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The Durnhill Conscripts
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7463436" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 20: FIFTY SHADES OF BLUE</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: </p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Galen Thorne, human paladin 7</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 7</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 6</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Syngaard, human fighter 7</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 27 June 2018</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>"Here we are," Skevros announced, his <em>teleport</em> spell having brought the group back to the front of the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em>. While Galen busied himself tying up Seneca, the others stepped inside the tavern, Syngaard calling out for Karen to fetch him a cold ale.</p><p></p><p>But Karen was not present in the tavern. Instead, in her place, was a little girl looking about five years old. She and Dow stood over in the corner of the tavern, the porcelain homunculous talking animatedly. "Sarah!" called out Skevros in surprise upon seeing the girl. "What are you doing out here?"</p><p></p><p>"You'we back!" exclaimed Dow excitedly, belatedly noticing Skevros's return to the tavern.</p><p></p><p>"Wait - ain't that your dead kid?" asked Syngaard, looking at the new little girl, as ever the voice of tact.</p><p></p><p>Skevros lowered his voice to a mere whisper. "That is a simulacra of my daughter Sarah, yes," the king's adviser admitted. "Like Karen, she's a projection of the extradimensional mansion, but only one at a time can manifest out here. I wanted Dow to have a chance to say goodbye to 'Sarah' before we take her away to the orphanage at the Temple of Pelor, so she can keep an eye on Hope. After all, the homunculous was originally built as my familiar, but predominantly so she could be Sarah's best friend during my absences."</p><p></p><p>Turning to the porcelain homunculous, he asked Dow, "Weren't you both supposed to stay inside the mansion while we were gone?"</p><p></p><p>"I wanted to show Sawah the gwass befowe she has to weave," Dow explained in her babyish voice. "It's all gween, instead of bwoo wike it's supposed to be!" she giggled.</p><p></p><p>"So you're leaving?" prompted Syngaard. "Like, soon?" The freaky homunculous gave him the creeps enough as it was, without adding a dead kid into the mix.</p><p></p><p>"She's gonna go see her Mommy at the magic mountain," Dow further explained. At this, Orion looked quizzically up at Skevros.</p><p></p><p>"Mount Celestia," he explained.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, right, 'cause she's dead," reasoned Syngaard. Orion shook her head in disbelief at the scarred fighter's crassness.</p><p></p><p>"I created the Sarah simulacra for Dow's sake, since she never got a chance to say goodbye to her," Skevros continued in his whispering voice. "She didn't understand death at the time." Then, turning to the two "girls," he commanded them to return back to the mansion and get ready for bed.</p><p></p><p>"And send Karen back out!" suggested Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"You know, you could get your own glass of ale," observed Kaspar.</p><p></p><p>"Could," admitted Syngaard, pulling up a chair. "Shouldn't have to, though."</p><p></p><p>Once Skevros had ushered Sarah and Dow back into the storeroom that housed his extradimensional living space, he returned to the group, which had made themselves comfortable around one of the large, round tables. Syngaard and Galen nursed pints of ale, the former grumpy at having had to fetch his himself. "Now, then, back to the business at hand," Skevros suggested. "The hour is late; I think we would all do well to retire for the evening. Let's meet back here at half past six bells tomorrow morning, shall we?"</p><p></p><p>"Are you sending us back to the Azure Glade?" asked Daleth.</p><p></p><p>"That seems like our next logical move," affirmed Skevros. "You should seek out the leader of the Illusionists Guild, with whom you met before - she would be the 'yellow' in the mermaids' prophecy. She, in turn, should take you to the 'orange' - the Guild of Abjurers - and then the 'green' - the Conjurers Guild - will get you back home."</p><p></p><p>"And somewhere in there we'll find Serenity?" asked Orion.</p><p></p><p>"One would imagine so," agreed Skevros.</p><p></p><p>The group split up then, some heading upstairs to their rooms, while others hit the marketplace before it closed up for the night; Daleth stayed behind at Skevros's request to discuss some other business. At the market, several of the heroes purchased healing potions, while Syngaard upgraded his magical <em>ring of protection</em> to a more powerful version. Then he crossed the city to the brothel where he worked as a bouncer for room and board during his "off" time from adventuring; there were still several hours of peak business time at Mama Kat's place.</p><p></p><p>The next morning the heroes gathered again at the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em>, Syngaard somewhat bleary-eyed at the early hour. He was pleased to see Karen back at her station behind the bar, though, and had his morning breakfast ale.</p><p></p><p>"Ah, everyone's here!" announced Skevros, looking at the assembled group.</p><p></p><p>"Daleth is not among us," pointed out Kaspar.</p><p></p><p>"Indeed, not - I sent him on a different assignment," explained Skevros. "But no matter: I expect the rest of you shall suffice for the task at hand." The king's adviser turned to face Galen. "I think you should leave Seneca behind," he suggested. "I have asked Anuja to ferry you to the Azure Glade, and her horse has been equipped with <em>horseshoes of speed</em>; I doubt very much that your warhorse could keep up."</p><p></p><p>"Very well," agreed the young paladin.</p><p></p><p>"What about Carl?" asked Orion. She had become quite accustomed to riding her dog into battle and frowned at the thought of leaving him behind.</p><p></p><p>"No problem: he's small enough to ride in the back of the wagon with the rest of you."</p><p></p><p>"They're gonna be on the wagon with us?" griped Syngaard. "What about fleas?"</p><p></p><p>"Carl doesn't have fleas!" insisted Orion indignantly.</p><p></p><p>"Wasn't Carl I was worried about," answered the bald fighter, looking disdainfully down at the halfling. Orion just glared back at him, angry at herself for once again walking into a verbal trap.</p><p></p><p>"Anuja has business of her own to attend to once in the Azure Glade, so she shall be dropping you off and seeing to her own assignment. But if the mermaids' prophecy is to be trusted, you should be teleporting back courtesy of the Conjuration Guild." Galen frowned at this information, wondering just what kind of business their wagon driver might have in the rival country to the east of Durnhill, and how she could afford magical horseshoes for her draft horse. Still, Skevros had said he trusted her with his life before, so the paladin kept his concerns to himself. The group headed outside where Anuja was indeed waiting with her horse and cart. Everyone piled into the back of the wagon - which was already packed with supplies for the trip - and they were off.</p><p></p><p>The first day of travel was uneventful - boring, even. But they made good time; the magic of the horseshoes would be cutting the three-day trip down to two. The group set up camp with practiced precision, some assembling the two tents while others gathered firewood. Anuja tended to her horse, removing him from his harness and giving him a long tether at the side of the wagon, where he could graze upon the blue grasses in the clearing. The group decided upon three three-hour watch shifts over the course of the night, with Orion taking the first shift, Syngaard following next, and Kaspar taking the third. Galen, on account of his spellcasting, was exempted from taking a shift, that he'd be well rested in the morning and able to concentrate on his daily prayers. "We all rely upon you for healing," reminded Kaspar when Galen felt he wasn't pulling his weight.</p><p></p><p>Orion's watch was dull, with the highlight being at the very end when she got to wake up Syngaard by opening the flap of the men's tent and poking him with her sword; after a weighty decision that went back and forth several times, she eventually opted to keep her blade sheathed in its scabbard when she did so. Syngaard got up, strapped his armor back on, and took his place by the fire.</p><p></p><p>About an hour into his watch, something eventful finally happened - and a good thing, too, the fighter thought, for he had been close to falling asleep several times already. But a glowing, silver orb shot through the eastern sky like a shooting star - only this one dipped low in front of a tree, revealing it to be much closer to the campsite than any star could ever be. And then, when it shifted direction and started heading his way, Syngaard realized he'd better wake the others.</p><p></p><p>His first impulse was to shout out loud and wake everybody at once, but he didn't want anybody thinking he was scared - and it might be tactically advantageous if the approaching orb didn't know the fighter was onto it. So he opened the flap to the men's tent and hissed at Kaspar, deep in his elven meditation. "Wake up!" called Syngaard. "Wake up the paladin, too! We got impending excitement about to hit camp!" Then he went to the women's tent and was going to try to quietly wake them up as well, but Carl opted out of that plan by barking noisily at the intrusion.</p><p></p><p>The two tents started disgorging their inhabitants at about the time the orb arrived in camp. It was much smaller than Syngaard had originally estimated, merely the size of a large melon. It wobbled erratically. Not sure of what to make of it, Galen and Orion unsheathed their weapons and Syngaard tightened his grip on his own, but then the glowing orb spoke. "Help...us," it called in a fading voice.</p><p></p><p>"What the--?" sputtered Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"They are...draining...our wizard's...soul. You must...stop them...at any cost. If he cannot...be saved...send him...to paradise. The purgeling must...live. Your fates...are already...intertwined...." And then the ball of light fell to the ground, soundlessly shattering into a puff of glittering, silver dust.</p><p></p><p>"What the--?" repeated Syngaard. He'd been all geared up for a fight and was more than a little disappointed that he wasn't going to get one.</p><p></p><p>"That was surely no will-o'wisp," reasoned Kaspar. "I've never heard of them being able to speak."</p><p></p><p>"Lantern archon," explained Galen. "From the celestial planes - probably a wizard's familiar, by the sound of it. And any wizard with a lantern archon as a familiar is definitely on the side of the forces of good."</p><p></p><p>"What's a 'purgeling'?" asked Orion, sheathing her <em>flaming short sword</em>.</p><p></p><p>Surprisingly, it was Anuja who answered. "It refers to an obscure planar theory about innocent souls trapped in the lower planes being reborn as fiends less inclined toward evil," she explained.</p><p></p><p>"So, Serenity," reasoned Kaspar. "She's tied up in this somehow."</p><p></p><p>"And finding and saving this wizard will likely allow us to save her as well!" reasoned Galen. In all the excitement, none of the heroes thought to question how their wagon driver knew about obscure planar theory.</p><p></p><p>"Guess we'd better break camp now and head on out," muttered Syngaard. "I'll get the tents."</p><p></p><p>"Don't bother about that!" argued Galen. "We can leave them here and come back for them later, as needed!"</p><p></p><p>"We're probably not coming back this way," pointed out Orion. "Teleporting back, remember?"</p><p></p><p>"I ain't paying for no replacement tents," added Syngaard. Eventually, the paladin realized it would be quicker to help the rest of the group break camp than to continue to argue about how much time they'd save by doing things his way. And within minutes - for they didn't bother stowing the tents away nicely, just threw them into the back of the wagon and hopped in after them - Anuja had her horse hitched back up to the wagon and was heading back on the road in the wee hours of the morning. Neither the horse nor his driver seemed particularly happy with this turn of events. Galen went promptly back to sleep in the back of the wagon; the others left him alone so he'd be rested enough to be able to prepare the spells he'd need when the sun arose.</p><p></p><p>"Do we even know where we're going?" asked Orion.</p><p></p><p>"Presumably to the Illusionists Guild, as before," answered Kaspar. "We have no reason to believe anything's changed."</p><p></p><p>The group arrived at the Guilded City around midday without further incident. And due to their helpfully color-coded robes, they had no trouble finding an illusionist and telling him they had urgent business with their Guildmaster. The yellow-robed mage took them to a nondescript building; after the heroes leapt from the wagon, Anuja drove off to attend to her own business.</p><p></p><p>"Wait here," said the illusionist, leading the group to a waiting room. "Don't touch anything you don't understand."</p><p></p><p>After a short wait another illusionist walked in with a piece of parchment in hand. "Syngaard, Jace?" he asked.</p><p></p><p>"Huh?" asked Syngaard, surprised to hear his first name being spoken by a stranger.</p><p></p><p>"Thorne, Galen?" asked the illusionist. Galen looked at the others, then replied, "I am he."</p><p></p><p>"Hardstrike, Kaspar?"</p><p></p><p>"I am Kaspar."</p><p></p><p>"Graveshadow, Anuja?" asked the illusionist, looking at Orion.</p><p></p><p>"Um, no," admitted the halfling, looking in confusion to the three men accompanying her. "Anuja's not with us. My name is Orion Nightsky." The illusionist produced a pen from his robes and added her name to the list.</p><p></p><p>"And how do you know the Guildmaster?" the illusionist prompted.</p><p></p><p>"Uh," began Galen, not wanting to admit to their earlier meeting with Leorna and her admission that she was looking into the spreading corruption in the Council of Guilds.</p><p></p><p>"We, uh, met up with her in our travels a while back..." added Syngaard, "...being simple merchants and all..." Beside him, hidden in an <em>invisibility</em> spell, Leorna silently shook her head. These were definitely the three idiots she had met up with on the road, plus a female halfling she'd never met before. But their ability to dissemble was as poor now as it had been then. She silently touched her assistant's robes to let him know everything was okay.</p><p></p><p>"I will need to go check with the Guildmaster," said the yellow-robed illusionist, opening the door and looking back at the group, giving Leorna enough time to slide out of the room. A minute or so later the door reopened and Leorna stepped back into the room, this time fully visible. "Gentlemen, miss," she greeted them. "What brings you back to the Azure Glade?"</p><p></p><p>After a rather excruciatingly roundabout explanation, the party informed Leorna about both the lantern archon encounter and the divination, "Find the yellow within the blue, it shall lead you to orange, and green shall set you free."</p><p></p><p>Leorna frowned in thought. "The Guildmaster of the Conjurers Guild has been missing our recent meetings; he has a lantern archon as a familiar."</p><p></p><p>"Who is he?" asked Orion.</p><p></p><p>Leorna looked down at the halfling. "I tell you this in confidence, for the identities of the Guildmasters is supposed to be hidden from all but the other Guildmasters of the Council and the members of the Guild in question, but his name is <strong>Orlin</strong>."</p><p></p><p>"So should we search for this Orlin, or continue our search for Serenity?" asked Kaspar.</p><p></p><p>"The lantern archon was rather insistent," pointed out Orion. "We don't know how much longer he might be kept alive."</p><p></p><p>"Yes, but he was also concerned about 'the purgeling' - which no doubt refers to Serenity," argued the elven monk.</p><p></p><p>"In either case, they're likely both being held at the Abjurers Guild," observed Galen. "We should storm into there and rescue them both!"</p><p></p><p>"That approach would likely end in failure," replied Leorna. "Additional security measures have been put in place at the Guilds since a recent theft at the Diviners Library." She pretended not to notice the guilty looks exchanged before the men before her. "The only way a nonmember can enter a Guildhall nowadays is with the permission of a member of that Guild, or with a letter of recommendation from a Guildmaster." She looked over the quartet of adventurers. "Your best bet is to have your elf and halfling pose as prospective students, while you two humans act as their bodyguards." She sent an illusionist student for a pair of initiates' robes; he returned shortly with a pair of gray robes properly sized for Kaspar and Orion.</p><p></p><p>"I will prepare your letters," stated Leorna.</p><p></p><p>"Make hers lower-case," suggested Syngaard, pointing a thumb at a scowling Orion.</p><p></p><p>Once everything was in order, Leorna gave the heroes instructions on where to find the Abjurers Guildhall and wished them luck. Arriving at their destination, the heroes were admitted into the building (even Carl) once their letters of recommendation were deemed genuine. "Allow me to give you a brief tour of our facilities," offered the orange-robed Abjurer who had answered the door.</p><p></p><p>Unfortunately, the impromptu tour was cut short at the first room they entered, which contained a trio of abjurers in orange robes and a tall man in robes of dark blue, holding a large mace. He looked up at the visitors and recognized Syngaard's scarred face immediately. "You're dead!" snarled Reginald, the Azure Guard the heroes had fought - and possibly even killed - when scouting out Skevros's house. He drew his mace and advanced upon the group, while the frightened abjurer students quickly hugged the walls to stay out of the way of the impending combat.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar's immediate concern was that none of the noncombatants get hurt. "Stay back!" he called. "This man is a traitor!" And then he rushed up and struck at Reginald with a hardened hand. The Azure Guard responded by channeling a <em>scorching ray</em> spell through his mace, which activated when the weapon's head impacted upon the monk's shoulder. Kaspar rolled with the blow, but the elf's shoulder had been badly burned by the impact and subsequent spell release.</p><p></p><p>Orion reached into her <em>bag of blades</em> and flung a dagger at Reginald, her throw striking true as she then leapt up upon her riding dog - her preferred position in any given combat. Galen pulled the <em>sword of Zehkar</em> from its scabbard, casting a <em>protection from evil</em> spell upon himself as he approached, for his ability to see the auras of evil had told him that Reginald's soul had become stained with the taint of evil since the last time they had fought. His enhanced sight also informed him the souls of the cowering abjurers were not similarly stained.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard pulled the <em>human bane scimitar</em> from his belt and dealt a solid blow against Reginald. Kaspar repositioned himself in an attempt to flank their foe, but missed with his blow. Reginald slammed the monk again with his mace, this time without a spell loaded into it. Orion missed with her flanking strike, although Carl got a quick grip upon Reginald's arm before the Azure Guard snatched it away.</p><p></p><p>Recalling that the glowing blue runes on Reginald's forehead, mace, and robe whisked him away in a <em>teleport</em> spell upon being rendered unconscious, Galen decided he'd try to ensure the Azure Guard was dead before he hit the ground. With that in mind, he channeled the power of Hieroneous through his longsword and brought it crashing down upon the foe, blazing with the power of a <em>smite evil</em> effect. Whether it actually slew Reginald was hard to determine, as the Azure Guard <em>teleported</em> away at once.</p><p></p><p>"I think I got him," the paladin declared.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar turned to face the frightened abjurers. "Forgive the combat in your halls," he said. Then, indicating the symbol of Hieroneous on Galen's shield, he added, "As you can see, this man is a paladin of the God of Valor. We mean you no harm." The abjurers nodded nervously, clearly still frightened for their lives. Kaspar pressed on. "We seek both a kidnapped succubus and a man in green robes. Have you seen either of them?"</p><p></p><p>None of the abjurers had seen either one. "However," one ventured nervously, "if there's a succubus about, it probably has something to do with <strong>Tienna</strong>'s obsession with killing fiends. She's downstairs with some of her friends, performing experiments, I think." With proper encouragement, the student mage led the heroes to the entrance to the basement level, a set of wide steps.</p><p></p><p>There were five figures in the long, single room of the basement upon the heroes' arrival. Two of them stood in magic circles inscribed on the floor at either end of the room: a white-robed diviner in a red circle to the south and a black-robed necromancer in a blue circle at the north end. In the middle of the room, an orange-robed figure - likely the aforementioned abjurer Tienna, an elven woman - stood just outside a yellow magic circle inscribed on the floor, inside of which lay an unconscious man in green robes. This man - likely the conjurer Orlin - was bound with silver chains. And hanging directly above him, naked and unconscious, slumped Serenity, impaled through her batlike wings by silver hooks at the end of chains dangling from the room's ceiling.</p><p></p><p>This time Galen was the first to react. His aura-reading senses picking up a strong emanation of evil from the female diviner in the circle before him, he charged and dealt her a devastating blow with his holy longsword. Kaspar followed on the paladin's heels, knocking the diviner out before she barely had time to recognize the heroes' entry into their ritual.</p><p></p><p>Seeing the diviner had been taken care of, Orion sent Carl racing down the length of the room, stabbing Tienna with her <em>flaming short sword</em> as they approached. The halfling then leapt from Carl's saddle, giving the dog the ability to strike at their foes from a different direction. Behind them, Syngaard threw his <em>returning javelin</em> at Tienna as he ran up. It missed, but unerringly returned to his hand.</p><p></p><p>Tienna took a quick step back from the halfling to get out of the reach of Orion's blade and tossed a <em>fireball</em> spell past the scarred fighter racing her way. Its subsequent explosion encompassed not only Syngaard, but also Galen and Kaspar.</p><p></p><p>From the far end of the ritual room, the black-clad necromancer cast a <em>spectral hand</em> spell in preparation for some long-ranged combat, hoping to stay well away from melee with the enemies of the Seekers of Eternity. As Galen sprinted to the center of the room he sensed Serenity's aura, and while it was not completely purged of evil, it was a remarkable difference from the other times he'd tried to read her aura and got a splitting headache from the overwhelming sense of depravity he'd sensed. But he was also somewhat surprised to get no reading of evil from Tienna's aura. "I am a paladin of Hieroneous!" he called to the orange-robed woman. "Our cause is righteous!" He healed the fire damage he'd taken from Tienna's <em>fireball</em> as he approached.</p><p></p><p>"I don't believe a word you say!" snarled Tienna in reply. "You're here to free a vile demon!" But her attention was momentarily distracted by the exchange, and Orion and Carl took advantage of her inattention, striking swiftly with sword and teeth.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar unstoppered a vial from his belt as he crossed the room, drinking down a much-needed healing potion. Syngaard was right behind him, but rather than deal with healing himself he threw his javelin at Tienna again, eager to draw blood. It missed but once again returned to his hand; he stashed it in his shield hand and drew his scimitar from his belt, now that he was close to melee range.</p><p></p><p>But Tienna didn't want anything to do with that; she backed up towards the side wall, taking a hit from Orion's sword as she did so, and cast a <em>confusion</em> spell that encompassed not only Syngaard, but Kaspar and Carl as well. The elf shrugged off the spell's intended effects, but Syngaard's sudden halt and Carl's shaking his head rapidly indicated they had not been so lucky.</p><p></p><p>Amidst all of this excitement, the necromancer's <em>spectral hand</em> darted forth and struck Galen, channeling a <em>vampiric touch</em> spell that drained the paladin of some of his vitality. Galen didn't stop his own intended action, though: holding his <em>illumium scabbard</em> up high, he channeled positive energy through it and healed Serenity back to consciousness.</p><p></p><p>By then, Kaspar had caught up to Tienna and landed a solid blow against the abjurer. Orion dashed forward and hit her again with her <em>flaming short sword</em>, while behind her Carl looked around in puzzlement and Syngaard stared at the scimitar in his hand as if he'd never seen it before in his life. In desperation, Tienna staggered to the north and brought up a <em>wall of fire</em> which spanned the room from side to side, isolating her and the female necromancer from the others.</p><p></p><p>"Hey!" called the necromancer in irritation, for now she couldn't see through the blazing flames to target her <em>spectral hand</em>. She took the opportunity to protect herself from those of a goodly nature, silently thankful that Tienna's obsession with fiends had blinded her from the fact that the Seekers of Eternity were shamelessly using her for their own ends.</p><p></p><p>With no other combatants on this side of the <em>wall of fire</em>, Galen healed the green-clad wizard on the floor before him. "Orlin, I presume?" he asked.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, I'm Orlin," confirmed the Guildmaster of the Conjurers Guild. Kaspar approached and soon had him freed from his chains.</p><p></p><p>Unable to see through the flames but protected by their heat from the <em>bracelet of burning escape</em> she wore on one wrist, Orion threw a dagger blindly through the flames, hoping for the best - after all, she had an infinite supply of the throwing daggers from her magical bag. She heard no cries of pain and assumed she had missed her two potential targets.</p><p></p><p>Carl suddenly began barking furiously at nothing in particular, his eyes focused on nothing anyone else could see. But Syngaard saw only a hell hound before him and stabbed at it with his javelin; Carl's barking turned to a howl of pain. Neither was apparently aware of the searing heat emanating from the <em>wall of fire</em> spell next to them.</p><p></p><p>Tienna was seeing spots at the periphery of her vision and knew she'd not survive any further attacks, so she cast a <em>gaseous form</em> spell upon herself and rose up by the ceiling. The flames of her earlier spell reached to the top of the ceiling; she'd have to wait for it to run its course before she could escape. Behind her, the necromancer prepared a <em>magic missile</em> spell, ready to fling it at the first hero to come to this side of the <em>wall of fire</em>.</p><p></p><p>"Do you have any spells prepared, wizard?" demanded Galen. "Specifically, a <em>dispel magic</em> or a <em>teleport</em>?" Orlin admitted to having one of each at the ready. "Dismiss the <em>confusion</em> effect!" commanded the paladin, and Orlin gave it his best. Syngaard suddenly stiffened as if breaking out of a trance, but Carl's odd behavior continued: he became suddenly interested in chasing his tail in a circle.</p><p></p><p>"Where'd they go?" asked Syngaard, looking for Tienna and noticing the <em>wall of fire</em> for the first time, despite the fact his mithral breastplate was inordinately hot from the proximity. "Never mind!" he snarled, rushing through the flames with the <em>human bane scimitar</em> in hand - that necromancer chick looked like a human, even if that wizard in the orange robes was an elf. Of course, after piercing the flames, the scarred fighter was immediately struck by the necromancer's <em>magic missile</em> spell, causing an inadvertent cry of pain to spill from his snarling lips. But his follow-on sword-strike slashed across the wizard's torso, dealing her an impressive amount of damage - but which merely stripped the spellcaster of the vitality previously stolen from Galen.</p><p></p><p><em>I probably should have used a </em>dimension door <em>spell instead</em>, thought Tienna in her gaseous state up by the ceiling. Fortunately for her, the bald fighter hadn't even noticed her as he raced through the sheet of vertical flames.</p><p></p><p>Over on the other side of the flaming wall, Kaspar and Orion had decided to try to free Serenity by having the elf fling the halfling up at the hanging succubus. Orion landed gracefully with an arm gripped around a bat-wing, and in a few moments she had freed Serenity from her silver chains and hooks. From this height, Orion could see Carl racing back to the steps leading upstairs, still confused by Tienna's spell. "Come back, boy!" she called, but Carl ignored her cries and bounded up the stairs, out of view.</p><p></p><p>The necromancer stepped back from a furious Syngaard; unseen, her previously-cast <em>spectral hand</em> came racing through the <em>wall of fire</em> to strike the fighter in the back - and release another casting of <em>vampiric touch</em> that drained Syngaard of vitality while transferring it to the grinning necromancer. "Hate--you--so--much..." snarled Syngaard as consciousness left him and he crashed to the ground, his mithral breastplate making a ruckus as he landed.</p><p></p><p>Galen healed himself with a laying on of hands, when he heard Syngaard falling to the floor on the other side of the opaque sheet of flames. "That stupid brothel-monkey!" he cursed, realizing he was going to have to go in there and rescue Syngaard's stupid butt, after they'd already met their stated objectives of rescuing both Serenity and Orlin and could easily <em>teleport</em> to freedom. Beside him, Kaspar came to the same conclusion but instead of cursing the fighter's incompetence the monk rushed fearlessly into the flames. Taking in the scene before him in a single instant, the monk dashed over to the necromancer and landed a solid punch to her jaw, bloodying her lip and releasing the stolen vitality she'd just taken from Syngaard, prone on the floor before her.</p><p></p><p>Seeing herself unnoticed and not wishing to wait out her <em>wall of fire</em> spell, Tienna instead floated back down to the floor, dismissed her <em>gaseous form</em> spell and followed it up with a <em>dimension door</em> spell, escaping to the upper level of the Abjurers Guildhall.</p><p></p><p>Now all alone, the necromancer bravely fought on, managing to knock Kaspar unconscious with a frantically-cast <em>magic missile</em> spell. She even managed to fortify herself with a <em>false life</em> spell before Galen and Orion passed through the <em>wall of fire</em>. After that, it was merely a matter of time before she was unconscious before the heroes.</p><p></p><p>The <em>wall of fire</em> spell finally sputtered out as Kaspar and Syngaard were returned to consciousness. "She got away!" cursed Syngaard upon awakening.</p><p></p><p>"And we're not going after her!" insisted Galen. "We got what we came here for!"</p><p></p><p>"What about the two wizards?" asked Kaspar, indicating the unconscious forms of the diviner and necromancer. A quick perusal of the backs of their necks indicated they both wore the tattoos of the Seekers of Eternity. "Should we take them with us for questioning?"</p><p></p><p>"Don't need 'em both," replied Syngaard, using his scimitar to remove the necromancer's head from her neck. Galen gathered up the diviner, and Orlin prepared his <em>teleport</em> spell. "Where do you wish to go?" he asked. "I can only take us to somewhere I'm already familiar with."</p><p></p><p>Galen gave it a moment's thought as Orion went racing upstairs to find Carl. Fortunately, by then the <em>confusion</em> spell had run its course and the riding dog was already on his way back to his mistress. "Have you ever been to the capital city of Ashfall?" Galen asked the Conjurer Guildmaster.</p><p></p><p>"I have indeed," replied Orlin. Once Orion and Carl returned to the group, he cast his <em>teleport</em> spell and whisked everyone away. The last thing they heard was the clomping of feet as people - possibly the Azure Guard? - raced down the stairs to investigate the commotion.</p><p></p><p>"Well, we rescued Serenity," observed Syngaard, ever the financially-minded member of the group. "I wonder if there's a reward for her return?"</p><p></p><p>"I am sure the king will adequately compensate you for your heroic actions," purred Serenity, not in the least bit discomfited by her nakedness. Galen was, however, his teachings as a paladin of Hieroneous obviously warring with his human desire to want to sneak in a peek. The reformed succubus seemed amused at his discomfort.</p><p></p><p>King Renaldos of Ashfall did indeed offer a reward for the return of his Royal Executioner. At first he seemed disappointed and distrustful of her return - she'd been gone for some time now, and he had feared her inherent demonic nature had finally turned her against the throne - but he quickly warmed to her once the full story of her kidnapping and conversion to a good alignment had been confirmed.</p><p></p><p>As for the captured diviner, she provided next to no information, vehemently denying the heroes would be able to do anything to stop the advancement of her group's cause. "Kill me if you like," she snarled. "I won't say anything to aid you. And I won't be dead for long - you'll see!" Failing to find any other options, the group handed her over to King Renaldos to do with as he saw fit. "Maybe Serenity can get something out of her," he hoped.</p><p></p><p>"Guess we're walkin' home from here," groused Syngaard after they had been dismissed from their audience with the King of Ashfall. It was a hike of several hours before them, with only Orion riding in comfort.</p><p></p><p>"What's up with Anuja?" asked Kaspar. "What business could she have had in the Azure Glade?"</p><p></p><p>"Yeah - and 'Graveshadow'?" asked Orion. "What kind of a name is that?"</p><p></p><p>"One that does not inspire confidence," admitted Galen. "She almost sounds like a necromancer herself."</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Logan used a Paizo Map Pack, "Magic Academy," to represent the Abjurers Guildhall. We now are worried that Reginald and Tienna will become recurring villains, but if what the captured diviner had to say was true, even those we kill are likely to become recurring villains - it seems the Seekers of Eternity aren't above resurrecting those of their forces who are slain. At least we can make them keep spending money on the process!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7463436, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 20: FIFTY SHADES OF BLUE[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Galen Thorne, human paladin 7[/INDENT] [INDENT] Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 7[/INDENT] [INDENT] Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 6[/INDENT] [INDENT] Syngaard, human fighter 7[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 27 June 2018 - - - "Here we are," Skevros announced, his [I]teleport[/I] spell having brought the group back to the front of the [I]Enchanted Flagon[/I]. While Galen busied himself tying up Seneca, the others stepped inside the tavern, Syngaard calling out for Karen to fetch him a cold ale. But Karen was not present in the tavern. Instead, in her place, was a little girl looking about five years old. She and Dow stood over in the corner of the tavern, the porcelain homunculous talking animatedly. "Sarah!" called out Skevros in surprise upon seeing the girl. "What are you doing out here?" "You'we back!" exclaimed Dow excitedly, belatedly noticing Skevros's return to the tavern. "Wait - ain't that your dead kid?" asked Syngaard, looking at the new little girl, as ever the voice of tact. Skevros lowered his voice to a mere whisper. "That is a simulacra of my daughter Sarah, yes," the king's adviser admitted. "Like Karen, she's a projection of the extradimensional mansion, but only one at a time can manifest out here. I wanted Dow to have a chance to say goodbye to 'Sarah' before we take her away to the orphanage at the Temple of Pelor, so she can keep an eye on Hope. After all, the homunculous was originally built as my familiar, but predominantly so she could be Sarah's best friend during my absences." Turning to the porcelain homunculous, he asked Dow, "Weren't you both supposed to stay inside the mansion while we were gone?" "I wanted to show Sawah the gwass befowe she has to weave," Dow explained in her babyish voice. "It's all gween, instead of bwoo wike it's supposed to be!" she giggled. "So you're leaving?" prompted Syngaard. "Like, soon?" The freaky homunculous gave him the creeps enough as it was, without adding a dead kid into the mix. "She's gonna go see her Mommy at the magic mountain," Dow further explained. At this, Orion looked quizzically up at Skevros. "Mount Celestia," he explained. "Oh, right, 'cause she's dead," reasoned Syngaard. Orion shook her head in disbelief at the scarred fighter's crassness. "I created the Sarah simulacra for Dow's sake, since she never got a chance to say goodbye to her," Skevros continued in his whispering voice. "She didn't understand death at the time." Then, turning to the two "girls," he commanded them to return back to the mansion and get ready for bed. "And send Karen back out!" suggested Syngaard. "You know, you could get your own glass of ale," observed Kaspar. "Could," admitted Syngaard, pulling up a chair. "Shouldn't have to, though." Once Skevros had ushered Sarah and Dow back into the storeroom that housed his extradimensional living space, he returned to the group, which had made themselves comfortable around one of the large, round tables. Syngaard and Galen nursed pints of ale, the former grumpy at having had to fetch his himself. "Now, then, back to the business at hand," Skevros suggested. "The hour is late; I think we would all do well to retire for the evening. Let's meet back here at half past six bells tomorrow morning, shall we?" "Are you sending us back to the Azure Glade?" asked Daleth. "That seems like our next logical move," affirmed Skevros. "You should seek out the leader of the Illusionists Guild, with whom you met before - she would be the 'yellow' in the mermaids' prophecy. She, in turn, should take you to the 'orange' - the Guild of Abjurers - and then the 'green' - the Conjurers Guild - will get you back home." "And somewhere in there we'll find Serenity?" asked Orion. "One would imagine so," agreed Skevros. The group split up then, some heading upstairs to their rooms, while others hit the marketplace before it closed up for the night; Daleth stayed behind at Skevros's request to discuss some other business. At the market, several of the heroes purchased healing potions, while Syngaard upgraded his magical [I]ring of protection[/I] to a more powerful version. Then he crossed the city to the brothel where he worked as a bouncer for room and board during his "off" time from adventuring; there were still several hours of peak business time at Mama Kat's place. The next morning the heroes gathered again at the [I]Enchanted Flagon[/I], Syngaard somewhat bleary-eyed at the early hour. He was pleased to see Karen back at her station behind the bar, though, and had his morning breakfast ale. "Ah, everyone's here!" announced Skevros, looking at the assembled group. "Daleth is not among us," pointed out Kaspar. "Indeed, not - I sent him on a different assignment," explained Skevros. "But no matter: I expect the rest of you shall suffice for the task at hand." The king's adviser turned to face Galen. "I think you should leave Seneca behind," he suggested. "I have asked Anuja to ferry you to the Azure Glade, and her horse has been equipped with [I]horseshoes of speed[/I]; I doubt very much that your warhorse could keep up." "Very well," agreed the young paladin. "What about Carl?" asked Orion. She had become quite accustomed to riding her dog into battle and frowned at the thought of leaving him behind. "No problem: he's small enough to ride in the back of the wagon with the rest of you." "They're gonna be on the wagon with us?" griped Syngaard. "What about fleas?" "Carl doesn't have fleas!" insisted Orion indignantly. "Wasn't Carl I was worried about," answered the bald fighter, looking disdainfully down at the halfling. Orion just glared back at him, angry at herself for once again walking into a verbal trap. "Anuja has business of her own to attend to once in the Azure Glade, so she shall be dropping you off and seeing to her own assignment. But if the mermaids' prophecy is to be trusted, you should be teleporting back courtesy of the Conjuration Guild." Galen frowned at this information, wondering just what kind of business their wagon driver might have in the rival country to the east of Durnhill, and how she could afford magical horseshoes for her draft horse. Still, Skevros had said he trusted her with his life before, so the paladin kept his concerns to himself. The group headed outside where Anuja was indeed waiting with her horse and cart. Everyone piled into the back of the wagon - which was already packed with supplies for the trip - and they were off. The first day of travel was uneventful - boring, even. But they made good time; the magic of the horseshoes would be cutting the three-day trip down to two. The group set up camp with practiced precision, some assembling the two tents while others gathered firewood. Anuja tended to her horse, removing him from his harness and giving him a long tether at the side of the wagon, where he could graze upon the blue grasses in the clearing. The group decided upon three three-hour watch shifts over the course of the night, with Orion taking the first shift, Syngaard following next, and Kaspar taking the third. Galen, on account of his spellcasting, was exempted from taking a shift, that he'd be well rested in the morning and able to concentrate on his daily prayers. "We all rely upon you for healing," reminded Kaspar when Galen felt he wasn't pulling his weight. Orion's watch was dull, with the highlight being at the very end when she got to wake up Syngaard by opening the flap of the men's tent and poking him with her sword; after a weighty decision that went back and forth several times, she eventually opted to keep her blade sheathed in its scabbard when she did so. Syngaard got up, strapped his armor back on, and took his place by the fire. About an hour into his watch, something eventful finally happened - and a good thing, too, the fighter thought, for he had been close to falling asleep several times already. But a glowing, silver orb shot through the eastern sky like a shooting star - only this one dipped low in front of a tree, revealing it to be much closer to the campsite than any star could ever be. And then, when it shifted direction and started heading his way, Syngaard realized he'd better wake the others. His first impulse was to shout out loud and wake everybody at once, but he didn't want anybody thinking he was scared - and it might be tactically advantageous if the approaching orb didn't know the fighter was onto it. So he opened the flap to the men's tent and hissed at Kaspar, deep in his elven meditation. "Wake up!" called Syngaard. "Wake up the paladin, too! We got impending excitement about to hit camp!" Then he went to the women's tent and was going to try to quietly wake them up as well, but Carl opted out of that plan by barking noisily at the intrusion. The two tents started disgorging their inhabitants at about the time the orb arrived in camp. It was much smaller than Syngaard had originally estimated, merely the size of a large melon. It wobbled erratically. Not sure of what to make of it, Galen and Orion unsheathed their weapons and Syngaard tightened his grip on his own, but then the glowing orb spoke. "Help...us," it called in a fading voice. "What the--?" sputtered Syngaard. "They are...draining...our wizard's...soul. You must...stop them...at any cost. If he cannot...be saved...send him...to paradise. The purgeling must...live. Your fates...are already...intertwined...." And then the ball of light fell to the ground, soundlessly shattering into a puff of glittering, silver dust. "What the--?" repeated Syngaard. He'd been all geared up for a fight and was more than a little disappointed that he wasn't going to get one. "That was surely no will-o'wisp," reasoned Kaspar. "I've never heard of them being able to speak." "Lantern archon," explained Galen. "From the celestial planes - probably a wizard's familiar, by the sound of it. And any wizard with a lantern archon as a familiar is definitely on the side of the forces of good." "What's a 'purgeling'?" asked Orion, sheathing her [I]flaming short sword[/I]. Surprisingly, it was Anuja who answered. "It refers to an obscure planar theory about innocent souls trapped in the lower planes being reborn as fiends less inclined toward evil," she explained. "So, Serenity," reasoned Kaspar. "She's tied up in this somehow." "And finding and saving this wizard will likely allow us to save her as well!" reasoned Galen. In all the excitement, none of the heroes thought to question how their wagon driver knew about obscure planar theory. "Guess we'd better break camp now and head on out," muttered Syngaard. "I'll get the tents." "Don't bother about that!" argued Galen. "We can leave them here and come back for them later, as needed!" "We're probably not coming back this way," pointed out Orion. "Teleporting back, remember?" "I ain't paying for no replacement tents," added Syngaard. Eventually, the paladin realized it would be quicker to help the rest of the group break camp than to continue to argue about how much time they'd save by doing things his way. And within minutes - for they didn't bother stowing the tents away nicely, just threw them into the back of the wagon and hopped in after them - Anuja had her horse hitched back up to the wagon and was heading back on the road in the wee hours of the morning. Neither the horse nor his driver seemed particularly happy with this turn of events. Galen went promptly back to sleep in the back of the wagon; the others left him alone so he'd be rested enough to be able to prepare the spells he'd need when the sun arose. "Do we even know where we're going?" asked Orion. "Presumably to the Illusionists Guild, as before," answered Kaspar. "We have no reason to believe anything's changed." The group arrived at the Guilded City around midday without further incident. And due to their helpfully color-coded robes, they had no trouble finding an illusionist and telling him they had urgent business with their Guildmaster. The yellow-robed mage took them to a nondescript building; after the heroes leapt from the wagon, Anuja drove off to attend to her own business. "Wait here," said the illusionist, leading the group to a waiting room. "Don't touch anything you don't understand." After a short wait another illusionist walked in with a piece of parchment in hand. "Syngaard, Jace?" he asked. "Huh?" asked Syngaard, surprised to hear his first name being spoken by a stranger. "Thorne, Galen?" asked the illusionist. Galen looked at the others, then replied, "I am he." "Hardstrike, Kaspar?" "I am Kaspar." "Graveshadow, Anuja?" asked the illusionist, looking at Orion. "Um, no," admitted the halfling, looking in confusion to the three men accompanying her. "Anuja's not with us. My name is Orion Nightsky." The illusionist produced a pen from his robes and added her name to the list. "And how do you know the Guildmaster?" the illusionist prompted. "Uh," began Galen, not wanting to admit to their earlier meeting with Leorna and her admission that she was looking into the spreading corruption in the Council of Guilds. "We, uh, met up with her in our travels a while back..." added Syngaard, "...being simple merchants and all..." Beside him, hidden in an [I]invisibility[/I] spell, Leorna silently shook her head. These were definitely the three idiots she had met up with on the road, plus a female halfling she'd never met before. But their ability to dissemble was as poor now as it had been then. She silently touched her assistant's robes to let him know everything was okay. "I will need to go check with the Guildmaster," said the yellow-robed illusionist, opening the door and looking back at the group, giving Leorna enough time to slide out of the room. A minute or so later the door reopened and Leorna stepped back into the room, this time fully visible. "Gentlemen, miss," she greeted them. "What brings you back to the Azure Glade?" After a rather excruciatingly roundabout explanation, the party informed Leorna about both the lantern archon encounter and the divination, "Find the yellow within the blue, it shall lead you to orange, and green shall set you free." Leorna frowned in thought. "The Guildmaster of the Conjurers Guild has been missing our recent meetings; he has a lantern archon as a familiar." "Who is he?" asked Orion. Leorna looked down at the halfling. "I tell you this in confidence, for the identities of the Guildmasters is supposed to be hidden from all but the other Guildmasters of the Council and the members of the Guild in question, but his name is [B]Orlin[/B]." "So should we search for this Orlin, or continue our search for Serenity?" asked Kaspar. "The lantern archon was rather insistent," pointed out Orion. "We don't know how much longer he might be kept alive." "Yes, but he was also concerned about 'the purgeling' - which no doubt refers to Serenity," argued the elven monk. "In either case, they're likely both being held at the Abjurers Guild," observed Galen. "We should storm into there and rescue them both!" "That approach would likely end in failure," replied Leorna. "Additional security measures have been put in place at the Guilds since a recent theft at the Diviners Library." She pretended not to notice the guilty looks exchanged before the men before her. "The only way a nonmember can enter a Guildhall nowadays is with the permission of a member of that Guild, or with a letter of recommendation from a Guildmaster." She looked over the quartet of adventurers. "Your best bet is to have your elf and halfling pose as prospective students, while you two humans act as their bodyguards." She sent an illusionist student for a pair of initiates' robes; he returned shortly with a pair of gray robes properly sized for Kaspar and Orion. "I will prepare your letters," stated Leorna. "Make hers lower-case," suggested Syngaard, pointing a thumb at a scowling Orion. Once everything was in order, Leorna gave the heroes instructions on where to find the Abjurers Guildhall and wished them luck. Arriving at their destination, the heroes were admitted into the building (even Carl) once their letters of recommendation were deemed genuine. "Allow me to give you a brief tour of our facilities," offered the orange-robed Abjurer who had answered the door. Unfortunately, the impromptu tour was cut short at the first room they entered, which contained a trio of abjurers in orange robes and a tall man in robes of dark blue, holding a large mace. He looked up at the visitors and recognized Syngaard's scarred face immediately. "You're dead!" snarled Reginald, the Azure Guard the heroes had fought - and possibly even killed - when scouting out Skevros's house. He drew his mace and advanced upon the group, while the frightened abjurer students quickly hugged the walls to stay out of the way of the impending combat. Kaspar's immediate concern was that none of the noncombatants get hurt. "Stay back!" he called. "This man is a traitor!" And then he rushed up and struck at Reginald with a hardened hand. The Azure Guard responded by channeling a [I]scorching ray[/I] spell through his mace, which activated when the weapon's head impacted upon the monk's shoulder. Kaspar rolled with the blow, but the elf's shoulder had been badly burned by the impact and subsequent spell release. Orion reached into her [I]bag of blades[/I] and flung a dagger at Reginald, her throw striking true as she then leapt up upon her riding dog - her preferred position in any given combat. Galen pulled the [I]sword of Zehkar[/I] from its scabbard, casting a [I]protection from evil[/I] spell upon himself as he approached, for his ability to see the auras of evil had told him that Reginald's soul had become stained with the taint of evil since the last time they had fought. His enhanced sight also informed him the souls of the cowering abjurers were not similarly stained. Syngaard pulled the [I]human bane scimitar[/I] from his belt and dealt a solid blow against Reginald. Kaspar repositioned himself in an attempt to flank their foe, but missed with his blow. Reginald slammed the monk again with his mace, this time without a spell loaded into it. Orion missed with her flanking strike, although Carl got a quick grip upon Reginald's arm before the Azure Guard snatched it away. Recalling that the glowing blue runes on Reginald's forehead, mace, and robe whisked him away in a [I]teleport[/I] spell upon being rendered unconscious, Galen decided he'd try to ensure the Azure Guard was dead before he hit the ground. With that in mind, he channeled the power of Hieroneous through his longsword and brought it crashing down upon the foe, blazing with the power of a [I]smite evil[/I] effect. Whether it actually slew Reginald was hard to determine, as the Azure Guard [I]teleported[/I] away at once. "I think I got him," the paladin declared. Kaspar turned to face the frightened abjurers. "Forgive the combat in your halls," he said. Then, indicating the symbol of Hieroneous on Galen's shield, he added, "As you can see, this man is a paladin of the God of Valor. We mean you no harm." The abjurers nodded nervously, clearly still frightened for their lives. Kaspar pressed on. "We seek both a kidnapped succubus and a man in green robes. Have you seen either of them?" None of the abjurers had seen either one. "However," one ventured nervously, "if there's a succubus about, it probably has something to do with [B]Tienna[/B]'s obsession with killing fiends. She's downstairs with some of her friends, performing experiments, I think." With proper encouragement, the student mage led the heroes to the entrance to the basement level, a set of wide steps. There were five figures in the long, single room of the basement upon the heroes' arrival. Two of them stood in magic circles inscribed on the floor at either end of the room: a white-robed diviner in a red circle to the south and a black-robed necromancer in a blue circle at the north end. In the middle of the room, an orange-robed figure - likely the aforementioned abjurer Tienna, an elven woman - stood just outside a yellow magic circle inscribed on the floor, inside of which lay an unconscious man in green robes. This man - likely the conjurer Orlin - was bound with silver chains. And hanging directly above him, naked and unconscious, slumped Serenity, impaled through her batlike wings by silver hooks at the end of chains dangling from the room's ceiling. This time Galen was the first to react. His aura-reading senses picking up a strong emanation of evil from the female diviner in the circle before him, he charged and dealt her a devastating blow with his holy longsword. Kaspar followed on the paladin's heels, knocking the diviner out before she barely had time to recognize the heroes' entry into their ritual. Seeing the diviner had been taken care of, Orion sent Carl racing down the length of the room, stabbing Tienna with her [I]flaming short sword[/I] as they approached. The halfling then leapt from Carl's saddle, giving the dog the ability to strike at their foes from a different direction. Behind them, Syngaard threw his [I]returning javelin[/I] at Tienna as he ran up. It missed, but unerringly returned to his hand. Tienna took a quick step back from the halfling to get out of the reach of Orion's blade and tossed a [I]fireball[/I] spell past the scarred fighter racing her way. Its subsequent explosion encompassed not only Syngaard, but also Galen and Kaspar. From the far end of the ritual room, the black-clad necromancer cast a [I]spectral hand[/I] spell in preparation for some long-ranged combat, hoping to stay well away from melee with the enemies of the Seekers of Eternity. As Galen sprinted to the center of the room he sensed Serenity's aura, and while it was not completely purged of evil, it was a remarkable difference from the other times he'd tried to read her aura and got a splitting headache from the overwhelming sense of depravity he'd sensed. But he was also somewhat surprised to get no reading of evil from Tienna's aura. "I am a paladin of Hieroneous!" he called to the orange-robed woman. "Our cause is righteous!" He healed the fire damage he'd taken from Tienna's [I]fireball[/I] as he approached. "I don't believe a word you say!" snarled Tienna in reply. "You're here to free a vile demon!" But her attention was momentarily distracted by the exchange, and Orion and Carl took advantage of her inattention, striking swiftly with sword and teeth. Kaspar unstoppered a vial from his belt as he crossed the room, drinking down a much-needed healing potion. Syngaard was right behind him, but rather than deal with healing himself he threw his javelin at Tienna again, eager to draw blood. It missed but once again returned to his hand; he stashed it in his shield hand and drew his scimitar from his belt, now that he was close to melee range. But Tienna didn't want anything to do with that; she backed up towards the side wall, taking a hit from Orion's sword as she did so, and cast a [I]confusion[/I] spell that encompassed not only Syngaard, but Kaspar and Carl as well. The elf shrugged off the spell's intended effects, but Syngaard's sudden halt and Carl's shaking his head rapidly indicated they had not been so lucky. Amidst all of this excitement, the necromancer's [I]spectral hand[/I] darted forth and struck Galen, channeling a [I]vampiric touch[/I] spell that drained the paladin of some of his vitality. Galen didn't stop his own intended action, though: holding his [I]illumium scabbard[/I] up high, he channeled positive energy through it and healed Serenity back to consciousness. By then, Kaspar had caught up to Tienna and landed a solid blow against the abjurer. Orion dashed forward and hit her again with her [I]flaming short sword[/I], while behind her Carl looked around in puzzlement and Syngaard stared at the scimitar in his hand as if he'd never seen it before in his life. In desperation, Tienna staggered to the north and brought up a [I]wall of fire[/I] which spanned the room from side to side, isolating her and the female necromancer from the others. "Hey!" called the necromancer in irritation, for now she couldn't see through the blazing flames to target her [I]spectral hand[/I]. She took the opportunity to protect herself from those of a goodly nature, silently thankful that Tienna's obsession with fiends had blinded her from the fact that the Seekers of Eternity were shamelessly using her for their own ends. With no other combatants on this side of the [I]wall of fire[/I], Galen healed the green-clad wizard on the floor before him. "Orlin, I presume?" he asked. "Yes, I'm Orlin," confirmed the Guildmaster of the Conjurers Guild. Kaspar approached and soon had him freed from his chains. Unable to see through the flames but protected by their heat from the [I]bracelet of burning escape[/I] she wore on one wrist, Orion threw a dagger blindly through the flames, hoping for the best - after all, she had an infinite supply of the throwing daggers from her magical bag. She heard no cries of pain and assumed she had missed her two potential targets. Carl suddenly began barking furiously at nothing in particular, his eyes focused on nothing anyone else could see. But Syngaard saw only a hell hound before him and stabbed at it with his javelin; Carl's barking turned to a howl of pain. Neither was apparently aware of the searing heat emanating from the [I]wall of fire[/I] spell next to them. Tienna was seeing spots at the periphery of her vision and knew she'd not survive any further attacks, so she cast a [I]gaseous form[/I] spell upon herself and rose up by the ceiling. The flames of her earlier spell reached to the top of the ceiling; she'd have to wait for it to run its course before she could escape. Behind her, the necromancer prepared a [I]magic missile[/I] spell, ready to fling it at the first hero to come to this side of the [I]wall of fire[/I]. "Do you have any spells prepared, wizard?" demanded Galen. "Specifically, a [I]dispel magic[/I] or a [I]teleport[/I]?" Orlin admitted to having one of each at the ready. "Dismiss the [I]confusion[/I] effect!" commanded the paladin, and Orlin gave it his best. Syngaard suddenly stiffened as if breaking out of a trance, but Carl's odd behavior continued: he became suddenly interested in chasing his tail in a circle. "Where'd they go?" asked Syngaard, looking for Tienna and noticing the [I]wall of fire[/I] for the first time, despite the fact his mithral breastplate was inordinately hot from the proximity. "Never mind!" he snarled, rushing through the flames with the [I]human bane scimitar[/I] in hand - that necromancer chick looked like a human, even if that wizard in the orange robes was an elf. Of course, after piercing the flames, the scarred fighter was immediately struck by the necromancer's [I]magic missile[/I] spell, causing an inadvertent cry of pain to spill from his snarling lips. But his follow-on sword-strike slashed across the wizard's torso, dealing her an impressive amount of damage - but which merely stripped the spellcaster of the vitality previously stolen from Galen. [I]I probably should have used a [/I]dimension door [I]spell instead[/I], thought Tienna in her gaseous state up by the ceiling. Fortunately for her, the bald fighter hadn't even noticed her as he raced through the sheet of vertical flames. Over on the other side of the flaming wall, Kaspar and Orion had decided to try to free Serenity by having the elf fling the halfling up at the hanging succubus. Orion landed gracefully with an arm gripped around a bat-wing, and in a few moments she had freed Serenity from her silver chains and hooks. From this height, Orion could see Carl racing back to the steps leading upstairs, still confused by Tienna's spell. "Come back, boy!" she called, but Carl ignored her cries and bounded up the stairs, out of view. The necromancer stepped back from a furious Syngaard; unseen, her previously-cast [I]spectral hand[/I] came racing through the [I]wall of fire[/I] to strike the fighter in the back - and release another casting of [I]vampiric touch[/I] that drained Syngaard of vitality while transferring it to the grinning necromancer. "Hate--you--so--much..." snarled Syngaard as consciousness left him and he crashed to the ground, his mithral breastplate making a ruckus as he landed. Galen healed himself with a laying on of hands, when he heard Syngaard falling to the floor on the other side of the opaque sheet of flames. "That stupid brothel-monkey!" he cursed, realizing he was going to have to go in there and rescue Syngaard's stupid butt, after they'd already met their stated objectives of rescuing both Serenity and Orlin and could easily [I]teleport[/I] to freedom. Beside him, Kaspar came to the same conclusion but instead of cursing the fighter's incompetence the monk rushed fearlessly into the flames. Taking in the scene before him in a single instant, the monk dashed over to the necromancer and landed a solid punch to her jaw, bloodying her lip and releasing the stolen vitality she'd just taken from Syngaard, prone on the floor before her. Seeing herself unnoticed and not wishing to wait out her [I]wall of fire[/I] spell, Tienna instead floated back down to the floor, dismissed her [I]gaseous form[/I] spell and followed it up with a [I]dimension door[/I] spell, escaping to the upper level of the Abjurers Guildhall. Now all alone, the necromancer bravely fought on, managing to knock Kaspar unconscious with a frantically-cast [I]magic missile[/I] spell. She even managed to fortify herself with a [I]false life[/I] spell before Galen and Orion passed through the [I]wall of fire[/I]. After that, it was merely a matter of time before she was unconscious before the heroes. The [I]wall of fire[/I] spell finally sputtered out as Kaspar and Syngaard were returned to consciousness. "She got away!" cursed Syngaard upon awakening. "And we're not going after her!" insisted Galen. "We got what we came here for!" "What about the two wizards?" asked Kaspar, indicating the unconscious forms of the diviner and necromancer. A quick perusal of the backs of their necks indicated they both wore the tattoos of the Seekers of Eternity. "Should we take them with us for questioning?" "Don't need 'em both," replied Syngaard, using his scimitar to remove the necromancer's head from her neck. Galen gathered up the diviner, and Orlin prepared his [I]teleport[/I] spell. "Where do you wish to go?" he asked. "I can only take us to somewhere I'm already familiar with." Galen gave it a moment's thought as Orion went racing upstairs to find Carl. Fortunately, by then the [I]confusion[/I] spell had run its course and the riding dog was already on his way back to his mistress. "Have you ever been to the capital city of Ashfall?" Galen asked the Conjurer Guildmaster. "I have indeed," replied Orlin. Once Orion and Carl returned to the group, he cast his [I]teleport[/I] spell and whisked everyone away. The last thing they heard was the clomping of feet as people - possibly the Azure Guard? - raced down the stairs to investigate the commotion. "Well, we rescued Serenity," observed Syngaard, ever the financially-minded member of the group. "I wonder if there's a reward for her return?" "I am sure the king will adequately compensate you for your heroic actions," purred Serenity, not in the least bit discomfited by her nakedness. Galen was, however, his teachings as a paladin of Hieroneous obviously warring with his human desire to want to sneak in a peek. The reformed succubus seemed amused at his discomfort. King Renaldos of Ashfall did indeed offer a reward for the return of his Royal Executioner. At first he seemed disappointed and distrustful of her return - she'd been gone for some time now, and he had feared her inherent demonic nature had finally turned her against the throne - but he quickly warmed to her once the full story of her kidnapping and conversion to a good alignment had been confirmed. As for the captured diviner, she provided next to no information, vehemently denying the heroes would be able to do anything to stop the advancement of her group's cause. "Kill me if you like," she snarled. "I won't say anything to aid you. And I won't be dead for long - you'll see!" Failing to find any other options, the group handed her over to King Renaldos to do with as he saw fit. "Maybe Serenity can get something out of her," he hoped. "Guess we're walkin' home from here," groused Syngaard after they had been dismissed from their audience with the King of Ashfall. It was a hike of several hours before them, with only Orion riding in comfort. "What's up with Anuja?" asked Kaspar. "What business could she have had in the Azure Glade?" "Yeah - and 'Graveshadow'?" asked Orion. "What kind of a name is that?" "One that does not inspire confidence," admitted Galen. "She almost sounds like a necromancer herself." - - - Logan used a Paizo Map Pack, "Magic Academy," to represent the Abjurers Guildhall. We now are worried that Reginald and Tienna will become recurring villains, but if what the captured diviner had to say was true, even those we kill are likely to become recurring villains - it seems the Seekers of Eternity aren't above resurrecting those of their forces who are slain. At least we can make them keep spending money on the process! [/QUOTE]
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