the Kyri Chronicles - last updated 22 Oct - Page 4

**Plane Sailing** · 28th January 2002, 10:45 AM

On the way they are ambushed by another Mendonnan, who attempts an assassination attempt with a hand-crossbow - he strikes Auriel in the back of the neck, but she turned at just the right moment and avoided death (although the sneak attack damage hurt). Missile fire is swapped back and forth between the party and the assassin on the rooftop until Auriel changes shape into a giant eagle, flies up and grapples him, causing him to lose his balance and crash sickeningly to the ground. When the company approach the severely wounded assassin he quickly draws a knife and gives himself the coup de gras. These assassins obviously take themselves pretty seriously!

They follow through their plan to throw off pursuit, and make their way back to the Bell tower, where they eventually meet up with Crail who had got tired of waiting for them and went exploring again for a short while. Auriel decides that enough is enough, and feeling the siren call of lycanthropy coursing through her blood, she transforms once more into a great bird and flies off into the night, without any explanation. Come morning, Azrin and Alkanar pray for magic, and it is granted them - and Alkanar dispels the mental befuddlement which rests upon the Baron, while receiving additional healing himself from the others. He also identifies the scimitar which Felgar had been using as one of the twelve “scimitars of suliman”, undead bane weapons forged several hundred years ago. Lysander decides to use this as his main weapon for the future.

Alkanar also challenges Lysander about the displeasure Asura has with him, over the matter of the bookkeeper. At first Lysander feels that his actions were justified, but as Alkanar warns him that he is on the brink of having Asura’s grace withdrawn from him at any time unless he makes atonement, he repents, and receives atonement from Alkanar’s hands.

The Baron is quickly brought up to speed with events, and he has only misty memories of the last few weeks. Nonetheless he is determined to take control of the situation quickly, and commanding the party to escort him, he returns with them to the villa. He is quick to take control of the guards once more, who tell him about “attackers in the night” who “killed both the guards” (funny, one of the guards was left alive…), although “one of them was killed, up on the mezzanine” - the body of Ynnsfeardh is still there.

Quickly the Baron summons one of his trusted wizards from a recent exile, and within short order is surrounded by glowing magical protections, to keep his mind clear and safe from control. He commands his heralds to summon the populace, and delivers a stirring speech - claiming that he had been replaced by an impostor, but that has been dealt with by these heroes - Lysander, Azrin and Crail. All charges against the temple of Asura are dropped, all militia units are to be disbanded.

Later, as a personal reward, he presents the company with the deeds to Mithril Manor, one of the enclosed manor houses in the Silver Hill area that used to be owned by a notable wizard in years gone by.

In addition, he mentions that their help would be valuable in tracking down and destroying any remaining fiendish creatures which had slipped through the gate into this neighbourhood - and Crail can’t help thinking of the huge Carnosaur which he nearly ran into...

(Multiple character deaths coming up! Stay tuned!)

**Plane Sailing** · 28th January 2002, 05:48 PM

nb - I just did a quick calculation and was horrified to see that my storyhour has the lowest amount of viewings per post of ANY storyhour on the boards! Help! What can I do to encourage people to start looking? Rename it to "Meepo and the Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil with ideas copied from Piratecat"

They decide that the first thing to do is to track down the Carnosaur which is reportedly wreaking havoc amongst nearby farmsteads. While K’tan goes off to make contact with his superiors in Cadlan, Azrin’s research suggests that it is probably difficult to hurt with fire or normal weapons. Lysander, Crail and Azrin decide to hire riding horses and track it down. Gathering information amongst the local farmers quickly identifies the general location, and in the wet mud after several days of light rain it is easy to find the tracks of the huge creature. It is followed to a large grove, and the party wait about 200’ downwind of the grove, dismounting from their horses and readying their missile weapons.

Peering into the depths of the grove, Crail can just make out two glowing red eyes - and then suddenly the huge beast charges out of the trees, splintering branches and running straight for them - within the space of a dozen heartbeats it is amongst them and starting to attack, having shrugged off the arrows with ease!
Azrin casts “shield other” on Lysander, and then tries to target the creature with a “sound burst”, but succeeds only in damaging every one of his friends and not affecting the creature at all!

Lysander slashes at it with the scimitar and causes some damage - but in return it grabs him up with its jaws, crushing him and lifting him off his feet. Next round Crail darts in and strikes completely ineffectually, his rapier skittering off its magically hardened scales. Lysander struggles in the grip of the beast as it chews him, hurting him more severely. He is really thankful for the spell Azrin cast earlier, although Azrin himself is starting to look a little worse for wear.

Lysander suddenly breaks free, and drops to the ground ready to continue fighting. Crail is attacked by the creature and grabbed too, and in only a couple of rounds is severely wounded, so he feigns death and is dropped. While Lysander continues slashing away at the creature it viciously bites Azrin, whose vain attempt at a stunning attack fails, and the priests luck at last runs out - the teeth pierce his heart and he cries out and dies.

Lysander calls upon Asura to bless his blade, yet still the critical hits elude him, and the creature continues to take its toll of him. Thankfully much of the injury it would have inflicted is still magically diverted into the body of Azrin, writhing like a bloodied puppet on the grass under the vicarious impacts while Lysander’s continued onslaught starts to bite deeply into the fiendish carnosaur.

Crail thinks he sees his chance, and quickly whips out the shocking wand and applies it to the creature - but horror of horrors he rolls really badly on his “use magic device” and attempts to use it by the wrong end...

There is a shower of purple sparks and then the young rogue is hurled back smoking in the churned up mud, to move no more.

Suddenly Lysander manages a killing blow, sliding his scimitar into the groin of the creature which, exhausted and bleeding, crashes down and dies. He immediately goes to the aid of his two fellows and finds them both beyond the help of his bandages or faith. With a heavy heart he tracks down and recaptures their horses, places his dead comrades upon them, and heads back to Knightsbridge.

As he approaches the west gate, there is a heroes reception waiting for them, but which goes deathly quiet as he rides past with his silent cargo. Several dozen people follow as he makes his way to the remains of the temple, and acolytes take the bodies inside...

**Plane Sailing** · 29th January 2002, 02:49 PM

Alkanar is horrified to see two of his rescuers slain, and decides that since they helped rescue him from a living death, he is honour bound on this occasion to deliver them from death itself. His recent experiences have drawn him closer to Asura, and he informs Lysander that on this coming Holyday he will perform the rite of resurrection.
Lysander rests, prays and ponders for the remaining few days, and then on Holyday amidst a terrific celebration and time of worship, the power of Asura breaths life once more into Azrin and young Crail.

After a few more days recuperation, the company start to turn their mind to the location of the mysterious “moathouse”, a centre of elemental evil which was mentioned in the diary of the Blessed. They have one bearing upon it, but ideally they need to get another line on its location. Their thoughts turn once again to the swampy castle that belonged to Radeem, and all of the hints in the castle and the surrounding area that he was associated with elemental earth magic. They decide that they will have to travel back to Oakhurst and the castle in the swamp, to check out some of the wall hanging maps which still remained in the castle dungeons operations room.

Travel to Oakhurst is uneventful, and they reach the village on Waxday, to a warm welcome from the locals. Many people are worried about rumours that they have heard about Knightsbridge these last few weeks, and are looking for confirmation about events. They stay a comfortable night in the inn and then press on in the morning up the river and to the swamp.

Swamps of Doom, redux

They manage to cross the swamps without any serious problems - Crail nearly fallsinto a mudhole, but his lightning reactions pulled him back just in time. They find the trapdoor once more, but nobody seems to have the skeletal key that would open it, so Crail starts trying to pick the lock. It is difficult, and it takes quite some time - just as he is clicking the final tumblers into place a whirring of wings is heard - it must be the local stirge flocks! Quickly they open the trapdoor, get down the steps and close it behind them.

The catacombs are still cold and empty, with a faint sound of trickling water. They investigate the remains of the maps, and Azrin is able to determine information about the site of the moathouse, marked as an ally in those ancient days of battle.
Remembering the sealed doors in the dragons room, the party decide that they want to get through to the other side of it - they deliberately collapse part of the balcony to get hold of an old column which they start to use as a battering ram. Azrin calls upon Asura to grant great might to Lysander, and the others provide assistance with the ram. The sound of stone on stone thunders through the room as they chip away at the stone door time after time.

Finally, with a shuddering crash the doors burst - inwards towards them! A wall of water, mud and shattered stone sweeps them all across the room, hurting everyone. They pick themselves up and look at a mud and water filled tunnel leading out into the swamp - this must have been the dragons entry and exit in days of old.

Feeling foolish that all that effort was expended on a dead end, the company decides to retreat back, having achieved their aim. The only part of these tunnels not examined is the strange circular corridor with the thaumaturgic circle. Crail is dead-set against investigating further, believing that the circle may have been left by the invading elves, but as they pass the entrance to that passage they can hear a soft lament being sung in an elvish language. Azrin is intrigued and calls out in the ancient Imperial tongue, and a female voice responds joyfully...

**Plane Sailing** · 30th January 2002, 11:08 AM

“Hello, who is it? Has Radeem sent you to free me? It is sooo long since I had someone to talk to!”

Azrin engages her in conversation, providing a translation for the others - She is Thurra, apparently Radeems lover who has been imprisoned here by the “protective measures” which Radeem took “for her benefit”. She can’t believe that Radeem has been dead for centuries, and her querulous voice keeps coming back to the theme of Radeem and his love for her. And will they come and set her free. Please?

After much discussion, the party decide that they will take the risk of breaking the circle. They still don’t know whether it was focussed inwards or outwards, but now is the time to find out!
They brush some of the sand away, and then make their way around the circular corridor. Round the other side of the circle they find a couple of steps up to an archway, and beyond is a room decked out in marble and fur, with a large four poster bed, a blazing fire, a marble bath and some tables and low chairs. A fair haired woman sits on the bed, apparently packing a few things together,

“Thank you, thank you!” Thurra cries, turning round towards them. The long fair hair falls back from her forehead, revealing two small white horns...

Lysander is getting a faint prickling sensation of evil at the back of his neck, but is at a loss about what to do here - this woman doesn’t appear to be a threat, is clearly not as evil as the fiends which they have recently encountered... he waits to see what transpires.

Continuing to talk with Azrin, she wonders if there is anything she can give as a reward for freeing her so that she can go and find her beloved Radeem. He can’t think of anything, unless there is perhaps some knowledge that she can pass on. She looks at him shyly and explains that she knows 438 techniques for making love, and she would be happy to share some of the practical experience with him.

Oo-er.

Crail and the others shake their heads, not knowing what to make of the situation, yet Azrin is extremely tempted. They ask her if she is a succubus, or if she is hungry (“no, she says. I’m not”) and ask Azrin if he knows what happens to people who get seduced by succubi... In the end, Azrin decides that it is an opportunity that he is never like to have again, and agrees. The others wait just outside the room, waiting to rush up to the four-poster’s curtains if they hear any screams of terror.

Some time later, the exhausted but pleased Azrin opens the curtains on the bed. It has been a mind-blowing experience for him. Thurra lovingly strokes his hair, and purrs

“Thanks for helping me, Azrin - I really appreciate it. Don’t forget me, and be nice to your son when you meet him”

Then disappears in a puff of acrid smoke.

gothwalk · 30th January 2002, 04:49 PM

This is great reading - looking forward to more posts, and indeed seeing what Azrin's son turns out like!

Drew.

**Plane Sailing** · 30th January 2002, 07:55 PM

Many thanks for the encouragement, Drew!

You won't be seeing the Son for a little while yet, but in a very short time the adventurers will be heading off for a little "return to the temple of elemental evil", if you know what I mean!

Cheers

**Plane Sailing** · 31st January 2002, 02:28 PM

Stunned, the characters leave the room and the ruined dungeon, making their way back across the swamp and down the road over the next few days to get back into Knightsbridge.

Time passes - Azrin and Lysander are involved in the rebuilding of the ruined parts of the Asuran temple, Crail starts sorting out their affairs at Mithril Manor - tidying up and looking for the hire of domestic staff. K’tan goes off to meet an old friend of his who is being sent down from Cadlan to help with the... problems.

During the re-cataloguing of the library Azrin finds some unusual references to a “Sword Saint” - an ancient group of superlative swordsmen whose dedication to Asura was mirrored in their dedication to their scimitars but who died out centuries ago. The strange thing is that this was in a local history book, from only 30 years ago. It could be that the code of the sword saints is still alive...

Meanwhile, Azrin has been having a series of disturbing dreams. In his dreams it is almost as if he can see the mighty Asura covered in myriad silver threads. While he watches more threads are slowly being laid down, slowly binding Asura in some way. What does it mean? He prays earnestly, but receives no answer.

After a couple of weeks, K’tan arrives with his old friend M’ir, a Mage-Seer who should be able to help them in the choices they have to make as they investigate the old moat house and the trail of the Blessed which leads out there.

========
At this point in time, the Company look like this:

Lysander, Jaz5/Sor1
Crail, Rog3/Ftr2
Azrin, Clr4/Mnk1
K’tan, Mage: Savant 5
M’ir, Mnk1/Mage: Seer 4

The roster of the dead looks like this:
Miranda, Rog4/Sor1 (deceased)
Graculous, Ftr5 (deceased)
Blodwyn, Clr2 (deceased)
Ynnsfeardh, Mnk4 (deceased)
Auriel, Dru5 (left)
Kieran, Ftr2 (deceased)
T’kel, Wiz1 (deceased)
Sula, Rgr2* (deceased)

The characters are just about to start out on the "Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil" - and I'll probably start a new thread for this new phase of the Kyri Chronicles, starting by giving a little character outline of each of the party.

Now where *were* those notes?

**Plane Sailing** · 15th February 2002, 11:41 PM

This is a continuation of the Kyri Chronicles part I, which covers the Sunless Citadel, Speaker in Dreams and a number of Dungeon modules.

You can find information about my campaign world of Kyri there, or you can check it out in more detail on my web page http://www.thewhitetower.co.uk/frp

In part I we have seen the following deaths:
Miranda, Rog4/Sor1 (deceased)
Graculous, Ftr5 (deceased)
Blodwyn, Clr2 (deceased)
Ynnsfeardh, Mnk4 (deceased)
Auriel, Dru5 (left)
Kieran, Ftr2 (deceased)
T’kel, Wiz1 (deceased)
Sula, Rgr2* (deceased)

The Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil has a reputation as a bit of a meat grinder, so there may be many more to follow.

The current party composition is as follows:

Lysander, Jaz5/Sor1
Crail, Rog3/Ftr2
Azrin, Clr4/Mnk1
K’tan, Mage: Savant 5
M’ir, Mnk1/Mage: Seer 4

Here is a little information about each of them:

Lysander. A Jazumai from the nation of Singh, he has been brought up since his youth in one of the temple training barracks. From his very earliest days he was selected because of the touch of Asura on his life and he grew up strong and charismatic. As he turned 18 his leaders sent him through the pass into Caran. He was given responsibility to take the name of Asura amongst the infidels and to support the growing network of churches to the one true god amongst the Southlander nations.

Lysander takes his faith and his mission seriously. He tends to mentally categorise the ordinary people he meets into those who are “of the flock” and are to be protected, and those “who may become of the flock” and should be encouraged to faith in Asura. His current base of operations is the temple in Knightsbridge, part of the nation of Lythau.

As he has gained in experience and responsibility he has spent much time studying only scriptures and prophecies, and he is worried by the themes that he has uncovered - themes not spoken of ordinarily in church, prophecies that talk of an ancient sleeper awakening, an ancient evil waiting to reclaim the land.

Crail. He grew up as a street urchin in Knightsbridge, hanging around in the disreputable areas around SouthSpur and running with the gangs. He always had a bit of a sense of honour about him, and when there was a change at the head of the thieves guild - an outsider called Squim took over the local guild and with several henchmen - all with long, greasy black hair - a much more violent atmosphere started to permeate the guilds activities. Crail wasn't too sure that he liked the way that things were going, and decided that it was time to leave the town. How to do this in safety though?

He had been hearing stories on the grapevine about Lysander and his fellow adventurers, he approached Lysander with a proposal that he works with them awhile.

It proved to be a bigger change than he had expected, when one day he became deeply involved in a theological conversation with Lysander and ended up converting to the worship of Asura - much to his own surprise.

He is still headstrong and likely to act first, think later. It has got him into bad trouble before and is likely to again.

Azrin. A priest from the nation of Singh. Slow and fat, quick to turn to his books. Azrin was a librarian in the Singharese city of Tarshai, and planned to spend his whole life digging through books and avoiding people. Occasionally he would write reports about his findings, assuming that nobody would read them. Perhaps someone did. One day, he was quickly removed from the great library and packed off on a donkey through the Caran pass and to the small town of Knightsbridge in the Southlander nation of Lythau. He arrived with a sealed letter to the local high priest, Alkanar - a letter suggesting that he be sent into as greater a danger as possible, as soon as possible. “in order to strengthen his character”. Alkanar set him to work with Lysander, with whom he has had an uneasy relationship these last few months. Azrin is not particularly interested in people - only books and knowledge. He continues to study a wide range of fields of knowledge, and he is particularly concerned about the scraps of evidence he has that some of the evil subcults of Asura may be on the rise again. Still, that’s not really his problem, is it?

K’Tan. A mage-savant from the mountaintop land of Cadlan. K’tan speech is terse and clipped, and he speaks little. He was sent out by the masters of Cadlan because the crystals under the city had started singing a dirge, and their seers believed that the time was drawing near when the ancient enemy would attempt to reassert its power over the world. He was sent out amongst others to seek out signs of Illithid incursion - and joined up with the rest of the band in Knightsbridge, where one such breakout was found. He has since stayed with them, and introduced a personal friend of his, M’ir to the group.

M’ir is also from Cadlan, he is a mage-seer, specialising in magics which divine the way and open doors of remembrance. His mentor, a venerable seer had a premonition that M’ir would be need by a group working in Knightsbridge and he was halfway there before he received K’tans summons. As part of his training he has spent some years honing his body as well as his mind amongst the monks in Cadlan - a natural match for his intuitive nature. He now bends his mind and will to the tasks ahead of the whole group, and is much valued for his incisive grasp of realities and excellent planning ability.

Coming soon... off to the moathouse

**Plane Sailing** · 17th February 2002, 08:11 PM

Stunned, the characters leave the room and the ruined dungeon, making their way back across the swamp and down the road over the next few days to get back into Knightsbridge.

Time passes - Azrin and Lysander are involved in the rebuilding of the ruined parts of the Asuran temple, Crail starts sorting out their affairs at Mithril Manor - tidying up and looking for the hire of domestic staff. K’tan goes off to meet an old friend of his who is being sent down from Cadlan to help with the… problems. During the re-cataloguing of the library Azrin finds some unusual references to a “Sword Saint” - an ancient group of superlative swordsmen whose dedication to Asura was mirrored in their dedication to their scimitars but who died out centuries ago. The strange thing is that this was in a local history book, from only 30 years ago. It could be that the code of the sword saints is still alive…

After a couple of weeks, K’tan arrives with his old friend M’ir, a Mage-Seer who should be able to help them in the choices they have to make as they investigate the old moat house and the trail of the Blessed which leads out there.

Meanwhile, Azrin has been having a series of disturbing dreams. In his dreams it is almost as if he can see the mighty Asura covered in myriad silver threads. While he watches more threads are slowly being laid down, slowly binding Asura in some way. What does it mean? He prays earnestly, but receives no answer.
The time comes to set out to the location of the moat house. Lysander will follow on in a few days, so the rest proceed out along the Great North trade road towards Morannan, turning off the road at the border post to make their way down beside the river. It is strange, there seem to be lots of Singharese in caravans - middle class professionals who have come through the pass and are heading deeper into the Southlands. Casting his mind back, there have been more Singharese in the temple services this last fortnight, although nobody who stayed more than a few days. Azrin attempts to strike up a conversation with some of the travellers, but all seem tight-lipped. Respectful but tight-lipped and noncommittal.

As they make their way East along the river side they have a bad encounter with a hungry Ankheg, and later (after Lysander has caught up with them) a pair of dire badgers. Azrin and Crail spend some time crawling through the dire badgers tunnels in case there are any youngsters, but this late in the autumn all their find is the leafy nests of the adults.

Eventually they are drawing near to the location of the moathouse, and they are surprised to see a small trappers camp. The trapper introduces himself as “Ole Del”, and inviting them to spend their supper with him, he is happy to talk about things he has seen in the locality. As soon as they show an interest in the moathouse, Ole Del says “You don’t want to go there! There’s a dragon at the old moathouse!” Pressing him for details he can remember a smell of ozone that suggests it could be a blue dragon. Moreover, he has seen groups of other adventurers in the past week - mostly wearing orange robes and accompanied by dog-men of some kind.

They spend the night with Ole Del, and in the morning bid him farewell as he makes his way back towards Knightsbridge to sell his furs. The party head towards the moat house. Crail sneaks down taking every advantage of the cover and is able to sketch out a map of the ruined walls and the broken down drawbridge over the moat.

Azrin is rather concerned - recently while praying for his spells each morning the familiar sense of Asura saying “GRANTED” has been replaced by a sense of Asura saying “IF YOU WILL” or even “IF YOU MUST”. Azrin grows even more worried...

**Plane Sailing** · 18th February 2002, 05:27 PM

The party sneak down to the gates, and M'ir exercises his will to give Crail the ability to walk right up the walls. Inside the courtyard the broken flagstones are discoloured by a reddish brown smear which leads from the centre of the yard towards the double doorway. Scouting along the top of the wall, Crail decides not to try to balance on the tumbled down wreckage which is all that remains of the upper stories. Instead he crawls alongside the
inner wall, up towards large double doorway.

Creeping around the top he leans over and looks into the chamber beyond - and is surprised to see a dragon head looking right at him! It slashes at him with its teeth and he scuttles back out and starts running along the wall. The dragon Utreshimon flies out and hovers over him, snatching at him with teeth and claws. With a despairing scream Crail falls limply to the floor and the rest of the company rush into the courtyard. Utreshimon hoped to raise a cloud of dust by hovering, but the weeks of autumn rain prevent that.

Utreshimon spends most of its time on the wing, either breathing blasts of electrical power or swooping past for a wicked attack with its jaws. The dragon is only man-sized, but it is a formidable opponent, severely wounding several of the characters before it is finally driven off, flying into the mist along the river.

Azrin calls upon Asura to heal, and after a rest Crail leads the others in a search of the moathouse ruins. The dragons lair in the chamber just beyond the entrance doorway yields two bodies - one in ochre robes who has a lilac coloured stone mask, a mace inscribed with runes of destruction and a scroll which looks like a prayer for healing - but not to Asura. Azrin decides to not take any risks with this. The other body seems like a rogue, armed with
longsword and shortbow. Money pouches are removed from these two victims of the dragon and the search continues.

In a room with faded and torn black hangings on the wall, Crail finds a well hidden secret door. Opening it, they make their way down and after a few minutes find that they are in a maze of dimly lit corridors. A little cautious searching reveals a tiny secret room with voices beyond it. Following another path they find a sleeping chamber with 6 rough wooden beds. Beyond that, Azrin is ambushed by a Gnoll chieftain, but Lysander quickly leaps to the rescue and after a short battle he is dispatched. The company recognise that they are not in a good condition to fight any more serious battles, so gathering up a small chest in the bedchamber they make their way back up out of the secret door, through the moathouse ruins and into the nearby hills - to lick their wounds and plan their next assault - hopefully before the dragon comes back.

**Plane Sailing** · 19th February 2002, 01:51 PM

The next morning, Crail is astonished to see a face from the past coming up the hill towards their campsite - a giant Negro figure. At first he thinks that it is the ghost of Sula, coming back to haunt them. It is only as the figure gets closer that he realises that this tribesman is male - although he bears an uncanny resemblance to Sula.

The man's name is Juma, Sulas' brother. Word had got back to him of her death, and he had followed her trail to Knightsbridge, and heard of the heroes of the town who had known her and been with her when she died. He had determined to find them and find out more about his sisters death.

After some time talking, the party inform him of their plans to attack the nearby moathouse once more and foil the plots which are brewing there. Juma offers his aid, to fight alongside these friends of his sisters and to do her honour.

Crail opens the box which was retrieved from a bedroom, and narrowly escapes the acid spray released as the lid opens. Inside there are a few interesting items, most particularly the remains of a journal of some kind. There are also a couple of potions, a couple of divine scrolls invoking the power of some other god (which are summarily burnt) and a carved ceremonial dagger with gold inlay.

The party, considerably bolstered with this addition of Juma to their fighting strength, make their way down to the moathouse once more. They scout around the outside and find no additional signs of entry or exit, so Crail and Juma creep down a second set of stairs to further investigate the dungeons.

Moving with great silence, Crail overhears the sound of a couple of gruff voices and the rattle of dice. Peering around the corner of the stairs he spies two large hyena headed humanoids gambling. He and Juma leap out and surprise the creatures, and taken by surprise they are quickly slain, although one has a brief opportunity to call for help. Nothing seems to come.

The rest of the party join them in this chamber, and keep watch while Juma and Crail head off down past pillars with manacles and a long row of narrow prison cells. The stench is overpoweringly awful, and as Crail starts retching from nausea a hollow faced figure leaps out from hiding and bites him. With horror his muscles start stiffening and within seconds he finds himself rigid with paralysis. The awful mewling sound that the creature makes is disconcerting as it claws and bites at Juma, paralysing the big barbarian too! K'tan launches a concussion from the edge of his range at the creature but misses badly, spraying stone chips as the mental hammer blow strikes the wall nearby. Lysander runs past the paralysed Crail, while Azrin holds up his holy symbol and cries "Begone, in the name of Asura!". The ghast suddenly takes fright and flees, running down to the last cell and shutting itself within.

M'ir goes to investigate an old adjoining torture chamber, and ghoul lunges out of the shadows as he enters, tearing at him with its poisonous claws and lusting after his meat. Lysander leaps in and swings the scimitar of suileman, which growls with power as it strikes the undead, cleaving it in two. Another ghoul leaps out and fumbles, falling at Lysander's feet and is also quickly dispatched.

A cursory search of the area reveals nothing else around, and nothing seems to have been attracted by the noise through the doors. After a few minutes Crail and Juma recover from the paralysis, although the shock of nearly being consumed by ghouls and ghasts may take a little while longer to go.

Azrin opens one of the doors which is apparently a cell, and finds a dishevelled prisoner inside who rants at them a little and then runs up the staircase and out as soon as he learns that the dragon is no longer there. The others are annoyed that Azrin didn't really manage to question him.

Another door is a disused storeroom, and a final door leads to a room with broken rubbish and a door on the opposite side. Arranging themselves around the door, Crail opens it and ducks down. A voice cries out "Freeze" and Crail finds himself unaccountably held fast. Two bowshots are fired at him before Juma reaches across and yanks him out of the doorway.

Lysander and the others pour into the room, tackling two Gnolls, while a priestess in ochre robes at the other end of the room attempts to cast other spells. M'ir remains in the doorway and starts concentrating on the priestess, and as the fight continues the skin on her face starts to blacken and char as he wills her body temperature to rise inexorably. The Gnolls fight Lysander and Juma and don't last too well, especially when one ends up flanked four ways. The priestess retreats up the stairs and Crail pursues her closely. She manages to get off one healing spell but M'irs continued concentration sears her face once again. Desperately she knocks Crail back, sending him tumbling down the stairs, and she legs it up the stairs.

**Plane Sailing** · 20th February 2002, 06:16 PM

The Gnolls dispatched, Lysander runs up the stairs, rounds the corner and gets stuck trying to work out how she opened the secret door at the top of the stairs. By the time he and others have finally opened it the priestess seems to have made her escape.

Another anteroom is discovered, containing skeletons which are soon reduced to powder by the mighty power of Asura.

Back in the room they find a strange assortment of things laid out on a white blanket: an iron torch with three black cones. A black sceptre with violet gems, a small black sphere and a black metal tube. The tube contains instructions in some unknown language, which when magically deciphered turns out to be instructions for accessing an extraplaner node of utter darkness, called the Black Cyst. The ritual requires multiple wish spells, living sacrifices and years of work. The company put it to the torch, and stay away
from the oddly writhing smoke which results.

They cautiously open the secret door which they know opens into the gnoll corridors - but careful investigations show no sign of the gnolls other than empty chambers and cold beds. Can it be that the gnolls have left. They find the human bedchamber (which is as far as they penetrated before), and Juma tells them that only one of the exit doors have any tracks going to and fro, so they take that one. Crail scouting ahead, they find a slimy archway and
steps which lead deeper into the earth. Trying to hold his breath against the foetid stench, Crail sneaks down the stairway - and is suddenly jumped by another Ghast, hiding in an alcove. Crail quickly succumbs to its paralysing venom, and just as the ghast is about to start chewing his arm Lysander calls upon the power of Asura to banish it. DMs note: I lost track of the number of times Crail got paralysed during this adventure. Poor bloke!. The ghast turns and flees. and seconds later comes charging back into their circle of light to attack them!

While Lysander starts to fight the ghast, a crackle of magic surges past him and strikes Juma - who suddenly acts randomly, dropping the paralysed form of Crail and swinging his greatclub at the back of Lysanders head! Crash! Probably the nastiest blow which he's taken all night staggers Lysander.

**Plane Sailing** · 22nd February 2002, 11:49 AM

As Lysander finishes off the ghast, and he and an apologetic Juma move into the chamber at the end of the corridor a puff of smoke behind them reveals a giant fiendish rat which upon being summoned starts chewing at the paralysed Crail. M'ir and Azrin both move in to attack it, while K'tan hangs back keeping watch.

Within the chamber Lysander and Juma find two more priests in ochre robes - one human and one reptilian. The human cleric dies quickly to the skill of Lysander and the power of Juma. Bracing themselves against the strength-sapping stench of the reptilian, Lysander and Juma circle both ways around a pit with the sound of running water in, in order to flank the creature. After only a couple of rounds and sensing imminent defeat, the strange priest leaps past them into the pit - and floats rather than falls down out of their view.

The dire rat is defeated and vanishes, and the party gather together in the room with the pit, and a large stone circle some 8ft in diameter standing on one wall. They can't see anything down the pit, but there is a rope, pulley and platform device which clearly allows people to lower themselves down into the darkness. As they look around, they hear a piercing nonhuman scream from below, which cuts off suddenly.

The company decide that they need to investigate, and so Juma, Lysander, Crail and Azrin will ride down on the platform, K'tan will keep watch at the top and M'ir uses one of his mage powers to enable himself to clamber down the side of the pit, adhering to the wall.

After 15ft they find the shaft intersects a stream, with a narrower 8ft hole directly below them. Water from the stream tumbles down into the hole, and a chill mist rises up from within. They continue downwards, tugging their cloaks more tightly around themselves. After a further 40ft, and as they are coming to the end of their rope, they can see a surface below them. A floor of shiny black marble, shot through with thick pulsing violet threads, lies beneath them. Off to the side, they can just make out the edge of the chamber, some 15ft further away than the edge of the black marble surface, which is a circle some 30ft in diameter. In the west, there is another platform and pulley arrangement for going deeper into the cavern. It would be a very difficult jump to move from one platform to the other, but nobody fancies setting foot near the writhing violet veins on the surface.

They decide to look for a third way. They winch their own platform higher up, and pass a robe to M'ir who clambers upside down like a spider across the roof of the chamber and makes the rope fast to the other platforms fixture. Lysander and Juma make their way across but Azrin is nervous. He doesn't have much of a head for heights and his arms are weak. Crail decides to make a loop of rope around him so that he can slide down to the other platform. That should work.

Midway through the slide, Azrin panics - he's going too fast! He careers straight into the platform, the security rope fails and as he flails his arms to grab onto the platform, Lysanders hand lashes out - just too late. With a despairing cry, Azrin falls into the misty darkness below them.

The company is stunned.

What happens next? Is this the end for Azrin? Keep reading for the next exciting(?) installment!

**Plane Sailing** · 25th February 2002, 10:11 AM

Quickly they start to wind this new platform downwards, peering over the edge in the hope that their companion may have somehow survived. Ten, twenty, thirty feet - then Lysander feels a strange prickling of his neck hairs, and as he looks round a creature shaped like a huge, beaked brain floats down towards them, lashing out with barbed tentacles. Several tentacles strike Crail, wrapping around him and (you've guessed it)
paralysing him.

Juma leaps forwards and with his tremendous strength frees Crail from the creatures grasp before it can fly off with him, then he and Lysander attack the creature itself, while fending off its blows. In a few seconds the creature is destroyed, leaving them that bit more exhausted, that bit more tired.

They proceed further down, a full 100ft, and at the bottom they can make out the form of Azrin apparently lying spread-eagled but otherwise unharmed on a strange symbol etched into the stone of the floor.

what happened to Azrin...

Tumbling head over heels, suddenly Azrin finds himself stationary but in a pool of utter blackness. A chill grows over his whole body. There is a robed figure vaguely visible. It speaks. "Your soul is now at the very edge of my prison".

He can feel his body dying. He attempts to turn the figure, but the channels to other planar power remain closed to him here.

"Do you seek to free me?" the figure asks. "NO" shouts Azrin.

"It doesn't matter what you seek. I am all. You are nothing". As the last fragment of his life is just about to ebb away, the figure speaks once more.

"You serve me now, whether you wish it or not".

Suddenly he is conscious, lying spread-eagled on the floor and apparently all in one piece. He had rather expected that this fall would have left him spread thinly across the rock. What has happened here?

The remainder of the company bring the platform to the base of the cavern, and find to their surprise Azrin apparently only just alive, and lying spread eagled on a large version of the holy symbol that they have found on the ochre-robed priests. He seems none the worse for wear, and rejoins the party.

Juma asks, astonished "Aren't you going to question him? Isn't it strange that he survived that fall? How do you know he isn't a doppleganger or something?" For some reason the rest of Azrins companions are happy to accept him as he is though. DM notes: Huh? Considering their normal level of paranoia, I'm astonished that they didn't follow this up more. Still, fun for the future...

Further investigation of the bottom of this cavern reveals a mirrored doorway which summons more of the paralysing brain-creatures (quickly killed), an image of a black sun, a pillar with rungs, upon the top of which the obelisk appears to be balancing by its point, and a pool of water cascading off the side of the obelisk.

Spotting around, Crail notices a scroll tube in the pool. He uses a grapple hook to fish it out, then takes it off and tosses the tube across to Azrin.

"Arrgghh" Crail suddenly screams, grasping his wrist - the touch of the water is chillingly cold, and his fingertips start to blacken. Azrin fumbled his attempt to catch the scroll and now has no inclination to touch it. He hurries across to Crail and attempts to use his healing skill to keep Crail alive. It is to no avail. Before Lysander can return to them the poison reaches Crails heart, and as the flesh on his arm, torso and neck blackens and crisps, he squeals and dies. Dms note: 11 points out of 2d6 CON damage exactly equalled poor Crails Constitution. The young thief dies to rise no more.

**Plane Sailing** · 26th February 2002, 10:51 AM

This obelisk is clearly an evil artifact of some power, and after unfruitfully considering ways in which it might be destroyed the party decide that the best thing is to hide it again. Going back up via the platform, they spend the best part of a day collecting rubble and clay, to replace the plug above the cavern and seal it as best they can.

Finally, tired and wounded in spirit they decide to leave the moathouse dungeons. Strangely one of the entrances into the dungeon is now collapsed. Not so strange when they reach the top of the other exit and find the blue dragon back again, healed and waiting in ambush!

This time the dragon doesn't have the freedom of mobility which served it so well in the last combat - and the company is bolstered by the raging strength of Juma who charges in and deals two mighty blows with his maul, while Lysander strikes with his blessed scimitar and K'tan and M'ir pour all their energy into manifesting concussions and recall pain respectively. Surprised by the ferocity of the onslaught Utreshimon the dragon succumbs quickly and dies.

Free at last from the moathouse, the party camp a short distance away to lick their wounds and plan their next step. Juma finishes gathering their stories about his sister and decides to leave them to continue his wanderings - but he will check in on them occasionally back at Mithril Manor in Knightsbridge.

The party return to Knightsbridge and arrange for the funeral of Crail - quite a lot of the underclass in the town turn up, including one particularly tearful young woman named Laidley. During the preparations, Alkanar introduces Lysander to an unusual young man.

His name is Trajan, and he comes from one of the small dukedoms nestled in the foothills of the barrier range to the North. He grew up in a village, but spent less time looking after the cows and more time with an elderly hermit living further up the mountains, who regaled him with tales of fighting and the service of Asura. After several years training with the old man and starting on the path of the Jazumai, the hermit sent him down to Knightsbridge, saying that he needed to serve a broader apprenticeship under the auspices of a temple. Alkanar agrees, and sets Trajan to work with and learn from Lysander. Trajan has an exotic oversized scimitar, in a style which the hermit taught him to craft.

Although winter is coming on, and they are getting deep into the month of Ironwater, they make plans to return to the moathouse.

byxbee · 27th February 2002, 07:41 AM

Fabulous stuff PS. Keep it coming...

And that 11 Con damage was N-A-S-T-Y...

**Plane Sailing** · 27th February 2002, 10:29 AM

Thanks Byx!

I make the important rolls for damage and stuff out in the open - adds to the tension and also means that the dice get the blame rather than me when things go badly wrong.

For some reason Crail got the bad end of the stick much more often than anyone else though - as seen in my first storyhour thread...

Next instalment coming soon!

Little_Buddha · 27th February 2002, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Plane Sailing
For some reason Crail got the bad end of the stick much more often than anyone else though - as seen in my first storyhour thread...

On the upside, your dice rolls can't hurt him now!

Great story hour, incidentally. It just pleasantly wasted several hours of my time from start to finish... you've gone into my list of storyhours to keep track of.