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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Eccles" data-source="post: 5677621" data-attributes="member: 5675">27th August“BLOOD OF THE LIVING!” roars the undead monstrosity, its bony feet clacking along the corridor and is met head on by a blood splattered Cricket, shielding Arty and Ruby from its jagged skeleton fingers and gnashing “tongue” as they launch volleys of arrows and crossbow bolts into the thing until its reduced to a splinter pile of messy shards.Both Arty and Ruby search around the area while the barbarian slumps in a chair, busy tying scraps of cloth around his many, many wounds. The pair search Seramis’ desk and find he was busy working on the wording of a sending spell, amidst the mess of misspellings and scrawled out test paragraphs two notes can be found.The first:Gulfwolf – Seramis. Plan successful. Dassen Nobility [almost] annihilated [except XYZ]. Lyceum Agents Dead / Escaped. Check Innenot’dar valley, rumour of new safe passage. Please reply with retraction location.The second (further down the page):Gulfwolf – Seramis. Bad news in Dassen. Plan stopped by X. [We are suspected / no one suspects] further instructions? Also check Innenot’dar valley, rumour of new safe passage.We head back through the frozen sewer tunnel, out through the graveyard and make our way towards Gallo’s Manor House in order to tell him our news and to prepare for tonights banquet. However we notice as we travel across the city that the faire seems to have ended, the streets near empty and almost no sign that there was any festivities today at all! Arriving back at the house we find two of Gallo’s other knights (a dragonborn Cavalier by the name of Scale and a female dwarf named Starleene, who claims to be able to kill people with her mind… and a large war axe… but mostly the powers of her mind!) and Urien are waiting for us. “Shortly after the tourneys ended the king grew impatient, declared the faire over and that the meal was occurring now, his royal guards escorted all the nobles into the castle, we were told to wait for you!” explains Scale and we head towards the castle doing our best (which isn’t much) to make ourselves presentable enough for a formal meal (which as we are still caked in the blood, guts and filth of our previous expedition into the castle… is an impossibility).Letting the more presentable of our party stand in front the rest of us stand swaddled in heavy cloaks to hide our appearance as best we can, and after a brief bit of negotiation with a gate guard we manage to get into the castle and race through the halls towards the banquet hall. As we near the banquet hall we can overhear the king’s voice as he gives some grand speech, as we reach the door he accuses Gallo of treason, extending the claim to all and any “as you poisoned my family, you poisoned me, poisoned this land. So I shall finish what you have begun, without me this land is nothing and shall die by my hand!”, rather than cries of shock or outrage the room seems to erupt into manic laughter that cuts through the walls and straight into your mind. Urging ourselves on we kick open the doors to find the room in complete and udder madness.King Steppengard has kicked over his table, flanked by his royal blades he is advancing upon Lord Gallo with huge flail, Gallo in return holds a thin looking short sword, busy stepping away pleading for his lord to come to his senses. Around the rest of the room the palace guards chase after fleeing nobles, or wrestling around the floor trying to choke the life out of each other or batter them with silver candlesticks and crystal wine decanters. Still at her place (to the right of the king) sits the gnome Nina Glibhammer, head thrown back as she laughs over and over when suddenly her body begins to stretch and expand, head seeming to slip away from her body as her neck stretches, ever laughing. Finally it seems her skin cannot take the strain and splits and peels away revealing atwisting mass of serpents, with the last dregs of its disguise gone the thing starts to fade, sitting there ghost like except for its fangs of its seemingly endless amount of heads… “MADNESS” slithers through every brain.The Fight highlights (if you can call it those):* We discover that having three defenders in the party meant the bulk of the fight was a tangled scrum of events in the middle of the room, no one able to really escape the huddle once they were dragged into it.* Arty makes good use of his gadgets setting a magical axe about the room to bash and belt at any mad guards trying to kill nobles while covering half the room in clockwork wasps that bite and sting at the king and his mad retinue.* Lady Timor waltz around the room flinging arcane fire and snowballs at people (pretty much at random) between stabbing herself in the leg with a fork.* MADNESS makes use of its ability to evaporate and appear elsewhere, using this trick to engulf Ruby several times before finally giving up and going for the juicy (if rather simple) brain of Cricket and makes him its meat puppet.* Under MADNESS’ influence Cricket wounds Gallo heavily, which in turn gives the mad king the opportunity to stave the lords head in with his flail, chanting and cackling about killing his chief lord the king manages to slip out of a hidden doorway, his bodyguards sticking to their duty right until the end.* MADNESS also slithers its way from the room using a different exit and we go after the Mad KingWe follow the secret passage way and find that it emerges into the throne room, empty save for the King himself sat in his thrown, clearly mad he rocks back and forwards talking to himself, praising himself for avenging all who did him wrong. He doesn’t notice the barbarian’s approach, deaf to the roar as cricket draws back his blade high and uncaring to blow that gives birth to a Kingslayer. All eyes turn to the throne room doors, where MADNESS waits.</blockquote>

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