Shilsen's Eberron SH (Wherein is the feel of Purple : 11/12/09)

[shilsen]

Hoist By Thy Own Petard (or “When wagons attack”)

As soon as the mind flayer appears, Luna drops her standard flame strike around it and the two nearby ogres, which reveals that it has some sort of magical protection against fire, since it is barely scorched. Even as the flames disappear, Korm races forward with magically enhanced speed before the ogres can react to protect it. He slashes at the creature, driving it back with a deep cut on the shoulder, but it completes the spell.

The result is something that has often been seen by the Angels. A pair of wolves appear, each as large as a horse and with a fringe of writhing tentacles. One appears beside Nameless and one beside Korm, biting into their targets and pulling them off their feet.

“What?” says Gareth, “They can do that too?”

“They’re aberrations,” says Trillia, stepping away from a wolf and beginning to cast too. “Where’d you think the roots of this magic comes from?”

Nameless too attempts to cast a spell, rolling away from the wolf as best he can. As the two alienists complete their spells, half a dozen wolves begin to shimmer into place. “That’s how you do it,” mutters Nameless.

Unfortunately, the sentiment is premature. Both nagas, which have been swaying in place and watching the enemy without acting, unleash spells that dispel the budding summons, as well as removing some of the many protective spells on the Angels.

“Oh well, I guess we do this the hard way!” says Six, teaming up with Gareth to team up on the wolf that was attacking Nameless, which they quickly dispatch.

“Hard way? What the hell do you think I’m doing?” grunts Korm painfully from the ground, as he (mostly vainly) attempts to avoid the powerful blows of the two ogres, that join the wolf in concentrating on him.

Six’s intended reply is cut off by a crunching sound beside him. To his surprise, as well as that of everyone watching, the bulk of the wagon standing near him falls off its wheels. It then slithers its way across the ground towards him, extending a long wood-colored appendage that slaps against him painfully. The appendage is coated with an adhesive fluid that sticks to him, but the warforged jerks away.

“We’re being attacked by a wagon?!”

“It’s a mimic! Don’t let it touch you!” yells Nameless.

Things quickly get worse for the adventurers. The mind flayer, who now takes to the air under presumably a pre-existing fly spell, summons three pseudonatural bison to increase the odds. The nagas continue to prevent Trillia and Nameless from reciprocating in kind, while the mimic continues to follow Six around the battlefield, lashing out with its tongue-like pseudopods. Though he lands a powerful blow against it, his spiked chain promptly sticks to it, forcing Six to retreat and draw another. Luna, shaking off a powerful blow from an ogre’s club, catches the hovering mind flayer and the naga beneath it in a dispel magic, but the spell has no obvious effect. Gareth cuts down one of the wolves, but finds two bison taking its place and keeping him from reaching the prone Korm, who is almost invisible under the multiple enemies around him.

But it is Korm, simultaneously being bitten, bludgeoned and stepped on, who buys the others some time. Bellowing an orcish war-cry, he rolls over and hurls his sword. The blade, made of meteoric iron, enchanted in the depths of the Shadow Marches by Gatekeepers to especially harm aberrations, whirls through the air and almost cuts the mind flayer in half*. Even as he screams in pain and barely remains upright, the sword flies back to Korm’s hand.

“Kill him! Kill the druid!” screams the mind flayer as he floats downwards, before gasping “Heal me - quick!” The naga beside him casts a spell and touches him, closing some of his wounds. The mind flayer also touches it and dimension doors the two of them to the other side of the battlefield and away.

As ordered by the mind flayer, the ogres and summoned creatures swarm over Korm. Just as he is about to collapse, Luna charges through the press and touches him with a paw, growling her most powerful spell. Instantly, a rejuvenation cocoon of yellow-green force envelops him, simultaneously protecting Korm and beginning the process of healing him. With Korm now safe, Luna and Gareth concentrate on taking apart his attackers.

With the mind flayer and attendant naga now focused on healing the former, Nameless staggers to his feet and attempts to cast his last major summoning spell. Before the spell is done, the remaining naga releases a dark ray of crackling energy. The enervation not only weakens him but instantly wipes the memory of the summoning spell and two others from his mind. To add injury to insult, the mimic (Six having tumbled out of its way) strikes Nameless in the back with a pseudopod, knocking him down and out. The alienist remains attached to the pseudopod, which retracts and leaves him stuck to the side of the mimic.

“Damn!” says Trillia, backing away, “We need to get out of here!”

“What about Nameless?” shouts Six, as he pulls out his third and last chain, having left a second one on the mimic.

Trillia’s throws his unconscious form a look as the mimic stalks her slowly, its pseudopods lashing out with surprising dexterity**. “We’ll have to come back for him!” With that, she hurls an orb of flame at the naga that hit Nameless.

The impact dazes the naga and Gareth takes the opportunity to charge it, followed closely by Luna. He cuts deeply into its side and the bear sinks her claws into it and pulls it into a grapple, where it writhes helplessly.

At the same time, the cocoon falls apart and Korm appears, this time with a large pair of feathery wings that he grew while inside. With sword in hand, he flies at the pairing of naga and mind flayer. This time the naga is the one to dimension door with its ally, reappearing across the battlefield. Not being maneuverable enough to change direction quickly, Korm flies at the naga grappled by Luna.

Trillia, quickly backpedaling and using a mirror image to foil the mimic, says to Luna, “That cocoon turned Korm into a butterfly?”

Hacking down at the naga, Korm growls back, “I am NOT a butterfly!” Beneath him, Luna grunts in momentary amusement and then rips the naga’s head off.

From across the battlefield, the mind flayer yells an order to the mimic, and it heads back to join him and the remaining naga. The mind flayer flies closer to it and the unconscious Nameless, a clawed hand raised in preparation for a spell.

As Korm charges him, the mind flayer gestures and speaks. Though there is no visible effect, a second later the onrushing druid smashes painfully into an invisible barrier. The mind flayer smirks, and quickly sends a bead of fire streaking in Korm’s direction. The wall of force it erected evidently ends just below the big orc, since the bead streaks a few inches below his feat and explodes in a fireball enveloping most of the group. A small orb of electricity follows right behind, striking Gareth full in the back.

The already wounded paladin staggers under the impact of the two spells and almost falls. Realizing that one more such hit will kill him, Korm flies back and encases him in a cocoon like the one Luna used on him.

Trillia, though burned by the fireball, brings down a glitterdust, which does nothing to incommode the enemy. But, seeing a growling Luna charging in, as well as Six coming in from the side, and Korm leaving the cocooned Gareth to follow suit, the mind flayer decides enough is enough.

He reaches down to the unconscious Nameless and casts a spell. Even as Luna, Six and Korm are all about to reach him, the air shimmers around him and he disappears. As does the naga beside him, and, much more troublingly for the Angels, Nameless.

* Natural 18 to threaten and 17 to confirm. Without that critical, things would have been much, much worse.
** We discovered during the fight that the wagon-mimic had higher Dex than Korm and higher Charisma than the two druids and Six!


Handled over email:
After the initial surprise of Nameless’s disappearance is gone, the Angels take apart the mimic from a distance and then discuss what to do. Gareth wants to go after him immediately, but Trillia points out that they have absolutely no idea where he was taken. Though she’d prefer to go after him as soon as possible, she says the best way to do so would be to scry on his location. Six points out that Nameless has the Shard on him, so they’re likely to be in trouble soon, but Trillia reminds him that, according to what they had learned from Arrok, as long as they’re trying actively to get to the Shard they should be all right. Hopefully.

The next question is how to get back to Sharn, since Trillia can only transport three people of human size with her and has no prepared spell to shrink any of them. At Korm’s suggestion, Luna changes into a small snake and curls up in Six’s magical haversack, and Trillia teleports the group to Sharn. After the group has gone through the contents of the wagon/mimic, that is, which they find to contain less valuable items than they had thought, though there is still a fair amount.

They reappear in Trillia’s laboratory. She tells the others that she will visit the Guild of Starlight and Shadow and see whether they have a scroll of scrying available for purchase. If they do, she will attempt to use it and, if successful, they can leave the next morning as soon as the spell casters have recovered their spells. Trillia takes most of the artifacts that the group discovered as well as all five of the gold ingots, saying that she will dispose of them and use the money to pick up necessary spells and equipment.

Before Trillia leaves, her steward Glauster says that two people had stopped by looking for the Angels. One was Dala, who seemed very concerned, and the other was a warforged called Stone, who said that he was looking for Six regarding a job.

Hearing of Dala, esp. in view of the current situation, reminds everyone that she's linked to the Shard as well. Since nobody remembered to tell her about your trip away from Sharn, she must have realized something was wrong when the distance from the Shard affected her.

Since Trillia says that she’ll be gone for hours, Six goes off to look for Stone, whom he find at the Esoteric Order. Six spends some time asking Stone, a particularly bulky warforged, about his abilities, what sort of payment arrangement he would expect if hired by the Angels, whether he is willing to accompany them outside Sharn, especially into dangerous situations, etc.

Stone, who is clearly not used to long discussions, explains that he is capable of using artificer infusions of the third power. He can both create new magical items and enhance current ones. He has substantial expertise in magical craftsmanship, being able to craft scrolls, potions, wands, armor, weapons and miscellaneous magical items. As for payment, Stone says that he would prefer to decide it on a case by case basis. Since having a set of regular customers would benefit him, he would be willing to give the Angels a certain rebate (anywhere from 10% to 25%) on standard item prices, the % being lower if he is expected to automatically put orders from them at the top of his list.

Stone also says honestly that he has no experience of actual adventuring. Though slightly reluctant, he is willing to accompany the group on adventures, but would prefer to work off a fixed daily rate (negotiated per assignment) rather than have it depend on what the group finds. Stone also points out that his abilities are not geared towards combat, either healing the wounded or standing in the rear and using a wand being most of what he could do. He is, however, very interested in the job on the whole. He's definitely not going to be able to accompany the group to Yarkuun Draal, but will be free in a couple of days.

[shilsen]

*looks at title Rackhir put up*

Yes, "Things go Pear-Shaped" sounds about right. Unfortunately, we didn't play this weekend, but interesting developments have been happening on email, so I'll have an interim post up in a day or two. Let's just say Nameless may never be the same again.

By the way, is anyone outside players from the group reading this thread? I usually see a number of hits whenever I make an update, but no posts from readers. I'll keep updating, just because doing the writeup is enjoyable and this thread is a good place to store/access it, but I was just curious.

[Gold Roger]

I'm still here (or rather, again, after being without computer for about 6 weeks).

Greatly enjoying myself as well. There's always something interesting to glean on the DMing side, while the PC's provide an enjoyable amount of fun and sillyness.

[ajanders]

I'm still astonished about the "pear-shaped" remark.
I thought I was the only person who used that expression.

[Rackhir]

Originally Posted by ajanders

I'm still astonished about the "pear-shaped" remark.
I thought I was the only person who used that expression.

Thin Blue Line fan eh? Me too.

[Sidekick]

HI Shilsen - I'm definetly reading this SH.

It's very good and the Angels are a very good group - especially the not-so-pious Paladin...

Keep up the good work - from the sounds of it you've crafted a very good campaign.

Which reminds me, a question.

Did you start the campaign with an overview of what you wanted to have happen, or did you just do most of it on the fly inbetween sessions?

And who decided about Namelesses amnesia? Player, DM or a joint decision?

[shilsen]

Originally Posted by Gold Roger

I'm still here (or rather, again, after being without computer for about 6 weeks).

I'd noticed you posting on the General RPG Discussion board a couple of days ago and thought, "Hmm - haven't seen him around in a while." No computer for 6 weeks? Ow!

Greatly enjoying myself as well. There's always something interesting to glean on the DMing side, while the PC's provide an enjoyable amount of fun and sillyness.

I think they're getting sillier over time. That whole 'Snookums' things completely cracked me up. I gave them an OOC visual of a mind flayer getting their messages and sitting there with a "WTF?!" expression.

Originally Posted by ajanders

I'm still astonished about the "pear-shaped" remark.
I thought I was the only person who used that expression.

Thin Blue Line fan eh? Me too.

I've never heard of Thin Blue Line, but I've known and used that expression for ages. I think it may be a Britishism.

[shilsen]

Originally Posted by Sidekick

HI Shilsen - I'm definetly reading this SH.

It's very good and the Angels are a very good group - especially the not-so-pious Paladin...

Keep up the good work - from the sounds of it you've crafted a very good campaign.

Thanks. I got started on D&D a lot later than most people who play it (at 25), so this is one of only three reasonably long-term campaigns I've run, and this is by far the best. I'm definitely looking to get better as a DM, but I'm also quite satisfiedwith how this one's worked out and where it's gone/going.

Which reminds me, a question.

Did you start the campaign with an overview of what you wanted to have happen, or did you just do most of it on the fly inbetween sessions?

Almost exclusively the latter. I absolutely abhor railroading, as both DM and as player, so when I started the campaign I made it very clear to the players that there was no overarching plot and the campaign would arise out of the PCs' choices.

When the campaign began, I threw a bunch of plot hooks at the PCs and they picked which one(s) to follow. These choices opened up new plots, and some of the ones which weren't picked up on also developed in the background and became important and/or were picked up on later. And as time has gone on I've tried to throw in a few different options every once in a while. I've tried to introduce elements from the PCs' backgrounds as well, as well as elements from areas that I know the PCs are interested in. All in all, it's meant that I have to be much more adaptable as a DM, but it's far more satisfying too. Plus it's always interesting for me, since I never know for sure where the PCs will end up next.

The trip to Xen'drik was the best example thereof, since the players completely blindsided me with that one. IIRC, it was Six's player who suggested they get out of town and the bunch of so-and-so's took off to en entirely different continent just as we were in the middle of a lot of interconnecting plots. If they hadn't made that choice and stayed in Sharn, they'd have got further involved with the Boromar-Daask war (which erupted to a great extent because they hijacked the Daask payroll), had more dealings with Killian, and experienced the plague/poisoning by the Children of Winter (which was a lot more successful than it would have been since the PCs decided to ignore the Gatekeepers' request to investigate). Instead, they got to blow up an island and got saddled with the Shard. That showed 'am

And who decided about Namelesses amnesia? Player, DM or a joint decision?

The amnesia and the fact that he walked out of the Mournland a couple days after the Day of Mourning was the player's choice. The reasons for it was my decision, and he doesn't really know the reasons, either IC or OOC. I've been dropping enough little hints with the fleeting memories and such that he has a pretty good idea, but not completely.

Hopefully that explains things, and probably in a lot more length than you wanted. But then, we've already established my verbosity in this thread.

And speaking of Nameless's amnesia, here's a bit of what's been going on...

[shilsen]

Handled over email:

In Sharn:

Gareth visits the Cathedral in an attempt to obtain some extra magical supplies. Though the Archierophant is not present, he gets to speak to one of the priests who are currently available. After hearing about the request, the latter says that the temple has a very small number of restoration scrolls, since only the Archierophant has the ability to create them, and he cannot give them away without her express permission. He does, however, provide Gareth with three scrolls of lesser restoration. He also tells Gareth that his best bet for restoration magic is the House Jorasco headquarters in Dragon Towers, though they do not generally sell such magic in item form. The patient needs to be present for one of their healers to heal him.

Gareth thanks the priest and heads back to Trillia’s home, stopping at the Deneith enclave to check on Lalia. There, he is informed that Lalia and Tasra are both expected back three days later. They are currently in Wroat as part of the security for Queen Aurala’s visit to Breland to meet King Boranel.

Meanwhile, Korm and Luna visit Carosten Park and speak to Surr’kal about what has happened. He is more than a little horrified at the news, though it’s hard to say whether that’s more because they lost Nameless or the Key. After some thought, he says that he will perform a Gatekeeper ritual for the entire group the next morning, which will give them added protection. Korm tells Luna on the way back to Trillia’s that this is not normally done for non-Gatekeepers.

Trillia returns four hours after she left, looking quite tired. She says, “Lots to report. Most importantly, I managed to scry Nameless successfully, and he’s alive. He was in a big circular room, with ceiling crystals, that pink covering on the walls, a sphincter - all that stuff we saw before. There were four slabs in there and Nameless was lying on one, completely stripped down. The slab had that pinkish material covering it and there were strips of it over his feet, hands and mouth like they’d grown there. I studied him for a few minutes and he never made a move, so I assume he was still unconscious. Just when the spell was about to end, a mind flayer and a dolgaunt came in. The dolgaunt looked just like the one that came along with the wagon-mimic, and the mind flayer looked a lot like the one we fought, with a big deformed eye and one empty socket, but its tentacles were intact. Neither of them noticed the sensor from the spell [OOC: I rolled two natural 1s on their Int checks!]. The mind flayer said to the dolgaunt, “Wake him,” and it went over to Nameless. I couldn’t see what it was doing from the angle I had, but I did see it wrap a tentacle around his head and then the damn spell ended. But at least we know he’s alive.”

Trillia stops, takes a deep breath and then reaches into her haversack. She starts pulling out packets and putting them on a nearby table. Scrolls roll out of one and another clinks softly. As she puts them down, she explains, “I disposed of most of the items we found, some to the Guild and some to reliable people I know. I presume you wouldn’t mind, since we’ll need a lot of magical backup to safely get in there, grab Nameless and get out. I picked up a LOT of stuff and would have got more if it had been readily available.” She chuckles, a little of her usual good humor reasserting itself, and says, “Let’s just say there are a lot of people at the Guild who’re feeling a lot richer suddenly.”

Having taken out all that she brought back, Trillia sits down and looks around the room. “All of you can stay here tonight and tomorrow early morning I’ll scry Nameless’s location one more time and we can leave as soon as I’m done. Does that sound good? Or as good as things can, under the circumstances.”

About half an hour after Trillia returns, there is a new arrival at her house. This one is Dala Arand. Not only does she look well under the weather, but she also looks extremely upset. As soon as she is inside and alone with all of you, she bursts out, “What the hell did you guys do with the Key? I’ve been feeling like crap since yesterday and trying to work out where the hell you went!”

The adventurers explain what happened, which naturally doesn’t improve Dala’s state of mind. “You lost the bloody Shard? Oh, that’s just great!”

After a little yelling, she manages to calm herself a bit. Trillia explains that they will be heading back there to hopefully rescue Nameless and return with the Shard. After all, it is not just Dala who has a link to it but everyone else here besides Trillia. As if to underscore her words, all of the Angels’s tattoos grow warm and begin to throb slowly. There is the usual accompanying urge to be near the Shard, but no attendant pain or feeling of illness, perhaps because not enough time has passed or because they are trying to recover it.

After a little more discussion, Dala leaves, saying that she will return at the same time next evening. After she leaves, Gareth says, “I still argue that I should be the one holding onto the Shard. I'm a little less squishy then Nameless, and by the grace of the Silver Flame I am able to resist harmful spells and poisons. I think maybe after this incident, we will change who is holding onto it.”

“That's up to you all to decide,” says Trillia, “But you have a point, Gareth. Though Nameless does have the advantage of being able to end up 500 feet or 500 miles away in a couple of seconds, when needed. At least when he’s not being licked by a walking wagon, that is. I wonder how much the Silver Flame protects against that.”

She looks across at Luna, and adds, “Might not be a bad idea to have you carry it. When you’re in animal form it would meld into you, so somebody couldn’t take it off you without actually killing you. And you seem able to absorb horrible amounts of damage in that bear form of yours. Of course, this is all academic till we recover it.”

With Trillia's words to Luna, Gareth's eyes go wide, “Hm. I think I can speak for all of us that we think that would be a bad idea. Luna is more likely to give it away to someone then have them try and kill her for it.”

Meanwhile, in Yarkuun Draal:

Nameless awakes, feeling incredibly weak. Though he does not know it, he’s in the chamber Trillia saw him in. The first thing he sees is a dolgaunt leaning over him, which he recognizes as the messenger from Naxaliyen. And the first thing he feels is the solid strips of material wrapped around his ankles/feet, wrists/hands and throat/mouth. The thick material makes it almost impossible to move and prevents speech, though it doesn’t interfere with his breathing.

The dolgaunt, which has both tentacles wrapped around the top of Nameless’s head, unwraps them and steps back. Behind the dolgaunt stands a mind flayer, dressed in long robes. Though it has a missing eyesocket and one much larger, deformed yellow eye, like the spellcasting mind flayer did, this one is slightly taller and its tentacles are whole.

It gazes at Nameless for a few seconds and then says, in goblin, “You have caused great damage, but I will find a way for you to remedy it. A pity your friends escaped. Still, you may prove interesting enough on your own. I believe you are a mighty mage, by your people’s standards. Let me see now.”

It steps forward, tentacles waving, and lets out a gurgling laugh as it advances, “No, don’t bother to stand or speak on my behalf.” Reaching Nameless, it leans over and takes his head in both hands. Two of the tentacles place themselves at his nostrils and two at his ear holes.

The mind flayer tightens its grip on Nameless’s skull and says, in a tone of amused anticipation, “Let’s see what secrets you have for Naxaliyen.” And then the tentacles burrow their way through the various orifices.

There is a long moment of more excruciating pain than Nameless has ever felt, as he feels the tentacles making their way through his ears and nostrils, and he struggles involuntarily, but the combination of the restraints and Naxaliyen’s grip make it futile. Even the accompanying scream provides no relief, since it is muffled by the band over his mouth.

Strangely, the pain dies away after a few seconds, to be replaced by a dull ache. Within it, Nameless can still feel the tentacles. There is a moment of pressure as the tentacles reach his brain, and then Nameless has the indescribable feeling of them digging into his brain. Naxaliyen sighs with obscene satisfaction and closes its single eye.

As it does so, Nameless has the fairly unique experience of actually seeing his life flash before his eyes. Naxaliyen’s face fades from his eyes and instead, everything that he has experienced begins to flash before his vision, starting at his last memory of the battle and working backwards. The memories flash faster and faster, until they are an indistinct blur, but Nameless somehow remains perfectly aware of what he’s seeing. And so, he realizes, is Naxaliyen.

Within a few seconds, Naxliyen ‘rewinds’ Nameless’s memories all the way back to the events on the island near Xen’drik. When the memories hit the encounter with the daelkyr, Naxaliyen stops and opens his eye, surprise obvious on even his inhuman face. Then the surprise is replaced by a combination of amusement and glee. “You are more singular than I thought, human. So you have this Key. And you know how to use it. Excellent!” He turns his head to look at another slab, jerking Nameless painfully (since the tentacles are still attached to him), and gazes at it. Nameless’s equipment is carefully arranged on it, including the unopened box with the Key in it.

Naxaliyen turns back to Nameless. “But how do you know how to use it? And why are part of your memories hidden even from you? And there is something else there. Show me, human.” He leans in and again closes his eye. Nameless feels a sense of renewed pressure in his head and the memories begin to flow backwards again.

They slide backwards, reversing through his adventures with the other Angels in Sharn and elsewhere, back through his experiences from the War’s end to the fall of Cyre two years ago, until they reach his last conscious memory – walking out of the mists of death around the newly created Mournland. The memories end immediately.

Naxaliyen opens his eye, this time irritation shining in it. “This will not do,” he mutters and then closes it again. As he concentrates, his brow ripples back and forth. The pressure in Nameless’s head builds up until it is back to being pain, even worse than when Naxaliyen first attached his tentacles. Inside his head, he has a vision of a locked, mental gate, with the mind flayer pounding at it with waves of ever-increasing mental force. Nameless’s vision blurs. Just as he is about to black out, there is an almost audible ‘crack’ and the mental barrier flies open. Whatever was hidden within floods out, and as the pain recedes, Nameless remembers. Everything.

[Kafkonia]

I'm most definitely reading. I've been intrigued ever since you asked for ideas about the city of aberrations.

[shilsen]

Originally Posted by Kafkonia

I'm most definitely reading. I've been intrigued ever since you asked for ideas about the city of aberrations.

Aha! So that's the ticket - ask for advice on the General board to secretly pimp my Story Hour! Thanks, Kafkonia.

[shilsen]

Revelations

As the floodgates of memory open and all of his earlier life comes rushing back, Nameless realizes that Kitan was telling the truth. He is ... or rather was, Edgar Thorn. He recalls growing up in Arjon Ford in Cyre, he remembers his parents and family and friends, he remembers a life and a personality that is completely alien to what he has known for the last couple of years. The sensation of recovering these memories is a strange one, in many ways like recollecting the details of a favorite and well-read book, rather than containing the visceral and emotional resonance that one’s past normally has.

The one portion of his memories that do evince some emotion from Nameless is the section to do with the experience that changed him. Nameless recalls now that he did join the Cyran military, and as one possessing a little proficiency in magic, was eventually assigned to a special forces unit.

He remembers that in 994 YK, members of his unit were to locate a group in Metrol that had stolen something that the military desperately wanted returned. Nameless’s team found the group, which turned out to be a small but particularly powerful cult of the Dragon Below, as well as the stolen item, which he now realizes was a dragonshard that looked exactly like the Key. Nameless recollects the detection of his team by the cultists before reinforcements arrived, and falling unconscious in the subsequent battle.

Nameless’s next memory is of waking up (with other members of his team) tied to what he now knows was a dimensional seal. In view of the knowledge he gained later and his recent experiences, everything that happened then takes on new meaning. The prisoners were intended to work as fuel for the stolen Key, which the leader of the cultists attempted to use to open the seal. The energy released killed all of his companions, but before the seal could actually open, an incredible backlash of energy killed everyone in the room and blew the Key apart. Somehow, Nameless survived.

His previous flashbacks of the event had involved a voice speaking to him moments before the explosion, and continuing to do so, in a changed form, afterwards. Nameless now recalls the words and understands them perfectly. The voice was that of a powerful daelkyr lord, the Nameless One, whose lair in Khyber is beneath Cyre. Feeling the weakening of a dimensional seal above his realm, he attempted to break through mentally from the opposite side.

The Nameless One latched onto the minds of Nameless and his comrades through the temporarily weakened seal and was in the process of turning them into mindless minions when the explosion killed the others. The seal snapped shut at that point, severing the connection. Even with the information he has now, Nameless doesn’t understand exactly how, but the momentary contact with the Nameless One left something behind in his psyche. It’s almost as if the daelkyr lord left a mental footprint in his mind, permanently warping and changing the terrain around it.

The voices in Nameless’s head, his detection as an aberration, his ‘instinctive’ ability to activate the Key, his interest in (and affinity towards) Xoriat, in all likelihood his spellcasting ability (which, before the incident, was adequate, but nowhere close to exceptional), are probably all the result of this mental wound. What would be lost (or what gained – or regained) by healing it, is left only to conjecture and Nameless’s imagination. Just as disquieting are the questions of what could heal such a wound, and the possibility that that powerful magics Nameless and his companions experience on a daily basis could do so inadvertently.

While Nameless is running through these revelations in his head, so too is Naxaliyen, as he reads and rereads Nameless’s memories. Finally, the mind flayer stops and retracts his tentacles, leaving Nameless with a splitting headache. Naxaliyen gazes at him for a long moment and then gurgles, “I have never met a creature quite like you before, Edgar – or Nameless, if you prefer. You are a gift to me, and I shall use you quickly, before your imbecile companions or others can interfere. But now I must think upon this.”

The mind flayer turns away to the slab holding Nameless’s equipment and quickly extracts the box holding the Key. Holding it carefully, he signals to the dolgaunt, who walks over and picks up the rest of Nameless’s things. The pair then head toward the sphincter, which slides open to reveal a dark corridor. Naxaliyen looks over his shoulder and says, “Sleep. I will require you soon.”

As they exit, the crystals in the ceiling pulse thrice quickly and everything goes black for Nameless.

**********

DM comment: I'd actually been expecting and planning for Nameless's past to take a lot longer to emerge, but once he got nabbed by the mind flayer's, I figured this would be the perfect method and moment for it to emerge. I'm curious to see what Rackhir does (or doesn't) with the info.

I also added the following to the earlier post about the other PCs' preparations in Sharn:

Meanwhile, Korm and Luna visit Carosten Park and speak to Surr’kal about what has happened. He is more than a little horrified at the news, though it’s hard to say whether that’s more because they lost Nameless or the Key. After some thought, he says that he will perform a Gatekeeper ritual for the entire group the next morning, which will give them added protection. Korm tells Luna on the way back to Trillia’s that this is not normally done for non-Gatekeepers.

[Sidekick]

Nice one Bruvva, nice one.

Now that is what I cann a good update!

Nameless once again has a name, and a moral quandry for what to do about his power and his connection to the Nameless One.

Shilsen - very sinister and very cool. You get a cadbury milk tray (because one cookie/choccie simply isn't enough).

[Rackhir]

Originally Posted by shilsen

DM comment: I'd actually been expecting and planning for Nameless's past to take a lot longer to emerge, but once he got nabbed by the mind flayer's, I figured this would be the perfect method and moment for it to emerge. I'm curious to see what Rackhir does (or doesn't) with the info.

Do with what information? About the only new piece of information is exactly why Nameless has the connections he has had. Which doesn't really change anything.

It's been clear to me what the shard could do since we acquired it and that is one of the reasons why he is adamantly against handing it over to Gareth/Church of the Silver Flame.

Its also why he's never mentioned anything about his flashbacks to anyone. It's as if he was the only person who knew what could happen if you brought two sub-critical masses of plutonium together and he was sitting on a pair that he couldn't get rid of.

[shilsen]

Originally Posted by Sidekick

Nice one Bruvva, nice one.

Now that is what I cann a good update!

Nameless once again has a name, and a moral quandry for what to do about his power and his connection to the Nameless One.

Shilsen - very sinister and very cool.

Thankee, kind sir!

You get a cadbury milk tray (because one cookie/choccie simply isn't enough).

Ooh, gimme!

Originally Posted by Rackhir

Do with what information? About the only new piece of information is exactly why Nameless has the connections he has had.

I guess I took the confirmation of exactly what Nameless's past was, the explanation of why he has the unique talents that he does, and the knowledge of the daelkyr "footprint" in his head and its potentiality for increased/further effects in the future, as a combination rich enough to be defined as new information.

Which doesn't really change anything.

Mechanically, no. Roleplaying-wise, I think it has potential for all sorts of interesting use, both for internal character development and for external character interaction with other PCs and NPCs. But since he's your PC, that's pretty much your bailiwick.

I'd havepreferred you not to be as underwhelmed as you apparently are, but it won't be the first time I thought something was cool and a player didn't, and it won't be the last.

[shilsen]

The Rescue of Nameless, Pt. 1.

The never sleeping Six wakes the others early on the morning of the 26th. The entire group heads to Carosten Park, where Surr’kal has been making preparations. The ritual itself is a simple enough affair, mainly involving everyone sitting in a circle meditating (or rather, in the case of some, simply sitting silently), interrupted once in a while by Surr’kal placing a small sprig of mistletoe on each individual or sprinkling them with a couple of drops of fresh rainwater. At the end of the hour, everyone feels an aura of well-being temporarily envelop them and then fade away.

Surr’kal says, “You will now be more resistant to the powers of aberrations, whether it be poison or paralysis or anything else. The protection lasts five days, but ends instantly if you use healing or protective magic on an aberration.”

“Really not a problem,” says Gareth.

“I don’t know about that,” wonders Korm aloud, “What happens if we need to heal Nameless? Will that affect the protection?”

“Honestly, I do not know,” says Surr’kal. “Nameless’s situation is an, forgive me, aberrant one.”

“We’ll find out when we do,” says Trillia briskly. “We have no time to waste.” She gives Surr’kal a short bow and says, “Thank you, Gatekeeper. Hopefully, we will all see you soon again.”

Surr’kal bows back silently, though the worry is evident in his face, and the Angels take their leave.

Back at Trillia’s, the group waits while she produces a scroll and goes through the hour-long process of scrying on Nameless. At the end of the time, the large mirror that she has been gazing into blurs and its surface turns smoky. While the others see nothing else, Trillia stares into it intently and describes what she alone sees.

“I can see him. And he’s somewhere else. And not naked - praise be. He has his normal clothes on and is in an open chamber of some sort. No doors. I can see a tunnel coming and going out. That mind flayer which I saw before—Naxaliyen, I think—is there too, as is that dolgaunt with the floating eye. It’s got a tentacle wrapped around Nameless’s throat. I don’t see the … damn, the mind flayer’s seen my sensor and…”

“That’s it. Let’s go now!” interrupts Korm.

Trillia nods and steps away from the mirror, which returns to normal, and begins to pick up nearby scrolls and cast the few remaining protective spells that the group has not already cast. She opens the last one and speaks the words. Immediately, all of the Angels other than Six shrink to half their size.

“Grab hands,” orders Trillia, placing a hand on Luna’s shoulder and casting a spell. And teleports the group to Nameless’s location.

Or tries to. The adventurers get a fleeting glimpse of the chamber Trillia had described, with Nameless and the two aberrations in it, and then have a sense of an irresistible force shunting them to the side.

A split second later, they fully reappear, but in a very different place. This is an empty chamber, fifteen feet to a side and about ten high. There are three closed sphincters, each about two feet in diameter, in the ceiling and a larger one in the wall. The entire room stinks abominably, due to the dirty fluid and refuse that the group is knee-deep in. Or, in the case of those unfortunate enough to have been reduced, about chest deep.

“Ugh!” says Trillia, covering her nose and mouth, but remembering to pronounce the words to end the spell.

Which brings Luna, Gareth and Korm back to normal size and makes the room a lot more crowded.

“What happened?” asks Six. “Did something go wrong with your spell?”

“No. Didn’t you feel us being shoved to the side? That was definitely a magical effect of some sort. Probably a protection against teleporting in.”

“Hope it’s not a protection against teleporting out,” says Korm.

Gareth, listening to the interchange and scraping off the refuse that covers him from chest to knee, says, “Can we get out and discuss this?” As he speaks, he feels something brush against his leg. “Hold on! We’re not alone in here.”

“What?”

Gareth doesn’t have to explain. A pale white tentacle thicker than his arm shoots out of the water, wrapping around his leg. With a jerk, it pulls him flat on his back and under the water.

Luckily for Gareth, his ring of adaptation prevents him from swallowing any of the fluid in surprise, and he hacks at the tentacle with Kizmet. The blade bites deep into the tentacle, and promptly sticks there.

His startled companions also strike at the tentacle as well as they can in the restricted space and with the intervening fluid and muck, as well as the fact that most of it is wrapped around the paladin’s leg.

As they are striking at it, another one snakes out of the water and grabs onto Korm too, who seconds later has his sword too stuck to it. The adventurers note that as each blow hits, green fluid oozes from the wound and a network of vein-like green color shoots up the tentacle and across the nearby wall. Not that they have time to pause and study it now.

Things don’t improve much as Luna reflexively turns into a bear, almost flattening Trillia with her increasing bulk and making space even more of a premium than it already is. Especially since one of the walls shudders and slowly begins to close in on the others.

“Screw this!” shouts Trillia. “Let’s get out of here!” She gestures and a coating of grease covers Gareth, which allows him to slide his way out of tentacle’s grasp. Only to discover that Kizmet is still stuck to it and his locked gauntlet means that he is too. “Damn!”

Luna growls her agreement for the sentiment, though it is slightly muffled by the fact that she has her mouth and both front paws stuck to the tentacle on Korm.

Six, having noted in all the thrashing around that the tentacles are growing out of the floor and walls, says, “Good idea. I’m attacking the sphincter!”

Korm, having grabbed onto his attached sword and trying to push down and drive it deeper into the tentacle, mutters, “That may be the first time I heard that move as a tactical option.”

Ignoring the comment, Six strikes repeatedly at the sphincter, ripping deep slashes into it and the nearby wall. Immediately, deep green fluid gushes from the wound and the entire chamber shudders. A second later, the sphincter slides open. The thrashing, and by now mostly severed, tentacles release their targets and retract into the water, releasing the attached swords and bear.

The group hurries out through the sphincter into the ten foot square area beyond and part of the way up the flight of stairs leading out of it, before the sphincter slams shut behind them.

“Probably another mimic,” says Trillia, calling up a prestidigitation to clean herself.

“This place really has strange mimics,” says Korm.

“Strange everything!” says Gareth.

The group proceeds cautiously up the staircase, applying healing magic as needed on the way. The stairs ascend for about fifty feet, before ending in a long tunnel. It twists and turns for a bit, with no turn-offs or doorways, before coming to a crossroads, each tunnel of which stretches beyond the group’s torches or darkvision. After a little discussion, they head down the left fork.

They travel for over a hundred feet without a turn, before those in the group with keener hearing pick up the soft sounds of moaning coming from up ahead.

The group moves forward, to see that the tunnel ends at a large doorway, beyond which is a bridge that extends a hundred feet to another doorway. The moaning, with an odd sob or shriek, comes from chamber below, as does the smell of refuse.

The group cautiously looks in at the floor of the chamber thirty feet below, dimly lit by crystals set into walls. The entire floor is covered in giant fungi, standing six to eight feet high, many of them with something attached to them.

After a few seconds, the watchers realize that what look like fungi are actually hobgoblins and bugbears, which seem to have been fused with a fungal mass. Small vestigial arms hang down uselessly and they seem to have no eyes. They do have relatively normal noses and mouths, as already evidenced by the moaning. What floats above them seem to be dozens of embryos, complete with placenta and umbilical cord, the latter attached to one of the fungal creatures.

The Angels study the chamber for a while and then discuss whether to head back and take another route. Nobody is very keen to venture in. The decision to turn back is hastened by half a dozen of the closest embryos, which detach from the fungi and begin to float quickly towards the bridge.

Seeing six of the creatures floating into the entrance to the tunnel behind the group, Gareth turns and charges them, almost cutting one in half with Kizmet. The one he hit screams and then opens its eyes, which are completely blank white orbs. It emits an anticipatory gurgle and quickly swells in size, till it is the size of a small dwarf, while a large rubbery pair of champing, tooth-filled jaws expand from its mouth.

The creature bites at Gareth, and its floating umbilical cord simultaneously lashes out. The cord splits into ten thinner pieces as it strikes, each of them tipped with a small red claw. As the surprised Gareth cries out, each of the other five creatures follows suit, enveloping him in a hail* of claw attacks. In seconds, Gareth is covered in gore, his magical armor and multiple protective spells barely keeping him alive. The paralytic venom that he fights off is only icing on the cake.

As he staggers back, Korm yells, “Get between Gareth and the babies!” As Six, Luna and he rush to the rescue, he mutters, “Never thought I’d get to use that battlecry either!”

Trillia drops a black tentacles spell in the rear, catching three of the creatures. The others quickly dispose of the remaining three, though not before all of them are at least somewhat bloodied.

Standing back a few seconds later and watching the tentacles squeeze the creatures into mush, Korm says, “What in the Hells were those things?!”**

“I don’t know. And I don’t need to know,” says Gareth shakily. “Different route?”

“Definitely different route.”

The Angels retrace their steps to the last junction and follow the next tunnel. After a couple of twists and turns, they hear dolgrim voices ahead and pull back to make a plan.

The four unfortunate dolgrims on guard duty almost die of fright when a large warforged rushes soundlessly around the nearby corner, followed by a muscular orc and then a bear. The two humans in the rear are barely noticed.

A few seconds later, Six closes his fist around the coin with a silence spell that he was carrying, waves the terrified dolgrim hanging from his other hand at Trillia, and says, “Ask away.”

The interrogation happens very quickly, the biggest opposition mustered by the dolgrims consisting of an ever-growing pool of urine around the Angels’ feet. It is evident, even without Gareth’s ability to detect thoughts, that the dolgrims are not lying.

Apparently they are one among a number of guard groups posted around the area, since Naxaliyen has called a meeting of various aberration leaders at the seal. The dolgrims do not belong to his faction—the creatures in the city dwell in separate groups led by one or more powerful aberrations—and do not know what the meeting is for.

The dolgrims quickly provide the Angels with directions to the seal chamber, as well as the information that they will run into another such group on the way. They are just as quickly rewarded by being summarily dispatched.

The Angels proceed, following the given directions. Reaching the area where they expect the next set of guards, they are greeted with silence. And then with the sight of four dead dolgrims. Each has an expression of absolute terror on its face and a trickle of blood running from its mouth.

“O-kay,” says Trillia slowly, “What happened here?”

Six casts around and says, “No tracks,” and Korm adds, “No wounds on them.”

“This place just gets weirder,” says Gareth, with a corroborating growl from Luna. “Let’s head on.”

A couple minutes later, the group reaches a closed door, which should lead into the seal chamber. Listening at the door, Six says that he hears the murmuring of many voices. After some discussion and the casting of multiple preparatory spells, which includes turning everyone invisible, they carefully open the door and look in.

“Damn!”

* Gareth took 66 attacks in one round. I don’t think I’ll ever beat that record.
** Mechanically just grell with a couple extra HD.

[shilsen]

The Rescue of Nameless, Pt. 2

The huge chamber the Angels look into is roughly circular, stretching more than 500 ft across and standing over a hundred feet deep. Giant crystals are set into the ceiling and walls of the cavern, bathing it in a pale blue light. There are multiple entrances, most at the bottom but some entering on balconies thirty or sixty feet above the ground, with stairs leading down. They are looking in from one of the latter.

The chamber is dominated by what seems to be a giant mound of pale flesh in the center, a hundred feet across. Grown in the shape of a four-sided ziggurat, it rises in multiple levels to a height of sixty feet, with a steep ramp on two opposing sides making the ascent easier. Each corner has a pillar-like structure that extends all the way to the ceiling. Set into the top of the mound is a circular structure marked with crystals and sigils of various kinds, which the Angels instantly recognize as a dimensional seal.

More than the seal, their attention is drawn by the occupants of the chamber. Approximately a hundred dolgrims are in the cavern, divided into three clear groups, which stand equidistantly from each other near the chamber’s walls. Each group also contains four dolgaunts, standing closer to the central mound and fully focused on the very distinctive group that stands beside it.

The group includes two mind flayers, one with the amputated tentacles and the single eye that the Angels recognize from the battle with Naxaliyen’s “messengers”, and another with tentacles intact but also with a single eye, which Trillia whispers is the one she saw while scrying, probably Naxaliyen. He seems to be animatedly discussing or arguing with the large bulbous creature floating before him, its large staring eye and writhing eye-topped stalks instantly identifying it as a beholder. What looks like a large black cloak with a protruding, bony tail, floats lazily back and forth beside them, and two large muscular ogres (each with a head topped with a fringe of tentacles) in spiky plate-mail stand nearby. Also nearby is a ten foot high and long structure, roughly cubical in size. It constantly shifts and emits a buzzing sound, and it takes a few seconds before the Angels realize that it seems to be completely made of flies, clustered together into a solid, yet malleable mass. A somewhat louder buzzing sound emerges from within it, and when Naxaliyen turns to address it, they realize that the structure, or something within it, is actually joining in the conversation.

Despite all of these singular individuals, the two who most draw the invisible watchers’ eyes are the two who stand closest to the ziggurat. A couple of steps behind Naxaliyen stands the dolgaunt who originally accompanied the mimic-wagon, with the floating eye buzzing around his head. One of his tentacles sways back and forth idly, but the other is wrapped securely around the throat of Nameless, who stands quietly beside him. Nameless gives no sign of any interest in the ongoing discussion but simply stands there placidly.

Seeing him, the Angels pull back for a quick discussion. “Okay - what do we do?” asks Trillia. “I’d have suggested me dimension dooring all of us right next to him and grabbing him, but I don’t want to risk ending up back in that chamber we appeared in.”

“And there’s that damn beholder,” says Korm. “One look from that eye and we aren’t teleporting anywhere.”

Luna, having shifted back to her normal form, asks, “What about if just I or a couple of us, fly out there, grab Nameless and fly back in here? And then we can leave whatever way works best. If we’re invisible we can surprise them.”

Korm shakes his head. “As soon as we get out there, the bloody dolgaunts will know we’re there.”

“There’s also the issue of the Shard,” reminds Gareth. “We have to get that too. It‘s definitely here, since we all started feeling better once we reappeared here, but what if Naxaliyen doesn’t have it?”

As the discussion is proceeding, Six, who has been keeping an eye on events outside, says, “Hey! The beholder’s leaving!”

The others hurry to see that he is correct, with the large creature flying straight up to the ceiling, where an unseen doorway opens and lets it through, revealing sunlight beyond for a few seconds before it shuts. Naxaliyen watches it go and then makes a gesture that even in a mind flayer is obviously irritated dismissal. He then turns and says something to Nameless, who promptly produces the Shard from within his clothes and heads towards the nearby ramp, the dolgaunt walking beside him.

“Crap!” says Trillia, “He’s going for the seal. Must be mind-controlled or something. We’ve got to go now!”

The Angels quickly swig a last couple of potions, Trillia hastes the group and they all fly out, heading for the ziggurat as fast as they can. With the combination of spells, within seconds they are most of the way to it.

But, as Korm mentioned, they do not approach undetected. As soon as they leave the safety of the tunnel, all eight dolgaunts in the two closest groups snap their heads around and stare in their direction, and the one accompanying Nameless up the ramp does so as well. A second later, it yells a warning in daelkyr. Naxaliyen throws a surprised glance in the direction it points and then shouts instructions in various directions. He ends by hurrying up the ramp after the dolgaunt, which continues with Nameless, who shows no signs of noticing the commotion. One ogre follows him, while the other takes up a position near the other mind flayer, who raises a hand and prepares a spell against the first enemy who reveals himself. The cloaker rises cautiously to intercept the flying attackers, unsure where they are. Strangest of all, the structure made of flies slowly slouches its way towards the ziggurat, their buzzing rising in timbre.

The Angels have over two hundred feet to cover, and as they zoom down on the ziggurat, over fifty crossbows send a hail of bolts to meet them. Despite the invisibility and layers of magical protections, a couple of the Angels take minor wounds along the way. Amusingly, some of the dolgrims firing are not as lucky, being nailed by falling bolts fired by another group.

Six, in the lead, starts off things by dropping a smokestick, enveloping the waiting spell caster (and ruining his opportunity to cast a spell) and the ogre beside it. The warforged doesn’t pause, flying down to land on the top of the ziggurat, snapping out his spiked chain to await the dolgaunt and Nameless. A little distance behind him, Luna drops a flame strike around Naxaliyen and the ogre following him. Naxaliyen bursts through the flames without a pause, untouched by them, but the ogre growls in pain. The dolgaunt shouts a warning to him, pointing at the invisible Six, and Naxaliyen pushes by Nameless and him. He stares in the direction of Six and the warforged feels a blast of mental energy assault his mind, which he barely resists.

Now close enough to detect some of the others, the cloaker emits a strange moan, that slightly nauseates both Korm and Gareth, but both of them shake it off. Gareth dives at it and slashes it powerfully. Korm, deciding that stopping Nameless by any method is worth it, swoops away and replicates Luna’s flame strike, this one around Naxaliyen, the dolgaunt and Nameless. The former again ignores the magic, but both of the others are scorched, though they remain upright. Naxaliyen looks around at all the enemies appearing and then shouts. Though it is unclear who he is calling to, Trillia translates worriedly, “He’s asking for someone to send him the beholders! Plural!” She follows up by conjuring three pseudonatural wolves, two on the ramp and one next to the others on the ground.

The battle devolves into a chaotic melee. And not just at the ziggurat. Six, in the best position to see the dolgaunts and dolgrims swarming towards the battle, sees one group stop as screams of pain and fear erupt among them. Those in the lead stop and turn to see what’s going on, while the next group also stops in confusion. Six catches a glimpse of something red moving through and among them, but the numbers make it impossible to catch details, and he flies into the melee.

The crowded ramp becomes even more so as the two druids fly down to join the fight. Korm cuts the dolgaunt in half, dropping it twitching to the ground. As its tentacle falls off Nameless, they reveal a large red mark on the back of his neck, and he continues to try to head up the ramp with the Key in hand. Luna reaches down with a large paw to grab him, but a strange spell from the mind flayer wizard, who has finally wandered out of the smoke, simultaneously dispels and hurts her, sending her crashing down. The bear barely grabs onto the ramp and avoids falling. Nameless falls to his knees and then staggers up again. A large wolf falls past her, knocked flying off the ramp by an ogre’s sword. Korm only avoids the same fate due to his fly spell, being knocked backwards but landing in mid-air.

Gareth, meanwhile, cuts down his enemy, but only has a moment of relief. As the cloaker falls in a heap, a huge hole appears in the structure of flies and a ten-foot long creature comes flying out. It looks like a ten-foot long fly, except for the single multifaceted eye that crowns its bulbous head. As it nears Gareth, it breathes a stream of acid that sizzles painfully on his skin. He catches it with a powerful blow and then it rips into him with its clawed forelimbs and clutching him with its others.

Six, having landed a blow on Naxaliyen, discovers that the aberration leader is almost unhittable as soon as he can see the attacker, dodging his blows with ease. “Luna - try to grab him!” he shouts, but even as the growling bear clambers onto the ramp and prepares to attack, the wizard hurls an orb of fire burning her and dazing her, so that she stumbles and almost falls again.

Looking down at the wizard, Six now sees past him what the distraction for the dolgrims is. Dozens of them lie dead, along with a few dolgaunts, and most are fleeing in terror. Rising from among the dead is a wraithlike red figure that he recognizes immediately. Six shouts gleefully, waving his chain, “Snookums is here!” Even as he speaks, the strange creature charges into one of the small groups of dolgrims that remain. Urged on by shouting dolgaunts, the dolgrims unleash a volley of bolts that shoot right through the creature. Seemingly unaffected, it simply flies into and through the group. As if passes through a series of dolgrims and a dolgaunt, all of them fall screaming and writhing to the ground. Seconds later, only one of them remains alive, painfully crawling away.

As the other Angels glance at their unexpected ally, they catch sight of a possibly even more unexpected enemy. A few seconds earlier, a gaping hole had appeared in the far side of the ziggurat, with a loud buzzing sound emerging from it, but nobody has been at leisure to investigate. The buzzing grows louder, and the Angels see a beholder emerge. Along with approximately three hundred more. It is a swarm of beholders, each about six inches wide.

Trillia stares at the swarm and sums up the Angels’s collective opinion. “What the crap?!”*

Korm, giving the swarm a wary look and flying down to cut at Naxaliyen, sees the mind flayer sway away and then strike back, his tentacles slamming into the big orc’s face. Korm tries to pull back, but Naxaliyen skillfully wraps the tentacles around him. Six, seeing that Naxaliyen cannot as easily dodge his attacks, strikes deep into the mind flayer’s back, but he holds on.

Gareth has similar problems, the fly creature’s grasp making it impossible for him to strike it. Trying to buy time, the paladin calls on Kizmet’s healing ability. As some of his wounds close, Gareth calls down to the others, “Some help here?”

“I’m on it,” says Trillia, sending an orb of cold arcing up to strike the huge fly. Already wounded, it shudders and falls, Gareth barely managing to extricate himself from its weakening grasp. Even before it hits the ground, Trillia turns to encase Korm with a layer of quickened grease.

Korm feels Nayaliyen’s tentacles begin to lose their grip on his suddenly slippery skull, but before he can escape, the swarm of beholders envelops them. None of the creatures have any eye stalks as larger beholders do, but apparently the antimagic properties of their large central eye remains, though the range is severely limited. Not only does the grease on Korm disappear, but so do the magical protections on him and the others. A surprised Luna suddenly finds herself back in shifter form, while Six drops and barely catches himself on the edge of the ramp. The one wolf remaining on the ramp promptly disappears as well.

Naxaliyen’s tentacles take a tighter grip and then begin to burrow into Korm’s skull. Now with none of his magical protections, Korm falls back on the berserker blood of his ancestors. With a bestial roar, he hurls himself forward, lifting a startled Naxaliyen off his feet and taking both of them over the ramp’s edge. As they fall, the pair falls outside the effect of the mini-beholders’ gaze, and Korm feels his strength and health magically augmented again. Naxaliyen’s tentacles dig deeper and deeper, but through the pain Korm concentrates on keeping the mind flayer on the bottom as they fall, smashing him against the ledges of the ziggurat.

The battle pauses temporarily, the others watching in a combination of horror and hope as the two entwined enemies come to a stop on the bottom level. For a moment Korm thinks the bruised and bloody mind flayer is done, but then Naxaliyen stirs. His one eye glares balefully into Korm’s and the mind flayer sinks all of his tentacles into the druid’s brain**. Korm stiffens and goes limp.***

Naxaliyen, too weak to rip out his enemy’s brain, rises painfully to his feet. Flinging Korm away disdainfully, he prepares to command the mind flayer wizard, already into the motions of a new spell, but another spellcaster is outside the area of the beholder swarm.

“You’re dead,” says Trillia in daelkyr, and completes a spell. Instantly, a pair of pseudonatural bison appear on either side of Naxaliyen. As the mind flayer leader opens his mouth to scream, the two creatures hurl forward, smashing him between them into a crumpled, lifeless mass.

The mind flayer wizard shouts, “Get out!” and immediately dimension doors away. The surviving ogre turns and runs (unfortunately for him, right into Snookums), and even the beholder swarm floats away, heading back towards the orifice they emerged from.

With no enemies immediately attacking them, the Angels grab Nameless (whom Luna has knocked out in the interim) and the near-lifeless Korm. The mangled body of Naxaliyen is quickly secured as well.

“Do we risk teleporting?” asks Trillia.

“Do it,” nods Six. “That mind flayer did a dimension door, you said, so either it works on the way out. Or it’s in that garbage room and we can surprise the hell out of it!”

“Okay.” Trillia quickly shrinks everyone and prepares to cast a teleport.

As she is casting, the opening at the top of the chamber opens and this time three beholders appear, all normal size. “Too late,” says Trillia, as she completes her spell. As the Angels fade away, their last sight is the spectral wraith charging the beholders, eyebeams ripping away parts of its incorporeal form as it speeds towards them.

A second later, they reappear in Trillia’s laboratory. As soon as they do, the red splotch on Nameless’s neck, which they can now see is a scarab-like creature, crumbles to dust and falls off. Nameless shakes his head confusedly and his eyes focus.

“What happened?”

Six, kneeling beside the recumbent Korm, looks up and says, “Korm’s brain came out his ears, that’s what happened.”

* The player expressions when I said, “You see beholders. Three hundred of them.” was just beautiful. I wish I’d had a camera.
** Korm’s player, in keeping with his regular form, rolled a natural 1 on his grapple check.
*** Action pt keeps someone alive again.

[shilsen]

Once Trillia has explained a little about what occurred while he was gone, Nameless says that Naxaliyen mind-probed him and learned what the Key did, and then left with it. He is next memory was being back in Trillia’s chamber with the others, though he now retrospectively remembers what occurred during the battle. Though unaware of it at the time, he now recalls it as if he had been a silent spectator throughout it. Nameless doesn’t mention the fact that the rest of his memories, to the best of his knowledge, have now been restored.

“Naxaliyen’s not a problem any more,” says Six, indicating the mind flayer’s battered corpse, “But since that mind flayer wizard got away, do you want to go back and take him out for safety’s sake?” Though Six’s metal face cannot grin, the expression is clear in his voice. “And revenge, of course.”

“Yes!” says Korm emphatically, just having emerged from the rejuvenation cocoon without any holes in his skull, “I like this whole ‘teleport and decapitate aberrations’ strategy.”

Luna gives a feral grin and says, “I would have said teleport and flame strike, but I think it’s a damn good idea.”

“Me too,” says Gareth, and for once Nameless agrees with him. “Yes,” says the alienist, “I think that is definitely worth doing.”

The only person who doesn’t seem that enthused with the prospect is Trillia. “Do you really think that’s necessary? With Naxaliyen dead, I doubt that one—who seemed like a follower to him—will try something.” A little reluctantly, she adds, “Though admittedly it can teleport, it seems.”

“Yes,” says Nameless, “And if we can scry them they can scry us.”

Trillia sighs and says, “Honestly, I’d rather not go back there. We all got out alive this time and I’d rather not push our luck. We did recover a number of valuable things and I learned some useful information. Some of the things on that mimic-wagon will keep me busy for a while. Still, since going there in the first place was my idea, if you do want to return I’ll come along and help.”

The discussion is interrupted by the entrance of her steward Glauster, with an unexpected visitor. It is Bodo, and he excitedly hurries up to and greets the group. “Hi, Gareth! I haven’t seen you in days! Hello, Luna! Nameless - oooh, what happened to you? You look like !”

Gareth smacks him on the back of the head and says, “Be polite,” drawing an aggrieved “Ow! I was just being concerned - he really does look like !” Bodo quickly sidesteps the next smack.

Glauster, who has been trying vainly to speak over Bodo, looks at Trillia and says, “This boy said he had a message from the Archierophant for Gareth, so I let him in. Is that all right?”

“Yes, Glauster, that’s fine.”

“A message?” asks Gareth.

“Yes. The Archierophant was going to send you a message and since a lot of people there know that I know you and I was on a break, they decided to send me.” Bodo beams and adds, “Which is great. I haven’t seen you in days, and the rest of you in ages! Plus I get to miss a couple of classes!”

Gareth looks disapproving at the latter information. “So what is the message?”

“The Archierophant wants to know heard you’d come looking for her yesterday and wanted to know what it was for. She’ll be there today between 3 and 4 if you want to meet her.” Bodo plops down on a couch. “So, what is going on? What happened to Nameless? And can I get some food. I’m hungry!”

A couple of the others chuckle at the obstreperous boy, and Trillia opens her mouth to ask Glauster for some refreshments, but Gareth forestalls her. “You need to go back to the Cathedral now. Trillia, could Glauster take him back there, if you don’t mind?”

The expression on Glauster’s face says that he definitely does, but it pales next to Bodo’s cry of anguish. “Gareth! I told you I’m on a break and I haven’t seen you guys in so long. Come on!”

“No,” says Gareth sternly, ignoring Bodo’s continued arguments. Trillia shrugs and tells Glauster to do the needful.

As the steward leads his mournful charge away, Six suddenly says, “Bodo - I’ll walk you to the door,” and follows the two out. Once they are out of the door, he asks quietly, “Bodo - do you know someone called Thurik Davandi?”

Bodo scratches his head. “He’s one of the city councilors, right? A gnome. I don’t really know anything specific about him. Why?”

“I just need a little information about him. Do you think you could do some checking for me?” Six extends a hand and a silver piece suddenly appears in it.

Bodo grins broadly, his earlier glumness gone. “Sure. Anything in particular you want to know?”

“No. Anything you can find out.” Six chuckles. “Maybe you could write a report on him for something at school.”

“Yeah. I didn’t think about it. There’s this one boring class about civics, where I could use it for Sharn politics.” Bodo looks a little more excited. “Anyone else you could use a report on?”

“Let’s just start with this one, shall we?”

“Sure, Six. No problem. See you soon. And put in a good word for me with Gareth and get him to let me hang out with you guys again. I‘m being good with school but this is way more fun.”

“I’ll try,” says Six, thinking, Unfortunately, not a chance of it happening.

The big warforged heads back to the others, just in time for the start of an argument between, as usual, Gareth and Nameless. The latter, on asking where the Key is, has been informed that Gareth picked it up. And when he asks Gareth to return it, the paladin refuses, saying that Nameless is too risky a person to carry it, since he’s already lost it twice, once via mugging and now to the mind flayer. Nameless responds that Gareth’s hardly any safer, bringing up his mugging and kidnapping in Grayflood and the fact that Nameless can escape magically as Gareth cannot. Which is then followed by mutual statements of a lack of trust in the other, Gareth saying that Nameless might be mind-controlled to use the Key, which the others cannot, while Nameless says he fears that Gareth might hand it over to the Archierophant.

Korm and Six reluctantly join in and try to persuade Gareth to let one of them carry it as a compromise, while Luna glowers at the two and mutters something about them being a serious pain in the ass and being tempted to flame strike both of them. Trillia simply watches, grins and shakes her head.

As is usually the case, the argument goes nowhere and the group settles for Gareth temporarily carrying the Key. The group then heads out, to take care of various tasks, one of them being getting the ill effects of Nameless’s interrogation by Naxaliyen taken care of.

Though Gareth offers to speak to the Archierophant in that regard, Nameless says he’d rather just visit the Jorasco enclave in Dragon Towers and pay. He does so, quickly ending up in front of a dragonmarked halfling healer.

The healer asks Nameless how he obtained his condition, since customers asking for a restoration are rare. Nameless evades the question, simply saying, “I’ve just had a very rough day and would rather not talk about it.”

“Very well,” says the halfling, seemingly unperturbed by the lack of information. “This’ll only take a few seconds.” He places a hand on Nameless’s shoulder and concentrates, and the watchers see the dragonmark on his arm turn darker in color, giving off a surge of heat that Nameless can feel. The alienist also feels a warmth envelop his body momentarily, and when it passes, he feels substantially more healthy. He thanks the healer, hands over the payment and leaves.

Nameless and Gareth then proceed to the Cathedral, where they meet Ythana Morr in her office. She inquires about their situation and asks Gareth why he needed the scrolls. Gareth explains in some detail about their visit to Yarkuun Draal, which the Archierophant isn’t really aware of.

She seems quite concerned about the temporary loss of the Key, but doesn’t say much about it besides mentioning that they need to take much better care of it. Then she looks at Nameless. “I presume you are not ready to hand it over to my safekeeping?”

“Not if I have anything to say about it,” replies Nameless calmly.

Ythana holds his gaze and then says, “At least you are honest.” The tone of voice says that it is only a minor saving grace. Turning to Gareth, she adds, “As I have said before, it is your choice, but it is a great responsibility. Remember that I am here to aid you.”

“Speaking of which,” she continues, “I have a proposition for you. Your position here, as a Karrnathi, as someone who is not truly a member of our congregation, but also as a valuable member of the Church, is a nebulous one. Would you consider becoming a templar of the Flame?”

Gareth is momentarily surprised, but quickly responds that while the offer honors him, he is not sure how it would impact his personal choices and the work he needs to do, as well as his plan to join House Deneith.

While not apparently displeased at the news, Ythana says that if he is to be a member of the Deneith Blade mark (the mercenary branch), then it is difficult to see how he could serve as a templar as well. Gareth explains that he presumes he would end up in the Defender’s Guild (protective services to individuals) and has been informed that he will have certain freedoms, due to his religious affiliation. The Archierophant says that then the offer from her remains open, and he should consider it and let her know what she thinks.

She also asks Nameless if he and the other Angels would be willing to work with Gareth if she finds an assignment for him. “After all,” she says, “People with your group’s unique talents are in very short supply, even in Sharn.”

“That would definitely be possible,” replies Nameless, “As long as we’re not busy with some other situation.”

“Very well. Incidentally, Gareth, you should stop by Coldflame Keep sometime. I think you‘ll be pleasantly surprised.”

Gareth says he will do so and asks where he can make a donation to the Cathedral. Ythana tells him to do so to the priest on duty at this time. Gareth also asks about Bodo’s education, saying that he fears Bodo might be getting too much free rein. Ythana reassures him that’s unlikely to be the case, considering the severity of the Master of Novices, who deals with such matters.

With that, she dismisses the two. On the way out, Gareth donates 250 galifars to a pleased priest, and then heads off to Carosten Park with Nameless.

Korm and Luna are already there, having headed there from the Jorasco enclave. Surr’kal meets them, eager to know what happened during the rescue attempt. He appears very relieved at the recovery of Nameless and the Key, politely adding that the group really needs to work out what to do with it and that he is eagerly awaiting Gurr’khan’s return.

Six, meanwhile, is back in the Deathsgate district, looking for a good taxidermist. He finds a shop not far from Trillia’s home, which apparently caters to the adventurers of the Deathsgate Guild (according to a plaque on the door). The quality of the work, as evidenced by the trophies that line the walls, is quite good and Six asks the owner and primary taxidermist how much he’d charge to mount a mind flayer.

The man stares at Six for a moment and then says, “Okay, who sent you? Are you from the Sharn Inquisitive? Is this a joke?”

Six reassures him that’s not the case, and when convinced of the warforged’s veracity, the taxidermist is very excited. He doesn’t hide the fact that nobody he knows of has got to stuff a mind flayer, and it will be a significant benefit for him professionally to have done so. The eventual price he sets is a hundred galifars, with a full refund if anything goes wrong, and the chance to buy the damaged mind flayer. Though a little suspicious about the last bit, Six says he will speak to his companions and return.

Once the Angels reconvene and are on their way back to Trillia’s, they find a huge hubbub and commotion everywhere. Rumors are flying around about an assassination attempt on King Boranel and Queen Aurala during the latter’s visit to Wroat. By the time they reach Trillia’s, the adventurers have heard many stories, ranging from the death of both monarchs and the declaration of war on Karrnath, which sent the assassins (Gareth’s obvious accent draws dirty looks from those relating this story), to different stories that each say one is dead and Aundair and Breland are going to war, to the more positive one that both are fine.

Within a couple of hours, official heralds are speaking at skybridge junctions, proclaiming that the monarchs are both fine and reminding people to stay calm. They promise that official details about the affair will be available early the next day.

Despite the reassurances, Gareth still picks up a few dirty looks on the way to Coldflame Keep that evening, some for being Karrnathi and some for wearing the symbols of the Flame and presumably being Thranish in origin.

When he reaches Coldflame Keep, Gareth finds numerous workmen moving around and renovation work in progress. Mazin Tana greets Gareth and thanks him, saying that the Archierophant sent a substantial amount of money for improving the place, which must have happened due to Gareth’s advocacy. He soon has reason for further thanks, as Gareth provides him with another donation of 250 galifars towards the temple.

When Gareth asks about him, Mazin says that Cedric is away. There has always been a hermit priest of the Silver Flame guarding the white obelisk called Warden Tower, which stands among the mausoleums and crypts of the so-called City of the Dead, where the people of Sharn used to be entombed in the cliffs to the north (whereas they are commonly cremated now). Cedric knows the current Warden, a priestess called Gaia, and has gone up to visit her. He will be staying the night there and should be back the next day.

When Gareth returns and tells the others, Nameless grins and says, “Staying the night? Knowing Cedric, I can’t imagine why!”

[shilsen]

The (Short, and Not So Sweet) Return of Desro

The next morning, Gareth and the two druids, having spent the night at Coldflame Keep and Carosten Park respectively, arrive at Trillia’s simultaneously to find a small sack nailed to her door.

When they give it to Trillia, she says she has no idea who it’s from and asks them to check it for unwelcome surprises and open it. Nameless detects no magic and Six opens the sack to find two boxes inside. As he opens the larger one, a magical explosion rocks him. After the smoke clears, Nameless says, “Must have had a spell to mask it. Sneaky!”

After he heals Six, the latter checks to find a note and a map. The note reads, “This is Dala. My kidnappers want me to write this note to show that I am still alive. They say that you have something of theirs and if you want to see me alive, you will come and meet them here. They will put the location in another note. They have told me that you have returned safely to Sharn. Please save me. I am counting on you. Dala”

“Great!” says Trillia, “I’d wondered why she didn’t show up yesterday to check on what happened with the Key. Now we know!”

“Wait,” points out Six, “There’s more.”

Below the first part of the note, in different writing, it says: “Wish I’d seen the looks on your faces when the glyph went off. Oh, come on - it was funny. And I’m sure you’re all fine. Seems you’ve been getting famous since we last met. I’ve been doing well too. We need to talk about a mutually beneficial proposition I have. I’m sending you a map, and Dala and I’ll be there at 6 pm. Don’t bring backup, since I’ll consider that a breach of trust. And don’t keep me waiting, since I might get bored and have to entertain myself with your little friend. In fact, I did get a little bored already, as you’ll see in the box. Consider it a sign of my seriousness. Your former acquaintance. Desro.”

“Who’s Desro?” asks Korm.

“One that got away,” says Nameless. “He’s actually the reason we met Gurr’khan. We were trying to collect the bounty on him and fought Desro right after he killed Gurr’khan’s apprentice and broke into the dimensional seal he guards. Broke Gareth’s sword and dimension doored away. He’s a cleric of the Traveler.”

“Evil cleric,” adds Gareth.

“I almost caught him,” says Luna. “Maybe this time…”

“Oh, nice!” says Six, having opened the smaller box. It contains a little toe, evidently taken from a right foot.

“I see this one needs killing,” says Korm grimly. “I wonder why he decided to kidnap Dala. Where does he want to meet us?”

Six smoothes open the enclosed hand-drawn map. It begins with an entrance to the Ashblack Cogs and provides directions to a large chamber in a part of Khyber’s Gate.

While the others are examining it, Nameless re-reads the note and notices something strange about the section from Dala. Some of the letters look slightly off-center.* After a few seconds of consideration, Nameless picks up a pattern. “Hey!” he says, “There’s a coded message in here.”

“Huh?”

“Dala stuck a coded message in here. Very smart of her.”

“What does it say?”

“Let’s see … it says … ‘Three of them. One cleric. One wizard. Be careful.’ I guess the cleric is Desro.”

“Makes sense.”

“Anyway,” continues Nameless, “I’d like some more information before we do anything. I’ll try to scry Dala once I have my spells ready.”

While they are discussing the situation with Dala, Glauster brings in the special one-page report on the assassination attempt that has been published by the Korranberg Chronicle. The report confirms that there was a failed assassination attempt on King Boranel and Queen Aurala, as well as a planned terrorist attack on Scion’s Gate South. The two Scion’s Gates (one in Fairhaven and one in Wroat) are mirror images of each other and were built as a sign of solidarity between the two nations. Scion’s Gate South was destroyed during the War and has just been rebuilt. Queen Aurala was in Wroat for the opening, which many Aundairans had issues with, since her visit was seen as giving too much importance to Breland.

According to the report, a group of militant Aundairans planned an assassination of both Aurala and Boranel, as well as the destruction of the rebuilt monument, hoping to cause further turmoil between the nations. The plan was reportedly hatched in Sharn, but a double agent planted by the King’s Citadel discovered the plans. As a result of this pre-information, the assassination attempts and the planned destruction of Scion’s Gate were foiled. Deneith Sentinel Marshals guarding Boranel had a major part in the action, including the well-known twins Lalia and Tasra from Sharn. The KC can’t confirm it, but it believes that the brave Citadel double agent was a half-orc named Raskalorn, who remained with the terrorists to keep feeding the Citadel and Sentinel Marshals info, and was regrettably killed by the terrorists during the operation. He is due to be buried with full military honors.

The report also includes opinions from various relevant sources. Unsurprisingly, the Brelish sources are discussing the quality of their security service, the loyalty of the Brelish people (who are clearly too loyal to assassinate their ruler), and their protection of the Aundairan queen. Just as unsurprisingly, Aundairan sources are much less happy, ranging from comments that the Citadel should have revealed the plot as soon as detected without putting Aurala in danger, to suspicion that the Brelish made the plot seem more dangerous for political capital, to even an accusation or two that the entire thing was faked by Breland.

After they have read the entire report, Six asks, “Wasn’t Raskalorn the guy we helped that Citadel guy capture?”

“Talleon,” reminds Nameless. “And yes.”

“So you really think he was a double agent?” asks Luna.

“Not a chance,” says Gareth. “I’m guessing they’re just using the story to dispose of him neatly. He was probably dead by the time this occurred.”

“I love the way things are done in your cities,” says Korm with a scowl. “At least in the Marches all you have to worry about is running into the odd hungry beast and one of the wilder tribes going on the warpath.”

“Now you know why I want to go and live in a forest,” agrees Six. “At least when Gurr’khan returns, we may get a chance to see your Marches.”

The next couple of hours are spent making preparations for the evening meeting with Desro. Nameless attempts a scrying from Trillia’s sanctum but all he sees in the ornate mirror is a dull gray haze. “She didn’t just resist it on reflex,” he explains. “It’s a protective spell. Probably a Private Sanctum.”

Trillia, who has politely explained that she’ll be happy to provide some protective spells but will not be accompanying them (“The stories you guys relate are a lot funnier when one isn’t part of them”), says, “Which means someone there has access to or is capable of casting spells of the 5th valence.”

“Yes,” says Nameless. “I’d like to go there a couple hours early and set an ambush or surprise them.”

“Good idea,” says Six, “But for now, somebody help me stick Naxaliyen in a cart and put something over him. I’ve got to go make the taxidermist have a heart attack, and I don’t want to get arrested on the way.”

***
Luckily, Six isn’t, and a few hours later he is moving carefully through the tunnels near Khyber’s Gate, heading for the rendezvous point. The symbiont that Naxaliyen’s dolgaunt minion used now orbits his head, the mental link he needs to build to use it allowing him to see in the darkness just as Korm’s natural and Gareth’s divinely-granted abilities allow them to do.

A dozen or so turns before the meeting location, Six notices a large “ANGELS” chalked on the tunnel wall, with smaller writing below it. The writing says, “Guess what…,” but before Six can read further there’s a loud explosion around him.

The other Angels, moving through the tunnels some sixty feet behind him, come rushing up at the sound, spells and weapons at the ready. They see a somewhat battered Six standing next to the sign. “Look!” he says disgustedly.

They read the inscription: “Guess what - I prepared Explosive Runes this morning. Man, I crack myself up sometimes! See you soon. Desro.”**

“This joker really needs killing,” says Korm.

“You’re telling me!” says Six, feeling the dents in his breastplate.

After repairs are made, the group continues, Six moving ahead as before. A couple of turns after the ‘joke’ trap, the tunnels widen and become less neatly carved. Entering a large, empty chamber with more natural rock formations, Six casts around for tracks and picks up traces indicating that three human-sized creatures had passed through here.

After telling the others what he found, Six heads on. A couple of turns before the supposed meeting area, he enters another such large chamber. As he crosses the entrance, a loud ringing sound begins. As the alarm ceases, Six hears the sounds of movement from around the corner of the sole tunnel exiting the chamber, on the opposite wall but to the side of the entrance. He quickly steps to the side and snaps out his chain, also noting the sound of hurrying feet from his allies.

Moments later, two very recognizable figures enter from the exit tunnel. In the lead is Dala, this time wearing a very ornate set of heavy plate mail, which seems to sit very easily on her thin frame. As does the saw-toothed falchion she holds in her small hands. Behind her walks Warden Balan Cord of the Blackened Book, now garbed in a finely made dark robe with no decorations, though some variations in the shading indicate that there are symbols on the cloth. Six is instantly sure that both are disguises, but if so, they are flawless.

Balan smiles at Six and then at the rest of the Angels, who come racing around the corridor. “Welcome, mighty heroes!” he says pleasantly. The voice too, like the suspected disguise, is perfect. Dala, standing before him with her falchion in a ready stance, says nothing, settling for an anticipatory, feral grin.

Balan is about to continue, but Nameless forestalls him, casting a spell as soon as he sees the pair. A bead of flame leaps from the alienist’s hands and a fireball envelops the two. As startled and pained cries erupt, the bear Luna turns to give Nameless a dirty look, as if to say, “Wait - that’s my job!”

The flames disappear to reveal an untouched Balan, though Dala looks burned and angry, and battle is promptly joined.

Things go badly initially, as the Angels make some unwelcome discoveries. Six, leaping in and out to slash Balan across the face, discovers that he has some powerful protection against weapons, since the blow leaves only a scratch on his cheek. As his more martial allies rush forward to join the battle, Nameless is suddenly confronted by Desro, who steps out of the wall of the tunnel to confront him, greatsword at the ready. Nameless quickly backs away, says, “You're not running away this time,” and hits Desro with a dimensional anchor.

But the most painful discovery is a positional one. Balan, ignoring Six, steps forward and pulls a small glass rod from his pouch. As he casts, sparks crackle along the rod and then shoot out as a large lightning bolt shoots down the tunnel that the Angels have conveniently arranged themselves in. Apparently Desro has some preplanned protection against it, since he is barely touched by the spell, while the others stagger from the pain.

Gareth and Korm rush forward, both striking at Dala, who has moved to block their entrance. Gareth lands a powerful blow, but discovers that she has similar protection as Balan. The return blow is even worse, only his armor keeping him from being disemboweled***. Luckily for him, Korm**** responds with an equally powerful slash, and even with Dala’s protections, blood sprays across the chamber.

Korm’s response buys the paladin time to back up out of the fight, letting a growling Luna squeeze past him to join Korm. She swipes powerfully at Dala, and tries to pull her into a bear-hug. To her (painful) surprise, Dala pivots away smoothly, slashing deeply into the reaching paws, again and again.*****

With Dala landing powerful blows on the druids, one of which drops Korm in a bloody heap, Balan providing magical support and Desro assaulting Nameless with nobody to stop him, things look very dire for a moment. But then the situation changes in the blink of an eye, at least partly due to a miscalculation on the part of the enemies.

Desro, though seeing Gareth use Kizmet to heal himself, decides to focus on dropping Nameless first and presses the attack. A deep slash staggers Nameless, but he manages to barely dodge away from the next one. Nevertheless, one more attack like the lightning bolt would probably kill the alienist. Luckily for him, Balan decides to help out Dala, who is being worn down despite her protections. He sends a scorching ray each into Luna and Korm, and then casts a quickened magic missile to drop Nameless.

The five missiles zoom at Nameless, and then blink out a foot from him, intercepted by the shield he had cast while running up. This buys him just the time he needs and Nameless does what he excels at, summoning two pseudonatural wolves to assault Desro and Dala.

Desro, caught off guard, cries out as fangs rip through his armor and then pull him off his feet. Which gives Gareth just the opportunity he needs. Calling to the Flame to strengthen his hand, he strikes down at the prone Desro. Kizmet blazes with silver fire as it strikes, literally cutting the evil cleric in two.

“They’re too strong! We have to get out!” shouts Balan, the shock and fear evident in his voice. Dala, just having been bitten by the wolf and struck by Six, drives Luna back with another blow that almost drops the bear******, and nods. She steps back and Balan touches her shoulder, dimension dooring the two away.

Six, his agility and defensive fighting having left him the only Angel completely unscathed, cautiously moves down the corridor Dala and Balan emerged from, checking if there’s any other danger. By the time the others join him, Six has found that the tunnel, after two more turns, ends at a half-open door leading into a central chamber with two doors leading off it, as well as a short corridor with another two doors.

Over the next hour, the Angels search the area, making a number of interesting discoveries. The first of the rooms is a well-furnished alchemist’s laboratory, and Nameless takes the opportunity to collect a few costly reagents and other useful materials.

The second room is a combination study and bedroom, simply furnished but comfortable. A chest at the foot of the unmade bed contains a locked, heavy metal box, which Six opens with a key found on Desro. It contains a small folding altar to the Traveler, along with valuable incense, as well as material components and foci for certain divination spells. The Angels recognize it from their first encounter with Desro.

A desk in the room seems to contain nothing of real importance, but Six discovers a small sliding panel. Behind it is a bag that contains 200 galifars, a scroll of spells, an ivory wand, as well as a heavy gold ring with a small dragonshard set into it.

Having identified the spells as disguise self, invisibility and fly, Nameless says, “Looks like a little stash for escape purposes.”

“Fat lot of good it did him,” smirks Gareth.

Moving on to the corridor, the group finds the first door there to open into a similar room, though this one is much more ornate and comfortable than the first one. It contains two beds, both immaculately made and hardly seeming used.

There are also a couple of closets that contain collections of fine clothing (one for a man and one for a woman) in them. Six holds up a particularly beautiful—and revealing—glamerweave gown. “Anybody else think Luna would look pretty in this?” The druid, still in bear form, settles for a baleful glare and a growl in response.

The desk in this room contains no hidden compartments that Six can find. Korm, however, finds a crumpled note in the wastebasket, in Desro’s handwriting. It says, without an opening salutation, “I’ve found a job that might be our best one yet. Remember those idiots I told you I fought at the Seal? Well - let’s just say that I’m planning another, much more profitable, run-in. Meet me at the usual place in two days. D.”

“Looks like Desro hired those two in Sharn,” comments Gareth. “I wonder who they are.”

“That wizard was powerful,” adds Nameless. “Somebody or other in the underworld would know them. But we have other ways of locating them.” He holds up a vial filled with the blood that the fake Dala spilled during the fight.

“Where’s the real Dala, is the question,” says Korm.

The last room in the area answers it. This one is a torture chamber, its walls lined with objects and implements built specifically to cause pain, while keeping the unfortunate recipients alive. They are clearly quite old, but most are in good repair.

What immediately catches the Angels’ attention is the form against the far wall. The naked figure of Dala hangs by her wrists from manacles dangling from long chains. For a moment, the watchers think that she is covered in blood, but then realize that they are seeing her muscles and organs laid bare.

“They skinned her!”

As they slowly move forward towards the gory mess that was recently a human being, Nameless asks, “She’s not alive, is she?”

Korm gently lifts Dala’s face, to reveal her throat and display a slash that almost decapitated her. He looks down at the volume of blood on the ground and the state of the flesh around the cut. “No, she’s not. But she was when they skinned her.”

* In seven years of gaming, I’m the only DM that I’ve seen using Decipher Script at all.
** Yes, I owe Varsuuvius for this one.
*** Crit on first attack. Gareth took 82 pts of damage in that round.
**** And a crit in return
***** Close-Quarters Fighting
****** Took 120 pts of damage in the fight

[Sidekick]

Wow Shilsen - you really are broken

Excellent stuff.

Consider this a Bump FOR JUSTICE!!!