus creatures.

The antechamber didn't hold anything of value. The hobgoblin sarcophagi were empty. The doorway to the next chamber had been destroyed. We found an elven corpse in the corridor, not one of our people. When we passed it by a ghost suddenly rose out of it and attacked us. I was sorry I didn't still have Talaenkara. My blades couldn't touch the ghost. My companions had to destroy it.

The next room held nothing but a tall statue of a hawk-headed being and a pit in the floor. Another corpse lay in front of an intact door at the opposite end of the room. There was a body impaled on a spike at the bottom of the pit. When the goblin looked down at it another ghost rose up, but it was no threat.

The room turned out not to be so empty after we entered. The statue swung an arm and knocked over the warforged, and a mass of spinning blades came out of the walls and floor to wound Dalia. I jumped across the room to yank her away from the blades. Then she and the human found the trigger to stop the statue, though not before it struck me a blow.

Dalia found the key to turn off the first group of spinning blades, but while she was looking for the trigger for the others she suddenly collapsed. I picked her up and the human treated her poisoned wounds. Then she and the human and the goblin turned to examine the door.

Suddenly two huge shadowy shapes appeared between them and where I stood. They vanished as fast as they appeared. The mages explained that it had been some spell intended to terrify them, but they'd recognized it for what it was. Evidently the corpse on the floor hadn't been as clever.

Of course the corpse by the door had to have a ghost like the others. Then a trap pierced me and Dalia with spears. She took the worst blow. After the human treated us we proceeded through the door. It appeared no one else had been able to open it previously.

Beyond the door we found a room filled with tall statues of warriors bearing strange weapons. A very narrow hallway led away from the chamber. The human forged out ahead of us and was cut off by a descending grate. I couldn't get close enough to help the warforged try to lift it. Then a huge swarm of beetles came rushing down the passage toward us.

The beetles crawled all over us, burrowing into our flesh. Dalia was trying to trip the gate mechanism but had to give up and retreat from the beetles. I threw a flask of wizard's fire at them, as did the warforged, while behind me the goblin fried them with lightning.

The human cast some spell that caused his homonculus to swap places with him. He retreated to the statue room. Then his walking chest handed more wizard's fire to me through the grate.

While the warforged and I were dropping flames on the beetles at our feet, our companions moved into the statue room. I heard the goblin shout that the human had fallen and Dalia was gone. I thought at first she meant Dalia had gone invisible again. But when the beetles were dispersed I went back to the statue room to find that the beetles had consumed the gnome woman, leaving nothing behind but a heap of her possessions.

To be continued...
_____________________

Player's note: Farewell to Dalia. We didn't know her long, but we enjoyed working with her.

Quips & Quotes:

DH: "There are sarcophagis in here."
Jubilee: "There better be some sarcophagals, too!"

Jubilee: "I have gold eyes, thank you very much!"
Zora: "How much gold?"
Jubilee: "Hey, I'm still using those!"

Devo: "Hutch is going to slowly... stay where he is."

Devo: "I don't know that I have a spell that will expel beetles. I don't have a Yoko spell."