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The Kordovian Adventurers Guild
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7063668" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 31: SKUNKBEARD'S TREASURE</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Darrien, half-elf ranger 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 10</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Gilbert Fung, human wizard 10</p><p></p><p>NPC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Aithanar Ivenheart, elf fighter 2</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 10 (Moradin)</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 18 March 2017</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>After weeks of traveling through the Clatspur Mountains, spending time in the lands above, and then passing south through the mountain range again, it was good to be back home! Therefore, after stopping by the castle and dropping off the kingdom's half of the amassed treasure, the group unanimously opted to split up and visit their respective families.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink finally got back at his cousin Jinkadoodle for his "fart in front of the king" gag. All it took was setting down the puzzle box they'd found in the gynosphinx Spiral's lair with a reluctant admission that he hadn't been able to figure out how to open it yet, and Jinkadoodle immediately fell for the trap. Grabbing it up, he experimented with it for a few minutes before triumphantly exclaiming success as it popped open. However, Castillan had helped Binkadink booby-trap the mechanism, and opening it caused the glass vial holding <em>sovereign glue</em> to shatter, gluing the gnome's hands to the now-open box. "What the-- Hey!" sputtered Jinkadoodle, desperately trying to free his hands while Binkadink quickly made himself scarce.</p><p></p><p>Castillan and Aithanar opted not to visit their family, given their (mutual) feelings towards their father. They went with Ingebold to Battershield Keep, to hang out in the room assigned to Castillan until the group was ready to head out to seek adventure once more.</p><p></p><p>Gilbert, Finoula, and Darrien all went to visit their respective mothers. In Gilbert's case it was merely because his father, Verdant Gristwold, was out exploring the forest again, as he often did. As long as Gilbert could remember, his father would be away for weeks or sometimes months at a time. But he was glad to see his mother - even if she now wore the body of an orc woman. She reported the lessons in the Orcish language with King Galrich himself were coming along fine. "Orc language pretty simple," Harriet explained. "It not all tricky, like language we speak here."</p><p></p><p>Finoula's father, <strong>Daythen Cloudshadow</strong>, had passed away several years back. It sometimes saddened Finoula to think that he'd never lived to see his daughter rise up to become an adventurer for the kingdom, but she knew they'd meet again in Ehlonna's Realm, after her own passing. But such thoughts inevitably led to the realization that her sister, Feron, was now a Sister of Ehlonna, and would doubtlessly manage to outshine her even in the afterlife....</p><p></p><p>Darrien had never known his father; for all of his life it had just been him and his mother, <strong>Marta</strong>, living in the small cabin at the edge of the Vesve Forest. She'd taught him the basics of woodcraft and he'd taken it from there, learning on his own the various aspects of being a ranger. He knew his mother was overjoyed that her son had been hand-selected - by the <em>King!</em> - to be one of Kordovia's official adventurers; that was one of her most poorly-guarded secrets. But it seemed she did have a secret or two that Darrien had never heard about....</p><p></p><p>"You know, I was once an adventurer too, for a brief time," Marta said, looking down at the floor.</p><p></p><p>She smiled back up at her astounded son. "Oh, nothing too serious," she said, "Nothing like you and your friends have accomplished. But I didn’t always live here, you know. In my younger years, I went out to find my own fortune. I signed on with an adventuring team, and we actually took a ship out to sea to seek out lost pirate treasure, if you can believe that." She chuckled quietly to herself. "Nothing ever came of it, though. Well, I shouldn't say 'nothing' – we never found the treasure, just the island it's supposed to be buried on – but that's where I ended up with you."</p><p></p><p>Darrien notice his mother was back to looking down at the floor and her hands kneaded her apron, as if talking about this made her nervous. "There was this terrible storm," she finally continued. "The ship we were on started taking on water, and we only just made it to the island – had to abandon ship and everything. I got separated from the others in the storm, and I ended up on this beach quite a ways away from where the rest of the group made it to land. Only-- only I wouldn't have made it to land on my own. I'm not that good of a swimmer, you see. I was nearly to the shore, but I kept going under, and I ended up swallowing water more than once. It was the most frustrating thing: when I surfaced I could see the beach ahead, but my limbs didn’t have the strength to make it there.</p><p></p><p>"I would have drowned then and there, Darrien, if it hadn’t been for your father." She smiled at the recollection. "I don't know how he saw me on that dark night – elven vision, I guess. But he swam out to me and dragged me to shore. We spent the night there, huddled on the beach during the worst storm I'd ever seen in my life. Eventually, the storm subsided, and as weary as I was, I fell asleep. In the morning, he was gone. And nine months later, you were born."</p><p></p><p>She put her hand into the pocket of her apron. "But I'm getting ahead of myself," she said, returning to her story. "The day after our shipwreck, I met up with the rest of my group and we made ourselves a little base camp. We ended up living there for about two months before we were able to signal to a passing ship and they came and rescued us. And we searched for that silly treasure the whole time we were there, but we never did find it. None of the pirates' instructions seemed to make any sense! By the time we had been rescued, none of us wanted to spend any more time on a treasure hunt, we were just glad to get back to civilization."</p><p></p><p>Pulling her hand out of her apron pocket, she held out a crumpled sheet of parchment and passed it to Darrien. "I never learned your father's name," she said, "but I still have the treasure map we followed. I'm willing to bet your father lives somewhere on that island, or at least in the general vicinity. But here: my adventuring days, such as they were, are long over. You, on the other hand, are a professional adventurer! I don't know if there's anything behind this pirate treasure, but if there is, I’m sure you and your group will be much more capable of finding it than my group ever was!"</p><p></p><p>Darrien carefully unfolded the map, which, he saw, was labeled "SKUNKBEARD'S TREASURE." It was a simple drawing of an island, with several features highlighted: Keyhole Bay, the Sord and Aro Rivers, Whale Carcass Beach, the Cliffs of Peril, a bear cave and a cave of statues, temple ruins, and a damaged statue. There was no indication as to where the island was located.</p><p></p><p>"There's more on the back," Marta said to her son. Darrien flipped the parchment over, and read the following, written in a careful hand:</p><p></p><p>"I'll take this to the others in the morning," Darrien promised his mother.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>The other adventurers were as intrigued by the map - and by Darrien's story - as he was. "The Cave of the Not-Blooded - that's got to be the Cave of Statues," Castillan offered.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, but what about all this other stuff?" asked Binkadink.</p><p></p><p>"It don't matter if he can't find island," pointed out Gilbert. "Come on - we go to castle, take it to historian."</p><p></p><p>The castle historian was an elf named <strong>Zalian Darisath</strong>. He looked at the hand-drawn map of the island disdainfully. "There's no sense of scale," he complained. "This could be a small continent or half a mile wide, or anywhere in between!" Still, he pulled out his atlases and started poring over their contents. After half an hour of scrutiny, he found an island that looked very much like the drawing on the map, judging by its shape.</p><p></p><p>"La Isla Zorrillo," said Zalian, stabbing down with a slender finger onto a page of his atlas. "'The Island of Skunks,' in the Oljatt Sea, far to the east of Hepmonaland." That sounded about right to the group, hoping the skunks of the island offered a tie to Skunkbeard the pirate. Now, it was just a matter of getting to Hepmonaland, the continent to the south. Recalling that her father had been to Hepmonaland as part of his adventuring career, Ingebold suggested dropping in on Aerik.</p><p></p><p>"We used to have some contacts in Hepmonaland," offered Aerik, stroking his beard. "Back when King Galrich an' I were adventurers, there was another entire Adventurers Guild stationed there. They got wiped out by lizardfolk, but you never know – they might've rebuilt, like <strong>Thunderwolf</strong> did at Greyhawk City. It'd be worth checking out, in any case."</p><p></p><p>Then a sudden smile lit up his face. "An' come t' think of it, there's somebody here at the castle what could give ye a lift!"</p><p></p><p>Aerik brought the group directly to the officials in charge of the king's schedule. After a short discussion with them, the dwarven guard returned, beaming. "Right this way," he said, leading them into one of the castle's meeting halls. The heroes entered and saw King Galrich seated at a table with a middle-aged woman wearing a black gown and cloak. Her hair was mostly dark, but for two streaks of white framing her face. She and the king were sharing a glass of wine.</p><p></p><p>Aerik beamed with obvious pride. "Miss Delphyne," he said, "May I introduce to you the Adventurers Guild of Kordovia?"</p><p></p><p>Introductions were made all around, with King Galrich explaining that <strong>Delphyne Babelberi</strong> had been an adventurer in his and Aerik's group. Now she wandered the world in her awakened oak tree, <strong>Coventry</strong>, occasionally popping in to see her now-regal friend when she was in the area.</p><p></p><p>"Certainly, I can give you a lift to Hepmonaland," Delphyne said, smiling over her glass of wine. "Coventry can get you there in half a day. Shall we make it first thing in the morning?" That sounded good to the group, giving them enough time to wrap things up with their respective families. Delphyne also handed them a pair of thin metal hoops, each about 18 inches in diameter. "You're welcome to borrow these," she said. They're <em>ring gates</em>; whatever you put through one ring comes out the other one." She further explained that these offered a one-way transit only, so if they left one in the castle treasury, they could put any pirate treasure they unearthed through the <em>ring gate</em> and send it halfway across the world in the blink of an eye. "The command word's 'Delphyne' - so every time you use them you'll think of me!" the witch explained with a twinkle in her eye.</p><p></p><p>"Thank ye," said Ingebold, taking the proffered items and handing one to her father.</p><p></p><p>"We meet back here in morning, then," Gilbert said.</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>The next morning, all was in readiness. Delphyne led the group to the side of the castle, were an oak tree that hadn't been there the last time any of the heroes had been around this way stood. There was what looked like an elaborate tree fort in its upper branches. Gilbert frowned at <strong>Percival</strong>, the animated skull imbedded in the bark on the left of the front door, even after it greeted him a hearty hello. He looked back over at King Galrich, who took it in without concern, so the portly mage kept his mouth shut on the subject despite his fervent hatred of undead. His recently-enhanced vision, which allowed him to detect undead creatures, didn't trigger when he stared at Percival, so he decided it was likely just a skull that had been animated like you would any other object, not a part of an animated, undead skeleton. Thus assured, he mounted the steps inside the hollow trunk and climbed up to the main level, where he took a proffered seat at Delphyne's dining room table.</p><p></p><p>"Are we all ready?" asked Delphyne as the group took their seats.</p><p></p><p>"Wait a minute -- my raisins!" cried Darrien in sudden alarm. He pulled a cloth handkerchief from his pocket, untying it to reveal a small clump of three raisins. "I'll need to go see the healer woman before we leave," he apologized.</p><p></p><p>"What this all about?" demanded Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>"May I see them?" asked Delphyne. Darrien opted to ignore Gilbert and handed his handkerchief over to the witch. "Hmm," Delphyne murmured to herself. "<strong>Babbit</strong>, be a dear and fetch me my birch wand, would you?" In reply, a stuffed bunny walked from a bedroom over to a shelf of books, then levitated up three shelves to fetch a wand lying there. It adhered to the front of its stuffed-animal paw, and the rag-bunny lowered itself to the floor and walked the wand over to its mistress.</p><p></p><p>Delphyne waved the wand over the three raisins, then dropped it to touch one of them. The target raisin shriveled away to nothingness. Then Delphyne held out her other hand, and her bunny-homunculus, having anticipated her desires, dropped a cluster of fresh green grapes into her hand. Delphyne touched the wand to the stem of the grape cluster and the grapes all withered away to raisins. "Here you go," Delphyne smiled to Darrien. The ranger started pulling the withered grapes off the stem, adding them to the two left in his handkerchief.</p><p></p><p>"You want to explain this?" asked Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>"It's medicine," said Darrien, not eager to elaborate until he saw the expectant look on Gilbert's face. "A half-elf malady I've had since I was little," he added. "I eat a raisin a week. No big deal."</p><p></p><p>"If we're all ready, then?" asked Delphyne. "We're off to Thunder Bay!" she called to her tree.</p><p></p><p>With a lurch, the oak tree pulled up its massive roots and started to slowly walk forward. "At your best speed," commanded the witch.</p><p></p><p>"As you command, Mistress," replied Coventry, taking a single step. Finoula gave a gasp of surprise; she'd been looking out the window and saw a blur of motion and a sudden change of the scenery. It happened again with the next step, and the next.</p><p></p><p>"You'll get used to it," advised Delphyne, looking out the window. "You've heard of <em>seven league boots</em>? I've given Coventry <em>seven league roots</em>!"</p><p></p><p>Traveling at such a speed, it only took several hours to traverse down one continent and across half of another, and with only a few seconds spent in any one place the travelers had no trouble during their expedition. As they jumped forward seven leagues with each step, Darrien showed Delphyne the treasure map his mother had given to him. The witch looked it over, frowned, and handed it back. "I'm sorry," she said. "Figuring out puzzles was always Feron's forte," she said. "I'll tell you this, though – if that's a valid treasure map, there probably isn't a word on the back of the map that's not there for a reason."</p><p></p><p>Coventry walked the last few miles at a normal pace so they wouldn't overshoot their mark. He dropped the group off at the edge of Thunder Bay - a hub of activity as this was the launching point for a great number of merchant vessels. "Just send a note through the <em>ring gate</em> when you're ready to be picked up," advised Delphyne. "King Galrich has a means to reach me, and we'll be by the next day to come get you!" Then, with a round of thanks and goodbyes, the Kordovians stepped out of the Stick Palace among Coventry's branches and into Thunder Bay.</p><p></p><p>"We go find this <strong>Balama Theron</strong>," said Gilbert, heading toward the docks. But Balama, the ship's captain recommended to them by Aerik, was nowhere to be found. Many of the people they asked had never heard of her; some were familiar with her but hadn't seen her in many years. Finally, an old sailor gave them the information they had been seeking: "Balama Theron? No, both she and her vessel was lost at sea some six, seven years back now. But one of her old partners is still around. Head on over to dock 7 – the <em>Celestial Avatar</em>, captain's name is <strong>Theodore McGraff</strong>."</p><p></p><p>Captain McGraff was an interesting sort: a former pirate, he'd been set adrift in a rowboat to die by his crew for a distinct lack of bloodthirstiness; he'd been rescued by Balama and Galrich's band of adventurers, only to be slain during an adventure involving merfolk and sahuagin. Fortunately, he'd been <em>resurrected</em> shortly thereafter and the experience had burned away any lingering thirst for adventure in the days since. Now he was a simple merchant, although he was willing to take on passengers if the price was right. Upon learning these adventurers were linked to Galrich and Aerik, he was willing to give them passage - for 100 pieces of gold up front and a clean 10% of any pirate treasure the group unearthed.</p><p></p><p>"You planning on helping us find the treasure?" asked Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>"Oh no! I'll take you to the island and I'll take you back, but any delving on the island is strictly your job!" argued Captain McGraff.</p><p></p><p>"You no dealing with dangers, you no getting a cut!" argued Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>"Fine!" agreed the captain. "Then in that case, the cost of passage is a solid thousand, in advance!"</p><p></p><p>"Fine!" agreed Gilbert, thinking the captain would expect him to try to haggle the price down. "Elf boy, pay the man!" Castillan opened up his belt pouch, counted out a thousand gold coins' value in gemstones and passed them over to Captain McGraff, who examined them with a critical eye. "It'll be two days to get the ship stocked for the voyage," stated Captain McGraff. "I expect we can make La Isla Zorrillo in a month of sailing." Darrien did a quick mental count of the number of raisins in his handkerchief and nodded to himself - he had plenty on hand.</p><p></p><p>The group found decent lodging for two nights and hit the shops. They stocked up on potions of both <em>water walking</em> and <em>water breathing</em>, thinking either one would likely be handy in the months to follow. Darrien also purchased two wooden buckets and some fishing gear, thinking he might catch some fish during the voyage - or at least occupy himself during the attempt. To save room, he stashed them in the <em>portable hole</em> - where Mudpie would be staying for the duration of the voyage. Gilbert wanted his earth elemental familiar to come along, but earth elementals are not fond of leaving solid ground; this seemed like a good compromise, especially since, as an elemental, Mudpie didn't need to breathe and thus wouldn't suffocate in the extradimensional hole's confines.</p><p></p><p>"I hope Obvious is okay," Binkadink worried. He'd left his jackalope back at Battershield Keep with Aerik and Helga, not wanting to expose him to the dangers of a month-long ship voyage. For the same reason, Finoula had left her timber Wrath there as well, and Aithanar had promised - through pantomime, as his vocal deficiencies had yet to be fixed - to take care of the animals.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Three days later, the <em>Celestial Avatar</em> headed out west of Thunder Bay. McGraff had a dozen crewmen with him; the heroes were provided hammocks in the lower deck along with the rest of his men. During that first day, Captain McGraff told them what he knew of the infamous pirate, Captain Skunkbeard. He had gotten his name because of the streak of white in his hair, which he continued on down through the middle of his moustache and beard with a bleaching agent. In addition, word was that early in Skunkbeard's career he had suffered a head injury which permanently deprived him of his sense of smell. Realizing what an advantage this gave him, he immediately stopped bathing until he positively reeked, then took to keeping a pair of captive skunks on board his vessel, with which he would douse himself in skunk spray immediately before battle. In time, his crew either became accustomed to the stench or learned to fight while wearing nose plugs; the men crewing the vessels Skunkbeard selected for plunder were not so acclimated and their combat skills suffered the worse for it. But some two decades or more, Captain Skunkbeard, and his infamous vessel - the <em>Sea Skunk</em> - suddenly disappeared, never to have been seen since.</p><p></p><p>The heroes also puzzled over the map of La Isla Zorrillo that Darrien's mother had provided, especially the clues inscribed on the back. It was Binkadink, surprisingly, who caught the first "trick" of the clues. "Let me see that!" he cried suddenly, snatching the map from Darrien's grasp.</p><p></p><p>"Hey!" complained the half-elf ranger. "Careful with that!"</p><p></p><p>But Binkadink had spread it out flat upon the deck. "Got a pen?" asked the gnome, and Gilbert reached into a pocket of his robes and produced an ink bottle and a writing stick. In careful letters, Binkadink wrote out the word "NOT" underneath every instance of the letters "R-E-D" as they appeared in the clues.</p><p></p><p>"What you thinking, gnome?" asked Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>"Remember what Delphyne said," replied Binkadink. "There's probably a good reason for every word to be here. So here, where it says "NOT INTO RED," that means all the places where it says 'NOT' should really say 'RED'."</p><p></p><p>"Hmm, so it's 'CAVE OF THE RED-BLOODED', not 'CAVE OF THE NOT-BLOODED'," observed Castillan. "So we want to go to the bear cave, not the cave of statues! That's pretty tricky!"</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, but look at this," said Binkadink, continuing his editing. "'YOU MIGHT THINK THE SAFE DOOR IS THE RED ONE - IT IS RED!'"</p><p></p><p>"So what about this 'CHANGE INTO ORANGE'?" asked Gilbert. "The word "CHANGE' not in clues except for that first line."</p><p></p><p>"No," agreed Finoula, looking over the others' shoulders. "But if you change 'CHANGE' into 'ORANGE', you're really just changing 'C-H' into 'O-R'."</p><p></p><p>"Do it!" commanded Gilbert, and Binkadink, dipping his quill into the ink bottle, hurried to comply. Once he had finished (leaving the first line as written as he considered it to be instructions), and leaving spaces as appropriate to separate words, he had altered the set of clues to read as follows:</p><p></p><p>"Well, that plenty clear," scoffed Gilbert. "What the Hell an armor air?"</p><p></p><p>"And how do you "redify" a mirror pool?" asked Darrien.</p><p></p><p>"Add blood to it?" suggested Finoula.</p><p></p><p>"It's apparent that some of these clues won't be evident until we get there and see for ourselves," pointed out Castillan. "But good work, everyone! I think we've got the tricks figured out!"</p><p></p><p>The heroes opted to take watch-shifts during the night, just as they would had they been traveling with their wagons, instead of depending solely on the sailors for their safety. Thus, around midnight, Finoula found herself on watch duty. To avoid the stares of leering sailors (she could tell a whole month at sea was going to be all kinds of fun!), she had scampered up to the crossbeam across the main mast and tied herself to it. She had a <em>potion of spider climb</em> at her belt, but realizing its limited duration opted to use it only if necessary. In the meantime, she enjoyed the fresh air, the clear night full of stars, and the sounds of the waves crashing against the ship's hull. Her elven vision allowed her to scan the sea before her, alert for danger.</p><p></p><p>But danger that night came from the sides of the <em>Celestial Avatar</em>. Finoula heard a splash of water and a <em>thunk!</em> of something hitting the railing on the starboard side of the ship, followed almost immediately by a similar set of sounds from the port side. Scooting around the mast to which she was loosely bound, she looked down and saw what looked like a gargoyle climbing up over the railing. Another quartet of <em>thunks</em> gave evidence that there were even more of these beasts climbing aboard.</p><p></p><p>Finoula raised the alarm, calling out to the rest of the men on the deck; as they were all human, with their inferior night-vision, those not in the immediate vicinity of these intruders hadn't noticed them on their own. But as the kapoacinths climbed on board the vessel and struck out at the nearest targets, the screams of the crewmen started waking those asleep belowdecks.</p><p></p><p>Castillan and Darrien were the first to respond. Each grabbed up a weapon and made it up the stairs at the front of the vessel to see what was going on. By then, the sailors on the top deck had grabbed up whatever weapons they had at hand to try to fight off the sea-gargoyles, and Finoula's <em>whip of thorns</em> was lashing down at one of the first kapoacinths to have boarded. Darrien called down to the others to wake up as he loaded an arrow to his <em>Arachnibow</em> and let fly, shooting a kapoacinth in the back as he threatened a crewman with his claws and teeth. Ingebold stomped up the stairs behind Darrien, dressed in her night shift and wielding her warhammer, but the narrow passageway didn't allow her access to the deck with the half-elf in the way. So she cast a <em>spiritual weapon</em> in the form of a warhammer and sent it floating past Darrien's head to start striking at their enemies.</p><p></p><p>Castillan was having little effect with the bolts from his light crossbow, while Finoula and Darrien seemed to be dealing all kinds of damage with their magical weapons. <em>That's the difference!</em> realized the bounder, snapping his fingers and calling his <em>stonepiercer dagger</em> to hand. Together, the magic-enhanced weapons and spells (especially a <em>cone of cold</em> from a grumpy and sleep-deprived Gilbert, who came to the fight late demanding what all the fuss was about) started to take their toll on the kapoacinth boarding party. With half of their number slain, three of the remaining four opted to flee, while their leader - who had gone to the back of the ship to menace the steersman on duty, and thus had missed out on the desertion of his fellows - attacked alone. Once he saw that he was the only one of his force still attacking, he too opted to flee, but Binkadink's glaive cut him down before he could follow through with the thought.</p><p></p><p>"Just in time!" gasped the gnome. "I thought I wasn't going to get one!"</p><p></p><p>Two of the sailors had been slain in the attack, and half a dozen more wounded. Ingebold used her healing spells to tend to the wounded, making her an immediately popular passenger. As for those slain, Capt McGraff said a few words over their bodies and dumped them overboard; they had known what to expect when they signed on as crew, and most sailors assumed they'd eventually go to a watery grave when their time came. The ship pressed on, cutting through the waves as it headed east.</p><p></p><p>And it continued on its course for the better part of a month, during which the passengers and crew saw plenty of interest but no further danger. A pod of friendly dolphins danced alongside the vessel for awhile, amusing both themselves and the heroes who watched with wonder at their antics. Castillan made a very small fortune - no point in making deadly enemies on a boat this small - playing cards with the sailors; they played for copper pieces, and the bounder enjoyed winning the hands more so than the winnings themselves. But eventually, a few days short of a month since the <em>Celestial Avatar</em> left port at Thunder Bay, one of McGraff's mates called out "Land ho!" and La Isla Zorrillo came into view.</p><p></p><p>"I assume you want to head ashore at Keyhole Bay?" asked Captain McGraff. It was the most logical place to head for land, judging from the map. Upon their agreement, he headed for the lighter waters of the bay, and the heroes dropped the ship's two rowboats into the water. One boat held Darrien, Castillan, and Ingebold, with the half-elf at the oars; the other held Gilbert, Binkadink, Finoula, and a crewman, as once the heroes were ashore the rest of the crew would need shuttled over to resupply the ship with fresh water and fruit, and maybe even some game, if any could be found. Not knowing what dangers lay before them, the adventurers were all decked out in their armor, with <em>endure elements</em> spells keeping the jungle heat from causing any difficulties.</p><p></p><p>The island's first difficulties started before the heroes had even gotten on firm ground; before, even, the rowboats had made half the distance to shore. In a meticulously-synchronized attack, both sets of oars were snatched from the rowers at the same time as a pair of hands grabbed onto one side of each rowboat, tugging that side down. Simultaneously, the other side of the boats were pushed upright from unseen hands below the water. The end result was the same for both rowboats: seven people unceremoniously dunked overboard, with those in heavy armor regretting their decision not to wait until they got to shore to don their protection.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink was glad he was in his red dragon plate mail instead of his previous set of armor, which was solid metal, but kicking his way back to the surface (while still holding his glaive in a death-grip to prevent it from being lost) took all of his concentration and effort - and more time than he would have preferred. Castillan, Finoula, and Gilbert each managed to swim back up to the surface on their own - Gilbert casting a <em>fly</em> spell as soon as he could breathe and speak aloud - while Ingebold sank like a stone. Darrien, seeing this, dove down to grab her and try to drag her to the surface, all the while aware that his entire body felt...funny. His neck was suddenly itchy, as were his fingers and toes, and despite this being the first time actually trying to swim in the ocean (his only other aquatic excursions had been in the Velverdyva River as a child and his recent immersion in Lake Quag), he managed to maneuver as if he'd been born to the task. Grabbing Ingebold's armor by the back of the neck, he spun in place and started kicking back up to the surface - and almost bumped into one of the foes responsible for their sudden dunking.</p><p></p><p>"Oh, crap!" said one of the aquatic elves that had capsized the boats and were moving in for battle with their submerged victims. He lowered his trident from its attack position and called in the Elven tongue to his allies to do likewise. "Quick--somebody go get <strong>Alvarath</strong>!" he commanded and an aquatic elf swam off to do so. Darrien took the opportunity to get Ingebold's head above water, and she gulped in air gratefully. Seeing that battle had apparently broken off, the ranger helped Ingebold climb back into the rowboat, and then froze, staring at his hands.</p><p></p><p>Darrien's hands had suddenly grown much thicker webbing between his fingers than he was used to and his skin coloration was now a bit on the greenish side. He involuntarily gasped in surprise - and got an even bigger surprise as the gill-slits opened along the sides of his neck and cool ocean water was sucked in.</p><p></p><p>A small contingent of aquatic elves surfaced alongside the heroes as they struggled back into their rowboats. Sheepishly, those who had grabbed the oars from the rowers handed them back as a burly sea elf's head popped up alongside the boat near Darrien. The half-elf ranger turned to look at this newcomer and both froze in shock, for the two men might as well have been looking in a mirror: they each had the same facial features, the same quizzical scowl - granted, Alvarath had a darker shade of green hair (although Darrien's once-brown hair now had green streaks and highlights) and a greener tone to his skin, and as a full-blooded aquatic elf his ears were longer than his half-elven son, but there was no denying Darrien's heritage.</p><p></p><p>"I am Alvarath," the sea elf said by way of introduction, speaking the language of elves.</p><p></p><p>"I am Darrien," replied his son in the same language. "My mother is Marta." The name didn't seem to mean anything to Alvarath; just as she had never learned the name of Darrien's father, it seemed as if he had never learned her name, either.</p><p></p><p>"This a bit awkward," stage-whispered Gilbert, earning himself an elbow in the ribs from Finoula.</p><p></p><p>Given the fact that his son was one of the sea elves' intended victims, Alvarath begrudgingly allowed them to continue on to the island. Another group of elves had begun chopping through the bottom of the <em>Celestial Avatar</em> in order to sink it - this being the way the elves gained new weapons and various treasures; now, the attack having ceased, Alvarath granted the group a week's time to deal with whatever business they had on the island and to effect repairs on their ship. Then, with a final nod to his son, he led his troop back below the waves.</p><p></p><p>Back on the rowboat with the others, Darrien felt his gill-slits sealing back up in the warm sun. His mind was awash with feelings and sudden realizations: those raisins he'd been taking all of his life weren't for a "half-elf ailment" as his mother had claimed - they were to hide the aquatic elf half of his heritage! His initial thoughts were of betrayal for having had this secret kept from himself, but upon further reflection he realized his mother had just wanted to shield him from further ostracizing - half-elves were often shunned by both of their parent races; Marta had likely just wanted him to be no more of an outcast than he might have been, otherwise.</p><p></p><p>"Ye okay, Darrien?" asked Ingebold.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah," said Darrien. "But hey! I just realized what my mirror prophecy means!"</p><p></p><p>"What was yours again?" asked Castillan.</p><p></p><p>"I don't remember the words exactly, but it was something along the lines of 'You can run a race along different paths, but you're not on the path you think you're on' - or something like that."</p><p></p><p>"I don't get it," admitted the bounder, frowning.</p><p></p><p>"It's not a race like a foot race - it's a race like the elven race," explained Darrien.</p><p></p><p>"So, are ye gonna continue eatin' them raisins?" asked Ingebold as Darrien started rowing the boat to shore.</p><p></p><p>"I haven't decided yet," he admitted.</p><p></p><p>Once at the shore, they pulled one boat up onto the sand while the <em>Celestial Avatar</em> crewman who had accompanied them started rowing the other boat back to the ship, to pick up a group of sailors for a resupply mission. "I'll fly on ahead to check things out," said Gilbert before doing just that, flying low over the Aro River to make sure the way was clear. He returned in a few minutes, warning the group of a pair of oversized rheas wading in the waters of the river - which didn't look to be very deep or very wide; <em>more like a large stream</em>, thought Gilbert. The dire rheas were easily avoided, and presently the group stood outside what had been marked as "BEAR CAVE" on the map.</p><p></p><p>Landing on the ground, Gilbert asked for and was handed the <em>portable hole</em>, which he spread on the ground to let out his familiar. Mudpie, as an earth elemental, did not like ocean travel, and had happily waited for a month inside the airless, extradimensional space rather than be subjected to the constant knowledge of how far he was separated from solid earth. Now on an island, he took his place at his master's side. "Go check out cave," commanded Gilbert, and his familiar sunk into the ground to go exploring as only he could. He returned with a report of two adult dire bears and one cub in a large chamber, with two side passages leading down to a lower chamber holding a pool of water. "That our mirror pool!" chuckled Gilbert. "Let's go!"</p><p></p><p>The first chamber inside the cave mouth was empty but for the remains of previous meals; the portly wizard saw bones belonging to various animals and a few human bones here and there as well. But the dire bears were one chamber deeper into the cave complex. Gilbert called out a cheery "Hello!" to announce their presence and get the bears to approach; then, once they were in position, he cast a <em>fireball</em> spell that nearly killed the cub outright and singed the adults. The largest dire bear roared in pain and rage and charged forward; as Gilbert dropped back Darrien shot three arrows into its shoulder in rapid succession. At his side, Binkadink stepped forward and stabbed at the male with his magic glaive, just as Ingebold brought a <em>flame strike</em> falling down on the two adults. The male, wobbling on weak legs and barely remaining upright, was brought down by another pair of arrows from Darrien's <em>Arachnibow</em>. As its body crashed to the ground, the ranger switched targets in an instant and sent another arrow flying into the female's neck. Castillan finished her off with a bolt from his crossbow. He threw another bolt into his weapon and cranked it back, targeting the cub, but Darrien forced him to stay his hand.</p><p></p><p>"It's just a baby," pointed out Darrien.</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, a baby as big as one of us!" argued the bounder. But Darrien's compassion won the day; while the others skirted past it to head down to the pool of water, the half-elf ranger fed the wounded dire bear cub one of the healing potions from his belt. "You stay here," he said, rubbing the side of its furry head. "We've got some stuff to do, but then we'll be back for you." The ranger had some thoughts of taking the bear home with them, although how they were going to deal with a man-sized bear cub on a month-long sea voyage was a plan with some kinks still needing work. But he left the cub and joined his friends, who had verified the pool chamber was empty.</p><p></p><p>"We need to 'redify' the 'mirror pool'," said Finoula.</p><p></p><p>"Good thing I brought a bucket," said Darrien, fetching one of his new purchases from the <em>portable hole</em>. He dragged it back up to the slain dire bears, filling it with blood and lugging it back down to the water of the pool. "Here goes!" he said, tipping the bucket's contents into the clear waters of the subterranean pool.</p><p></p><p>"Now what?" asked Finoula.</p><p></p><p>"Let's find out," offered Binkadink, stepping into the pool of water where the blood had "redified" it. Feeling for the ground with his feet, he felt a set of stairs leading down. Despite the clear parts of the water showing a depth of maybe three feet, the gnome's body sunk lower and lower as he progressed towards the middle of the pool, finally submerging completely. The others followed in a single-file line.</p><p></p><p>Binkadink was not surprised to see a completely different chamber awaiting him at the bottom of the stairs; after all, he'd surmised this was probably a <em>teleport gate</em> of some type, and he was likely now somewhere else entirely on the island. He was surprised that having completely submerged under the pool's waters and continuing on down the stairs had somehow excised his armor and clothes of water - he was bone dry! <em>Magic</em>, the gnome scoffed.</p><p></p><p>This first underground room held three doors. On two were the images of pirates, while the third held a carving of a chicken. After confirming that the chicken carving was taller than either of the pirates, they opted to go through the door with the biggest "hen or man" - so the chicken door it was. Binkadink led them down a corridor that opened into another small room with three doors, this time each painted a different color: red, green, and blue. The blue and green doors each had a skull painted on them.</p><p></p><p>Again consulting their map, they went with the red door, which should be the "safe one." The door was surprisingly heavy, for despite being a sturdy-looking wooden door, once the gnome pulled it open he saw the other side of the door contained a solid slab of stone. The reason for this was obvious: the short corridor beyond was filled with flames! The gnome could feel the heat on his skin and could see another stone door at the end of the corridor. "It's got to be an illusion," he said to himself, then, after taking a breath, closed his eyes and walked forward into the flames. Finoula gasped, but the flames didn't seem to be doing him any harm. "It's safe!" he called back to the others, before opening the door at the far side and advancing into the next room. One at a time the others followed, their wills buoyed by the fact they'd just seen the gnome fighter pass through the flames unscathed. Neither of them was bothered by the illusory flames, and they all entered the next room with Binkadink.</p><p></p><p>This room was shaped like an elongated gem: basically, a rectangle with its corners cut off to form an octagon. Another door stood in the middle of the far wall, but it was the floor that had caught everyone's attention. Carved into the stone floor at irregular intervals were the following words:</p><p></p><p>"Look down center of words!" announced Gilbert. "It spell, 'HONCHORDEATH' - but map says passwords are 'honor' and 'death'!" Unfortunately, in speaking both command words aloud, he activated both the positive effect and the negative one. With a loud "click," the door at the far side of the room unlocked. At the same time, the diagonal sections in the corners of the room slid down into recesses below them, revealing some sort of automaton stationed behind each hidden door. "Uh oh," added the wizard. </p><p></p><p>Binkadink raced over to the far door, pulled it open, and stood beside it, his glaive at the ready. "Hurry!" he called. "Maybe they won't chase us past this room!" Gilbert, Castillan, and Darrien, being the closest to the now open door, rushed to follow the gnome's advice, with Mudpie following after his master. Finoula spun around to see how Ingebold, the furthest back in the room and one of their slowest runners, would fare - would she make it out of this room on her own, or if Finoula dashed out would she be leaving her Battle-Sister behind to a possible grisly death?</p><p></p><p>The look on the dwarven cleric's face showed she didn't think much for her chances of making it out of the room before the automatons could get to her, so she cast a <em>sanctuary</em> spell on herself as she ran the length of the room. Before she could get the spell finished two of the constructs smashed down at her with their hammer hands, but she was able to finish the spell despite the painful distraction. Binkadink stepped forward with his glaive, trusting in his <em>golembane scarab</em> to aid his damage potential against these heavily-armored constructs, slashing at the nearest with his glaive. He grinned when he saw he had done at least some damage to the device.</p><p></p><p>Satisfied that Ingebold was relatively safe, Finoula ran past Binkadink into the assumed safety of the next room. All four hammerer automatons approached Ingebold, she being the nearest target, but only one was able to overcome the spell and send its hammer-appendage crashing down on the cleric. But Ingebold survived the attack, dashed past it and the gnome and into the next room, leaving Binkadink to follow her and slam the door shut behind him. Then he stepped back, aiming at the shut door with his glaive, ready if the constructs opted to follow.</p><p></p><p>They did not; following their programming, they saw no enemies in the room and each returned to its station. The hidden doors made a grinding sound as they rose back up to seal the constructs off until the next intrusion into the room.</p><p></p><p>"Remember this for the way back," suggested Gilbert.</p><p></p><p>While all this was happening, Castillan was busy examining the new room. There was another door along the far wall, but what interested him more was the chessboard carved into the floor with alternating white and black marble. Carefully traversing the area, he noted a slight change in the sound as he walked over a section of the chessboard. Dropping to his knees, he found a seam along four tiles, and, prying them up with a knife, found a trap door with a set of steps leading down into darkness. "Guys!" he called. "I found a way down!"</p><p></p><p>"That makes sense," commented Finoula, consulting the map. "The last door is a trap, and we need to be sunk - sunk under the floor, I assume."</p><p></p><p>Gilbert looked over at the far door. "I wonder what that 'armor air' all about?" he mused aloud.</p><p></p><p>"Do you really want to find out?" asked the elven ranger.</p><p></p><p>"Nah, not really," replied the wizard, following an eager Castillan down the stairs. Finoula remained in the chess room while everybody else, eager to get to the treasure, filed down the stairs. Although not seeing any danger, Gilbert wanted to be ready for anything, so he cast a <em>haste</em> spell on all those assembled around him - leaving Finoula without such an enhancement, as she didn't go down the stairs until after she was satisfied there was nobody coming up behind them.</p><p></p><p>The lower level consisted of a short tunnel ending in a cross at the end - basically, five 15-foot cubes lined up like a plus sign. Just past an open doorway, along the side walls of the closest of the 15-foot sections, stood six treasure chests. Each had its lid closed and latched, but there were no locks in place. Castillan approached cautiously, concerned that the lack of padlocks seemed a tad mysterious. After checking the first chest meticulously for traps and finding nothing untoward, he opened the chest's lid and found it to be filled nearly to the top with gold coins. Doing a quick appraisal based on the sizes of the coins and the shape of the chest, he estimated there were likely about 2,000 coins in the chest overall - a fact that the others were glad to hear.</p><p></p><p>Castillan opened the next chest after a less thorough investigation and saw it too was filled with gold coins. Darrien eagerly got into the action by flipping open the next chest and finding it filled with gold bars, and the one next to it filled with platinum coins. "Look at all this!" he exclaimed.</p><p></p><p>But Gilbert was uneasy. Why were these chests untrapped and unlocked? It was as if whoever had put them here were asking for them to be looted. Surely they didn't think the traps in the chambers before these would have taken care of any would-be plunderers? He sent Mudpie out to the center of the "plus sign" to check it out; the earth elemental dutifully did so and reported back only that there were paintings on each of the side walls, and another three chests along the back wall.</p><p></p><p>By then, Binkadink and Finoula had gotten caught up in the gold fever and had opened the last of the six closest chests. Gilbert strode forward and looked at the paintings along the side walls - murals, actually, with sea monsters depicted on one wall and a pirate ship sailing the waves on the other. The wizard headed over to the pirate ship, and was intrigued by the hint of movement from the corner of his eye. Was is his imagination, or did the waves seem to move? He stepped back for a better look, thinking it may have been a trick of the light from the <em>everburning torches</em> tied to Binkadink's helmet, but no - the waves were actually starting to move, and the ship bobbed up and down as it rode the waves. Gilbert spun around, and was half-convinced he had seen a tentacle move on the mural across the way.</p><p></p><p>But by then, Ingebold had rushed over to the first of the three chests across the way and opened it up. Inside were gemstones of numerous dazzling colors and various sizes; despite her dwarven heritage, she could only guess at their accumulated value, but judging by Castillan's bulging-eyed expression, it was a considerable sum. "Should we be sendin' some o' this through th' <em>ring gates</em> back t'th' kingdom?" she asked.</p><p></p><p>"Let's see what all we got first," said Gilbert. "We divvy up later."</p><p></p><p>Thus it was that Castillan flipped open the lid of the eighth chest, expecting more riches. Unfortunately, all that was inside was a light-sensitive trap that was instantly activated by the flickering illumination from Binkadink's antler-torches. Immediately, the four outer sections of floor making up the "plus sign" shape hinged upwards, spilling their occupants into the middle section as it formed a 15-foot cube. The six chests closest to the stairs and the chest of gems along the back wall had been left open, so their contents spilled out as the chests themselves - bolted or otherwise attached to the floor - attained a vertical orientation. The heroes, thrown in a heap in the central section of the floor were all pelted by coins, gems, and gold bars falling painfully down onto them.</p><p></p><p>"Where Mudpie?" demanded Gilbert frantically, looking around for his familiar. But Mudpie, once he felt the stone floor rising up, used his earth gliding ability to sink through the rising floor so that once it became a new vertical wall penning in his master and his other companions, Mudpie was safely on the other side of the floor-wall. He felt the mental link he shared with his master suddenly sever, and then the wall started lowering itself again. Mudpie earth glided through the wall as it resumed its original position as a floor.</p><p></p><p>The earth elemental walked into the center of the plus sign shape. The chests were still in place, but their contents - which had so excited his master and the others - were missing. And worse yet, so were the heroes he traveled with: of Gilbert Fung, Binkadink Dundernoggin, Finoula Cloudshadow, Castillan Ivenheart, Darrien, and Ingebold Battershield, there was no sign.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>T-Shirt Worn: I wore my "Moore-Hanes 125th Family Reunion" T-shirt, for a multitude of reasons. For one, it's green, and we played the day after St. Patrick's Day. For another, it features the silhouette of a tree, and I thought that was appropriate for representing not only Coventry, Delphyne's awakened oak tree companion, but also Darrien's family tree, which became a bit clearer during the course of the adventure.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7063668, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 31: SKUNKBEARD'S TREASURE[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Binkadink Dundernoggin, gnome fighter 10 Castillan Ivenheart, elf bounder 10 Darrien, half-elf ranger 10 Finoula Cloudshadow, elf ranger 10 Gilbert Fung, human wizard 10[/INDENT] NPC Roster: [INDENT]Aithanar Ivenheart, elf fighter 2 Ingebold Battershield, dwarven cleric 10 (Moradin)[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 18 March 2017 - - - After weeks of traveling through the Clatspur Mountains, spending time in the lands above, and then passing south through the mountain range again, it was good to be back home! Therefore, after stopping by the castle and dropping off the kingdom's half of the amassed treasure, the group unanimously opted to split up and visit their respective families. Binkadink finally got back at his cousin Jinkadoodle for his "fart in front of the king" gag. All it took was setting down the puzzle box they'd found in the gynosphinx Spiral's lair with a reluctant admission that he hadn't been able to figure out how to open it yet, and Jinkadoodle immediately fell for the trap. Grabbing it up, he experimented with it for a few minutes before triumphantly exclaiming success as it popped open. However, Castillan had helped Binkadink booby-trap the mechanism, and opening it caused the glass vial holding [i]sovereign glue[/i] to shatter, gluing the gnome's hands to the now-open box. "What the-- Hey!" sputtered Jinkadoodle, desperately trying to free his hands while Binkadink quickly made himself scarce. Castillan and Aithanar opted not to visit their family, given their (mutual) feelings towards their father. They went with Ingebold to Battershield Keep, to hang out in the room assigned to Castillan until the group was ready to head out to seek adventure once more. Gilbert, Finoula, and Darrien all went to visit their respective mothers. In Gilbert's case it was merely because his father, Verdant Gristwold, was out exploring the forest again, as he often did. As long as Gilbert could remember, his father would be away for weeks or sometimes months at a time. But he was glad to see his mother - even if she now wore the body of an orc woman. She reported the lessons in the Orcish language with King Galrich himself were coming along fine. "Orc language pretty simple," Harriet explained. "It not all tricky, like language we speak here." Finoula's father, [b]Daythen Cloudshadow[/b], had passed away several years back. It sometimes saddened Finoula to think that he'd never lived to see his daughter rise up to become an adventurer for the kingdom, but she knew they'd meet again in Ehlonna's Realm, after her own passing. But such thoughts inevitably led to the realization that her sister, Feron, was now a Sister of Ehlonna, and would doubtlessly manage to outshine her even in the afterlife.... Darrien had never known his father; for all of his life it had just been him and his mother, [b]Marta[/b], living in the small cabin at the edge of the Vesve Forest. She'd taught him the basics of woodcraft and he'd taken it from there, learning on his own the various aspects of being a ranger. He knew his mother was overjoyed that her son had been hand-selected - by the [i]King![/i] - to be one of Kordovia's official adventurers; that was one of her most poorly-guarded secrets. But it seemed she did have a secret or two that Darrien had never heard about.... "You know, I was once an adventurer too, for a brief time," Marta said, looking down at the floor. She smiled back up at her astounded son. "Oh, nothing too serious," she said, "Nothing like you and your friends have accomplished. But I didn’t always live here, you know. In my younger years, I went out to find my own fortune. I signed on with an adventuring team, and we actually took a ship out to sea to seek out lost pirate treasure, if you can believe that." She chuckled quietly to herself. "Nothing ever came of it, though. Well, I shouldn't say 'nothing' – we never found the treasure, just the island it's supposed to be buried on – but that's where I ended up with you." Darrien notice his mother was back to looking down at the floor and her hands kneaded her apron, as if talking about this made her nervous. "There was this terrible storm," she finally continued. "The ship we were on started taking on water, and we only just made it to the island – had to abandon ship and everything. I got separated from the others in the storm, and I ended up on this beach quite a ways away from where the rest of the group made it to land. Only-- only I wouldn't have made it to land on my own. I'm not that good of a swimmer, you see. I was nearly to the shore, but I kept going under, and I ended up swallowing water more than once. It was the most frustrating thing: when I surfaced I could see the beach ahead, but my limbs didn’t have the strength to make it there. "I would have drowned then and there, Darrien, if it hadn’t been for your father." She smiled at the recollection. "I don't know how he saw me on that dark night – elven vision, I guess. But he swam out to me and dragged me to shore. We spent the night there, huddled on the beach during the worst storm I'd ever seen in my life. Eventually, the storm subsided, and as weary as I was, I fell asleep. In the morning, he was gone. And nine months later, you were born." She put her hand into the pocket of her apron. "But I'm getting ahead of myself," she said, returning to her story. "The day after our shipwreck, I met up with the rest of my group and we made ourselves a little base camp. We ended up living there for about two months before we were able to signal to a passing ship and they came and rescued us. And we searched for that silly treasure the whole time we were there, but we never did find it. None of the pirates' instructions seemed to make any sense! By the time we had been rescued, none of us wanted to spend any more time on a treasure hunt, we were just glad to get back to civilization." Pulling her hand out of her apron pocket, she held out a crumpled sheet of parchment and passed it to Darrien. "I never learned your father's name," she said, "but I still have the treasure map we followed. I'm willing to bet your father lives somewhere on that island, or at least in the general vicinity. But here: my adventuring days, such as they were, are long over. You, on the other hand, are a professional adventurer! I don't know if there's anything behind this pirate treasure, but if there is, I’m sure you and your group will be much more capable of finding it than my group ever was!" Darrien carefully unfolded the map, which, he saw, was labeled "SKUNKBEARD'S TREASURE." It was a simple drawing of an island, with several features highlighted: Keyhole Bay, the Sord and Aro Rivers, Whale Carcass Beach, the Cliffs of Peril, a bear cave and a cave of statues, temple ruins, and a damaged statue. There was no indication as to where the island was located. "There's more on the back," Marta said to her son. Darrien flipped the parchment over, and read the following, written in a careful hand: "I'll take this to the others in the morning," Darrien promised his mother. - - - The other adventurers were as intrigued by the map - and by Darrien's story - as he was. "The Cave of the Not-Blooded - that's got to be the Cave of Statues," Castillan offered. "Yeah, but what about all this other stuff?" asked Binkadink. "It don't matter if he can't find island," pointed out Gilbert. "Come on - we go to castle, take it to historian." The castle historian was an elf named [b]Zalian Darisath[/b]. He looked at the hand-drawn map of the island disdainfully. "There's no sense of scale," he complained. "This could be a small continent or half a mile wide, or anywhere in between!" Still, he pulled out his atlases and started poring over their contents. After half an hour of scrutiny, he found an island that looked very much like the drawing on the map, judging by its shape. "La Isla Zorrillo," said Zalian, stabbing down with a slender finger onto a page of his atlas. "'The Island of Skunks,' in the Oljatt Sea, far to the east of Hepmonaland." That sounded about right to the group, hoping the skunks of the island offered a tie to Skunkbeard the pirate. Now, it was just a matter of getting to Hepmonaland, the continent to the south. Recalling that her father had been to Hepmonaland as part of his adventuring career, Ingebold suggested dropping in on Aerik. "We used to have some contacts in Hepmonaland," offered Aerik, stroking his beard. "Back when King Galrich an' I were adventurers, there was another entire Adventurers Guild stationed there. They got wiped out by lizardfolk, but you never know – they might've rebuilt, like [b]Thunderwolf[/b] did at Greyhawk City. It'd be worth checking out, in any case." Then a sudden smile lit up his face. "An' come t' think of it, there's somebody here at the castle what could give ye a lift!" Aerik brought the group directly to the officials in charge of the king's schedule. After a short discussion with them, the dwarven guard returned, beaming. "Right this way," he said, leading them into one of the castle's meeting halls. The heroes entered and saw King Galrich seated at a table with a middle-aged woman wearing a black gown and cloak. Her hair was mostly dark, but for two streaks of white framing her face. She and the king were sharing a glass of wine. Aerik beamed with obvious pride. "Miss Delphyne," he said, "May I introduce to you the Adventurers Guild of Kordovia?" Introductions were made all around, with King Galrich explaining that [b]Delphyne Babelberi[/b] had been an adventurer in his and Aerik's group. Now she wandered the world in her awakened oak tree, [b]Coventry[/b], occasionally popping in to see her now-regal friend when she was in the area. "Certainly, I can give you a lift to Hepmonaland," Delphyne said, smiling over her glass of wine. "Coventry can get you there in half a day. Shall we make it first thing in the morning?" That sounded good to the group, giving them enough time to wrap things up with their respective families. Delphyne also handed them a pair of thin metal hoops, each about 18 inches in diameter. "You're welcome to borrow these," she said. They're [i]ring gates[/i]; whatever you put through one ring comes out the other one." She further explained that these offered a one-way transit only, so if they left one in the castle treasury, they could put any pirate treasure they unearthed through the [i]ring gate[/i] and send it halfway across the world in the blink of an eye. "The command word's 'Delphyne' - so every time you use them you'll think of me!" the witch explained with a twinkle in her eye. "Thank ye," said Ingebold, taking the proffered items and handing one to her father. "We meet back here in morning, then," Gilbert said. - - - The next morning, all was in readiness. Delphyne led the group to the side of the castle, were an oak tree that hadn't been there the last time any of the heroes had been around this way stood. There was what looked like an elaborate tree fort in its upper branches. Gilbert frowned at [b]Percival[/b], the animated skull imbedded in the bark on the left of the front door, even after it greeted him a hearty hello. He looked back over at King Galrich, who took it in without concern, so the portly mage kept his mouth shut on the subject despite his fervent hatred of undead. His recently-enhanced vision, which allowed him to detect undead creatures, didn't trigger when he stared at Percival, so he decided it was likely just a skull that had been animated like you would any other object, not a part of an animated, undead skeleton. Thus assured, he mounted the steps inside the hollow trunk and climbed up to the main level, where he took a proffered seat at Delphyne's dining room table. "Are we all ready?" asked Delphyne as the group took their seats. "Wait a minute -- my raisins!" cried Darrien in sudden alarm. He pulled a cloth handkerchief from his pocket, untying it to reveal a small clump of three raisins. "I'll need to go see the healer woman before we leave," he apologized. "What this all about?" demanded Gilbert. "May I see them?" asked Delphyne. Darrien opted to ignore Gilbert and handed his handkerchief over to the witch. "Hmm," Delphyne murmured to herself. "[b]Babbit[/b], be a dear and fetch me my birch wand, would you?" In reply, a stuffed bunny walked from a bedroom over to a shelf of books, then levitated up three shelves to fetch a wand lying there. It adhered to the front of its stuffed-animal paw, and the rag-bunny lowered itself to the floor and walked the wand over to its mistress. Delphyne waved the wand over the three raisins, then dropped it to touch one of them. The target raisin shriveled away to nothingness. Then Delphyne held out her other hand, and her bunny-homunculus, having anticipated her desires, dropped a cluster of fresh green grapes into her hand. Delphyne touched the wand to the stem of the grape cluster and the grapes all withered away to raisins. "Here you go," Delphyne smiled to Darrien. The ranger started pulling the withered grapes off the stem, adding them to the two left in his handkerchief. "You want to explain this?" asked Gilbert. "It's medicine," said Darrien, not eager to elaborate until he saw the expectant look on Gilbert's face. "A half-elf malady I've had since I was little," he added. "I eat a raisin a week. No big deal." "If we're all ready, then?" asked Delphyne. "We're off to Thunder Bay!" she called to her tree. With a lurch, the oak tree pulled up its massive roots and started to slowly walk forward. "At your best speed," commanded the witch. "As you command, Mistress," replied Coventry, taking a single step. Finoula gave a gasp of surprise; she'd been looking out the window and saw a blur of motion and a sudden change of the scenery. It happened again with the next step, and the next. "You'll get used to it," advised Delphyne, looking out the window. "You've heard of [i]seven league boots[/i]? I've given Coventry [i]seven league roots[/i]!" Traveling at such a speed, it only took several hours to traverse down one continent and across half of another, and with only a few seconds spent in any one place the travelers had no trouble during their expedition. As they jumped forward seven leagues with each step, Darrien showed Delphyne the treasure map his mother had given to him. The witch looked it over, frowned, and handed it back. "I'm sorry," she said. "Figuring out puzzles was always Feron's forte," she said. "I'll tell you this, though – if that's a valid treasure map, there probably isn't a word on the back of the map that's not there for a reason." Coventry walked the last few miles at a normal pace so they wouldn't overshoot their mark. He dropped the group off at the edge of Thunder Bay - a hub of activity as this was the launching point for a great number of merchant vessels. "Just send a note through the [i]ring gate[/i] when you're ready to be picked up," advised Delphyne. "King Galrich has a means to reach me, and we'll be by the next day to come get you!" Then, with a round of thanks and goodbyes, the Kordovians stepped out of the Stick Palace among Coventry's branches and into Thunder Bay. "We go find this [b]Balama Theron[/b]," said Gilbert, heading toward the docks. But Balama, the ship's captain recommended to them by Aerik, was nowhere to be found. Many of the people they asked had never heard of her; some were familiar with her but hadn't seen her in many years. Finally, an old sailor gave them the information they had been seeking: "Balama Theron? No, both she and her vessel was lost at sea some six, seven years back now. But one of her old partners is still around. Head on over to dock 7 – the [i]Celestial Avatar[/i], captain's name is [b]Theodore McGraff[/b]." Captain McGraff was an interesting sort: a former pirate, he'd been set adrift in a rowboat to die by his crew for a distinct lack of bloodthirstiness; he'd been rescued by Balama and Galrich's band of adventurers, only to be slain during an adventure involving merfolk and sahuagin. Fortunately, he'd been [i]resurrected[/i] shortly thereafter and the experience had burned away any lingering thirst for adventure in the days since. Now he was a simple merchant, although he was willing to take on passengers if the price was right. Upon learning these adventurers were linked to Galrich and Aerik, he was willing to give them passage - for 100 pieces of gold up front and a clean 10% of any pirate treasure the group unearthed. "You planning on helping us find the treasure?" asked Gilbert. "Oh no! I'll take you to the island and I'll take you back, but any delving on the island is strictly your job!" argued Captain McGraff. "You no dealing with dangers, you no getting a cut!" argued Gilbert. "Fine!" agreed the captain. "Then in that case, the cost of passage is a solid thousand, in advance!" "Fine!" agreed Gilbert, thinking the captain would expect him to try to haggle the price down. "Elf boy, pay the man!" Castillan opened up his belt pouch, counted out a thousand gold coins' value in gemstones and passed them over to Captain McGraff, who examined them with a critical eye. "It'll be two days to get the ship stocked for the voyage," stated Captain McGraff. "I expect we can make La Isla Zorrillo in a month of sailing." Darrien did a quick mental count of the number of raisins in his handkerchief and nodded to himself - he had plenty on hand. The group found decent lodging for two nights and hit the shops. They stocked up on potions of both [i]water walking[/i] and [i]water breathing[/i], thinking either one would likely be handy in the months to follow. Darrien also purchased two wooden buckets and some fishing gear, thinking he might catch some fish during the voyage - or at least occupy himself during the attempt. To save room, he stashed them in the [i]portable hole[/i] - where Mudpie would be staying for the duration of the voyage. Gilbert wanted his earth elemental familiar to come along, but earth elementals are not fond of leaving solid ground; this seemed like a good compromise, especially since, as an elemental, Mudpie didn't need to breathe and thus wouldn't suffocate in the extradimensional hole's confines. "I hope Obvious is okay," Binkadink worried. He'd left his jackalope back at Battershield Keep with Aerik and Helga, not wanting to expose him to the dangers of a month-long ship voyage. For the same reason, Finoula had left her timber Wrath there as well, and Aithanar had promised - through pantomime, as his vocal deficiencies had yet to be fixed - to take care of the animals. - - - Three days later, the [i]Celestial Avatar[/i] headed out west of Thunder Bay. McGraff had a dozen crewmen with him; the heroes were provided hammocks in the lower deck along with the rest of his men. During that first day, Captain McGraff told them what he knew of the infamous pirate, Captain Skunkbeard. He had gotten his name because of the streak of white in his hair, which he continued on down through the middle of his moustache and beard with a bleaching agent. In addition, word was that early in Skunkbeard's career he had suffered a head injury which permanently deprived him of his sense of smell. Realizing what an advantage this gave him, he immediately stopped bathing until he positively reeked, then took to keeping a pair of captive skunks on board his vessel, with which he would douse himself in skunk spray immediately before battle. In time, his crew either became accustomed to the stench or learned to fight while wearing nose plugs; the men crewing the vessels Skunkbeard selected for plunder were not so acclimated and their combat skills suffered the worse for it. But some two decades or more, Captain Skunkbeard, and his infamous vessel - the [i]Sea Skunk[/i] - suddenly disappeared, never to have been seen since. The heroes also puzzled over the map of La Isla Zorrillo that Darrien's mother had provided, especially the clues inscribed on the back. It was Binkadink, surprisingly, who caught the first "trick" of the clues. "Let me see that!" he cried suddenly, snatching the map from Darrien's grasp. "Hey!" complained the half-elf ranger. "Careful with that!" But Binkadink had spread it out flat upon the deck. "Got a pen?" asked the gnome, and Gilbert reached into a pocket of his robes and produced an ink bottle and a writing stick. In careful letters, Binkadink wrote out the word "NOT" underneath every instance of the letters "R-E-D" as they appeared in the clues. "What you thinking, gnome?" asked Gilbert. "Remember what Delphyne said," replied Binkadink. "There's probably a good reason for every word to be here. So here, where it says "NOT INTO RED," that means all the places where it says 'NOT' should really say 'RED'." "Hmm, so it's 'CAVE OF THE RED-BLOODED', not 'CAVE OF THE NOT-BLOODED'," observed Castillan. "So we want to go to the bear cave, not the cave of statues! That's pretty tricky!" "Yeah, but look at this," said Binkadink, continuing his editing. "'YOU MIGHT THINK THE SAFE DOOR IS THE RED ONE - IT IS RED!'" "So what about this 'CHANGE INTO ORANGE'?" asked Gilbert. "The word "CHANGE' not in clues except for that first line." "No," agreed Finoula, looking over the others' shoulders. "But if you change 'CHANGE' into 'ORANGE', you're really just changing 'C-H' into 'O-R'." "Do it!" commanded Gilbert, and Binkadink, dipping his quill into the ink bottle, hurried to comply. Once he had finished (leaving the first line as written as he considered it to be instructions), and leaving spaces as appropriate to separate words, he had altered the set of clues to read as follows: "Well, that plenty clear," scoffed Gilbert. "What the Hell an armor air?" "And how do you "redify" a mirror pool?" asked Darrien. "Add blood to it?" suggested Finoula. "It's apparent that some of these clues won't be evident until we get there and see for ourselves," pointed out Castillan. "But good work, everyone! I think we've got the tricks figured out!" The heroes opted to take watch-shifts during the night, just as they would had they been traveling with their wagons, instead of depending solely on the sailors for their safety. Thus, around midnight, Finoula found herself on watch duty. To avoid the stares of leering sailors (she could tell a whole month at sea was going to be all kinds of fun!), she had scampered up to the crossbeam across the main mast and tied herself to it. She had a [i]potion of spider climb[/i] at her belt, but realizing its limited duration opted to use it only if necessary. In the meantime, she enjoyed the fresh air, the clear night full of stars, and the sounds of the waves crashing against the ship's hull. Her elven vision allowed her to scan the sea before her, alert for danger. But danger that night came from the sides of the [i]Celestial Avatar[/i]. Finoula heard a splash of water and a [i]thunk![/i] of something hitting the railing on the starboard side of the ship, followed almost immediately by a similar set of sounds from the port side. Scooting around the mast to which she was loosely bound, she looked down and saw what looked like a gargoyle climbing up over the railing. Another quartet of [i]thunks[/i] gave evidence that there were even more of these beasts climbing aboard. Finoula raised the alarm, calling out to the rest of the men on the deck; as they were all human, with their inferior night-vision, those not in the immediate vicinity of these intruders hadn't noticed them on their own. But as the kapoacinths climbed on board the vessel and struck out at the nearest targets, the screams of the crewmen started waking those asleep belowdecks. Castillan and Darrien were the first to respond. Each grabbed up a weapon and made it up the stairs at the front of the vessel to see what was going on. By then, the sailors on the top deck had grabbed up whatever weapons they had at hand to try to fight off the sea-gargoyles, and Finoula's [i]whip of thorns[/i] was lashing down at one of the first kapoacinths to have boarded. Darrien called down to the others to wake up as he loaded an arrow to his [i]Arachnibow[/i] and let fly, shooting a kapoacinth in the back as he threatened a crewman with his claws and teeth. Ingebold stomped up the stairs behind Darrien, dressed in her night shift and wielding her warhammer, but the narrow passageway didn't allow her access to the deck with the half-elf in the way. So she cast a [i]spiritual weapon[/i] in the form of a warhammer and sent it floating past Darrien's head to start striking at their enemies. Castillan was having little effect with the bolts from his light crossbow, while Finoula and Darrien seemed to be dealing all kinds of damage with their magical weapons. [i]That's the difference![/i] realized the bounder, snapping his fingers and calling his [i]stonepiercer dagger[/i] to hand. Together, the magic-enhanced weapons and spells (especially a [i]cone of cold[/i] from a grumpy and sleep-deprived Gilbert, who came to the fight late demanding what all the fuss was about) started to take their toll on the kapoacinth boarding party. With half of their number slain, three of the remaining four opted to flee, while their leader - who had gone to the back of the ship to menace the steersman on duty, and thus had missed out on the desertion of his fellows - attacked alone. Once he saw that he was the only one of his force still attacking, he too opted to flee, but Binkadink's glaive cut him down before he could follow through with the thought. "Just in time!" gasped the gnome. "I thought I wasn't going to get one!" Two of the sailors had been slain in the attack, and half a dozen more wounded. Ingebold used her healing spells to tend to the wounded, making her an immediately popular passenger. As for those slain, Capt McGraff said a few words over their bodies and dumped them overboard; they had known what to expect when they signed on as crew, and most sailors assumed they'd eventually go to a watery grave when their time came. The ship pressed on, cutting through the waves as it headed east. And it continued on its course for the better part of a month, during which the passengers and crew saw plenty of interest but no further danger. A pod of friendly dolphins danced alongside the vessel for awhile, amusing both themselves and the heroes who watched with wonder at their antics. Castillan made a very small fortune - no point in making deadly enemies on a boat this small - playing cards with the sailors; they played for copper pieces, and the bounder enjoyed winning the hands more so than the winnings themselves. But eventually, a few days short of a month since the [i]Celestial Avatar[/i] left port at Thunder Bay, one of McGraff's mates called out "Land ho!" and La Isla Zorrillo came into view. "I assume you want to head ashore at Keyhole Bay?" asked Captain McGraff. It was the most logical place to head for land, judging from the map. Upon their agreement, he headed for the lighter waters of the bay, and the heroes dropped the ship's two rowboats into the water. One boat held Darrien, Castillan, and Ingebold, with the half-elf at the oars; the other held Gilbert, Binkadink, Finoula, and a crewman, as once the heroes were ashore the rest of the crew would need shuttled over to resupply the ship with fresh water and fruit, and maybe even some game, if any could be found. Not knowing what dangers lay before them, the adventurers were all decked out in their armor, with [i]endure elements[/i] spells keeping the jungle heat from causing any difficulties. The island's first difficulties started before the heroes had even gotten on firm ground; before, even, the rowboats had made half the distance to shore. In a meticulously-synchronized attack, both sets of oars were snatched from the rowers at the same time as a pair of hands grabbed onto one side of each rowboat, tugging that side down. Simultaneously, the other side of the boats were pushed upright from unseen hands below the water. The end result was the same for both rowboats: seven people unceremoniously dunked overboard, with those in heavy armor regretting their decision not to wait until they got to shore to don their protection. Binkadink was glad he was in his red dragon plate mail instead of his previous set of armor, which was solid metal, but kicking his way back to the surface (while still holding his glaive in a death-grip to prevent it from being lost) took all of his concentration and effort - and more time than he would have preferred. Castillan, Finoula, and Gilbert each managed to swim back up to the surface on their own - Gilbert casting a [i]fly[/i] spell as soon as he could breathe and speak aloud - while Ingebold sank like a stone. Darrien, seeing this, dove down to grab her and try to drag her to the surface, all the while aware that his entire body felt...funny. His neck was suddenly itchy, as were his fingers and toes, and despite this being the first time actually trying to swim in the ocean (his only other aquatic excursions had been in the Velverdyva River as a child and his recent immersion in Lake Quag), he managed to maneuver as if he'd been born to the task. Grabbing Ingebold's armor by the back of the neck, he spun in place and started kicking back up to the surface - and almost bumped into one of the foes responsible for their sudden dunking. "Oh, crap!" said one of the aquatic elves that had capsized the boats and were moving in for battle with their submerged victims. He lowered his trident from its attack position and called in the Elven tongue to his allies to do likewise. "Quick--somebody go get [b]Alvarath[/b]!" he commanded and an aquatic elf swam off to do so. Darrien took the opportunity to get Ingebold's head above water, and she gulped in air gratefully. Seeing that battle had apparently broken off, the ranger helped Ingebold climb back into the rowboat, and then froze, staring at his hands. Darrien's hands had suddenly grown much thicker webbing between his fingers than he was used to and his skin coloration was now a bit on the greenish side. He involuntarily gasped in surprise - and got an even bigger surprise as the gill-slits opened along the sides of his neck and cool ocean water was sucked in. A small contingent of aquatic elves surfaced alongside the heroes as they struggled back into their rowboats. Sheepishly, those who had grabbed the oars from the rowers handed them back as a burly sea elf's head popped up alongside the boat near Darrien. The half-elf ranger turned to look at this newcomer and both froze in shock, for the two men might as well have been looking in a mirror: they each had the same facial features, the same quizzical scowl - granted, Alvarath had a darker shade of green hair (although Darrien's once-brown hair now had green streaks and highlights) and a greener tone to his skin, and as a full-blooded aquatic elf his ears were longer than his half-elven son, but there was no denying Darrien's heritage. "I am Alvarath," the sea elf said by way of introduction, speaking the language of elves. "I am Darrien," replied his son in the same language. "My mother is Marta." The name didn't seem to mean anything to Alvarath; just as she had never learned the name of Darrien's father, it seemed as if he had never learned her name, either. "This a bit awkward," stage-whispered Gilbert, earning himself an elbow in the ribs from Finoula. Given the fact that his son was one of the sea elves' intended victims, Alvarath begrudgingly allowed them to continue on to the island. Another group of elves had begun chopping through the bottom of the [i]Celestial Avatar[/i] in order to sink it - this being the way the elves gained new weapons and various treasures; now, the attack having ceased, Alvarath granted the group a week's time to deal with whatever business they had on the island and to effect repairs on their ship. Then, with a final nod to his son, he led his troop back below the waves. Back on the rowboat with the others, Darrien felt his gill-slits sealing back up in the warm sun. His mind was awash with feelings and sudden realizations: those raisins he'd been taking all of his life weren't for a "half-elf ailment" as his mother had claimed - they were to hide the aquatic elf half of his heritage! His initial thoughts were of betrayal for having had this secret kept from himself, but upon further reflection he realized his mother had just wanted to shield him from further ostracizing - half-elves were often shunned by both of their parent races; Marta had likely just wanted him to be no more of an outcast than he might have been, otherwise. "Ye okay, Darrien?" asked Ingebold. "Yeah," said Darrien. "But hey! I just realized what my mirror prophecy means!" "What was yours again?" asked Castillan. "I don't remember the words exactly, but it was something along the lines of 'You can run a race along different paths, but you're not on the path you think you're on' - or something like that." "I don't get it," admitted the bounder, frowning. "It's not a race like a foot race - it's a race like the elven race," explained Darrien. "So, are ye gonna continue eatin' them raisins?" asked Ingebold as Darrien started rowing the boat to shore. "I haven't decided yet," he admitted. Once at the shore, they pulled one boat up onto the sand while the [i]Celestial Avatar[/i] crewman who had accompanied them started rowing the other boat back to the ship, to pick up a group of sailors for a resupply mission. "I'll fly on ahead to check things out," said Gilbert before doing just that, flying low over the Aro River to make sure the way was clear. He returned in a few minutes, warning the group of a pair of oversized rheas wading in the waters of the river - which didn't look to be very deep or very wide; [i]more like a large stream[/i], thought Gilbert. The dire rheas were easily avoided, and presently the group stood outside what had been marked as "BEAR CAVE" on the map. Landing on the ground, Gilbert asked for and was handed the [i]portable hole[/i], which he spread on the ground to let out his familiar. Mudpie, as an earth elemental, did not like ocean travel, and had happily waited for a month inside the airless, extradimensional space rather than be subjected to the constant knowledge of how far he was separated from solid earth. Now on an island, he took his place at his master's side. "Go check out cave," commanded Gilbert, and his familiar sunk into the ground to go exploring as only he could. He returned with a report of two adult dire bears and one cub in a large chamber, with two side passages leading down to a lower chamber holding a pool of water. "That our mirror pool!" chuckled Gilbert. "Let's go!" The first chamber inside the cave mouth was empty but for the remains of previous meals; the portly wizard saw bones belonging to various animals and a few human bones here and there as well. But the dire bears were one chamber deeper into the cave complex. Gilbert called out a cheery "Hello!" to announce their presence and get the bears to approach; then, once they were in position, he cast a [i]fireball[/i] spell that nearly killed the cub outright and singed the adults. The largest dire bear roared in pain and rage and charged forward; as Gilbert dropped back Darrien shot three arrows into its shoulder in rapid succession. At his side, Binkadink stepped forward and stabbed at the male with his magic glaive, just as Ingebold brought a [i]flame strike[/i] falling down on the two adults. The male, wobbling on weak legs and barely remaining upright, was brought down by another pair of arrows from Darrien's [i]Arachnibow[/i]. As its body crashed to the ground, the ranger switched targets in an instant and sent another arrow flying into the female's neck. Castillan finished her off with a bolt from his crossbow. He threw another bolt into his weapon and cranked it back, targeting the cub, but Darrien forced him to stay his hand. "It's just a baby," pointed out Darrien. "Yeah, a baby as big as one of us!" argued the bounder. But Darrien's compassion won the day; while the others skirted past it to head down to the pool of water, the half-elf ranger fed the wounded dire bear cub one of the healing potions from his belt. "You stay here," he said, rubbing the side of its furry head. "We've got some stuff to do, but then we'll be back for you." The ranger had some thoughts of taking the bear home with them, although how they were going to deal with a man-sized bear cub on a month-long sea voyage was a plan with some kinks still needing work. But he left the cub and joined his friends, who had verified the pool chamber was empty. "We need to 'redify' the 'mirror pool'," said Finoula. "Good thing I brought a bucket," said Darrien, fetching one of his new purchases from the [i]portable hole[/i]. He dragged it back up to the slain dire bears, filling it with blood and lugging it back down to the water of the pool. "Here goes!" he said, tipping the bucket's contents into the clear waters of the subterranean pool. "Now what?" asked Finoula. "Let's find out," offered Binkadink, stepping into the pool of water where the blood had "redified" it. Feeling for the ground with his feet, he felt a set of stairs leading down. Despite the clear parts of the water showing a depth of maybe three feet, the gnome's body sunk lower and lower as he progressed towards the middle of the pool, finally submerging completely. The others followed in a single-file line. Binkadink was not surprised to see a completely different chamber awaiting him at the bottom of the stairs; after all, he'd surmised this was probably a [i]teleport gate[/i] of some type, and he was likely now somewhere else entirely on the island. He was surprised that having completely submerged under the pool's waters and continuing on down the stairs had somehow excised his armor and clothes of water - he was bone dry! [i]Magic[/i], the gnome scoffed. This first underground room held three doors. On two were the images of pirates, while the third held a carving of a chicken. After confirming that the chicken carving was taller than either of the pirates, they opted to go through the door with the biggest "hen or man" - so the chicken door it was. Binkadink led them down a corridor that opened into another small room with three doors, this time each painted a different color: red, green, and blue. The blue and green doors each had a skull painted on them. Again consulting their map, they went with the red door, which should be the "safe one." The door was surprisingly heavy, for despite being a sturdy-looking wooden door, once the gnome pulled it open he saw the other side of the door contained a solid slab of stone. The reason for this was obvious: the short corridor beyond was filled with flames! The gnome could feel the heat on his skin and could see another stone door at the end of the corridor. "It's got to be an illusion," he said to himself, then, after taking a breath, closed his eyes and walked forward into the flames. Finoula gasped, but the flames didn't seem to be doing him any harm. "It's safe!" he called back to the others, before opening the door at the far side and advancing into the next room. One at a time the others followed, their wills buoyed by the fact they'd just seen the gnome fighter pass through the flames unscathed. Neither of them was bothered by the illusory flames, and they all entered the next room with Binkadink. This room was shaped like an elongated gem: basically, a rectangle with its corners cut off to form an octagon. Another door stood in the middle of the far wall, but it was the floor that had caught everyone's attention. Carved into the stone floor at irregular intervals were the following words: "Look down center of words!" announced Gilbert. "It spell, 'HONCHORDEATH' - but map says passwords are 'honor' and 'death'!" Unfortunately, in speaking both command words aloud, he activated both the positive effect and the negative one. With a loud "click," the door at the far side of the room unlocked. At the same time, the diagonal sections in the corners of the room slid down into recesses below them, revealing some sort of automaton stationed behind each hidden door. "Uh oh," added the wizard. Binkadink raced over to the far door, pulled it open, and stood beside it, his glaive at the ready. "Hurry!" he called. "Maybe they won't chase us past this room!" Gilbert, Castillan, and Darrien, being the closest to the now open door, rushed to follow the gnome's advice, with Mudpie following after his master. Finoula spun around to see how Ingebold, the furthest back in the room and one of their slowest runners, would fare - would she make it out of this room on her own, or if Finoula dashed out would she be leaving her Battle-Sister behind to a possible grisly death? The look on the dwarven cleric's face showed she didn't think much for her chances of making it out of the room before the automatons could get to her, so she cast a [i]sanctuary[/i] spell on herself as she ran the length of the room. Before she could get the spell finished two of the constructs smashed down at her with their hammer hands, but she was able to finish the spell despite the painful distraction. Binkadink stepped forward with his glaive, trusting in his [i]golembane scarab[/i] to aid his damage potential against these heavily-armored constructs, slashing at the nearest with his glaive. He grinned when he saw he had done at least some damage to the device. Satisfied that Ingebold was relatively safe, Finoula ran past Binkadink into the assumed safety of the next room. All four hammerer automatons approached Ingebold, she being the nearest target, but only one was able to overcome the spell and send its hammer-appendage crashing down on the cleric. But Ingebold survived the attack, dashed past it and the gnome and into the next room, leaving Binkadink to follow her and slam the door shut behind him. Then he stepped back, aiming at the shut door with his glaive, ready if the constructs opted to follow. They did not; following their programming, they saw no enemies in the room and each returned to its station. The hidden doors made a grinding sound as they rose back up to seal the constructs off until the next intrusion into the room. "Remember this for the way back," suggested Gilbert. While all this was happening, Castillan was busy examining the new room. There was another door along the far wall, but what interested him more was the chessboard carved into the floor with alternating white and black marble. Carefully traversing the area, he noted a slight change in the sound as he walked over a section of the chessboard. Dropping to his knees, he found a seam along four tiles, and, prying them up with a knife, found a trap door with a set of steps leading down into darkness. "Guys!" he called. "I found a way down!" "That makes sense," commented Finoula, consulting the map. "The last door is a trap, and we need to be sunk - sunk under the floor, I assume." Gilbert looked over at the far door. "I wonder what that 'armor air' all about?" he mused aloud. "Do you really want to find out?" asked the elven ranger. "Nah, not really," replied the wizard, following an eager Castillan down the stairs. Finoula remained in the chess room while everybody else, eager to get to the treasure, filed down the stairs. Although not seeing any danger, Gilbert wanted to be ready for anything, so he cast a [i]haste[/i] spell on all those assembled around him - leaving Finoula without such an enhancement, as she didn't go down the stairs until after she was satisfied there was nobody coming up behind them. The lower level consisted of a short tunnel ending in a cross at the end - basically, five 15-foot cubes lined up like a plus sign. Just past an open doorway, along the side walls of the closest of the 15-foot sections, stood six treasure chests. Each had its lid closed and latched, but there were no locks in place. Castillan approached cautiously, concerned that the lack of padlocks seemed a tad mysterious. After checking the first chest meticulously for traps and finding nothing untoward, he opened the chest's lid and found it to be filled nearly to the top with gold coins. Doing a quick appraisal based on the sizes of the coins and the shape of the chest, he estimated there were likely about 2,000 coins in the chest overall - a fact that the others were glad to hear. Castillan opened the next chest after a less thorough investigation and saw it too was filled with gold coins. Darrien eagerly got into the action by flipping open the next chest and finding it filled with gold bars, and the one next to it filled with platinum coins. "Look at all this!" he exclaimed. But Gilbert was uneasy. Why were these chests untrapped and unlocked? It was as if whoever had put them here were asking for them to be looted. Surely they didn't think the traps in the chambers before these would have taken care of any would-be plunderers? He sent Mudpie out to the center of the "plus sign" to check it out; the earth elemental dutifully did so and reported back only that there were paintings on each of the side walls, and another three chests along the back wall. By then, Binkadink and Finoula had gotten caught up in the gold fever and had opened the last of the six closest chests. Gilbert strode forward and looked at the paintings along the side walls - murals, actually, with sea monsters depicted on one wall and a pirate ship sailing the waves on the other. The wizard headed over to the pirate ship, and was intrigued by the hint of movement from the corner of his eye. Was is his imagination, or did the waves seem to move? He stepped back for a better look, thinking it may have been a trick of the light from the [i]everburning torches[/i] tied to Binkadink's helmet, but no - the waves were actually starting to move, and the ship bobbed up and down as it rode the waves. Gilbert spun around, and was half-convinced he had seen a tentacle move on the mural across the way. But by then, Ingebold had rushed over to the first of the three chests across the way and opened it up. Inside were gemstones of numerous dazzling colors and various sizes; despite her dwarven heritage, she could only guess at their accumulated value, but judging by Castillan's bulging-eyed expression, it was a considerable sum. "Should we be sendin' some o' this through th' [i]ring gates[/i] back t'th' kingdom?" she asked. "Let's see what all we got first," said Gilbert. "We divvy up later." Thus it was that Castillan flipped open the lid of the eighth chest, expecting more riches. Unfortunately, all that was inside was a light-sensitive trap that was instantly activated by the flickering illumination from Binkadink's antler-torches. Immediately, the four outer sections of floor making up the "plus sign" shape hinged upwards, spilling their occupants into the middle section as it formed a 15-foot cube. The six chests closest to the stairs and the chest of gems along the back wall had been left open, so their contents spilled out as the chests themselves - bolted or otherwise attached to the floor - attained a vertical orientation. The heroes, thrown in a heap in the central section of the floor were all pelted by coins, gems, and gold bars falling painfully down onto them. "Where Mudpie?" demanded Gilbert frantically, looking around for his familiar. But Mudpie, once he felt the stone floor rising up, used his earth gliding ability to sink through the rising floor so that once it became a new vertical wall penning in his master and his other companions, Mudpie was safely on the other side of the floor-wall. He felt the mental link he shared with his master suddenly sever, and then the wall started lowering itself again. Mudpie earth glided through the wall as it resumed its original position as a floor. The earth elemental walked into the center of the plus sign shape. The chests were still in place, but their contents - which had so excited his master and the others - were missing. And worse yet, so were the heroes he traveled with: of Gilbert Fung, Binkadink Dundernoggin, Finoula Cloudshadow, Castillan Ivenheart, Darrien, and Ingebold Battershield, there was no sign. - - - T-Shirt Worn: I wore my "Moore-Hanes 125th Family Reunion" T-shirt, for a multitude of reasons. For one, it's green, and we played the day after St. Patrick's Day. For another, it features the silhouette of a tree, and I thought that was appropriate for representing not only Coventry, Delphyne's awakened oak tree companion, but also Darrien's family tree, which became a bit clearer during the course of the adventure. [/QUOTE]
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