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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eccles" data-source="post: 5608684" data-attributes="member: 5675">25th JuneThe lone guardian Orc slumps to the ground, the aftermath of its last stand can still be heard, three fleeing Orcs bellowing for aid as they vanish along the corridor and out of sight. We make the choice to follow rather than catch our breath and follow them deeper into the underground tomb. We pass through a large cavern with a huge carved statue of a dragons head, in its mouth is an ominous black sphere that seems to suck at the nearby light, with no time to investigate we sprint passed continuing on the trail of the Orcs into a long curved corridor, we hear the sound of a door slamming shut ahead, out of view.As we continue along the corridor we see that off to one side is a door (the only door we’ve seen so far) and the corridor carries on, not wanting to risk charging passed the hiding Orcs we quickly check it for traps and swing it open, catching a fleeting glimpse of a study, a desk dominates the middle of the room with a black glass sphere etched with golden runes, the sphere sits in a little pedestal atop the desk, however with no sign of the Orcs the room must wait till later and we continue along the corridor to its end where it opens out into a laboratory of some design, devices and contraption litters the walls, huge glass pipes filled with gushing molten lava line several of the walls basking the room in a vile red glow. Along the final wall is a row of ever increasing glass tubes and tanks, various things seem to be growing inside them, in the largest stands a partially grown scum, drifting near lifelessly in the green gloop, it twitches as brick runs up to it, pressing his stony face to the glass in unabashed awe!A series of tortured female screams pierce the silence and our attention is dragged back to the fleeing Orc, clearly they are coming from the other side of the door exiting the lab. We try the door but obviously something heavy on the other side is blocking it, Kain and Cricket waste no time in putting their shoulders to the door and with a splintering of wood the pair stumble into a huge cavern, a river of lava snakes its way across the cavern floor, a large stone bridge resting over it, rows of cells fill one wall, while a door way stands between us and the source of the screams. Near the middle of the room and across the bridge wait three Orcs, two showing signs of their battle with us, the third injured Orc is no where to be seen.Fight Highlights:* Lembit starts the fight unleashing his primal allies, a flock of guardian eagles appear from nowhere harrying the Orcs, their slashing talons steer them towards the lava river, one slips over the edge vanishing into the molten stone, the other two manage to fall and catch themselves on the edge.* Cricket and Kain cross the bridge to prey upon the prone Orcs, finally able to see into the cells they spy a fourth Orc sat inside a magical circle, behind him a carved stone Menhir glows with ominous power, the stone seems to be wrapped in many layers of wire that leads to some strange device with too many dials and levers!* The “brave” bard Brick sets his sights upon the other room, keen to help whichever maiden is in distress and boots open the door… he face loses its “heroic” expression as he stares into the cold mask of an inquisitor (the very same one that we fought at the wagon, many weeks ago), his claw dripping with blood from the maiden strapped into a chair. “Now!” he orders and the four Orcs in the room pull the triggers of their crossbows peppering the unfortunate bard, the weapons then fall to the floor in a clatter as they each pull battleaxes and stalk towards the doorway.* Unable to stop himself the bard continues the spell that was half formed on his lips, sending his magical song arcing towards the Inquisitor, his claw flashes up, twists and reflects the spell back at brick, he frowns knowing that when his enemies strike him they will be bolstered and healed by his own magic.* Silas and Lembit form a very profitable partnership, launching bolts of burning hellfire at the inquisitors bodyguards in the torture room, Blarney the Imp (Lembit’s familiar)astride theShamans Totem animal roars with encouragement, goading the warlock into launching more attacks.* Back out in the cavern the remaining Orcs (along with their new found ally from the circle) all surround the barbarian but are unable to land a blow due to the mans silky jig like footwork!* The Inquisitor sets his sights upon the bard and chases him out the room slashing at his back with his claws, with many cries of “VENGEANCE” and glorifying praise to Leska he slashes and tears bloody strips from the goliaths hide.* However Brick is quick to show a few more tricks that lie up his puffy sleeves “Dun dun DUH, ROCKET MAN!” he trills and literally explodes, launching himself across the room, over the lava river and down near the Orcs flailing at the barbarian, coming down in cloud of glittering smoke, however it would appear there was a little too much smoke and not enough fire to the Bards trick as none of the Orcs were harmed, across the river the Inquisitor emerges from the smoke, clearly unimpressed as he steps onto the bridge in pursuit.* Lembit unleashes the power of the elements, lashing his enemies with primal energy while healing his allies, however the Inquisitor flicks his claw out trying to redirect the power, instead the magic just fizzles around him, failing to take form. Alarmed at the actions of the inquisitor Lembit scurries away to check upon the fate of the torture victim leaving Silas to continue his assault upon the quickly dwindling number Orc guards.* With the inquisitor suitably distracted Kain prepares for his downfall, tapping his Solei Polansis badge he steps up, his dagger glowing brightly with radiant energy and plunges his dagger into the inquisitors neck (scoring a critical hit), the Ragesian only grunts in pained satisfaction as energy streaks from him to his oath bound target, Brick. The song on the bards’ lips ends abruptly as blood streaks down his chest and he collapses to the ground. His Oath served the murderous gaze of the inquisitor falls upon Kain.* The Inquisitor calls upon one of his evil powers to heal himself, calling upon Leska once again Cricket, Kain and the unfortunate Brick find themselves suddenly whipped upon into the nether as the inquisitor attempts to teleport us into the lava, but our will is strong and we find ourselves perched upon the edge, slightly on fire, much to the disappointment of the Ragesian, however he cheers himself up by plunging his claw into the prone rogue.* In retaliation Cricket lets out a Berserk howl and smashes his huge blade into him (another Critical Hit), cutting a huge chunk out of the inquisitor, however his new oath target takes a similar wound and Kain drops to the floor in a puddle of his own blood.* Sensing that once again things have not gone his way the Inquisitor begins reaching for his talisman, “Noooooooooooooooooooooo!” growls Cricket, about to be denied again! He begins to utter the prayers of teleportation and a column of pillar engulfs him, however when the fire dissipates he is still stood there a little confused, the sheer amount of rock above us preventing his magic, in front of him the barbarian grins “you’re mine!”, a glint of fear shines in the inquisitors eyes, but cricket senses its not for him. “Never” promises the Inquisitor slashing his claw across the barbarian’s chest and then onwards, upwards and into his own throat, his body slumps over Crickets’ feet, blood slowly covering the stone bridge and bleeding into the lava.On his body we find a magical holy symbol devoted to Grand Inquisitor Leska and his small teleportation talisman (that prevents being immolated while teleporting up to a mile in distance, at least that’s as much as Lembit estimates).Lembit aids the torture elf woman, bile rising his throat as he examines her wounds easily noticing that she has been tortured many times, bled to near death and then magically healed and restored until the process can be done again, and again. When she is finally brought around she reveals hername is Fa’Qaniel, she tried to teleport into the caves here but was redirected into the cells along with her apprentice Timor. We find her apprentice in one of the locked cells; it would seem he avoided torture so far, no doubt to be next when his mistress finally died.Timor tells us that the inquisitor was called Darius and much to Cricket’s amusement tells the tale of the day we met him at the wagon, he had retreated to here when he teleported away badly injured. He continues to tell that Darius entered the main cell with the magical circle and used the device there to heal himself, he feels confident that he could operate the apparatus should we wish to make use of it, Lembit aggress to go first.The apprentice busies himself with the controls of the device, an ominous hum drones from the machinery as some sort of energy begins to charge, the runes of the circle begin to pulse and with a crack of thunder the Shaman is gone…Lembit finds himself stood upon a barge drifting serenely across a placid lake towards an opulent palace lights up the night sky. As if in a trance or dream the shaman disembarks and treads softly along a gilded skywalk to the palace entrance. Gold and ebony statues of dragons leer down at him, their gemmed eyes seem to follow him as he treads. Inside he passes through it lavish corridor and its faceless occupants seem to wallow in decadence, nothing denied for their entertainment.Soon he finds himself entering a huge audience chamber, filling the space from entrance to throne are a hundred prostrate inquisitors, clad in their bear skins and masks, the object of their devotion stands Leska, clad in flowing red robes covered with dangling shamanic totems, charms and amulets, the material of her robes seem to defy the laws of nature, floating and swirling about her as if she were a source of gravity in her own right. His focus are drawn to the sigils as they flash and twist about her, certain that they cover a wide and varied range of primal traditions, some of which he is sure conflict in nature.Her face lies hidden behind a skull mask, its jaw missing to reveal her own mouth, blood-red lips sit in a permanent scowl. “Take my blessing” she says reaching out with a gloved hand and seems to touch the shamans very soul, it quakes at the icy cold flooding through him. “The power of the Scourge shall refresh and sustain you. Your life at the mortal cost of others is a small price for the final reward. Their sacrifice is now your strength!”She continues her speech but the shaman hears none of it, his mind distracted by the myriad of screams that seems to assault his senses alone, looking at the Grand Inquisitor it’s as if she is clothed in ghosts, they swirl around her like her robes, desperate to leave but trapped and tortured. Noticing that something is perhaps wrong, the look of scorn drops for the briefest moment from Leska, “WHAT?” she growls in outrage raising her hand…The shaman collapses forwards… stumbling out of the magical circle, skin pale and oozing with sweat.Brick hops into the circle immediately upon Lembits return, urging Timor to activate the machine while Lembit is telling his tale. The apprentice is suddenly very hesitant to complete the inputs required to activate it, but brick charms the man asking for the final few directions and once shared the bard wastes no time in jabbing them in and vanishes!When he returns a few moments later he is launched from the device, being flung some thirty feet through the air landing in a heap near the lava river, it takes him a few moments to climb to his feet and calm down, the lines of fear still etched in his face, but assures people it was worth it (and bythat we can only assume he meant seeing Grand Inquisitor Leska and seeing someone sacrificed to restore his vitality) as he is “refreshed and fighting fit, lets get back to the LAB!” leading the way with a skip in his step.Searching the Laboratory:* Here Brick finds a collective work on Biomancy and essentially a “how to build a monster” and “my first Biomancy” set of pamphlets with which he might be able to make progress into the study himself.* We also find an empty bottle with traces of magic that Brick desperately wants to open and investigate, Lembit steps in as the voice of reason “you don’t open strange bottles found in laboratories, did no on teach you anything boy!, you can have the bottle once you’ve read those things” he says pointing at the bundle of papers the bard cradles like a child. However upon investigating it himself he believes it to be a bottle of endless air, confirmed when he pulls out the stopped to a whistling breeze. We suspect it was used as a type of aqualung to get through the water passage.Searching the Masters Office:* Hunting around the study we find a few hidden collections of cash (3300gp) and trinkets (a level 9, 10 and 12).* With all the hidden things found our attention is turned to the obvious, namely the black orb on the desk with its golden swirling runes that show two godlike beings throwing storms and lightning at each other. Lembit spends a few minutes examining the object and generally slapping Bricks hands away whenever he tries to touch it, before he reaches an epiphany! “This is a Hurricane Orb, very rare indeed!” and then waffles on about it, but cutting to the chase it requires a devoted amount of life force to activate each day and will summon a hurricane as long as it is near water “they also come with a control rod, to eh… well control the level of storm!” the shaman explains.Searching the Stone Dragon:* Finally we return to the chamber containing the huge stone dragon head and the deathly black orb contained within its mouth. After much speculation about it possibly being a sphere of annihilation, Lembit deduces that its nothing more than an illusion (albeit a very good one) and steps inside the huge orb, bangs his head upon the stone wall hidden in the darkness but discovers a tunnel big enough to crawl along!* Investigating the tunnel we find a small room, well more of a sauna, its grilled floor rests directly over a slow flowing river of lava that basks the whole area in sweltering red light. On the other side of the room is a large ornate looking stone door, its framed etched with cruel and twisted looking runes. Blarney identifies them at Infernal and translates for us “The spirit of the Pyromancer Damatarion shall destroy those who disturb his bodies rest”.* We give the door a testing examination, it is immensely powerful and for once being extremely careful the none competent of us (Brick & Cricket in this case) wait in the Stone Dragon room as Lembit, Silas and Kain pool their collective knowledge to try and open the door. (An assisted Thievery Roll hitting 40, squeaking passed the DC35 required) and the stone door simply melts through the grilled floor into the lava below.* Inside is an even scarier looking room made from burnished brass frame work and enchanted glass that steers and funnels the lava around its floor, beyond a large black stone sarcophagus. The trio venture inside allowing themselves a short rest before they tackle the next obstacle, behind them they see the door start to slowly reform but decide to remain within, hopeful they’ll be about to open the door again once they have its treasures! (Again another fortuitous roll of 48 manages to get the coffin open without anything nasty and they gingerly retrieve the shines from the withered corpse within (a level 10, 12 and 13 items).* With equal luck and the memories of Lembits many deaths (and the lives before them) to guide them they manage to escape the tomb and venture back into the comforting coolness of the stone dragon room, happy that we’ve cleared the place of its hidden secrets we venture back using the bottle of endless water to reach the flooded prison above.Back on the surface the severity of the storm quickly becomes apparent, the broken building quakes beneath the might of the fierce winds whipping through its ruined rooms, we wade through the water making our way outside, our eyes peeled for any traces of Sidoneth. Our prayers are answered when we near the exit and see the bright orange body of lulu swish through the water in front of us, he must be close!Lembit is the first to step from the prison entrance into the sea, swimming out a little way from the safety of the structure, a flutter of speech on the wind draws his attention and looking back towards the prison he spies Lee Sidoneth one floor above stood near some statues, arms spread wide, the control rod gripped in one hand as he chants to the sky. “Lee!” he calls “it’s not too late, give up and hand us the rod and we can stop this”.The Biomancer breaks from his ritual, gazing down at the Deva paddling awkwardly in the water and begins to laugh; with a flick of his wrist he points the rod at Lembit, swishing it back and forth tauntingly, the end of the rod flashes and suddenly the water level rises flooding the prison. Lulu then makes an appearance gripping the shaman in her tentacles, wrapping him up and then flinging him back inside the flooded prison.Fight Highlights:* The statues turn out to be “Water Gargoyles” creatures made of stone with a swim speed! They spend the majority of the fight harassing us and preventing us from scaling the prison to get to the Biomancer.* Sidoneth seems to take great joy in flinging lightning bolts down into the water that arc and frazzle anyone nearby, that and flinging bits of broken prison at us, clearly an accomplished Geomancer as well as Biomancer.* Silas unfortunately spends the first half the of the fight merely trying to avoid drowning, fighting the undertow of the flooding prison before finally getting out into the open ocean where he can breath again.* Lembit kills Lulu, driving Sidoneth into a savage rage, making him the target of the Geomancers lighting bolts for the remainder of the fight.* Brick is the first to reach Sidoneth once again using his “ROCKET MAN” and blasting out of the water to land near the man and one of his gargoyle body guards and immediately regretting it when the gargoyles sharp claws tear into his chest and then insult is added to injury when Lee proves himself to have had some monkish training and beats him senseless, the poor bard drags himself over the edge to flop back into the water to avoid anymore punishment.* Kain proves to be slightly more effective jabbing and cutting at Lee before being knocked down himself under another combined assault.* With his gargoyles finally defeated however Lee falls to the combined might of the party, Lembit uses his new enchanted Hat (the Helm of Heroes) to spur Cricket into action, a mighty swing knocks him off of the prison roof into the water where the bard manages a modicum of revenge finally getting the last hit with a jab of his sword, prising the control rod from the Geomancers hand.With his dieing breaths Sidoneth calls to the sky “Master let your winds destroy them!” and a surge of wind pulls him from the water and rips him apart until nothing remains, looking up we see thatthe “eye of the storm” seems to live up to its name, a spectral eye hidden behind the winds seems to close.Atop the prison roof Brick cries to the heavens brandishing the rod, cackling to himself and mumbling words about “ULTIMATE POWER” as he thrusts his fists towards the sky, until the rod it torn from his grip and placed in more safer hands, Lembit wills the storm to end and the hurricane begins to peter out, calm finally settling upon the bay of Sequen.Gathering in our little boat we make for the Docks, high above us a giant eagle circles aimlessly and lands as we step upon the stones of the dock area, his mistresses’ odd pole arm clutched in his beak and no sign of her. With a heavy sigh he tells us of his Mistress Lora’Bek carried off by the storm as she risked the winds to save people that had been caught in the winds and whisked into the air. Her efforts placed thirty survivors upon one of the small islands of the bay before her luck ran out and the storm claimed her. He goes now to join her; we attempt to convince him against it, that he could use the rest of his life for a better purpose but he remains unconvinced and takes to the sky.From the docks we look over the harbour, once packed with ships now barely half are still afloat, those that weren’t sunk are almost certainly crippled. Out to see the once large fleet of Shalhalesti ships has suffered the same fate as those in the harbour. We drag ourselves to the Lyceum, entrusting the Hurricane Orb into Simian’s care and then leave the mages and the militia to handle sorting out the city, we retreat to the Royale to rest while the storm rides itself out.At Simian and Vortberds urging we return once again to the island when the weather has calmed, keen to find any information we may have missed or overlooked pertaining to “The Master” that Sidoneth pleaded to with his dying words. Tucked behind one of the workbenches in the Laboratory we find a small note with various “evil instructions” upon it however a few bits and pieces do stand out.* The masters army is growing in accordance with our estimates, things go smoothly.* As part of our new security measures the code word to approach the mount has been changed, Eshu.* The Biomantic book has been found and should be on its way to Paradim as planned, hopefully the mage can make good use of it.* Our new creations are wonderful, but best suited to colder temperatures. They display the ability to disrupt anyone they touches spell casting ability, we predict they will turn the tide against the Lyceum Mages and those damnable Shahalesti!It takes several days before the signs of normalcy start to creep their way back into the region and our recuperation is interrupted by a lyceum apprentice sent to fetch us to see Simian and soon we once again find ourselves before the master of the Lyceum in his study, he tells us that not with incontrovertible evidence that far-away Ragesia is a serious threat, Seaquen is united in its wish to join the war effort!“More refugees have arrived with word that the winter storms over southern Ragesia have faded; this has cleared the way for the Third Ragesian Army to march into Dassen! There are also stories of an assassination attempt on the King of Dassen, but it was foiled! However it seems this has tipped the man to being even more paranoid than he was before, however I feel this may be an opportunity for us, for you. You must use your reputation to befriend him, make him an ally to yourself and to our cause; the Ragesian armies must be delayed!”Still we aren’t ready to set out for Dassan yet and spend the rest of the week making arrangements for our trip and generally enjoying the fine weather that has settled over the region since the halting of the Hurricane Orb. It would appear that we’re well known in the town and more than once a bunch of locals have treated us to free drinks and other hospitalities (no doubt some of our more dubious members even tried to get a freebie at “The House”…).However the one person expected to make free use of these liberties has not, rather than prancing gaily through the streets proclaiming his awesomeness as expected he in fact spends most of his time away on the island in the hidden Laboratory or his “secret lair” as he refers to it, even Lembit seems to be caught up in the goliaths fancies and spends more than a few days there as well.Impressed at how they handled the barbarians from the Royale and refused to rise to Urien and Kain’s baiting, Cricket goes off in search of the Monk Refugees and is greeted friendly by Three Weeping Ravens, the barbarian is keen to learn more about their order. The two spend many days sparring in the local woods, the monks startling agility a foil to the barbarian brutal strikes, he is happy to point out flaws and teach him a few new tricks.In the evenings the barbarian fails to convert the Weeping Raven to whims of the Moon Goddess Sehanine, the monk simply says “he walks a different path” in response Weeping Raven tries to explain the theories of his order and the offer of becoming a disciple, but the barbarians faith is strong.Eventually the conversation turns to Order of the Echoed Souls and the tragedy that drop them from their homeland to Sindaire and the subsequent events that caused them to flee here, the monk is uncomfortable talking about the history of the order but tries to explain as best he can by saying “Imagine all the small evils you have done, and all the evils ever committed by those you have met. Imagine that your soul contained nothing but that evil. Would you want to speak of it?” agreeing the conversation has turned far too dark for the quality of ale being offered cricket changes the subject. While the pair has very different theological ideals, they agree to disagree on the finer points and become firm friends.The others busy themselves with the preparations for the journey to Bresk, Capital of Dassen.</blockquote>

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