The Ghost Tower of Inverness (C2)

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 11, "Escape from Curigull", June 26th, 1005:

Back in Curigull, Belegurth finds Annie. He tells her how the Guild had tricked her and Natasha, and that Natasha is being held prisoner. The two of them sneak into the castle and free her.

June 27th, 1005:

The group of Augustine, Hherrmyie, Kharole, Klaaze, Mark, Nimmy, Serita, Silas, Tao, and Trimble continue southward. At the first bridge fifteen soldiers are encountered. Rather than fighting, Augustine goes up to the leader and starts telling him about how they have just come from the mountains, where they had been held captive by rabbitmen for the past month. The Lieutenant in charge had heard of the rabbitmen, and is inclined to believe their story, but decides to "accompany" them just in case. The twenty-five people continue south along the main road.

In Curigull: Natasha, Belegurth, and Annie meet with Phuddipeduzh and Beulla. Belegurth tells them how he once belonged to the local Thieves Guild, but quit a while ago. He has heard that it is now holding Timothy, Adajia, and Vilicus prisoner. He tells them how to sneak into the Guild headquarters, which is beneath the library. They are joined by Zakariah, a female half-elf fighter from Beulla's hometown, and by Narg, who had just returned from his trip through time..

The seven of them sneak into the library basement through a trapdoor tells them how to sneak into the Guild headquarters, which is beneath the library. They are joined by Zakariah, a female half-elf fighter from Beulla's hometown, and by Narg, who had just returned from his trip through time.

Belegurth entered the room with Narg, who was appeared to be tied and gagged. In the room were Ruth, Imok, Shilara, Mickey and Evyonne. Narg is shoved onto the floor beside Timothy, Vilicus and Adajia. While this is going on Natasha and Phuddi make their way through a trap door, and initiate the attack. Phuddi sliced into Imok from behind, as Natasha backstabbed Shiara, killing the assassin. Belegurth attacked Ruth (although they were only faking it, since she was in on this attack, as a way for Belegurth to gain the party’s trust). Narg attacked Mickey. Eyvonne charged out the door, only to be cut down by Zakariah. Beulla made her way into the room to untie the other three.

Natasha then picked up the magical scimitar that Shiara was using, and backstabbed Imok. Phuddi also hit Imok, and the dwarf fell dead. Narg finished off Mickey, then helped Zakariah with Eyvonne. As was prearranged, Belegurth let Ruth escape during the confusion. Her escape was short-lived, as Belegurth had also pre-arranged for Annie to be waiting for her. Annie backstabbed into Ruth for half of her hit points. Ruth threw a dagger into Annie, then successfully hid in the shadows until she could escape again.

One unwanted side effect to this battle was that it attracted the attention of the town guard. Since the four people killed were known as respected citizens, and two were soldiers, the group was immediately attacked. The ten characters made their way to the town gates, killing eight more soldiers in the process. Belegurth and Adajia break off from the main party. Narg is swept away again by his pooka Monty.

They travel quickly for several miles south, only to see a large group of mounted soldiers chasing after them. The group takes cover behind some rocks, and start to pelt arrows at them. The party manages to kill off four of them, but soon find themselves surrounded. A seige takes place, with the party slowly being reduced in hit points from the soldiers arrowfire.

An hour later the soldiers get reinforcements from a boat traveling down the river. These new soldiers are led by Lord Kalinin, a 7th level fighter who is one of Curigull's town lords. Kalinin's troops charge the group. Five of the soldiers are cut down, but the others manage to overpower the party and take them all prisoner. The seven are loaded onto the boat, and it continues to sail downriver towards the city of Jawltorn. Adajia and Belegurth had witnessed the party’s defeat from a distance, and follow the boat from alongside the river.

Meanwhile, the other party is being escourted along the main road, until they run into a thirty-man patrol from the city. The Lieutenant from the bridge explains Augustine's story to the patrol's Captain. The Captain asks from additional information, so Augustine goes into a flowing dialogue about the rabbitmen, and also about hearing rumors of Lord Toronas stationing an army in Kommerken. The Captain not only believes the story, but starts to write out some traveling papers so that they can get to Kohlorahdooh City with this information. A lieutenant under his command named Milner disagrees, and begins to quote regulations to his commanding officer, and is then told to shut up. The Captain then asks Augustine what their "town of origin" was, to list on the papers. Not knowing the names of any distant communities, Augustine turns to Klaaze and says "Klaaze, what town did you come from."

The Captain stops writing, recognizing the name as a wanted criminal, looks up, and yells "KLAAZE!" Realizing that he blew it, and that the group is now outnumbered four-to-one by armed and ready soldiers, Augustine grabs the Sceptre of Wishes and wishes his party teleported "far away". The ten vanish, appearing in the middle of thick forests.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 12,"Battle on the River", June 28th, 1005:

Serita recognizes the forests as being those to the north of Kohlorahdooh City. The group travels east, soon running into the river that flows south to the city. By mid-afternoon a large boat is seen coming down the river. The boat is recognized as one belonging to the Lords of Curigull rather than Lord Kohlorahdooh, so Augustine flags it down to ask for a ride. Once they are on board the group spots soldiers in addition to town guards, and the ten are forced to surrender. They are put below deck beside the other members of their party.

[DM’s Note #16: This was an unexpected turn of events. I had the Sceptre teleport bring them to a point by the river so that they could mount a rescue of the group captured on the boat, and did not anticipate the group surrendering and then joining the others as prisoners. I was not sure how the only two free characters, Belegurth and Adajai would be able to rescue them. This was further complicated by the fact that the players for both of those characters were going to be absent from the next game. In a conversation with Belegurth's player, he pointed out that since his character was originally from this area, he would probably know the location of various monster types, who he could then manipulate into assisting.]

Belegurth leads Adajai further ahead of the boat. They go to where he knows an underwater lair of Koalinths (aquatic hobgoblins) is. Since Koalinths do not like sunlight they normally would not attack a boat during the daytime without great provocation. The two elves swim down to the lair, killing the only Koalinth on guard duty. They then swim into the lair, and wake the chief by stealing his jewels. The elves swim back to the surface, just as the boat is coming around the bend in the river.

Some two dozen Koalinths then reach the surface of the water. Due to their poor vision during the day the two elves manage to get to a small island on the river, and hide there. The monsters attack the only thing they see, the boat, assuming that that is where the elves have gone.

As the Koalinths started to make their way downstairs Natasha pleaded to the three soldiers guarding the prisoners to "let us go and we'll help fight." One soldier is soon killed, and two more monsters make their way downstairs. The other two soldiers decide to take Nat up on her suggestion, and untie and arm them. Once freed, Natasha and Annie backstab the two soldiers Meanwhile Augustine charges the Koalinths. They begin to fight.

[DM’s Note #17: I had decided that it would be dull for the players to just watch me play out the battle between the monsters and the soldiers, so I gave each of the players four Koalinths to play. Since nobody was concerned about these critters getting killed they played very offensive, quickly killing most of the soldiers and keeping Lord Kalinin very busy. Augustine's player happened to be playing the first group of Koalinths to make it below deck, and as they both "hit" Augustine. The player looked up and said "This isn't fair, I'm killing my own character!]

The Koalinths are all killed by the party. They retrieve their own weapons, and make their way onto the topdeck. Kalinin is the only human still alive, and fifteen more of the aquatic monsters have surfaced as well.

Adajia and Belegurth begin to fire arrows at the creatures from the shore. Kalinin is grateful for the group's assistance. Once the monsters are all killed though, he foolishly orders the party to "drop your weapons, and go back down below." The group decides that nineteen of them are enough to take on one fairly wounded seventh level fighter, and attack him. Kalinin manages to avoid their first attacks, taking on Mark. Mark narrowly misses three swings of Kalinin's Vorpal Blade. Zakariah moves in from behind, Kalinin pivots toward her, and his "V" Blade connects, decapitating her.

[DM’s Note #18: Since the beginning I had encouraged each player to have two characters, in order to alternate them for apprenticeships as well as have a back-up in case their primary character got killed. Kharole's player had been playing her exclusively, and very reluctantly rolled up the character Zakariah. When the fighter died in her second week the player was not at all upset about this turn of events, and returned to playing Kharole exclusively, using the excuse "I tried that, it didn't work" whenever asked to roll up another character again.]

Mark connects, and Kalinin starts to stagger. While the fighting is going on nobody thinks to steer the boat, and it runs into some large rocks in the water, coming to a grinding halt. Everyone on the boat goes falling to the side. Kalinin falls into Phuddipeduzh's sword, and dies. He then falls over the side. Phuddi makes a desperate reach at the Vorpal Blade, grabbing the handle before it falls into the water. The boat is damaged beyond repair. The group all swims to shore.

They make a fire to dry out their clothes, and discuss what has transpired during the past few weeks. The group finds a scroll case floating in the water. Inside it is a note that Kalinin was delivering from Bennett to Kindor, the leader of Lord Kohlorahdooh's army. The note names Natasha, and tells of the attacks in Curigull. The party heads south. Belegurth and Adajia wander off from the main party, and neither of them are seen again.

[DM’s Note #19: The girlfriend of one of the players had an argument with the DM this week during a pick-up game that she abruptly ended shortly after it began. She then decided that the two of them would no longer play with the group. Thus, the characters of Adajia, Belegurth, Trimble and Silas departed from the story.]

June 29th, 1005:

The group heads south for about fifteen miles. They encounter a pimp and two harlots, who try to interest the men in the party. The two monks manage to get all of the fighters to ignore them, and the group continues onward. They head west, toward the city.

Klaaze checks the Rod to see if it is leading them to the next piece. It does not indicate anything, so the group concludes that since they are now near the City, only the final piece will be there, so to look elsewhere. They then change direction, traveling directly east.

[DM’s Note #20: This was rather unfortunate, as if they had continued west for two more miles the rod would have started tugging them toward the City. The DM even tossed out tons of hints that they might not want to change direction, to no avail. This led to them spending several games on various interludes and encounters totally unrelated to the main mission. It also gave their main opponent, Lord Kohlorahdooh, the opportunity to find and retrieve the 7th piece of the rod to go with the 6th piece that he already had. ]

The group travels until they reach a road, then start to head north-eastward.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 13, "They always come in threes", June 30th, 1005:

The group runs into about a dozen pilgrims, traveling in the same direction toward their temple. The group is invited to travel with them. Fifteen miles later the temple is spotted. It is recognized as the "Temple of the Black Sun," a cult of evil death worshipers. The group decides to decline the cultists' offer of hospitality. The cultists refuse to take no for an answer, and a fight follows.

The group gets some unexpected help from two other adventurers, who fire arrows at the cultists from a distance. The group heads over in their direction. One of the arrows accidentally falls short, hitting Beulla and killing her.

The two adventurers are a thief named Imon and a fighter named Kormac. They had been members of a party that had attacked the Temple two weeks earlier, and were accidentally left behind. They had stayed near the temple, hoping that their party would come back to get them. Kormac felt really bad about accidentally killing Phuddi's wife, so the two decide to head off and not bother the party any further. Timothy performs a burial service.

[DM’s Note #21: I had also been playing in another D&D group at time, where I had just finished as DM of a module set in the same Lordholding, titled “Temple of the Black Sun”. I had originally planned for a cross-over to occur between both gaming groups, but the timing didn’t work out quite right. So this group only got to meet the two characters that had been left behind at the end of the other module. One of them accidentally killing Beulla didn’t exactly help this cross-over. Once again, that player's 'Curse' had shown itself, as the NPC Beulla had been played by the same player as Goodfellow and Brugatch'll.]

As the group heads east toward the next town they are attacked by nine half-orc fighters, who are soon killed. They then run into the group of fifteen soldiers who had met the party at the bridge two days earlier. The soldiers are soon killed, but the party also has one casualty in the battle, Annie. A note is found on her body, written in a language that none of them can read. Timothy performs a burial service.

[DM’s Note #22: Yes, the same player who had just lost 'Beulla' then switch to playing the NPC 'Annie', which soon led to her demise. A resurrected Assassin Annie would not occur until years later. She is currently among the group’s enemies.]

The group then runs into the pimp and harlots from the previous day. Vilicus volunteers to lead them off the other direction so that they do not see the bodies of the soldiers. His noble gesture turns out to be a mistake, since they want more than just his money for services rendered. He soon finds out that the three are really weretigers. He gets killed while trying to escape from them. Timothy performs a burial service.

[DM’s Note #23: An unexpected turn of events, loosing a playing character and two NPC’s during the same game night, and all in relatively minor encounters. None of the players gave any serious consideration to resurrecting these characters, not having an emotional attachment to any of the three. By the end of the night Timothy's player was getting tired of officiating at funerals. ]

July 1st, 1005:

Outside of the next town is a village know exclusively for its training of fighters. Mark, Klaaze, Phuddi and Hherrmyie decide to go off to apprentice there. The others move on to the town, a farming community named Nottingham. Trimble and Silas both wander off from the party. The group soon runs into a half-elven ranger named Lysdashi, who is interested in joining the group.

[DM’s Note #24: With the recent departure of two players, there was theoretically now space at the table for someone new (although going from a group of 12 to 10 was in my opinion still sufficiently large enough) . Kharole's player had begun dating someone new, and invited him to join. His ranger Lysdashi had an absurd amount of equipment, essentilly anything and everything that might ever be needed. As the rules stated that Rangers must have all of their worldly possessions with them this bacame a running joke about how he carried it all. I soon found a humorous lead miniature of an extremely overloaded adventurer, which became Lysdashi’s figure.]

July 2nd, 1005:

Natasha, Timothy, and Kharole find teachers within the town for their apprenticeships. To pay for her apprenticeship Natasha conducts business with the town's ruler. Serita also sells the man some treasure that she had obtained.

July 3rd, 1005:

A patrol of Kohlorahdooh's troops arrive in town. Those not apprenticing decide to make themselves scarce.

July 4th, 1005:

The fighters finish their apprenticeships and head to town.

July 5th, 1005:

Those in town finish their apprenticeships. Timothy announces that he will be staying at the YON church in this town, as the final part of the mission could involve attacking the land's ruler, which would be in violation of one of the tenets of his church. Augustine and Nimmy also announce that they will be leaving the group.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 14, "Back on Track" July 6th, 1005:

The group of Hherrmyie, Kharole, Klaaze, Lysdashi, Mark, Natasha, Phuddipeduzh, Serita, and Tao decide to head back in the direction of Kohlorahdooh.

[DM’s Note #25: We were now approaching the "home stretch" of the module, at which point I required each of the ten players to select only one character apiece. They chose the above group (plus Narg).]

The group meets up with another group of adventurers, the famed Zalparian Trio (human ranger Greyshade, human magic-user Oterel, and gnome cleric Dominic). The trio are on a quest to find some lost holy swords, and they have travelling papers which say to let them and their group pass freely to the city. The group figures that this will allow them to get past any troops. Narg reappears, and joins the group.

Once out of town the group runs into the Sheriff and ten of his men. They accuse Natasha and Serita of stealing his money. Natasha and Serita say that he is lying, and that they sold him magical items in return for the money. The Zalparians seem annoyed by this, and are about to leave the party behind, when Serita and Natasha give in, and give back the money. Both also vow to later return to deal with the Sheriff.

The group bypasses the Temple of the Black Sun. They are attacked by Griffons, which are quickly killed by the Zalparians before anyone else can react.

July 7th, 1005:

The group runs into another patrol of soldiers. The Zalparians do all of the talking, and their papers get everyone past without any difficulty.

July 8th, 1005:

The party heads toward the city, encountering some minor undead while going through a large cemetery. Dominic manages to ward off these creatures.

The party reaches the City. The Zalparians go off on their own mission. The party finds lodgings in the outer part of the city, and starts to plan their next move. The Rod gives Klaaze a strong tug when he checks it, indicating that the next piece is in the city.

July 9th, 1005:

The party decides to split up to find out whatever information they can. Kharole makes friends with one of Lord Kohlorahdooh's off-duty guards to acquire information. Tao goes off to check out a monastery of his alignment. Tao also gets recognized by one of the guards who had been with the patrol that stopped the party on the 27th. He goes into hiding at the monastery.

July 10th, 1005:

Kharole gets taken on a tour of the city by the guard she had flirted with. Lysdashi tries to figure out a way to get the party over to the large inner island of the city, where Lord Kohlorahdooh's castle is, as all bridges leading to this island are heavily guarded. The group decides to use Narg's Pooka to get to that part of the City. This does not work, since Monty tells Narg that he is the only one who can see or travel with him.

The group uses the Scepter of Wishes to get over to that part of the city. The exact wish only specified the "people" in the party. Serita then uses the Scepter to get her dog there as well.

July 11th, 1005:

The party heads to the Cathedral of Ukko, looking for Dominic. The High Priest, a man named Augusta, says that the Zalparians have already left the city. He also says that he remembers their ally Timothy, who had apprenticed in the city five weeks earlier. Augusta offers the group lodgings in the rooms below the Cathedral, which they decline. The group finds lodgings at a nice hotel.

The group finds information about Lord Kohlorahdooh and his Castle. They get a map of part of the castle from an old elf that had helped to build it 150 years before. Narg vanishes.

July 12th, 1005

Shortly before noon the sky turns dark, and all people within the city of Good Alignment fall asleep for several hours. When they awaken many of them find their pockets have been picked. Nothing much happens this day.

July 13th, 1005:

The party found out more information about the Castle. In addition to a map of part of the castle, they found an illustration of it. The building is surrounded by two walls, 60 and 40 feet high. The second wall is surrounded by a moat, with only one bridge across it. The building itself is rectangular, 600 by 500 feet. Most of it is only a single story high. Atop the roof is a 400 by 300 foot grove of miniature maple trees. In the center of the roof is a tower, 80 by 100 feet, which is five additional stories high.

The castle is said to have many lower levels to it. The group find out that it was currently guarded by three naval battalions and one army patrol. Except for the officers, the naval troops were all non-human races. Narg reappears, and helped the group plan their assault.

Meanwhile, Tao has found out similar information about the Castle. The monks had knowledge of a group of rival monks, the lawful evil Brotherhood of Benjamin, whose monestery was in a tower at the northern tip of the inner city. The students and instructors for this group now reside within Lord Kohlorahdooh's castle. They tell Tao that twice a day these monks leave the castle to attend ceremonies at the tower.

Tao waits near this tower until evening, when a group of the monks are returning to the castle. He ambushes one of the students, killing him, and exchanging clothes. The student's robes are black and gray, with a pouch containing six star-shurikens. Tao quickly rejoined the other monks, who assume he was just answering a ‘call of nature’. They enter the castle through the main gates, passing several hobgoblin, lizardmen, and kobold guards.

Once inside the building Tao follows the monks through a large hallway and down several corridors. They passed a kitchen, with a side pantry. Tao breaks off from the others, and hides in the pantry behind some crates of dishes, pots, and utensils. He decided to rest there and wait until the castle residents were all asleep.

[DM’s Note #26: The above encounter was rather annoying for me, as I had assumed that the entire party would try to enter the castle disguised as these monks, rather than Tao going solo. This meant that from this point forward I was running two games until I could get them back together, a situation that I had hoped to avoid when I had each player pick only one playing character for the duration of the module.]

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 15, "Assault on the Lordholder's Castle, July 13th, 1005:

The party of Hherrmyie, Kharole, Klaaze, Lysdashi, Mark, Narg, Natasha, Phuddipeduzh, and Serita waited in their rooms until it was nearly mid-night, then set off in the direction of the castle.

July 14th, 1005:

Shortly after midnight they approach the first wall by an unguarded side, and wait until nobody is in sight. Natasha quickly scales the wall, dropping down a rope. Narg climbs up, and then helps to pull up the others. Lysdashi and Kharole are the last ones on the ground. Before they can climb up a city patrol approaches them. Nat quickly yanked up the rope so it wouldn't be see, as the patrol stops to question the two.

Luck is with them, as the soldier who Kharole had gotten friendly with is among the patrol (randomly rolled, with only a one-in-three chance of this occuring). She says that she was looking for him, and explains that Lysdashi is her cousin, who would not let her walk around in the city at night unescorted. The guard says that he will be on duty for the whole night, but will meet her the next evening. Kharole and Lysdashi left, only to return once the patrol is out of sight.

The two are pulled up to the top of the wall. The party climb down the rope, with Phuddi holding it from above. Two dogs attacked them, only to find out that Nargblades and canines don't mix. Serita’s dog Senenal is lowered down, to back as a "replacement" for the dead guard dogs. Phuddi decided to use his Ring of Feather Falling to get down. He dropped like a rock for fifty feet, then floats the last ten.

They quickly moved on to the moat. Hherrmyie shoots an arrow to the top, and Kharole levitated herself, using the rope as a guide. She held the rope as the others climbed up, one at a time. Phuddi was the last to go, staking down the rope. When he was half-way up the stake came out, causing him to swing right into the wall, and drop into the moat. Being fully armored he sank, but kept ahold of the rope. The others yanked their drenched comrrade up to the top of the wall.

Phuddi held the rope as the others climbed down. He falsely concludes that a Ring of Feather Falling would always slow him down ten feet from the bottom and jumps off of the forty-foot high wall. Since the Ring's magic doesn't actually start until after falling fifty feet Phuddi falls all the way down, hitting the bottom hard. Serita uses half of her cure spells to get him back up to fighting strength. Unfortunately, her spellcasting is heard by two lizardmen guards, who came to investigate. Mark, Hherrmyie, Narg and Lysdashi spot them with their infravision, and let loose an arrow barrage, turning the two into very dead pincushions. The group then head for the building, figuring that the dead guards will soon blow their cover anyway, so don’t hesitate to smash the door open.

Klaaze busting the door down totally surprises the three kobolds guarding the lobby, who didn't last very long against him. The group heads down several hallways, not knowing where to go next. They find their way to the northeast corner of the castle, by two large dining rooms. They then pass through a storeroom, waking up Tao who was behind the crates. Since Tao naturally assumes the people walking through are guards he remains quiet until they leave the room.

[DM’s Note #27: I had a chance to get the party back together, only to have Tao's player chose to pass on it. Fortunately, their next move would give me with yet another opportunity to recombine the party, which with some prodding, the player finally did.]

The group entered a kitchen, then walking into another room, which contained three occupied beds. The three sleeping men who up, asking "Who are you." Since they had just passed through a kitchen Natasha declared "We're the cooks!" "Oh yeah," said the first man, "Then who the hell are we!" "Er...nevermind," said Serita, "we must have gone to the wrong kitchen." The group quickly head back.

Tao hears the sound of the guards, and decides to ambush one and steal his uniform. As the last one was exiting the room Tao jumped him from behind, throwing his robe over the man's head, and shoving a rag in his mouth to prevent him from screaming. The two exchanged punches, and the guard manages to pull the robe off from over his face, revealing himself to be Klaaze. Tao is surprised to see his friend. By this time the others had all wandered well ahead, so the two hurry to catch up.

The group continues down several hallways, until they found a trap-door in the floor. The door reveals a corridor beneath them, which they choose to investigate. They closed the door behind them, and Tao and Klaaze walked right by it. The group headed down several bending hallways.

Hherrmyie steps on a trap, and a eight-foot-square section of floor falls out. Narg grabbed him before he falls in, but Phuddipeduzh, who was in front of Hherrmyie, falls through it. He lands fifteen feet below, in an underground river. Lysdashi dives in after him, holding onto a rope that he had given Narg the other end of. The group manages to pull the two back up. While recovering from this it is noticed that Klaaze was missing. Narg tells the others to go on, that he will go find him "Before the idiot wakes up the whole damned castle."

The group follows the hallway until it ended, where they find a trap door. They climb down, into a room filled with machinery and manned by two human engineers. The engineers are forced into explaining that the machines control the flow of water through the underground river. After being forced by the party to shut off the water the engineers are then tied and gagged.

Heading back the way they came the party notice that the water level in the pit has already started to go down. They then run into the next shift of engineers on the way to the control room. The two men were killed, and thrown down into the river. The group heads back up, soon meeting up with Narg, Klaaze and Tao. They find a sealed off bedroom, that apparently had not been used in years. Since it getting toward sunrise the party decided to rest in this room.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 16, "Checking out more of the Castle", July 14th, 1005:

Waking up seven hours later, they move out into the hall again. They move onto a long hallway, running 400 feet to the south wall. The hall is guarded by a human and six goblins, who are actively looking for the intruders. A fight follows, during which one of the goblins manages to escape. The fight lasted for several more rounds, as the man was a sixth level fighter. At the conclusion the party decides to "Get the hell out of here, fast!"

They duck into a side room that contains a treasure chest, which Natasha unlocks and opens. It is filled with 10,000 copper pieces, a fancy bracelet, some gems and a feather token in the shape of a fan. They take all but the coins. They then go through a room with various weapons mounted to the walls, and Klaaze picked up some poisoned darts.

Heading out of the room, they run into six goblins, including the one that had escaped before. As the party kills the first five, the same one as before runs off. Before the group can move on, the goblin returns with his human Captain and nine other goblins. The group pulls back into the weapon room. The Captain orders the party to surrender, telling them that the room they have now trapped themselves in has no other exits, so there is no escape. While he is saying this Mark and Serita check for secret doors. Mark finds one, and the party quietly exits into an unguarded corridor.

They duck into a large room, 40 x 120 feet, with twenty-two marble columns running up to the ceiling, and many suits of armor on display. The group quickly head to a door at the opposite end of the room, moving into a trophy room. On the walls are hides of leopards and bears. Also mounted on the wall are the heads of a buffalo, dear, owlbear, lion, and a small brass dragon. In the center of the room is a stuffed unicorn. Over the door is a shelf with a stuffed peryton. The druid Serita became very angry at seeing all this, and declares "Kohlorahdooh is a dead man!"

The next room has various weapontry mounted to the wall, primarily polearms. The room after it is an art gallery with marble statues, paintings, a life-sized wooden sculpture of King Kohlorahdooh, and a tapestry depicting a war between Grey Elves and Drow Elves. Narg has some difficulty resisting the urge to deface the statue.

The next room is filled with shields and weapons. Phuddi finds a shield that is magical. A sword room is next to it. The only sword that seems to be magical zaps Hherrmyie for twelve hit-points when he touches it. The sword then speaks, saying "Sorry about that." It goes on to say that it is a Lawful Good sword, belonging to the Church of Ukko (a.k.a. Yon), and that anyone of a different alignment (like Hherrmyie) will get hurt if they touch him. The group realizes that this is one of the three swords that the Zalparians had been looking for.

Being the only one of the correct alignment, Phuddi decides to carry the sword. It tells Phuddi that its name is Isaiah, and that several centuries it was a human priest. Hherrmyie makes a comment about the party being stuck with "a sword that won't shut up!"

They move on to a room with piping, several vats of water, a waterwheel, and other machinery. The group correctly deduces that this room's purpose is to provide water from the underground river up to the rooftop grove of trees.

They soon notice that they have now traveled to the southwest corner of the castle. They find the location on their map and decide to head toward the western lobby. The lobby is guarded by six goblins (one being the same goblin who escaped twice before). All are soon killed, but they manage to open the door and yell to troops out guarding the courtyard. Five lizardmen charge into the room, backed up by arrow-fire from their human leader.

Kharole lets fly her final two magic-missile spells, hitting four lizardmen, but stopping none of them. The human's arrows hit both Mark and Hherrmyie. Phuddi, Klaaze, Lysdashi Narg and Serita each take on a lizardman. Tao climbs the wall, and waits by the doorway for the human to enter. Natasha climbs up a staircase in the back of the room, and tosses daggers down into the backs of the lizardmen.

The human draws his sword as he enters the room, and takes on both Mark and Hherrmyie. His first two slashes connect. The man is then hit twice by Tao, who has dived down onto him. As the man crashes onto the floor Tao rolls back, giving the two half-elves the initiative. The man gets hit five times before he can get back on his feet, and by that time the others had finished with their opponents, and moved in on the man as well. The human dies as every player rolls a successful “to hit” with three swords, two daggers, two darts, two arrows and a star-shuriken hitting the man simultaneously.

The group bars the door shut from the inside, and stacks all twelve bodies beside it. They then move on to a meeting room that is nearby, which their own map shows has a secret door. The secret door leads to a long walk-in closet, which nobody appears to have been inside for decades. The room is a bit cramped, but is large enough for the party to rest and recuperate. Narg is taken off by Monty again.

[DM's Note #28: I found this aspect of the module totally amazing. My prior D&D group was famous for hit-and-run tactics, so I had expected the same here. I was flabbergasted that the group decided to take multiple 6-8 hour breaks while inside of the enemy's castle, with hundreds of troops actively searching for them! Even more amazing was that they picked this particular place to stop, as it was adjacent to the main meeting room of the enemy commanders.]

While the party sleeps Tao listens at the door. In about an hour he overhears a meeting of the captains of all seven army and navy squadrons going on in the room outside. The leader, a man named Bly, starts by stating "..it is high time that you brought me into this fine mess of ours! How could you be so stupid as to allow a group of foolhardy thieves to penetrate our fine defenses. And you, Keynock, I'll have you before a full military court-marshal for negligence as soon as this mess is one and done with. Gads! How could you let them escape from an exit-less room."

Keynock starts to reply, but is then hit by Bly, who yells "I didn't ask for any backtalk! You are officially demoted. Sol, you lead what is left of the Gold Squadron, and keep them on the rooftops and tower only. I'll be taking control of the main level with my own troops. Thomas, is there any indication that they have penetrated the lower levels?" "No sir, but my men are on full alert in case they do" the man replies.

"Good," says Bly, "now you Simon, how many troops are you down?" "The bloody blokers sliced through seven of my finest lizardmen, and my second in command as well." is the answer. Bly tells him "OK, I'll get you replacements as soon as the Brown Squadron docks. Red and Blue Squadrons, keep patrolling the inner city, but have up to half of each Squadron nearby in case they are needed here. Mhane, how about you?" "Sir, you have nothing to fear. The King's safety will never be compromised as long as the Purple Squad exists, I swear it." he answers. "Let's hope so," Bly replies.

Bly then states "Your report Saul". A new voice answers "I happen to think that the intruders have left. They entered the East Gate and obviously left by the West, since that was where they were last seen, and all troops there were killed. "But the bodies were stacked on the inside, how?" said the leader. "I don't know, but some sort of trick I suppose, to make us think that they were still here to cover their actual escape." is the answer.

"Enough!" yells Bly "If they are still on this level my troops will flush them out. If they are elsewhere- FIND THEM, OR HEADS WILL ROLL..right Keynock? "Y..ya..yes sir." said the man meakly. "Good. You're dismissed." Bly replies. No futher voices are heard.

When the party wakes up Tao relays to them the information that he heard. The party decides to avoid Bly and his troops, and to make their way directly to the lower levels. Using their map they head down two hallways for some 300 feet to a staircase heading downstairs at the northwest corner of the castle. They are startled by a sound, which turns out to be a clock striking midnight.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 17, "Deeper into the castle of the enemy", July 15th, 1005, 12:00 A.M.

The group finds a staircase heading downstairs at the northwest corner of the castle. At the bottom of the staircase is a lounge, with six goblins on guard duty. Klaaze, Hherrmyie and Lysdashi last into them. Mark charges after two that attempt to escape, stopping one, but the other makes his way out of the door.

Tao, Lysdashi and Hherrmyie lead the party down a hall after the one who escaped. They soon find themselves in an armory. They no sooner enter the room when they are attacked by a eight war dogs and three worg wolves, all ridden by goblins. Tao tricks the dogs into following him to the opposite wall, and then pulls down a rack of chainmail armor on top of them.

Lysdashi and Hherrmyie hold off the other foes until the remainder of the party manage to get into the room. Kharole throws daggers into the goblins, killing them. This confuses the worgs, who then become easier targets for the fighters in the party as well as the thief Natasha.

The group moves on into the next room, which is a kennel that apparently housed the canines. The next room is an unoccupied bedchamber, which appears to be where the goblins came from. Beyond that is a room with four sleeping goblins. As the party enters the room the goblins awake, and run in opposite directions to the two far doors of the room. The goblins get through the doors before the party can stop them.

Klaaze tries to break down the door that three escaped through, but it is apparently barred from the other side. Lysdashi and Hherrmyie charge down the corridor that the other one ran down, and then find themselves under heavy arrow fire fired from a human at the other end of the hall. They ignore the arrows and charge until they reach the man, who soon falls. The goblin surrenders.

Kharole casts a "Charm" on the goblin, getting information from him that the King's bedchambers are on the lowest level of the castle. He says that he can't lead them there, as he has never been there himself. "Fine" says Klaaze, who then slices the goblin in half with his sword.

The group moves on to the other door, which Klaaze busts down. They move through an empty banquet hall. They find themselves in a large "K" shaped room. Two humans are seen nearby, and Tao recognizes their attire as that of the evil monks. They are quickly killed by Natasha and Tao.

The group moves on to a four-way intersection, where they run into the remainder of the Orange Squadrom (18 kobolds and 2 humans). Mark, Lysdashi and Hherrmyie charge into the group of ten kobolds. Klaaze takes on the human leader, an 8th level fighter. Phuddipeduzh takes on the other human. Kharole and Serita fight of the other eight kobolds.

Klaaze gets hit for half of his hit points. Natasha sneaks up behind the man, and backstabs him. She hurts him, but not severely. He pivots around, and gets two good slashes into her. While this is happening, Klaaze repositions himself, and gets in a perfect hit on the man's sword arm, crippling him.

Tao manages to then distract Phuddi's foe, allowing Phuddi to finish him off. Phuddi and Kharole then concentrate on the leader of this group. The surviving six kobolds that Serita is fighting pull back and grab javelins. As they get ready to thrown them at her the three half-elf fighters finish with their own foes. Serita dodges all but one of the javelins, and gets ready for a second volley. This volley never comes, as the enemies are cut down by arrows fired from the fighters.

The combined effort of the others brings down the Captain of the Orange Squadron. The groups decided to pull back, as they are physically in no shape for yet another fight. Back in the "K" shaped room they run into a pair of monks. Mark and Serita draw the attention of the monks, as Natasha and Tao managed to ambush them from behind. The group hides the bodies.

They soon find the entrance to the monks' classroom. Tao concludes that since it is the middle of the night it might be safe to spend the next few hours in this place. They post two of their party on guard duty, wearing monks robes.

The group rests in the room uninterrupted for three hours, until disturbed by a knock on the door. Tao answers the door, seeing a group of ten hobgoblins with a human leader. The leader says that he needs to search the room for intruders. Tao tells the human "My students need their rest. Do not interrupt us again with your minor security problems." The patrol moves on.

Tao lets the others sleep for another hour, then wakes them. Serita and Kharole study and regain their spells. While this is happening, Hherrmyie and Mark scout ahead. They find a secret panel in the wall, which is slid to the side to reveal a staircase going down to the next level.

The group head down the stairs, coming out at a large room with twelve hobgoblins and four gnoll, all attired in purple uniforms. The party takes them by surprise. Phuddi, Mark, Klaaze and Lysdashi each charge a gnoll. Hherrmyie fires his bow at the hobgoblins, six of which also draw bows and fire back. Nat and Serita both get hit by stray arrows as they enter the room. Tao and Kharole are stuck on the staircase.

The group soon manages to kill four hobgoblins and a gnoll, but they take heavy damage themselves. Phuddipeduzh order the group to retreat out a door near the stairs. The group charges through the door, down a hallway, and into a large room. The room appears to be used for furniture storage. It is also exit-less.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 18, "The Big Cheese", July 15th, 1005:

Tao convinces the group that staying too long in this room would be suicidal, as it will only give the enemy more time to regroup. Hherrmyie and Phuddipeduzh both grab some old mattresses, and use them as shields as they head back down the hallway into a barrage of arrows.

Serita casts a "Warp Wood" on the bows of the enemy, giving the two fighters a free round to drop the mattresses and charge. They are followed by the remainder of the party and a major fight follows. The floor is soon littered by the bodies of six hobgoblins , two gnoll and a human.

Another group of troops, mostly hobgoblin, then charge into the room. The human leader of the additional forces orders his men to "Not engage the enemy until ordered to." He then challenges Phuddipeduzh to a one-on-one duel to decide the fate of the group. Phuddi accepts.

The duel lasts for several rounds, during which time the rest of the party all watch, while conspicuously positioning themselves near the enemy. As soon as Phuddipeduzh manages to "snicker-snack" with his V-blade the others lash into the troops. Several hobgoblins try to escape, only to be stopped by a Web cast by Kharole. The archers then shoot them down. One is kept alive, to lead the group to King Kohlorahdooh's bedchamber.

Natasha detects the lock on the door as being trapped. Klaaze is too impatient to let her try to open it, and smashes the door open with his shoulder. The group charges into the room, waking up the former King. Kohlorahdooh does not appear overly worried. He pulls down a rope near his bed, and the group hears the sound of bells ringing in the distance. He announces that reinforcements are on the way. Mark and Lysdashi push furniture against the door to bar it shut. Phuddi moves in towards Kohlorahdooh.

The Lord then rips off his nightgown, revealing himself to be fully armed and armored. He tells Phuddi that he has been expecting them. He says that he is a 12th level fighter, so it is best for the whole group to just surrender while they still have the chance. He then thanks them for bringing him the remainder of the Rod. Lysdashi makes some rather crude comments to that, indicating that the group has no intention of surrendering.

Phuddi and Kohlorahdooh begin to fight. The cramped quarters of the room do not allow the others to get in very close. Kharole casts a Magic Missile onto him, but it appears to have no effect. Serita casts a Heat Metal onto his armor. Kohlorahdooh gets three very good slashes into Phuddi, greatly weakening him.

Kohlorahdooh's next two slashes are at Klaaze and Hherrmyie, both hitting. Phuddi get a Cure Light Wounds from Serita, and then returns to the battle. Kohlorahdooh's armor starts to heat up. As Mark tries to get in closer, Kohlorahdooh's armor starts to streatch, then breaks off completely as the man transforms into a giant wererat. The rat lashes out two more sword swipes, cutting into both Hherrmyie and Mark. This also gives Phuddipeduzh time to move in from the side.

Phuddi gets in a good swipe into the rat's side. Kohlorahdooh dives at him, and Phuddi jumps to the side. The rat bites into the closest person to him, Serita. Phuddi then swivels around, and lands a perfect hit (natural 20) with the vorpal blade into Kohlorahdooh's neck. THE GROUP ERUPTS IN AN EXTREMELY LOUD CHEER! The wererat's decapitated body reverts to human form

Lysdashi and Tao barracade the door. Serita casts her remaining cures on Hherrmyie and herself. The others grab Kohlorahdooh's sword and ring. The Rod leads Klaaze to a hidden chamber housing the final two pieces of the Rod of the Seven Parts.

[DM’s Note #29: For some reason the group is surprised that Kohlorahdooh managed to find and assemble the two pieces, especially since they managed to find four in the same time that he only found one. This was a pre-timed event (and they had taken too long) but also probably a good thing that he found these instead of them, as it was the putting together the sixth and seventh pieces that cuased the Lycanthropy.]

The barracade at the door is broken down by a group of soldiers, being led by Bly, Kohlorahdooh's second-in-command, Bly. Lysdashi grabs the Sceptre of Wishes, and wishes the group away to a safe place. They all disappear.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 19, "Sanctuary, Time Out, and the return of Narg" July 15th, 1005:

The group reappearing in the Cathedral of Ukko in the Jawltorn Inner City (about a mile northwest of the Lordholder's Castle), which is currently unoccupied. Serita grabs the Sceptre away from Lysdashi, and uses it to fetch her dog, who she had left back at the castle. Doing this causes her to collapse into unconsciousness. The others decide that she has the right idea, and each fall asleep on the church pews, since it is still dark outside.

While the High Priest Augusta is setting up the Cathedral for morning services he stumbles upon the party. They take out the Holy Sword Isaiah, and ask for sanctuary. He is pleased that they have brought him of his religion’s greatest artifacts, and angered when hearing that Kohlorahdooh had been hiding it. Augusta leads them to his private chambers, rooms beneath the Cathedral, and tell them that they can stay there. The group sleeps for the rest of the day.

July 16th, 1005:

Augusta, and his Paladin neice Lady Jolene meet with the party. They tell them that the official word is that an assassination attempt was made at the King, and that he is wounded. Bly has assumed that the culprits have left the city. The navy has set sail for the Lordholding’s south border, and the army has marched off to the northern and eastern borders, to prevent the assassins from escaping. Fewer than a hundred soldiers have been left within the city.

The group decides that since the military is searching the countryside it would probably be best to actually remain in the city for a few days. Since the military is also looking for a group they decide that they would be better off by spliting up. They decide to spend the next five days getting their apprenticeships for the next levels and just laying low. Klaaze connects the final two pieces to the Rod, and can finally release it from his grasp. They decide to not experiment with it, and leave it with Augusta to protect for the next several days.

Natasha sets off to find a thief not affiliated with the Kohlorahdooh Thieves Guild. She finds a man named Curthalt, a con man posing as a silversmith. Tao heads over to the Monastery of Isaac again, where he apprentices under a man named Fineathel. Kharole receives training from a flashy magician named Ambermon, who is the leader of the Apparitionist's Guild.

Phuddi, Klaaze and Hherrmyie head to the Fighter's guild, entering separately. Hherrmyie meets up with an expert swordsman by the name of Norburt. Klaaze is trained by a human woman named Goldenlac. Phuddi is apprenticed by a man named Hydel, the self-proclaimed "Hero of Havendwell". He trains Phuddi with the Longbow. At the end of the apprenticeship Hydel invites Phuddi to accompany him on a quest against some Fire Giants in the Northern Hills, to which Phuddi gracefully declines.

Lysdashi and Mark travel together to the Ranger Knight's Hold, a small private club on the far side of town. Mark is apprenticed by a ranger named Hlmford, and Lysdashi is apprenticed by an elvan ranger named Biolwig-Greurnstein.

Serita travels to the Druid camp north of the city, charming her way past the town guards. She is apprenticed by the camp leader, Glaukirk. While there she also talks to her druid friend, Arkelle, who is returning from a visit from the Copper Dragon. Since that is the language used in a letter from Toronas found on Annie's body, she has Arkelle translate. The note tells of the group's primary mission, and asks Annie to send periodic messages back to Toronas, telling of the group's progress. He also authorizes the "Assassin Annie" to kill anyone, in or out of the group, who interferes with the mission. It then gives her a list of twelve people for her to assassinate if the opportunities present themself. Serita gets a written translation of this to bring back with her.

July 17th, 1005:

Apprinceships continue.

July 18th, 1005:

The pooka Monty and Narg reappear in the Castle to the room where they left on the 14th. "That's funny," says Monty, "I could have sworn this was when we left them. Wait here, I'll go find them," and Monty disappears. Narg spends about an hour in the room, then goes off to look for the party on his own, being careful to avoid any guards. By evening Monty still hasn't returned. Narg sleeps in a closet inside of a large octagonal room filled with tropheys.

July 19th, 1005:

Narg gets up and starts to look around. He witnesses the arrival of two elvan magicians, one a very old male the other a middle-aged female, who teleport into the large octagonal room. The two are immediately attacked by two dozen orc and goblin guards, who are rapidly slain by magic missiles, an ice storm, and a lightning bolt from the female. Narg is impressed at how quickly and decisively the female elf did that. The male elf tells her, “That was not necessary.” She replies “I know, but they angered me by their attack on you Father.”

A group of human guards arrive. The leader, an army Captain, recognizes the elves. Ignoring the bodies of the dead soliders, this Captain introduces himself as Kindor, the Captain of the Guard, and calmly states "This visit was unexpected Lord Aldorn." The older elf, apparently Lord Aldorn, ruler of the adjacent Lordholding, says " I am here to investigate why Kohlorahdooh Naval ships are docked off the coast of my Lordholding's town of Correllear.”

The Captain tells of the assassination attempt four days earlier, on the 15th. "Great!" mutters Narg to himself, "In five days the group could have gone anywhere. When I get my hands of that stupid penguin I'll kill him!"

Narg decides to make a bold move, and casually walks out into the room, joining the Captain and the two elvan magicians. He starts talking to the three of them, doing it in such a way that the soldier assume he came with the elves, and the elves think he came with the soldier, so nobody questions who he is.

Kindor explains that the Naval leader Bly is currently returning to the city and expected back within the hour. He says that Bly is Kohlorahdooh's second-in-command and will answer all of Lord Aldorn's questions. The two elves and Narg are led to guest quarters elsewhere in the castle. Shortly after they are shown their quarters Monty returns to Narg, telling him "I found them," and pops Narg over to the Cathedral.

[DM’s Note #30: This brief interlude would later prove to become rather important, as it is Narg’s first meeting with both Kindor and Aldorn, both of who would become prominent NPC’s in future modules. It will be several years later until Kindor will finally realizes exactly who it was that he was speaking to this day, at which point he will be extremely impressed by the chutzpah that Narg during this time.]

July 20th, 1005:

Upon completion of each apprenticeship, each character heads back to the Cathedral to wait for the others. All of the characters are now 4th level, except Tao, Narg, and Lysdashi who are 3rd. By evening, all of the characters except for Tao are back from their apprenticeships.

Augusta says that the milirary are still out at the border, and that the Kohlorahdooh Navy landed occupation forces in the Thenossian town of Grammel. Soldiers from Gelorynth have been called out to reinforce the troops at both the border and in Grammel. The group decides that if few troops are now actually at Gelorynth, then that is where they should go. They tell Augusta that they will leave in the morning.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chapter 20, "The Climax Battle, July 21st, 1005:

Augusta gives Klaaze back the assembled Rod of the Seven Parts. Jolene, Augusta, and the party head upstairs, and walk toward the exit of the Cathedral. When they are right in the center of the 500 foot long Y-shaped building they hear a voice call to them from the altar "Stop right where you are." The group turns around, to see Bly and another naval captain.

Bly speaks to them again "Don't try anything funny. You are completely surrounded." At that sixteen archers rise up on each of the two side balconies and five stand up at the end balconies. Four gnoll soldiers then enter each of the two exit doors, and twenty-one hobgoblin and orc troops stand up at the end row of pews. "Don't draw any of your weapons," Bly orders the party. The nine party members respond by all drawing their weapons.

[DM’s Note #31: I had originally planned a big battle sequence in the castle as the climax of the module, however, between Kohlorahooh’s quick demise from the Vorpal Blade and then the group’s teleportation out once reinforcements arrived it did not happened. While sitting in church the following Sunday my mind wandered during the sermon, and I started looking around the vast room at the balconies and rows of pews, when this idea struck me for that night’s game. This particular game was a lot of fun for everyone, assisted by the fact that an aforementioned former player’s girlfriend was away on vacation, so he was free to join me that night to play all of the enemy troops.]

The High Priest Augusta yells at Bly "How dare you threaten me and my guests while in a Cathedral of YON." Bly replies "I dare do anything I want you traitorous wimp," he then orders his soldiers to attack. The group gets pelted by volleys of arrows from the balconies. Both Kharole and Serita get hit, and loose the spells that they were attempting to cast. The whole group scatters for cover behind the pews. Those with bows start to return fire, hitting a few soldiers.

Phuddi orders the group to ignore the archers, and concentrate on the two leaders. Augusta casts a Hold on Bly, but it is soon broken. A second hold on three of the archers proves to be successful. He then does a Stick to Snakes on the remaining archers in the right balcony, causing their bows to transform and attack them. Kharole casts a shield spell on herself, then moves out into the open.

With the remaining archers concentrating on the cleric and magic-user, Narg, Jolene, Klaaze and Hherrmyie manage to move closer to the altar. They plug several arrows at the two naval leaders. Bly deflects many with his shield, but the other Captain soon has several arrows sticking into him.

Kharole uses all of her Magic Missile spells on the men in the far balcony, killing them. This eliminates the arrow fire from all but one side balcony, who are then attacked by a "Summon Insects" spell that Serita had called. Natasha starts to climb up into this balcony.

With the arrow fire from above now over, the hobgoblins and orcs charge down the aisles at the party. Lysdashi and Mark meet them, and soon teach them not to tackle with rangers. The gnoll guarding the door move in to attack. Meanwhile, Bly throws an orb at the party. It hits Jolene and explodes, knocking her to the group and turning several pews into splinters. Augusta looses his temper, and calls down a Flame Strike on the enemy leaders, after which only Bly is left alive.

Serita casts a heal on Jolene. Bly moves in at the party, attacking both Narg and Hherrmyie simultaneously. He is very successful, getting about a four-to-one hit ratio on them. Phuddi starts to move in to assist, but is attacked by a magical net that pins both him and his vorpal blade to the floor. Natasha backstabs the men in the balcony. She runs into a problem with one, who turns out to be a 6th level fighter. Mark charges up the stairs to assist her.

Lysdashi rushes back to help Phuddi, leaving Serita alone to fight the remaining gnoll soldiers. Klaaze fires his bow at them, killing all but two of the gnoll. Kharole uses up the last of her spells, taking out a few troops who had moved in closer. She then switches to daggers. Hherrmyie takes a nasty sword hit into his arm, and pulls back. "Hey Klaaze, how about helping us out," Hherrmyie yells.

Klaaze turns and yells for Narg and Hherrmyie to "Hit the Deck". The two half-elves jump onto the floor. Bly looks up at Klaaze, who is thirty feet away from him. Bly draws a magic arrow to his bow. Before the arrow can fly, Klaaze points the Rod of the Seven Parts at the man and yells "DIE, YOU BASTARD." A blinding flash of light shoots out of the rod, hitting Bly, and turns every bone in his body into protoplasm. The Kohlorahdooh Naval Commander dies instantly. The Rod also causes a backlash explosion, hitting everyone within twenty feet of it (except Klaaze) for for ten to twenty points of damage. This kills Lysdashi.

The last of the soldiers fall within a round or two. Augusta casts a Raise Dead on Lysdashi, bringing him back. Jolene and Phuddi go to guard the doors to keep people from entering. The group quickly searches the bodies. Two of the soldiers are found to be alive. The group questions them, and find out that it was a clerical aide from the Cathedral who had alerted Bly and his men as to the group's hiding place. Tao returns to the Cathedral, takes one look at the carnage, and states "It looks like I'm a bit late."

Narg downs a tankard of beer. Monty hands him a refill and says "You look awful. See what happens when you get up in the morning. Let's get you back to bed." Before Narg can utter a reply the two of them vanish again.