Dr. Midnight in the Tomb of Horrors

[Dr Midnight]

This is an old campaign in which I play Dr. Midnight. Surprise. The campaign was run and chronicled below by Barak Blackburn. It's not classic stuff, but you may enjoy it. Sorry about the huge paragraphs, but I don't have time to break up Barak's chunked writings.

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Big Boulders, Bad Magic, Brown Stains and...

After arriving in Panderlach and being escorted by an acolyte of Klaag to the famous Golden Eel tavern, the party settled in for some dinner on this chill winter night. Only four days remained before the festival of Circumabulation and many people were out shopping. None of the party had ever been to Panderlach, so the sight of so many military personnel was a bit startling (roughly 1 in 20 persons found on the street wore an official uniform). Nepiol recommended delicious fish dishes for everyone, Rainsong had to spear her own fish from the giant tank at the front of the tavern. The Golden Eel was once a mighty sailing vessel, the largest Nepiol had ever seen, but for many years now had been permanently docked by her owner, a large sailor by the name of Khale. Khale, of course, had an obnoxious parrot on his shoulder. The food and drinks were excellent, Khale promised and delivered on the promise of exotic fare. As the party was ordering up another round of drinks, a patron stumbled forth into the very thick fog. His exit was followed by a blood-curdling scream and our heroes leaped up from their table and jumped out into the cold-winter fog. The fog was so thick that unless they were standing directly next to each the only sound they could make out was the sound of their allies fighting the undead who viciously attacked them. The party made quick work of these wights, though their life-draining touch was felt by Nepiol and Rainsong ("Undead very bad."). As the ten once-living bodies dropped to the ground the tavern-goers scrambled out a side door, and remained huddled in one of the common rooms for the evening. Skippy noticed a tattoo on one of the creatures "Payvin’s Pearl". Nepiol wrapped one of the bodies up in his dragon-scale cloak and carried it upstairs and hid it under his bed. "In case we need it." They all joined Khale, who was now alone downstairs for a couple more rounds before most everyone retired. Skippy stayed up late "singing" drinking songs with Khale.

Well rested everyone came downstairs and were informed by Khale that several city-guards came by already and wanted to speak with them. Skippy came downstairs, looking like he had had too much too drink, and this became quite obvious when he asked anyone who spoke to "Please be quiet." While nursing his hangover Skippy remembered the wight’s tattoo and asked Khale about it. Khale told them that he had heard of the Pearl, and they might go down towards the docks for more information. The city guards finally showed up and got the relevant information from the party and asked them to please keep Khale informed as to where they were going if they happened to leave the city, in case they were needed for anything else. After a hearty breakfast, they made their way down towards the docks and found out that Payvin’s Pearl was docked there and had been scheduled to leave about a week ago, but that Payvin had been spending his time at a local tavern after his whole crew jumped ship. Inquiring at the bar, the barkeep directed them towards a haggard looking man who apparently had done nothing but drink for the last week. He sat alone at a very small table. When they approached him, he wanted nothing to do with them until they bought him another round. After his whistle had been wet again, he asked what they wanted. When they asked him about his crew he informed them that there was no way his crew had jumped ship. He related his tale, that the night before they were heading out to sea Payvin returned to his ship to find no one aboard. Thinking was on the receiving end of a practical joke he looked around, but found nobody. But he did find something. As he looked up towards the mast he saw a red pair of eyes staring down at him. "The Devourer could have stolen your soul too, but has decided to let you live." The voice called out. Payvin leaped into the icy water and swam for shore as fast as he could. After having looked into the eyes of death itself, Payvin has sworn to never set foot on a ship again. His hands shook as he gulped down his last drink. When Nepiol asked if they could have permission to board his ship, Payvin told them didn’t care if they sank the Pearl, as he was never stepping on it again.

Boarding the Pearl, the party didn’t find much evidence of what had happened to Payvin’s crew, but they did find out that there had been ten crew members, the same amount of wights they had defeated the night before. Nepiol dove into the icy water and searched the muck of the harbor’s bottom for any clues. All he found was empty run bottles and other such debris. Returning to the Golden Eel, Nepiol made his upstairs for a warm bath after his very cold swim. After warming back up they went over what they knew: some creature, with red eyes, an unholy voice, the ability to drain people of their life essence had attacked the Pearl. Having no idea what, or who, this could be they consulted a sage. Hearing their dilemma, this sage asked for a 25 gp fee to direct to someone with more expertise in this matter. They reluctantly agreed to pay the steep sum, and were directed to a sage named Ahrens. But if they ever wanted any information on bugs, they should be sure to return...

Ahrens wasn’t quite sure how he could help the party until they mentioned the Devourer. He was a sage of words. Having no other avenues to explore they agreed to his 750gp/ day rate and returned to the Eel. Two days later, Ahrens had some information that they might find interesting. Seems their was an entity called the Devourer, who was mentioned in a discussion on the Negative Material Plane. Seems also that a powerful mage named Desatysso was very interested in this Devourer. Desatysso hadn’t been heard from in years, so Ahrens actually plumbed a little deeper and found out where his residence was located. He also gave the party a sketch of the sign of the Devourer that he unearthed in one of his texts. Not wanting to miss out on Circumambulation, the party stayed in the city for a while longer, exchanged gifts (most of which were goofy) and prepared themselves for a small trip up into the mountains to find the keep known as Burntrock. From the directions Ahrens had given them, the journey would probably take abut a day.

Getting up bright and early after the festivities, they headed out leaving a trail behind them in the early morning snow. They were able to follow the directions quite easily, and after securing their horses at the bottom of the mountain they had been told to climb, started their ascent. The injuries were minimal, the climbing was relatively easy, even for those members with no skill scaling cliffsides. As they approached the top they were ambushed by two hill giants who threw boulders at them. With spell and missile they dispatched the giants without too much difficulty and pulled themselves up into a small vale where they viewed the keep of the wizard Desatysso. Judging by the many holes in the keep’s wall, it seemed as if no one had lived here for some time. This also seemed evident by the lack of tending to the surrounding topiary.

As they approached the almost-ruins of the keep, they were ambushed by four more hill giants who leaped forth from the keep’s giant front doors. Two charged the party and two proceeded to start throwing boulders. Nepiol quickly activated his magic trident and summoned forth a dome of water that covered them, making only the giants legs visible. Rainsong was slightly shaken by this wall of water, but proceeded to attack the giants. Aerik found the space within the dome confining, but made his way forward anyway. Skippy was mesmerized by this wall of water. The giants, sensing that it would be difficult for them to attack backed out of the dome and when Nepiol deactivated it, all signs of them were gone. The doors to the keep were closed again and when they cautiously approached, they found them locked. No amount of budging or picking seemed to open them, so Skippy caused a portion of the door to vanish, allowing them easy entry. More bad magic. Nepiol checked inside quickly, so as to avoid being bashed in the skull by a giant club, but he found nothing, or no one inside. The investigation of the keep proved relatively uneventful. Most of the furnishings had long been destroyed. There was the still warm cinders of a fire in one room. And a seemingly magic blaze in another. When they approached the door to the tower of this small fortress, the flame leaped from the fireplace and grew to a living creature of flame over 16 feet in height. Although the creatures fiery touch caused significant damage, the band quickly dispelled it and entered the tower. Due to the gaping hole in the roof, the tower was now home to many pigeons who cooed loudly when the door was opened. As with the rest of the keep, the contents of what was once most likely the wizard’s lab, were destroyed. Searching through the rubble, Nepiol stumbled upon a small silver key.

Finding no other possible route for the giants then the passageway that seemed to wind it’s way up inside the great mountain. After exploring a narrow passageway in which the walls themselves constricted around Nepiol, crushing him with ease, before he leaped free, they made their way up the passage. They climbed for some time, the passage corkscrewing its way up the mountain, they heard a great rumbling and were appropriately frightened at the sight of a boulder the width of the passage hurtling towards them. Aerik acted quickly and put up a wall of force which stopped the rolling rock inches before it turned them all into a part of the passage floor. They quickly made their way down the passage and waited until the boulder came to a crashing stop, sealing off the passage. Skippy turned the massive boulder into a pebble and threw it outside. They began their ascent again, and this time when another boulder came crashing towards them their tactics weren’t as effective. Aerik cast a spell upon himself that made his skin as hard as rock, able to withstand most physical blows. Skippy had already had this cast upon himself. Nepiol summoned forth a wall of ice and placed it across the passage. Rainsong ran (fast like horse) down the passage and out the boulder’s path into one of the rooms. The boulder ripped through Nepiol’s wall of ice with a dramatic crash and crushed him into a gooey paste. Aerik and Skippy both were rolled over by the boulder, their skins of stone saved their lives, but they had the very unpleasant experience of feeling many tons of rock roll right over them. Not only was all their breath expelled from their lungs, but they lost appropriate matter from other openings as well. Rainsong left the room she was in when she heard the boulder stop. Trying to push it out of the way, she realized, that even with her great strength, she would not be able to. Sometimes bad magic do good things she thought. Luckily Nepiol’s magical ring, which slowly regenerated him, was not crushed. Skippy and Aerik, got up, dusted themselves off, cleaned their drawers as best they could and moved forward. The passage continued for just a little bit longer and opened up on a ledge overlooking the vale where the keep rested. They were met by four giants, though these were mountain giants, not the hill giants they had fought earlier. The giants spoke, in broken common, and asked this dynamic duo what they wanted. They told the giants that they were looking for Desatysso. The giants informed them that the mage had been gone for many years and that they used to work for him. When Aerik asked whey they had attacked them, the giants said that they were trespassing and they were told to keep trespassers away. Somehow, the logic (or illogic) of the giants statement eluded Aerik, who questioned their tactics. So while Nepiol’s body slowly reforms from it’s watery magnificence and Rainsong ponders how to get up the mountain, possibly to find another entry, Aerik and Skippy are attempting to negotiate with these boorish brutes.

 

[Dr Midnight]

Undead still bad, but compared to what happening now, undead at least killable.

Looking into the face of certain death in the form of four giants, (in addition to the 1,000-foot drop to their right) Aerik and Skippy each took a deep breath and moved forward slightly (and away from the cliff’s edge). The giants asked them what they wanted. When Aerik and Skippy told the giants they were looking for Desatysso. The giants informed them that Desatysso had been gone a long time and they were his employees, and they were a little peeved that they hadn’t received any pay in awhile. Aerik noticed that these were mountain giants, not hill giants who attacked them earlier. Perhaps it was not these giants that attackled us, but then again, they did not deny it. The sun was setting over the hilltops this winter evening and the giants asked Aerik and Skippy to join them for dinner. These giants certainly had good manners. Desatysso taught us good to be nice. Over dinner of very-rare sheep sweet-meats there was some drinking, an impromptu mime performance by Skippy (which got him dragged out of his invisble box) and soem not-unpleasant conversation. During dinner, Rainsong climbed over the side of teh cliff, looking none the worse for wear. Rainsong climb big cliff, climb like ... rainsong can’t think of good climbing animal. Monkey’s can climb well, Skippy chimed in. Rainsong not like monkey. The giants were courteous enough to allow Rainsong to kill one of their sheep so she coudl join them for dinner. Apparently also lioving in these cliffs were the hill giants they had encountered earlier (they the ones that smash Desatysso’s home, we not do it.) and trolls (good workers, rocks crush and they grow back. Don’t like fire though) Their dislike of fire was painfully aware when Skippy went to the downward tunnel’s entrance with a torch to investigate where the stones that kept hitting him the back came from. The trolls shrieked slightly and backed away. One of the giants demonstrated the trolls fortitude by beating him to a bloody pulp, just for fun. But fire bad. Skippy found the very bloody Nepiol lying low at the passage’s entrance. One of the giants caught sight of Nepiol and immediately came over to see what Skippy was looking at. Nepiol washed up a little and joined them for the dinner festivities. Aerik asked if there were any papers or books that Desatysso had that they knew of. The mountain giants said that most of that stuff was in the tower but they, no the hill giants, destroyed most of it. A young mountain giant spoke up saying that there was one thing they couldn’t get open, a chest with legs.

Thsi immediately interested Aerik. The giants said if they could open it they could have anything that they didn’t want. But they wanted stuff in return. The Band finally came up with a suitable list, and had to also throw in several of their valuable items, into a pool in case they couldn’t deliver on their promise to open the chest. Nepiol even placed his beloved trident in this pile. The giants said they would sleep and tomorrow they could try and open the chest. One part of the negotiations that Aerik was not pleased with was the fact that he had to be the cuddle toy of one of the female giants for the evening ("Him pretty. Me not hurt, we just cuddle.")

Aerik did not sleep well that night, fearful of his person being violated. In the morning he had an almost porcelain complexion, and it wasn’t due to his being a dandy. After a hearty breakfast of oatmeal, the party reluctantly placed their goods in a pile. Nepiol’s trident ("big fork") was immediately picked up by one of the giants who proceeded to start giggling and ran down the passage to the valley below. The band saw him spear the ground and rocks and chase birds. Nepiol grimaced at seeing his beloved trident used this way. After breakfast, the giants blindfolded the band and placed them facing out over the cliff, their toes hung over the edge, as they procured the chest with legs from it’s hiding spot. The Band looked at the beautiful ebony desk in wonder. One of the giants threw it against the cliff wall which produced a loud crash, but nary a scratch on the enchanted desk. "Chest funny, we try to break it, but it not break. Not like we, err I mean stupid hill giants, broke Desatysso’s castle." Aerik studied the desk and inside the mouth of the dragon that adorned it’s top found a small key hole. Nepiol produced the key he found earlier and, even though Aerik didn’t want to place his hand with the ferocious looking (albeit carved from woo) wyrm’s mouth, he did so and turned the key. The desk opened and inside several boxes of large cigars (apparently faves of the giants) were found, most of which were bent and waterlogged due to teh potions contained within having spilled over when the attempted breaking of the desk shattered their containers. This did not stop them from lighting up, much to their merriment. The Band watched as the giants rummaged through the desk for other goodies, throwing aside a "stupid stone" which when thrown past Nepiol’s head, began to orbit. After the giants decided there was nothing more of value in the chest they let the band search. The finally came upon an old journal, most of which had been acid-damaged and the ink had run. They found one readable page which described how Desatysso was going to contact a man named Falon who resided in Panderlach. Nepiol discussed the finer points of Tiburon with Krag, an especially stupid giant, who he had converted with his rousing oratory the previous night. Krag wanted to worship Tiburon also, although his method of praying (bashing his big head against the rocky ground) wasn’t exactly proper, Nepiol promised to return to speak more to him and train him in the ways of the great Tiburon. After the giddy giant returned with the big fork, the band took their leave of these great creatures and returned to Panderlach.

Nepiol performed a holy cleansing ritual on Aerik who claimed he’d been forever tainted by his experience with the giantess. After the ceremony, Aerik seemed more himself. Asking around town for information on Falon, the party came up with nothing for the first day. Finally realizing that their best bet (although expensive) might be to contact the sage Ahrens again, they went back to him. He came back to them with information that Falon resided now at the end of Elmwood Street. He also had an assistnat who seemed quite interested in keeping company with the party. He claimed to be a Loremaster, one who chronicled the information not readily available in dusty tomes (this phrase drew an ireful glance from Ahrens). He went by the name of Reynald, and he stated he had many skills which could aid them in their investigation of the Devourer. Reynald directed them to Elmwood, which was outside the city walls, and they were slightly confused to find a graveyard. Asking the caretaker about Falon they were directed to a gravestone over which stood a mountain of a man. The man was standing over the grave of Falon, who it stated had died over 20 years ago. The man introduced himself as Grunther, and he was a friend of Falon’s. He was missing his left hand, but strapped across his back was a mammoth battle Ax. Grunther explained (as best he could, it was quite obvious Grunther wasn’t very bright) that he and Falon and the pretty lady along with other friends went to a very bad place with the wizard a long time ago and he and Sather, the pretty lady were the only one’s who survived. Grunther was mad at the wizard because he hadn’t come to Falon’s funeral, stating "One should do what’s right." This very bad place intrigued the party and asked Grunther if they would be able to talk with Sather. Grunther told them she lived in Pitchfield, which was about 2-3 days from here, and that he would take them there. Grunther tough, no one tougher than Grunther. Grunther mentioned the Devourer (though he had trouble pronouncing it) and when shwon the picture given to them by Ahrens, he shriekd, claiming teh big green mouth cut off his hand. Nepiol finally got rid of the corpse that had been lying under his bed, Skippy bought a slew of equipment, including some new clothes (the most interesting article of which was a winter-jacket with alternating smiley and frown faces for buttons), Aerik seemed more himself, though he did not do much in the way of whoring, and Rainsong longed to leave the city. Rainsong not understand cities, so many people living so close when there is beautiful land all around.

A day and a half into their trip, they came upon a small town that was quite uninhabited. Save for the gutted corpses of several dogs and livestock, they were no signs of anything that was once living in the village. Scratched into the side of one of the houses was the sign of the Devourer, which Grunther wouldn’t let anyone approach, lest they lose their hand too. They found an empty house to camp in for the night and everyone looked slightly confused when Grunther took out an extremely detailed map of the area with no words on it. He plotted the course they had taken and the course they would take. Without a word he rolled the map back up and placed it back in his bag. When they found themsleves in Pitchfield, Grunther directed them to Sather’s, who started to cry upon seeing her long-time friend. Sather was once obviously very beautiful, but walked with a limp now and the years had taken their toll. When Grunther told her they wanted information on the Devourer, she shuddered. She told them what she knew on the stipulation that they never return to her (Grunther included). The tale she told was quite chilling, how she watched most of her friends die horribly while the obsessed wizard kept pushing forward. In her time of greatest need her goddess abandoned her and she has since lost her faith. She handed the party a satchel which she claimed contained their party’s equipment from their fateful journey to that Tomb of Horrors!

Inside they found a plethora of magic items, including several haling potions, two folding boats, a tribal spear which Rainsong laid claim too, a quiver of heavy crosbow bolts which Nepiol kept, a deck of many things (with a note attached which red "We may just need to call upon the luck contained within.") which Skippy quickly snatched up and an elvish tome which detailed some of the secrets of bladesinging which Aerik perused with much interest. Reynald took the magical sling bullets which he knew were especially devastating with an accurate hit. At camp that evening, Skippy couldn’t stop playing with the Deck of many Things, wondering if he could channel it’s chaotic nature. Nepiol seemed intrigued and asked if he could draw from it. Skippy agreed. The first two cards he drew, the Thief and the Gypsy had no immediate effect, but both were black which everyone knew was bad. Trusting in the chaotic nature of his god, he drew once more. Thsi time there was an effect. Everyone watched, horrified to see his life essence be sucked from him, his body left still functioning, but his spirit , his soul gone. The deck vanished from his hands. Seeing this upset Aerik greatly, Nepiol was after all his oldest friend. The next morning the teleported back to Panderlach, mercifully ended the automaton's life and threw him into Tibuon’s magnificent ocean in a brief funeral ceremony. They then witnessed a curious thing, Nepiol’s body dissolved into water.

They teleported back to their campsite and continued on towards the Dire Fen, where the map contained within Desatyso’s journal they had received from Sather indicated the Tomb of The Devourer was located. The journal also had other interesting information: the Devourer was actually a mage named Acheronius who centuries ago transformed himself into a demi-lich. Acheronius was a cambion, borne to a human mother, teh child of a lower-planar entity, it seems his evil nature came from the abuse he took as a child from others. The notes also made mention of a City and Citadel beyond the Tomb where Acheronius lay in wait with a great reward for any who could find him. Reynald knew of the Tomb of Acheronius and informed the rest of the Band that they were in for dire times indeed. Skippy cast a sending spell to other past-members of the Band of the Wandering Tempest, informing them of their situation and requesting assistance. Journeying into the Dire Fen, they steadily made their way forwad. Grunther led, having been to the Tomb before, and being teh only one with knowledge of how to operate a boat efficiently. Their first night in the swamp, camping on a small piece of land, Rainsong was startled while on watch to hear Grunther screaming. She looked over to se a humanoid figure crouched over him sucking the blood from his neck. She was too startled to act and by the time she awakened her party-members and moved to assist Grunther the creature flew away, but not before yelling out "Enjoy the sunrise, it will be you last. You will hear from the Dim Triad again. The Devourer will have your souls." With everyone now awake, they decided to take double shifts on watch. With the spell casters needing at least 8 hours sleep, the majority of the watch fell on the shoulders of Rainsong and Grunther. The rest of teh evening passed with occurrence and the following day they continued their journey into this wretched swamp. When the Dim triad struck that evening they were ready. Grunther (armed with his ax Elsie) and Rainsong actually destroyed two of the vampires before the third fled. The physical damage was not much to the party, but the life-draining effects of the undead were certainly felt, especially by Grunther and Rainsong. The days that followed were passed with further attacks from undead or anything actually. Finally they apoproached teh location of teh tomb, but wee startled to see a mammoth city wall erected around where only the tomb once stood. They docked their boats (and folded them up) and slowly made their way across the bog. The bog consisted of very thick floating vegetation that passed for hard ground. However, with every step, the ground actually moved a little bit. Aerik approached the wall, with thoughts of investigating what lay beyond, He made his way halfway across when up from underneath the bog rose several undead. Having come out of nowhere, no one was quite prepared. Aerik fought valiantly against them while his party-members rushed to his aid. From the North came the familiar cry of Theran Blackforge, the party’s dwarven member who had answered Skippy’s call for help. Theran unleashed upon the walking dead with his lightning fast heavy crossbow while the rest of the party entered melee. Several of the creatures tried to pull Grunther into the brackish water. After many minutes of heated combat, they finally felled the foul beasts. Theran ran to the aid of Rainsong who had taken a considerable amount of damage. Taking stock of their situation, they moved forward. As they approached the black city walls they noticed huge holes in the stone throughout. As Aerik thought of scaling the walls, several human faced gigantic snakes emerged from the holes and instructed them to enter only using the front gate. The party approached teh 15-foot high gate, which was comprised entirely of bones and the skull at it’s top spoke "Who will stand on the right hand of Moebius." To which Aerik responded "Me." The party then watched as the gate slowly unfolded into a gigantic skeleton like creature. It let out a wicked shriek, upon hearing which Aerik dropped dead of fright. Everyone else fought the great creature as best they could and finally dropped it. Theran ran over to Skippy and unrolled a scroll which brought him back to life. There was definitely a change within him now. The fire in his eyes was gone, he had a defeated, yet determined look on his face. They entered this city and were quite startled to see zombies and skeletons roaming amongst the thousands of gravestones and numerous houses. Grunther pointed towards a Skull shaped building located on the hillside. "That is where tomb is." Before making their way towards the tomb amongst the undead milling about everywhere they spotted a blind man standing beside a large painting on the wall. The man seemed to be quote deranged and described his masterpiece to the interested party. It depicted various scenes concerning Acheronius. Surprisingly, there were no other living souls visible within the city. Cautiously they made their way towards the tomb. Rainsong shuddered with fear at the great multitude of undead everywhere who paid no attention to them.

Entering where the tomb should be they found a black temple, dedicated to no god. Behind the alter were three entrances into the hillside. Finally deciding on which to enter (Grunther seemed very confused as to which was the correct one) they entered Acheronius’ Tomb of Horrors. Looking down the corridor they made out some ancient runes inlaid into the floor. Rainsong wrote down the riddle contained with which was translated by Reynald. Aerik was the first to fall prey to one of the traps contained within as he activated a pit which contained poison stakes at the bottom. Badly damaged he climbed out and they continued onward. Theran led the way tapping the floor with his great maul searching for other pits. The going was slow, and finally, at the end of this first hall they found the great green face, in whose mouth was absolute darkness. "That where Grunther lose hand." Finding an archway filled with mist, Aerik boldly stepped through. Reynald pressed the glowing gems at the arches keystone and the mists vanished. They entered the arch and found themselves in a room with a statue of a four armed gargoyle, one of the arms was detached and lay on the floor. Realizing that Aerik was probably another victim of this horrific place and having taken a considerable amount of damage in getting there, they decided to rest for the evening. Reynald informed them that the Tomb was not known for the creatures contained within, so they should be relatively safe. Their sleep that evening was restless, each having nightmares of what they had seen already and what lay ahead of them.

 

[Dr Midnight]

Tanar'ri, Traps, and Menstrual Cycles

The night was deathly still, not a single sound emanated form the Tomb. Each person that took watch was slightly unnerved by this. After morning rituals, spell study, exercise and breakfast, the Band took stock of their surroundings. They examined the statue of the gargoyle more carefully. Theran decided that it might be a construct of evil (the whole tomb radiated both magic and evil). First he carefully grabbed the arm of the statue. Deciding that they would be able to have safe passage, they moved forward. It seemed they were now in the second of the hallways mentioned in the opening riddle. The stuccoed walls here were painted with various humanoid figures, each holding an orb, all the orbs were painted different colors. Rainsong took out the riddle she diligently had copied from the first hallway and decided that they must enter one of the orbs in order to progress. Reynald was enthralled by the archway at the end of the hall with 3 glowing gems on the keystones. He attempted numerous combinations of pressing the gems, but to no avail, as the cloudy mists still filled the arch. Rainsong and Theran contemplated the meaning of the riddle when all of a sudden a door burst open that was hidden by the stucco. Bursting forth was a strapping man with chissled features, his face was hidden by a black mask and his clothes and attire matched this motiff. "Have no fear, Doctor Midnight is here." The man was followed by a non-descript elf. Several of teh band had heard of Doctor Midnight. He claimed to be a superhero and has vowed to stop all criminals and villains acros Terratha. There were rumors that he was actually deranged, but no support for these. Seeing the Band engaged in problem solving he introduced himself and his sidekick Roundy, to which the elf smiled slightly and softly spoke "Silk, my name is Silk." Doctor Midnight did not seem to hear this. They exchanged their tales, it seems that Doctor Midnight and Roundy, err... Silk, had ventured into the Tomb with seven other companions. They were the only ones remaining after two days. They asked the Band what they were doing and volunteered to join them in their quest. Finding the meaning of the color of night vague, Theran tested each of the orbs with the gargoyles arm. Several seemed to be illusions covering up holes. Reynald investigated the two doors by assuming wraithform and sifting through their cracks. Seems both were nothing more than traps, with the unfortunate openeer getting a razor-sharp spear to the chest. His wraithform did not please Rainsong.After checking all the ones that interested them, Theran returned to investigate the gargoyle accompanied by Doctor Midnight and Reynald. Not willing to let this possible construct rest, Theran proceeded to push it over, snapping one of teh arms off and then smashed it open to see if anything was inside. He found nothing but the stone from which it was created. Someoen suggested they enter the black hole and Grunther said "Okay" and was quickly followed by everyone else. Grunther’s massive girth made it impossible to see past him, he filled the whoel passage, and had actually greased up his shoulders with lard before entering. Movement through teh passage was slow and it eventually took them down and beyond the walls of the hall. Their progress was stopped when Grunther yelled "Ouch. Grunther hit head." The passage had ended. The prospect of having to back their way out was none too appealing so Silk assumed wraithform, floated past Grunther and tried to find a crack in the wall. After several minutes, he finally found one and sifted through. Once through, he opened a very cleverly hidden secret door and let everyone else through. This was a very good thing as Grunther was complaining of hunger and their journey backing out of the tunnel would probably have taken over an hour.

Entering the room beyond they found a temple, which had a definite feel of good to it, although no one recognized the religious symbols specifically, they knew they recognized them from having been in temples of good. More peculiar than this was the fact that the walls were painted with idyllic scenes of everyday life. Idyllic except for the fact that all the persons represented were seemingly undead. Very strange indeed. Also of note was a human skeleton dressed in very old black chain mail laid on the floor, pointing to another archway, this one filled with a fascinating orange mist. Only this arch did not have any glowing gems. The skeleton seemed to be directing them towards the green mists. Remembering their missing friend Aerik they thought that there must be another way. Roundy and Danger Mouse, errr, Doctor Midnight did not know Aerik, nor of his fate and threw the skeleton through the mist. They heard it drop on the other side. The altar glowed a mysterious blue, the actual material of the altar was a mystery as well. Seeing the hinges on the pews, Doctor Midnight decided to investigate. Everyone else cautiously backed up and upon pulling it open, green gas began to rapidly fill the room. Silk yelled out for everyone to get close to him and as everyone closed in, holding their breath against the gas, they went ethereal.

What happened next was a blood bath. A balor emerged from the mists of the ethereal and approached the party. He pounded both his fists into Rainsong, who withstood the blows, but ran screaming from the magical fear of the tanar’ri. Because Rainsong fast like horse, this presented quite a dilemma. Vision and sound were different in the ethereal. Doctor Midnight proved he truly was super, sticking the great demon with his twin rapiers blindingly fast. This fearsome creature was quickly dispatched, but as it turned to dust, it immolated in a blinding flash of heat. The damage from this was enough to kill Silk, and others felt the unpleasant burning as well. After they brought Silk back from the dead and made bodily reparations they thought about how they could find Rainsong and cancel the spell, figuring whatever the gas was might be better than this. It was then that Silk informed them, that due to his untimely demise, he had lost the ability to cancel the spell and get them home. He also informed them that the spell would be in effect for 12 hours. Just as they were about to head off in search of Rainsong, another tanar’ri gated in and moved to attack. This time the creature let out a vicious wail that started Silk and Doctor Midnight screaming in absolute terror. Silk was yelling about "Bees, giant bees, everywhere!!!!" while Doctor Midnight was screaming about "Harpies, so beautiful, so deadly!!!" The tanar’ri kept coming, each coming around five minutes after the last had been defeated. And every time, even though they had a bad feeling another wodl come, the tanar’ri gated in silently and attacked before anyone had a chance to react. Occasionally they would tell the party to "Return to the Tomb, find your deaths there." Theran finally dropped from a marilith’s deadly attacks (six arms and a huge snake tail that literally squeezed the life from him). Silk and Doctor midnight still screamed in unholy terror. Rainsong was nowhere to be seen, but at this point had actually be felled by the same marilith that had taken care of Theran. Luckily, her friend Theran had cast a regenerative spell on her which kept her from dying. Slowly, the tanar’ri guardians of the tomb were making headway defeating these trespassers. Rainsong was seemingly dead, Silk and Doctor Midnight had been driven mad with fear, Theran was dead. Finally, Reynlad grabbed silks spellbook and finding the pages for Etherealness planned on casting the spell right from the book, but first they needed to find Rainsong. Skippy let out with one of his famous yells and heard only silence. He continued yelling until his voice gave out. Since the Ethereal was more of a three dimensional plane than the Prime they really had no idea what direction she might be in. Rainsong finally awoke from her near-death slumber and realizing she was quite far removed from her comrades let out her frightening war cry in the hopes they would hear it. Several did and looked towards the direction. Reynald was getting ready to read the spell as they had just fallen another demon. After several members tried to pinpoint where the sound came from another tanar’ri appeared and moved towards. Grunther, though dumb as dirt, knew that they had to get everyone together to leave. He picked up Doctor Midnight, who was still in the throes of insanity, scratched his head for a minute and ran towards where he though was coming from. At this point, Rainsong had been felled again by another tanar’ri, but Theran’s magic was exhausted and slowly she felt herself slipping towards infinity. The marilith wrapped itself around Skippy while Reynalf attacked with his sling. Grunther found Rainsong, quickly pulled out his healing potion and poured it down her throat. Rainsong gained consciousness and looked up at Grunther who was quite relieved that she was alive. He put Doctor midnight down ad told Rainsong"You rainsong, fast like horse, carry silly man. Grunther tough, must help friends, not have all friends die like before." With that Rainsong picked up Doctor Midnight and followed Grunther. As Grunther reapproached he let out a battle-cry "Who tougher than Grunther?!?!?" to which everyone still alive responded "nobody" The marilith’s might serpentine muscles were breaking Skippy’s ribs and Reynald tried desperately to drop the demon. Grunther ran up to the creature, using his one hand pulled Skippy free from it’s clutches and put himself between the marilith and the rest of the party. Wielding his huge axe he stepped to melee but before he swing teh creature swung it’s six arms, each flashing deadly steel at him. Grunther took several mighty swings at the beast, causing significant damage, but she was not dead yet. While everyone closed in together, they saw the whirlwind or arms strike Grunther down. His hulking frame dropped to the round,. Rainsong, barely alive fired arrows at the creature and finally, after activating the magic of her Gem Bow (whatever happened to bad magic???) dropped it. Quickly, everyone huddled together while Reynald read the spell. But something went wrong. Used to the more generic schools of magic, Reynald had trouble with Silk’s spell. The rift betwen the planes shimmered and only Rainsong, Doctor Midnight and Silk dropped back to the prime, righ back in the temple where they had left from. Reynald and Skippy, along with the bodies of Theran and Grunther now tried to brainstorm a way out of this situation. As they exchanged ideas, another demon showed it’s ugly face. Skippy yelled for Reynald to grab him. Reynald grabbed Skippy with his left hand and Theran with his right. Skippy let forth with a surge of wild magic that was similar to the teleport spell. Although it wouldn’t get them off the ethereal plane, it might get them far from here. Skippy chose Payvin’s Pearl as their destination and it’s too bad Skippy had spent most of his time there in a stupor... Luckily they were in the ethereal, as they ended up several hundred feet above the Pearl and were hurtling towards it at unearthly speed. But because of the plane they were on, they continued right into the earth itself. Finally Reynald was able to dispel the magic, and they looked at nothing but magma all around them. Not used to traveling on a plane with so many dimensions, Reynald and Skippy stated heading "up???". The journey was slow and finally they broke through and into the ocean. They eventually made their way to safety after the spell expired and returned to the Panderlach. The still spiritual Skippy mourned the los of Grunther, but they continued on with their quest. They went to the temple of Klaag and for a small fee one of teh priests agreed to read Theran’s scroll to resurrect him. With all members present and alive Theran, Skippy and Reynald re-equppied themselves (they had to scrap everything non-magical to teleport off the ocean’s floor) and returned to the City of Skulls and this time answered the repaired gate with the response "Moebius" and moved back into teh tomb under light of day. Remebering how they got into the temple they returned there,only to find a makeshift camp assembled with Doctor Midnight, Silk and Rainsong camped out. They all were quite bloodied and battered but were ecstatic that they comrades had returned.

When Skippy informed Rainsong that Grunther was lost, she held back some tears and told everyone that Grunther was not that smarter, but he was smarter than them. She was obviously upset. Faced with the task at hand, they proceeded to check the rest of the pews finding huge stashes of gold, electrum and silver. Using the wand of trap detection they were given by Sather they found that traps were located in the altar and the front pews. Theran carefully tied a rope around the altar and tried to pull the top off. Not succeeding, he approached and tried to pry the lid off with his crowbar. His skin accidentally touched the altar and shot him with a great bolt of lightning. Luckily he had a magical ring that protected him from such magics, so he was barely damaged. After deciding that if there was something hidden inside, it would have to remain that way they searched for another way out. They found a small slot in the wall with a circle inscribed above it. Several members discussed what should be placed inside and tried various coins, but to no avail. Silk apparently grew tired and entered the mist-filled archway. Skippy, perhaps fondly recalling his less spiritual days, not wanting to be out-done, eagerly followed. Reynald finally convinced Theran to insert a magic ring into the slot and the stone slowly slid down. Their attempt to pull the ring out was for naught as the string was cleanly cut off. Just then two women, looking strikingly like Skippy and Silk entered the room from the mists. It was indeed Skippy and Silk, and they proclaimed that they were much happier to have had the curse that has plagued them for so long removed. Theran also thought something other than their gender had changed. The moved forard down the new passage and came to door that was stuck closed. Somebody volunteered Rainsong to open it, so she gave it mighty push and the door flew open and she fell into a pit which had been set up right after the door. Everyone rushed over to see that she hadn’rt been harmed by the fall or wicked stakes, but that the poison which covered teh floor had penetrated her skin. Her eyes were closed in the slumber of death. Theran tied off a rope to himself and had Doctor Midnight and Reynald slowly lower him down so he could pick up her body. They had to cross this pit in order to get to another door opposite. They unfolded one of their magical boats and used it as a bridge. This time Theran kept himself tied off and bashed the door open with his great maul and activated the pit opposite and they did this once more with the door beyond. The had nothing but clear passage ahead. Theran and Silk methodically checked for traps along the passage until they came to an iron shod door. They decided that rest might be in order so they set up camp in the hallway. Theran planned to try and bring Rainsong back to life, but had the Walker already claimed her as his own.

 

[Dr Midnight]

Rainsong Alive, Rumbling Rooms, Reset Traps

Resting for the evening in the eerily quiet tomb, Theran awoke first brought Rainsong back from death then and with Doctor Midnight’s assistance called upon the spirits who empowered him to remove the curses of gender-change that had altered them. After that had been done, Theran restrained Skippy with his Bands of Bilarro and at the same time, Rainsong and the good Dr. grabbed Silk (AKA the Dr’s "Little buddy Roundy") and Theran summoned the spirits once again to dispel the evil within them and return them to their good ways. After this ordeal, everyone went through their morning rituals (although no one had a clue to the real time) and it was after this that Reynald declared that he had seen enough, and that it would be more valuable for him to record this information, then to be dead. His logic was that if he was dead, he would not be to record any of this for future scholars and adventurers. Although Reynald did indeed have valuable skills, the ragtag Band of the Wandering Tempest bid him a fond farewell.

Down a long hall they were faced with an iron shod heavy oaken door with no apparent locks, but Skippy’s attempts to magically open it failed. On the other side of the door they heard music and cheerful singing. Very odd. Finally Skippy channeled some wild magic into the door and each time everyone blinked the door was either there or it had completely vanished. Although this was unsettling to most, especially Rainsong, everyone finally made it through the door (at least where the door was...?). As they entered the passage the music stopped and they heard footsteps in the distance and saw a torch retreating. Realizing caution might be best considering their situation, they moved slowly down the corridor, Theran and Silk checking for any traps or pits along the way. As they got down about 40 feet, the passage started to tilt, much like a see-saw. Except that it only lead down and into a pool of molten lava. Skippy and Silk quickly took to the air, Skippy levitating and Silk flying. Rainsong bolted back towards the door and kept blinking until it wasn’t there and she could leave (bad magic), Dr. Midnight scrambled up the increasingly steep slope and Theran vanished. Once everyone got back into the hall before the door, Theran reappeared. Rainsong then took out the copy of the riddle they first encountered and brought to everyone’s attention that they should be looking for a secret door and questioned whether or not Skippy had any magical tricks up his sleeve to help them find one. Skippy (in his new spiritual mentality) recalled that he did have a spell designed for just this situation.

They finally found a secret door at the bottom of the third pit they had avoided by crossing it via the folding boat. The door lay in the wall of the pit, just above the hideous looking spikes and deadly (having taken two lives) poison. Silk created a wall of ice to make their ascent safe (and fun!). Continuing into the heart of the tomb they came to a passage filled with magical green gas (that looked none to fun to breathe). Roundy, claiming that there were wrong-doers at the end of the hall urged Dr. Midnight forward. He entered the green mists with no ill effect and the rest of the party followed suit. Each member felt a little uneasy after entering the mists, and all seemed well until Silk breathed in the noxious fumes. Silk screamed and bolted out towards the entrance of the tomb. Rainsong, being fast like horse, followed chase. She came upon Silk frantically flying around the room where they had entered the black globe painted on the wall and upon seeing Rainsong Silk vanished. When she described his exit to everyone else, they determined that he had teleported away. They asked Dr. Midnight if he knew where Roundy lived, to which Dr. Midnight responded "In Wormer Manor, with me of course." Asking where that was Dr. Midnight told them it was in Metropotham city. A city no one had ever heard of. Realizing that they really had no chance to go to Wormer manor to get Silk back they continued on. In teh gas filled pasage there was a door. Upon opening teh door, the gas dissipated and they saw stairs leading down. At the bottom of these stairs lay a silver mace glowing with a heavebly golden glow. Cautiously they entered the room, finding what may have once been an opulent chamber, now totally ravaged by time. The only items of note were a leather sack, a small coffer and a couch which seemed to be made entirely of gold. Oh yeah, seated upon the couch was an undead with a jeweled crown, glowing gems for eyes, who, as the party entered the room bellowed "Who dares to disturb the rest of Acheronius!?!?" The creature rose from the couch and seemed to be starting a spell.

Dr. Midnight leaped into action striking the creature with his lightning-fast rapiers. Their points struck deep into the creatures body, opening holes in it’s wraps and revealing undead flesh beneath. These attacks did not seem to faze the creature who continued to cast. Skippy cast a shatter spell on the skull which caused several large pieces to fly off. While Therna shouted for Dr. Midnight to strike the skull he picked up the glowing mace. Rainsong activated her Amulet of the Sun which caused magical sunlight to stream into the room. Dr. Midnight finally heard Theran’s shouting above the voices in his head (which reveled in combat) and struck the skull. He hit several times, each strike causing a pin-sized hole in the skull. Theran finally approach and at this point the skull seemed to be separating from the body, which at this point had been greatly damaged by Dr. Midnights twin rapiers and Skippy’s magical missiles. Theran swung the ace, and his hand seemed to be moved with divine intervention. Just as the mace struck the skull, the creature struck Theran. The mace struck with a blinding flash and the skull shattered. Within seconds, the room started to tremble and it looked like the place was going to collapse. Raelizing their purpose for coming here was to find the amulet Theran quickly grabbed the leather bag and coffer and threw them to Rainsong. They retreated as fast as they could (which was as fast as Theran could run). The whole Tomb was collapsing! Skippy called everyone together, at which time Rainsong stated "Rainsong not go ethereal again!" Skippy told her that they weren’t going ethereal and just as they teleported out a huge piece of rock dropped to where they had just been. They teleported to where they had left there horses. While heading back towards the closest town they knew of, the town of Muckberg. Early into their journey they recieved a message from silk, who apologized for being so scared, he wasn’t quite sure what came over him. He told them he woudl meet them back at the Tomb as soon as possible. Theran responded by telling Silk to meet them in Muckburg, as the tomb had collapsed. Checking through the items they hastilty took they found seven potions with simple labels on them "Healing", a mages scroll with simple spells on it and various monies. But no amulet.

Thinking it might be best to divine information about the amulet they decided to seek out a priest in Muckburg. Silk had arrived before them and was waiting in this godforsaken little rathole. Muckburg lay on the outskirts of the Dire Fens, and as such, was appropriately named. The streets were mud nearly three inches thick, all the houses were built up on stilts. Normally this was no place to settle a town, but due to fact that Muckburg’s soil made excellent bricks, several hundred people settled in and exported their bricks across the land. When the rest of Silk’s new comrades arrived they inquired about a temple and were directed to an ominous looking black building on the outskirts of town. On approach, they saw several people leaving and Theran reported that he did not have a good feeling about this. Meeting with the head priest, a gaunt man with a blackened and shriveled hand, he informed them that Oeriel was the god of all knowledge and he wodul be more than happy to assist the party, assuming a small donation for his clergy. Theran said they’d be back, at which point he reported his feelings of great unease to the Band and Skippy volunteered to teleport them to Panderlach. Dr, midnight stated he would love to go "Fight Crime in the Big City" and Theran informed him that Panderlach was a city run by the church of Klaag and as a consequence had very little crime. Dr. Midnight’s shoulder’s slumped slightly upon hearing this, but he still seemed very excited about going. They waited until the early morning and teleported right outside the Golden Eel. Checking in, they were told by Khale that their rooms were still ready, they being Rainsong and Skippy. Rainsong directed Theran to Nepiol’s old room and Dr. Midnight to Aerik’s room. Khale also told them that almost a month had gone by since they left and that he was only paid up through a month.

After a good nights sleep, each in their own bed, Theran and Rainsong headed over to the temple of Klaag and met with one of the acolytes who told them to come back later to speak with the High Sentry of the Temple, and that he should be able to help them with their divinations. What they got from teh High-Sentry’s commune with Klaag was that Acheronius was still active and that the amulet was probably within the Tomb (it seemed to have strong anti-divination magics on it) and they got a cryptic riddle as to how to find the demi-lich’s resting place within the Tomb.

Returning with this information, they quickly stocked up on whatever goods they needed, Reynald stopped by to inform them that with what he had learned thus far and previous research, Acheronius had a twisted sense of humor and designed to Tomb to be self-inclusive. Everything they needed to get through to the "final" room should be contained within the Tomb. Seems Acheronius really enjoyed the process of watching people die, unable to figure out the elaborate traps he had designed. Slightly distraught at this fact, they continued reparations and when ready teleported to just outside the city gates. Once again they found entry easy, and were able to bypass the traps and get back to where they believed the first of seven secret doors outlined in the riddle was. The Tomb had indeed not collapsed and all the traps were once again reset.

With Skippy’s spells they finally found a secret door and moved further into the tomb. The next room they came to was at one time a lab of some sort, but it lay in much disrepair. There were old and broken jars of various herbs and liquids, but most notable were the three cauldrons in the center of the room. Silk examined each and found one was filled with what seemed to be dirty water, the second with some sort of acid (he knew it was acidic when he dropped a continual light stone onto to se to the murky bottom and the gem quickly disintegrated, and upon examining the third was startled when a the contents leaped out of the cauldron at him. Skippy, who had been looking for some good herbs to smoke unleashed a bolt of force at the grey ooze which split it into three separate beings. They made quick work of it, the only damage was done to Silk’s face when the creature had latched onto him and was able to be killed and removed only by Skippy casting several magic missiles at it. In the bottom of the cauldron was half of a key and Silk guessed that the second half was the glittering object he had seen in the second cauldron. Theran found a small vial with a handle and started to transfer the contents to the other cauldron, and when a bit splashed on him, he realized that the damage it caused with not that severe. Theran also realized that his arms were too short to reach into the pit, neither Skippy nor Silk nor Rainsong wanted to put their arms into the acid, so Dr. Midnight stepped forward in a superheroic way. Not wanting to damage his clothes he took his shirt off. Rainsong gasped at the sight of his well-muscled physique. She seemed to be somewhat smitten. Certainly the fact that he was not a user of bad magic helped his case, and as well all know folks in extreme circumstances often become very emotional and involved (it is thought that Rainsong actually had a small crush on Grunther, but we’ll never know. She still speaks sadly of his passing). Everyone else also noted several numbers branded on his arm. Peculiar. Dr. Midnight stuck his well-muscled arm into the vat and after floundering about for a bit declared "Ah hah, I have it!" and pulled up the second half of the key. Rainsong quickly ran over and helped him dry and off and put his shirt back on. Dr. Midnight actually winked at her.

Continuing down the hall they came upon a very large pit that took up the whole hallway. Skippy used the wand they had been given by Sather and pointed out that the last three feet of the pit was trapped. Discussing their options for getting across, it was decided that Dr. Midnight and Rainsong woudl leap over (Dr. Midnight had a magic ring of jumping, while Rainsong was a skilled jumper without magical means), Silk would climb the walls across and Skippy would cast a spell of flying on himself and Theran. Skippy cast the spellon Theran and declared that there had been some sort of wild surge, but was unsure what happened with it. Everyone felt an uneasy feeling with the surge, but nothing else noticeable happened. Theran, being a dwarf, was not used to not being in touch with the earth and flapped his arms and moved his feet as he made his way across. Everyone got quite a chuckle out of the sight. Was that a look of fear in his eyes?

They came upon another room, this one seemed to be some sort of rumpus room at some point. Feeling wary, they checked for traps and found the whole floor was a trap. Silk assumed wraithform and investigated the numerous coffers and chests. More than half contained snakes (at least it wasn’t bees, Silk thought) and the rest contained platinum and gems. The also discovered another secret door that they continued through. The passage winded around and down ad they were expecting the juggernaut mentioned in Desatysso’s journal, even though they seeming had missed the green slime. Alas no such juggernaut came. They found one more secret door and have decided to rest for a while before continuing. Skippy wasn’t used to expending all his spell energy so quickly, and in such a non-dramatic fashion. Frequent rest was needed. Then again, they didn’t fear for any wandering-type monsters, so resting never really seemed like a bad idea. It has been well over a month since the Band was first contacted about the disturbances in the area. Attempting to get through this infernal Tomb alive was quite time consuming.

 

[Dr Midnight]

Tombstones, Tacky Clothes and The City that Waits

Sometime in the course of the evening Silk stole off, perhaps the rogue in him was drawn to the promise of treasure. Although Dr. Midnight was upset at the loss of Roundy, the rest of the Band convinced him that most likely Silk was lost to the Tomb’s evil machinations. Faced with the choice of going through a secret door and continuing on down the hall, Rainsong vehemently argued that they still had four secret doors to travel through and they should move in that direction. It was obvious that she was getting tired of wandering aimlessly through the tomb and wanted this nightmare to end. It definitely seemed this was the right choice as this hallway led through several more secret doors and after going through a mithril door that three bladed weapons were needed to open they came upon the room of pillars mentioned in the riddle given them by the High Priest of Yahr. Surely they were close now. The room of pillars was massive and with each pillar being almost 3 feet wide it was difficult to see very far. Realizing that it might be best to avoid the floor, Skippy cast a fly spell on everyone and the proceeded to fly across the threshold. They were not prepared for the dispelling screen that not only dropped them skidding across the floor, but extinguished their continual light gems. Rainsong and Skippy slid into one of the pillars and both started floating towards the ceiling. Since no one could see anything, all Theran heard was Rainsong talking about bad Magic. Dr. Midnight used the darkness to turn into a bat and fly up towards the ceiling where he proceeded to hang upside down.

Theran realized that Rainsong was moving up and away judging by the sound of her voice. He quickly grabbed a rope from his pack and threw it towards where he thought Rainsong was. The rope dropped to the floor and he tried again. Her voice was getting farther away and he cautiously moved closer as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. As he threw his rope up one last time he heard Rainsong scream, and then suddenly cut out. Theran finally got a torch lit and looked up towards the ceiling and saw nothing of Rainsong, but there was another of the green mouth’s He feared that she was lost. Dr. Midnight spied Skippy floating towards another one of the green mouths. He didn’t notice much in the way of panic on Skippy’s face ("Must be all that wacky weed" Dr. Midnight thought) and he watched as Skippy was sucked in through the blackness of the green mouth. Dr. Midnight put one and one together and realized that he was alone with Theran now, and just then the door slammed shut, there was no mechanism located inside the room to open it. He and Theran then moved about the room seeing what was located in this vast room of pillars. They found 3 doors on the same wall as the green mouths and a throne upon which rested a crown and scepter. They also came across an eerie glowing gem around which was scattered bones, clothes and other adventuring gear, apparently individuals that approached the gem were blown apart. Theran and Dr. Midnight stayed away from the gem.

Rainsong found herself in the entry hall, stripped of all clothes and personal belongings. She was determined to not let the tomb beat her so she moved back towards the room of pillars. The going was slow in the dark and luckily she remembered where the traps were. Remembering the candelabras in the temple she found a striker and lit one. She made her way to the great mithril door only to find it closed. She pounded and yelled, but to no avail, obviously it’s thickness (about a foot thick) didn’t allow sound to pass through. Realizing that she would need three edged weapons she backtracked to the rooms and passages they hadn’t entered, as she could not recall anything useful in the rooms she had already been in. Coming to the first door she opened it and fell asleep breathing in the gas contained within the room. This would be her last sleep, as the juggernaut she feared rolled over her in her slumber.

Meanwhile Skippy was transported to a blank room. A thunderous voice boomed out a warning" Stay in this and starve to death or move through that door and die quickly." Never one to back down from a challenge, rather more appropriately, being Skippy, he immediately walked towards the door, wherein he was immediately assaulted by 18 animated swords. He did the best he could with his magic and actually dropped 8 of them, but the blindingly fast flurry of steel was too much and he died, not 10 feet from Dr. Midnight and Theran who lay just on the other side of the door in the room of pillars.

Theran and Dr. Midnight decided to investigate the rooms at the one end and entering the first they found a corpse wrapped in cloth with the skull partially exposed. In the eyesocket of the skull lay a beautiful gem. Perhaps curiosity got the best of these two cats, but upon touching the gem, the mummy animated and Dr. Midnight bolted from the room, fleeing due to magical fear (or so he would have anyone believe). Theran lifted his great maul and engaged this unholy monster. Reaching towards Theran it cast a spell and Theran felt like he had been in the desert for weeks without water. He finally smited the creature and found Dr. Midnight cowering in a corner, tears streaming from his eyes. Tears of fear. It was not the first time the good Dr. had been reduced to a quivering mound. Finally calming him down they moved on to the next room and found a bloody mass of goo with remains of equipment easily identified as having been Skippy’s. Eventually they made their way to the great obsidian throne. Dr. Midnight took out his whip and pulled off the crown and scepter and flung them towards Theran who easily caught them. Examining the scepter they noticed it had one gold and one silver end. He touched the scepter to the crown and was instantly turned to dust. Dr. Midnight was all alone. The voices in his head were almost deafening. Examining the scepter and crown he remembered Rainsong’s persistent reminder that they were looking for a key of silver on silver. Examining the throne Dr. Midnight saw a silver crown inlay and closing his eyes he touched the silver end of the scepter to the crown inlay. He opened his eyes to gleefully discover that he was alive and saw the wall behind the throne sliding downward. Dr. Midnight continued onward "For Justice!" he yelled out to no one. Most likely just so he could drown out the silence. There steps beyond the wall, rainbow colored each made of a different stone. On the third step up lay a gold key. Dr. Midnight took out his trusty whip and again used it to grab the item without touching it. He summoned up the courage (it’s hard to be superheroic without someone present to notice your super-coolness) and moved up the steps. At the top was huge door with a keyhole. Problem was the keyhole looked able to fit either end of the scepter or either of the two keys they had found. Dr .Midnight tried two combinations which both gave him an electrical shock. He then inserted the gold end of the scepter into the door and was instantly transported to the entry hallway, buck-naked and without any equipment, not even his mask. It was chilly. Not remembering exactly where the trap doors were located he stood for awhile scratching his head when he saw people approaching. He looked for a place to hide, but finally turned his back to the Tomb’s entrance and awaited his fate.

He heard a woman giggle softly. "Would you like something to cover up?" she asked. "What are you doing, it could be a ruse?" he heard a man’s voice. "Don’t be silly, the Tomb holds no living dangers, and I don’t really see a naked man as much of a threat. Come on Tasgi get out a cloak or something he looks... cold." She giggled again. Dr. Midnight blurted out "Traps." The two newcomers to the Tomb finally made their way to the back of the Tomb by flying and handed Dr. Midnight a cloak which Dr. Midnight quickly ripped and tied a small piece over his eyes. "I am Dr. midnight" he quietly introduced himself. "Do you have any rapiers." The two elves shook their heads and the male, who had red-tinted skin and a shock of red down the middle of his black hair pulled forth a camp-knife from his pack. Dr. Midnight swung it around with a defeated look. "Are you here for Justice?" he asked. "Yeah, sure." The woman responded. "Follow me." Dr. Midnight directed them into the portal after deactivating it’s killing mists. They made their way through the tomb with ease, Dr. Midnight remembering where all the traps were and what doors and passages they needed to journey through. Dr Midnight was very quiet, decked out in a loin-cloth, a cloak and armed with a simple knife. He briefly gave them a rundown of what had happened to him and his friends, mentioning nothing of an individual named Roundy. The two newcomers were named Moritasgus, called Tasgi by the elf-maiden, Tariel. These two had journey from Qush to investigate the great uprising of evil emanating from the Dire Fen. Originally their group numbered 6, but their comrades perished along the way. Dr. Midnight was very quiet. When they came to the key-hole hat had taken away Dr. Midnight’s clothes and items he shook his head as they were about to try all the combinations but the last one. Trying this last key the great door opened and revealed a large room with four horrific statues, a large stoppered urn, and a casket. Tasgi cast a spell searching for secret doors, (they went through 5 and needed to go through 7 Dr. Midnight quietly told them). Figuring this casket was another diversion, they found a secret door located beneath one of the giant statues. Tasgi disintegrated the metal behemoth and they ventured below. With his spell still active Tasgi immediately found another secret door. Everyone took in a deep breath and they opened it. Inside they found a black room with a circular indentation in the floor examination revealed another keyhole. Taking out the silver key that Dr. Midnight had retrieved from the laboratory he turned it in the keyhole. A jolt of electricity rocked his body. Tariel briefly communed with her goddess to ask the best way to open this and she told Dr. Midnight to turn the key three times to the left. In doing so the whole room began shaking and the ceiling was getting closer, or wait, the room itself was rising. Everyone quickly jumped back and watched as a hidden room was revealed. The room was generously littered with treasure, Dr.Midnight immediately recognized his own clothes and equipment and rushed over to them and quickly dressed himself and pulled out his rapiers. He also noticed the belongings of Rainsong and swore vengeance on Acheronius for killing her. After he finished changing, he was a new man. He leaped around the room, swinging his rapiers yelling "Justice!" and "I’m the one they call Dr. Midnight, I’m the one they call to crime-fight!" Tasgi and Tariel found this alternately funny and frightening.

Dr. Midnight’s shenanigans were not distracting enough to allow the two of them to take their eyes off the skull lying on a black table at the end of the room. The skull had gems for eyes and teeth and a large pile of dust lay next to it. This sight coupled with the unnatural feeling of fear they each felt made them realize that they indeed looked upon Acheronius. Cautiously looking around the rest of the room the saw the gigantic treasure pile, and they found The Amulet with a piece of paper under it off to one side. Tasgi very cautiously approached and picked up the amulet and paper. The paper was written by Desatysso and explained that he was heading towards the City That Waits and briefly described the horrors he had faced in the tomb. Realizing the Amulet was the main thing they came for they began to depart. Tasgi reached towards the treasure pile and picked up a handful of gems and platinum. Just then the skull started to vibrate. Tasgi quickly dropped the treasure and with a look of abject horror on his face teleported them outside the city. While Tasgi and Tariel examined the runes on the amulet and the notebook of Desatysso that Dr. Midnight had been sure to grab from Rainsong’s belongings a bald vampire formed from teh mist covering the ground of the swamp. With the sun being high in teh sky, this certainly bothered everyone involved. Dr. Midnight leaped into action with a cry of "Justice!", viciously attacking the foul beast with his twin rapiers. Just as he plunged his rapier into the beast’s black heart they heard a female voice behind them: "Hand over the amulet and I will let you live." They slowly turned to see a woman with ivory skin floating above the ground. Dr. Midnight rushed at her and in his haste for justice lost hold of one of his rapiers. The woman raised her hand and a rainbow of energy streamed from her fingers. One beam struck Tariel who turned to stone and one struck Tasgi whose eyes glazed over in the look of death for a moment. Dr. midnight moved towards his rapier as Tasgi shouted for him to hold onto him. Tasgi grabbed hold of the statue of his traveling companion and Dr. midnight grabbed Tasgi and tried to drag all three of towards his rapier and just as Tasgi finished casting his spell a bolt of white energy shot forth from the woman’s fingers. The bolt ripped Tasgi apart, but the three of them teleported... to safety?

Dr. Midnight appeared on a dock with the statue of Tariel and a smoldering mass that was once Tasgi. He looked out at a great ocean teaming with all manner of ships and boats. He heard a voice behind him" Hey you!" He spun dramatically raising his remaining rapier into the air ad responded with "Yes." "Did you just teleport here." Dr. Midnight looked around, a bit confused and responded, less emphatically this time "Yes". Well don’t you know that teleporting into the city is forbidden under the order of the High Mook?" "Umm, no." Dr, Midnight meekly responded. "Well, the High Mook will certainly want to see this." The man, who it seemed was a city guardsman approached with several others. They asked Dr. Midnight to lay down his weapons. Dr Midnight looked at them defiantly "But... justice!... Don’t you have law-breakers in this city." The guards responded with a definitive no. "Very well then I will lay down my arms, but if anyone does break the law, please allow Dr. Midnight to thwart them." The guards nodded in response to this. "Is this yours" one of them asked referring to the statue of Taril. "Yes, that is my companion and that" he pointed at the pile that was Tasgi "is my other companion." The guards shackled Dr. Midnight and finally a wagon arrived and they loaded up the statue and carefully scooped up the remains of Tasgi.

After a short time in a holding cell, Dr. Midnight was taken before the High Mook, and his council. With blu-black skin, decked out in fringe white leather draped over the pillows that spread over the floor and with several women attended to him on either side. Dr. Midnight introduced himself and one of the High Mook’s counselor’s whispered to him who he was. The mood definitely relaxed. Dr. midnight explained who he was and what he was doing in Qush and what had happened to his new companions. Hearing that Dr. midnight had been in Acheronius’ Tomb, the High Mook shuddered when he heard this. Dr. midnight asked if there was any crime in Qush, seems he had an aching to go crime-busting. The High Mook calmed him down and said that Qush was a running just fine without the assistance of the more-than capable Dr. Midnight. The High Mook called for assistance and Tasqi was brought back to life and Tariel was turned back to flesh. That evening they had a great feast and throughout the evening the High Mook was quite amused by Dr. Midnight’s tales. He definitely seemed to have taken a liking to the singularly stylish Dr. Midnight. After dinner Tasgi and Tariel began studying the amulet trying to decipher it’s riddle. Dr. Midnight stayed up late with the High Mook and his lady-friends. In teh morning Dr. Midnight found several suits of clothing taht had been ordered for him by the High Mook. Over breakfast Tasgi and tariel informed teh Dr. that tehy had not yet figured out the runes on the amulet, so the High Mook took this as an invitation to have more clothes made for Dr. Midnight. The tailors were exceptional and fast. At lunch, the High Mook was actually attired in an outfit very similar to Dr. Midnight’s ensemble "For Justice!" he proclaimed. Over lunch Tasgi and Tariel pulled Dr. Midnight aside and told him tehy figured out the runes and they must return to the Tomb as soon as possible. Dr. Midnight agreed, even though he was enjoying himself with the High Mook, he must return to the Tomb "For Justice!" The High Mook offered each of them warm winter clothes and bid them farewell.

They teleported to the City gates outside the Tomb and once again made their way through the city of undead. Their goal was to get some of the dust of Acheronius, as this was the necessary key to allow them passage to the enigmatic City that Waits. Once again all the traps in the Tomb had been reset, but they made their way through without any difficulty. Remembering that the door to the room of pillars closed after a short time Tariel waited at the door while Dr. Midnight and Tasgi went to recover demi-lich dust. Returning to the entry hallway they heard a familiar voice and turned to see not only Lady Ferranifir but two vampire escorts as well. "Hand over the amulet and you will not die so painfully." The two other vampires closed to attack. Dr. Midnight, always one for a challenge stepped forward while Tariel readied her flail and Tasgi began casting a spell. Ferranifir had the jump on them and unleashed a concussive blast at Tasgi. The blast shot him through the green mouth; he happened to be the one holding the dust and with a cut-off scream vanished. He did however drop the amulet. The two vampires closed with Dr. midnight and Ferranifir vanished (so did the amulet). After taking many hits from these undead beasts and considerably weakened Tariel and Dr. Midnight did defeat them. But both the amulet and the dust of Acheronius were gone. Shrugging their shoulders they headed back into the Tomb once again and retrieved more dust. Making sure to dust themselves generously with this despicable dust (think about it, they are sprinkling themselves with the dust of one of the most powerful and evil creatures known, the dust itself is at least 1,000 years old. Yuck! It makes a trip to my basement seem like a day at the park.) Crossing their fingers, they stepped through the portal and found themselves instantly transported to somewhere else. A sign immediately facing them told them they were in the city that was once Moil, the City that Waits. Yet another riddle by Acheronius challenged them. The sky was filled with electrical energy. They stood on a 10 bridge spanned between three pillar-like buildings with many more in the distance. Most disturbing was teh fact that there was no sign of Tasgi anywhere. Had he made it through. They looked towards each of the buildings, each over 500 feet away and barely visible under the black sky, illuminated by the frequent flashes of lightning. At the building to their left they saw a light emanating and not seeing any other clues, they headed in that direction. As they got closer they saw that teh light was from a dagger of Tasgi’s. How did they know this? Because Tasgi lay sleeping beside it. They tried to rouse him with no success, so Dr. Midnight slung him over his shoulder. They made their way into teh building looking for any place that might have more warmth. They finally holed up in a room practically filled with ice, apparently thinking the ice might provide some insulation. Tariel told Dr. Midnight that she needed to sleep in order to gain more spells, Dr. Midnight swore he would stay up to protect her and Roundy while they slept. Tariel was unsure why Dr. Midnight called Tasgi Roundy. They all cuddled together to keep warm and Tariel closed her eyes hoping to get some sleep and not wake up so cold.

 

[Dr Midnight]

Cold, so very cold, Games of Chance, Choosing a Champion

Tariel woke up to DR. Midnight gently massaging her shoulders (though not as well as Tasgi had massaged her in the past). It was still frightfully cold. Dr. midnight warmed up some rations with the heat of his hands while she prayed to Ursolas. After praying she ate some of the barely-unfrozen jerky and attempted to remove the curse that afflicted Tasgi. He awoke with a gentle yawn. Unaware as to how long he had been awake, he quickly took stock of their situation and took out his spellbook, realizing that they shouldn’t tarry too long in this dreadful city. While Tasgi practiced his spells, Tariel and Dr. Midnight heard the sound of scuffling come from out in the hall. Realizing they might already have been given away from their glowing dagger, Dr. Midnight readied his rapier and stood guard while Tariel stood on the other side of the door. As the footsteps approached, Dr. Midnight leapt into the hallway with all the flourish one would expect and announced his presence" Greetings, are thou friend or foe, Dr. Midnight wants to know.) Tariel peeked out from behind the door. The individual in the hallway shivered, his teeth chattered as he responded "Not the Dr. Midnight?" "One and the same." He responded flashing his most heroic smile, cleft chin sticking out proudly. "Are you a villain or criminal, one who works against justice?" The Dr. asked. "No, I can work for justice, the stranger replied." With that the stranger quickly shook off the cold and withdrew an ivory-handled katana and began to give a quick display of his martial prowess. Dr. Midnight seemed quite impressed, while Tariel muttered something about boys being boys. Dr Midnight poceeded to give a demonstration of his own, which although not as impressive, was still quite competent. The stranger quickly pulled his thin woolen cloak over his body and wrapped the blanket he was carrying around himself. "Do you have a fire, I’m very cold." Spying Tariel he asked "Who are you fair maiden. Tariel giggled "tariel, and my friend Tasgi is busy studying his spells in here. We don’t have a fire, but I was about to call from my god warmth for all of us, and I could include you as well. "That would be great." With that the stranger entered teh room and took a quick drink from a flask of whiskey he took out of his pack. Ofering it to Tariel and Dr. Midnight, both of whom declined, he offered to take their drinks for them and slugged down two more gulps.

They all finally introduced themselves and although the newcomer, Keldrake Windwalker, was not expressly here to thwart Acheronius, he would consider it, if it would get him home. He had never even heard of the great demi-lich, but after they briefed him shuttered, and it wasn’t from the cold. Having read the riddle at the entry way also, he knew that there were three puzzles to be solved and a key to be found. Even though Tariel’s spell kept them warm, as if they were outside on a fall day, they all knew it was much colder and the cold froze the mucous in their noses and steamed their breath. They finished examining the tower in which they were, finding a strange stand upon which was held a wand. Keldrake carefully tied a string around the wand and pulled it free. Several rooms later they found 7 panels each depicting the sun at various stages in the sky over various landscapes. Deciphering the ancient runes, they found the simple statement "Manifest the Power of the Wand of Days." This coupled with the statement they had found in the room with the wand "The choice of Days empowers the wand." They decided that the panels before them must have something to do with the wand. They continued searching the tower and entering a room with many broken statue pieces (oddly, most of the rooms were impeccably clean, empty of anything) a zombie-like creature rose to attack. Finding combat with the creature deadly, not only because of it’s vicious claw attacks, but because of some sort of life-draining effect being near it seemed to have, every time they dropped it into a state of seeming final death, it kept rising, Tasgi finally disintegrated it with a spell. Searching the rest of the tower and finding little of import they decided to move on. Tasgi informed them that he had been to the Tower across the way and found several seemingly magic portals and a bridge to another tower. They moved instead to the Tower they had all faced when they entered the city.

Searching this tower, it seemed like it must have once been a gaming hall. First they came across a pillar of ice which encased a skeleton. As Keldrake moved near the pillar the skeleton spoke, asking if they wanted to feel his cold embrace. The creature then burst forth from the ice with the terrifying sound of ice cracking and moved to attack. The creature was a skeleton encased in an armor of ice, it’s head glowed with a black flame, and although Dr. Midnight and Keldrake were harming it, they too were taking some significant damage, each having been lit aflame with the black-fire. The fire burned cold, sucking life energy from them. Seeing that they might need some help, Tariel stepped into the room and, calling forth the goddess Ursolas and holding her holy symbol high, banished the creature. The undead shuddered at the sight of the symbol and fled to a corner. Keldrake and Dr. Midnight both let out audible disappointed sighs. Continuing to search teh tower they came to several long rooms, one of which contained a wooden table and several high-backed chairs as well as a large stone chair against the back wall. Scouting out the room, Kldrake looked around, and up. Everyone watched horrified as he was sucked into the mirror on the ceiling. Not quite sure what had happened or what to do, Tariel consulted her goddess and asked if Keldrake could be freed if they broke they mirror. Getting affirmation of this idea, Dr. Midnight threw a piece of timber from the central chamber into the magical piece of silvered glass. Dropping to the ground was not only Keldrake, but a young woman and two grey bodies. The woman started yelling a foreign tongue which prompted Tasgi to cast a spell allowing everyone to speak the same language, to anyone hearing them speak it would sound like gibberish. Dr. Midnight did not like what he heard, as the young woman was doing nothing but curse. As she and Keldrake pulled themselves up, one of the bodies rose awaking into an undead state of being. The young woman ran from the room into the hall joining Tariel and Tasgi, Dr. midnight entered the room with a cry of justice. He and Keldrake easily dropped the beast, but as tehy turned to walk out, it started to rise again. Thie continued for some time, with Dr. midnight at one point actually dragging the body from the room towards his companions who ran down the hall. Through a doorway, Keldrake lobbed a flask of oil at the creature who was once again standing, Tasgi actually finally disintegrated the once-human monster. They gathered up some of the timber and started a small fire to warm their new companion who went by the name of Lerxst. They did their best to warm her up, as she certainly was not dressed for the weather in a short sleeve tunic. Keldrake and Dr. Midnight continued searching and found an old barroom and actually found three bottles of wine that were undamaged along with a bottle of abisinthe and a peculiar note carved into one of the tabletops "Desatysso was here." They brought the wine out to Tasgi, Tariel and Lerxst. Tasgi determined that the wine was still good and he and Tariel split a bottle while Keldrake drank one by himself and stored the other away carefully in his pack. Everyone enjoyed the surprisingly delicious soup Tasgi had made over the fire, somehow he’d found the ingredients for soemthing not only good for adventuring fare but for soemthing that would make most kings ask for seconds. Realizing they had only door left to open, the one the once-vanquished undead guarded they returned to where the creature was feeling aggressive again. Tariel offered to turn the creature away again, but Dr. Midnight and Keldrake relished the opportunity to draw their weapons too much and attacked the monster. After having dropped it and having had other troubles with the undead continually rising up to attack again, they threw it out the window.

Upstairs, they continued to explore, finding an interesting glowing cabinet, they looked to investigate it. The windows on the cabinet had been frosted over and when they took a torch to the ice, suddenly all the lights went out, including the glow emanating from the cabinet. Everyone felt a very strong uneasy magical feeling pass over them. When they finally relit the torch, everyone was surprised to see Dr. Midnight approach from down the hall, not inside the room where they had all been. With the torch relit, they found the cabinet to still be locked. Once again they tried to open it, and again all the lights went out and the magic feeling creeped over all of them. They tried this several more times, but each time the results were the same. On the last attempt however, they heard Lerxst scream from outside the window and looked out to see her falling into the abyssal blackness below the City. "That’s what happened to me" Dr. Midnight finally offered up. Realizing now that they were dealing with something they should probably leave alone, they moved on. They came to a room with several still intact cloaks, and Tasgi tried on the very warm looking white fur one. He then claimed to be very tired and sat down. He searched through his pack and threw out all "This extra heavy stuff" including his spellbook and wand. When asked how many toes he had, he proceeded to take off his shoes and started to count them, Started is the correct term, he was not able to get past 3. Tariel approached him and asked her god for help in removed the curse that seemed to be afflicting him. Sure enough, his eyes took on the bright look they all knew so well and he stood up and asked about his spellbooks and wand as he had lost all memory of his spells. Keldrake had safely stored them, fearing the wild-mage might do something foolish in his state of not quite being himself. Tasgi immediately went to the window and threw the cloak out. Then he realized that he still had his shoes off and quickly pulled his socks and boots back on. Keldrake meanwhile did not succumb to the very tempting roulette wheel they had encountered, Dr. Midnight also chose not to play "Justice is no gamble." and Tariel said she didn’t like the look of the thing. Tasgi seemed to have had enough gambling for the day and found Keldrake who was sitting in the hall finishing up the second bottle of wine.

Although he had drunk two bottles by himself, Keldrake showed no ill affects from the wine. Yes, his cheeks were quite rosy and he had a large smile on his face, but other than that he seemed okay. Although Tasgi had lost all his spells, he knew that he had a chance to channel the power of his wand to cast his spells for him. He couldn’t rightly sleep to memorize them again, they had only been up for about four or five hours. So they all agreed to continue into the next tower. Decorating the keystone at the entrance to the next tower were symbols of warfare and as they entered, a distorted death march wailed throughout the tower. Moving inward they found human heads mounted for grisly decoration on the wall. They also came across a hand with a plaque beneath it. Tasgi drew forth his wand, which caused Keldrake to run around the corner of the hall, fearing the wild magic contained within. Tasgi attempted to channle his spells through the wand and instead of being able to read the ancient runes, felt a slight itching on his chest. Pulling his shirt open, he found the source of the itching, he had gained a third nipple. He tried once more and this time, the wild magic surged into his left hand. Looking at his hand, he noticed that he was now missing a finger. Deciding that perhaps Biakh was not withhim today, he put his wand away. It was then that the hand started moving. Kledrake, peeking around the corner was intrigued by this and placed a dagger in the hand. The hand moved it around as best as it could, given it’s limited mobility. Keldrake actually parried with the hand, and attempting to disarm the bodiless hand, found the hand’s great strength actually disarmed him. They saw this as a bad sign and moved on. They found one floor in an inner hallway and entered. Looking into the next room saw a forest of 20 foot high iron pillars placed in a random pattern. Dr. Midnight and Keldrake entered the room and immediately the pillars began falling. Each deftly dodged the massive pieces of metal that were falling all around them. The further they entered into the room, the more the pillars fell, making the dodging more difficult. Tariel and Tasgi, realizing that their best chance may have passed them by reluctantly entered as well, and luckily Tasgi’s protective spell he had cast earlier in the day protected them from the several crushing blows delivered by the dropping pillars.

The next room was empty save for a gleaming silver metal door whose handle was lodged in ice. Chipping it away, Keldrake strained and lifted the door, seeing no handle on the other side, he asked Dr. Midnight to hold the masive door open while he quickly grabbed a piece of one of the pillars and placed it on the ground, sop the door could not close all the way and trap them. The next room was filled with a multitude of many hued bells hanging from the ceiling. Picking up a small pebble and throwing it at one of them, they each heard a beautiful sound as the perfectly pitched bell rang out ever so softly. Seeing the door oppposite the one they now stood they all entered the room together, and at once all the bells began ringing terribly loudly. Each bell was perfectly pitched, but with over 100 of them ringing at one, the sound was maddening. Dr. Midnight fell first, grabbing his ears and screaming, Tariel and Tasgi also fell, screaming in pain and writhing on the ground, Keldrake made it through the room, though slightly disoriented. Looking back he saw his companions lying on the ground, blood starting to trickle out their ears. He ran back into the room and picked up the massive Dr. Midnight and pulled Tariel and Tasgi and slowly, painfully made his way to the exit. For over ten minutes, the three who had fallen lay screaming in pain, clutching their ears, unable to hear anything. Finally, their hearing was restored and they looked about the room. Teir was a sealed iron door leaving the room inlaid with a golden plaque in which were five gems, flashing in a random pattern. Studying the gems for several minutes, they figured out that the pattern went on for 30 seconds and stopped for 30 seconds. The gems themselves appeared to be depressable. Tasgi studied it for some time and finally after one of the sequences ended began to quickly depress the gems. Keldrake, who had been attempting to follow the pattern as well, yelled out when he thought Tasgi made a mistake. Tasgi simply grunted in his direction and continued pressing. As he depressed the last one and stood back, the door opened, revealing a spiral staircase leading up. However, the silent sounds of unseen machinery was heard and as they watched razor thin blades flew up and down from the walls leading up the stairs. Studying the pattern, it looked like it could be passed, but just because those blades looked so deadly, Keldrake took out his hand axe and positioned the handle in the blades path. The blade came sharply and quickly down on the handle and cleanly severed it. The slits in the walls where the blades originated were too thin to allow anything other than a piece of paper within. Keldrake stepped forward first, quickly climbing several steps at a time, watching the blade’s patterns ahead of him and trying to remember the rhythm with which they swung. All watched breathlessly as he made his way up the stairs, narrowly avoiding several of the blade’s silent strikes. Tariel stepped forward next and several blades struck her, luckily tasgi’s protective magics did not allow the razor-sharp blades to pierce her skin. Dr. midnight declared to Tasgi that he should go next, because Dr. Midnight should stay down here in case someone tries to ambush them from behind. Tasgi though Dr. Midnight was full of crap and just really scared. Tasgi stepped forward anyway and made the ascent, no harm coming to him. With a barely noticeable look on his face, the good Dr. stepped into the path of the blades and quickly climbed up, thankful that Tasgi had graced him with protective magics as several blades struck him as well. They now all stood 20 feet from the top of the stairs and continued their ascent together.

Entering into a large indoor battle traing ground, the walls of which were adorned with all types of weaposn and many more lay on the ground, some broken, some rusted, and as they looked around, a man with skin the color of death stepped from the center room which was emanating a purple glow. The man was armed witha great two handed sword and strode to within 30 feet of the band and declared to them to select a champion to fight him, and if he is defeated they may pass, and if he is victorious, they must leave never to return. Dr. Midnight had such a pained look on his face, here was his chance for justice, but he was so weak from the assault of the vampire and the other undead minions they had fought. He desperately wanted to step forward to answer this challenge, but realized that Keldrake might be their best choice. Keldrake reluctantly stepped forward. The man, or at least what was once a man, stood before them, unmoving, both hands on his wicked looking sword, Keldrake drew his katant and approached, waiting for the man, hoping to study his movements to gain an advantage. The man just stood, unblinking, eyes never moving from his challenger. Keldrake rocked on his feet, waiting, feigning to make a move several times, but the man did not flinch, thsi standoff continued for several minutes, until finally Keldrake charged the man. The man quickly pulled his sword in front of him, an evil red glow trailed the weapon as he swung it, he held his sword to parry Keldrake’s strikes, his eyes watching his opponent, and immediately Keldrake knew he had lost the first battle, the battle of nerves. The man, who called himself the Lord High Exultant, studied Keldrake’s attack and finally made an attack of his own. He swung the huge sword with easy grace and his blows not only struck deep, but the wounds bled profusley. From eth undead champion’s hand, he unleashed a blast of cold, and the black-fire that surrounded him jumped to Keldrake. Keldrake felt it’s effects trying to suck away his life energy, but he risisted. The fight lasted several minutes, each matching eth other blow for blow, until Keldrake took one misstep allowing the Lord High Exultant the oppurtunity to deliver a devastating strike to his chest. He clutched at his chest in pain, dropping first to his knees and then to the ground. The blood poured out of him and Tariel ran to his aid, hoping that all was not lost. She slowly turned him over, the blackfire jumped from him to her and never before having seen such wounds quickly called forth the power of her goddess to heal him. Immediately, the wounds closed and Keldrake regained life and consciousness. The man simply walked back in the central room from where he had first entered the main chamber, and Dr. Midnight and Tasgi saw him sit down cross-legged on a simple reed mat, placing the blood covered blade before him. Keldrake thanked Tariel and slowly drew himself up. They walked around the main chamber and saw one exit. The man on the mat, sat perfectly still, the purple of the room more powerful around him, his eyes were open, but he appeared to be looking past everything. Thinking that they should not try their luck attempting to leave via the exit, and thinking it was probably in their best interest not to try and descend to the lower floor again, they talked about setting up camp right outside this great warrior’s chamber. Keldrake stepped into the purple glow and immediately felt a very uneasy feeling settle over his entire body, a felling of pain, a feeling of fear. Watching the man on the mat, everyone watched as Keldrake’s knees buckled and a golden light exited his bod. He quickly stepped back into the main chamber, some of the color having been drained from his face. They retreated to the back of the round room and whispered possible plans amongst themselves. Tariel volunteered that perhaps she could seek guidance from her goddess, but she would need to know guidance about what. This began a heated discussion regarding what they’ve encountered thus far has been important and what has been meaningless in their quest to find the Fortress of Conclusion.

 

[Tom Cashel]

Nice, Doc...I like this tale! Nice use of riddles and clues. Love that stuff. Plus the fact that Doc Midnight speaks in rhyming verse.

[A question: I used to know a Barak Blackburn who attended SUNY-Binghamton and achieved near-fame as a host of the Mad Trivia Party on WHRW...not to mention his "band" Big Number 2 with their hit single "Crispin Glover." Kind of a long shot, but I figure...how many people could there be with the name Barak Blackburn? Is it the same one?]

 

[Dr Midnight]

Huh. I think we're talking about the same guy here. I don't know about all the other stuff, the band, etc... I knew he hosted a radio show, and he ran a fanzine dedicated to Crispin Glover.

Blond-ish guy, big grin?

 

[Tom Cashel]

Yeah...that's him! I knew him when he lived in the basement of Cayuga Hall...crazy stuff down there. Hey, I wanted to ask how/where you know him from, but I don't want to hijack your Story Hour.

As for the band...they played "Battle of the Worst Bands" and stood on stage smashing vinyl LPs against their instruments. Very entertaining!

 

[Dr Midnight]

Wow, cool.

I know him because he's the guy who got me started in D&D. I'd played RPGs before but never really gave much of a crap until I played under him. This campaign was my first D&D game, and I enjoyed it. I've played tons of games with him by now, and will attend "DisdainCon" later this year, which will be a privately run (by him) game convention up in massachussetts. Was at his wedding, last year. He's a big fan of Dr. Midnight as a character.

He was "Barakatoon" here on the ENboards for a while, but left after becoming discouraged with gamers and their attitudes.