NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 9626946" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 92: MUMMIES AND DEADIESPC Roster: Alewyth Putterpye, dwarf priestess of Aerik 19             Thurloe Pulver, human fighter 3/wizard 3/spellsword 10/eldritch knight 3             Wakuren, half-orc cleric of Cal 9/paladin 10             Xandro Silverstrings, human bard 6/rogue 13             Zander Quilson, elf sorcerer 19NPC Roster:Beetle Darkcloud, halfling ranger 6             Robin the Balladeer, human bard 6Game Session Date: 22 March 2025 - - -"There a few things you should know about Spiraclast before we enter the city proper," suggested Beetle as Wakuren transformed the wood colossus back into its house configuration.  The little halfling sat astride Ceph, one of the two pachycephalosaurus mounts to have survived the trip this far; Robin sat upon Pachy, the second such dinosaur.  Other than Wakuren, who had been sitting in the attic control room of the wood colossus during the trip around the forest to the east of Spiraclast, the others had walked from the drow cleric training temple to their present location, just far enough from the drow city where Beetle had dropped off Andrea Jandoval to be able to see the outskirts in the distance."First and foremost," continued the halfling, "the drow of Spiraclast engage in a type of ancestor worship that includes being transformed into an undead creature upon death; that way, you can continue to serve your family and the city.  For that reason, it won't be unusual to see undead roaming around in the city, mingling with the living as if nothing were unusual.""Weird," scoffed Alewyth, a look of distaste upon her dwarven face."What kinds of undead?" asked Zander."Some skeletons, but they have a type of zombie that can move around as quickly as they did when alive - they're called 'juju zombies,' but I'm not sure what that name symbolizes.""Odd," snorted Thurloe."Yeah, and the city is ruled by a pair of mummy lords, King Amotok and Queen Draenora.  He's a powerful cleric of Akari, and she's a sorceress.  Sometimes they go parading in the town, and if you see them, you're required to bow down before them.""Great," sighed Alewyth, who was not a fan of undead and didn't envision enjoying genuflecting before the rulers."So naturally, you're not allowed to cause harm to any undead within the confines of Spiraclast," Beetle finished up.  "Doing so is considered a great crime, far worse than killing a living person.  Are you guys going to be able to abide by those rules?  Because otherwise, I'll just drop you off right here and we'll call it good.""No," argued Thurloe.  "You've taken us this far, no point in not coming with us into the city.  I want to know exactly which way Andrea went when she entered the desert.  And we can behave, right, guys?""Most of us can," replied Wakuren, recalling how often the spellsword's own tongue got them into trouble.  He reminded the group of when Thurloe informed the King of Armaturia that he was beholden to them, since they were the only ones who could awaken his little sister from her dream-coma.  That hadn't gone over particularly well.  "You think you'll be able to behave yourself?""I'll be just fine," insisted the spellsword, starting off for the city in the distance.  "C'mon, I want to hit a shop before it gets dark, so I can pick up a new magic missile wand - mine's almost out of charges.""The drow of Spiraclast do most of their business during the hours of darkness," Beetle observed, giving his borrowed bonehead a kick to get it moving ahead.  "Some of the undead don't do so well in sunlight."Such proved to be the case.  Twilight had hit when they entered the city through one of the sets of gates among the surrounding wall.  Night had fallen by the time Thurloe had purchased his new wand and Zander had upgraded his magic cloak to a more powerful version, which would make his spells even more difficult to counteract.  But it was when stepping back out of the shop that they ran into their first bit of trouble: nearly bumping into a juju zombie that was entering the store on an errand for his living family members, the undead creature's eyes widened in shock at the sight of the spellsword, and he immediately dropped to one knee, bowing his head before Thurloe."What the--?" sputtered the startled adventurer.  He looked over at the others to see if they had noticed, and another juju zombie nearby looked over in their direction.  Upon seeing the heroes, it too dropped to one knee, genuflecting in their direction."What's going on?" demanded Zander, frowning in confusion as another undead face locked eyes with his, looked startled, and dropped to one knee before the elf spellcaster. "It's the marks on our foreheads!" reasoned Wakuren.  "The ones only undead can see, that mark us as Emissaries of Akari!""That's just weird," determined Robin, looking down the wide street from her perch on Pachy's saddle.  More and more undead were looking in their direction to see what all the fuss was about, and as soon as they got a good look at Alewyth, Thurloe, Wakuren, or Zander, they bowed down before them, remaining immobile as if waiting to be commanded to rise."Hey, you don't need to be doing that!" offered Beetle, but the juju zombies ignored the little halfling on the bonehead.  He turned back to the heroes.  "If the King and Queen see this, they're not going to be too happy about it!"As if on cue, a small procession turned from a side street and started approaching the group.  King Amotok and Queen Draenora sat upon an ornate palanquin, balanced upon the shoulders of four strong mummies.  A fifth strode before the procession, flanked by two living drow guardsmen, with two more bringing up the rear.  On either side of the palanquin strode a living drow cleric - an Obedient, in the vernacular of Spiraclast.  As they went by, living drow and their undead ancestors dropped to a knee and bowed their heads before the procession.  But then King Amotok saw others down the street bowing down to a group of strangers - living beings, but none of them even drow - and called for an immediate halt.  The entire procession stopped in unison, obedient to their king's every command."What is the meaning of this?" demanded the mummy lord and ruler of the city.  "How dare you genuflect to the living - and strangers at that?  Stand up immediately, all of you!"  His bandaged countenance frowned in fury as his words were ignored.  But to the juju zombies, their actions were justified: King Amotok and Queen Draenora might be the lawful rulers of the city, but they did not wear the Mark of Akari on their foreheads.  In the scheme of things, kings and queen ranked much lower than a god - or His living representatives."Uh oh," observed Xandro.  Hoping to defuse the situation, he took a few steps away from the others and made a point to drop to one knee and bow down before the city's King and Queen.  Thurloe immediately followed suit, although he mentally activated the fly spell inherent in his celestial armor so it would be ready if needed.  Robin, unsure of her required actions while sitting on a riding mount, opted to guide Pachy to hang back; Beetle, seeing the wisdom in her actions, did likewise.  Zander and Wakuren stepped forward and also dropped down to a bow, leaving Alewyth - the last to have exited the magic shop and just now seeing what all was going on - standing conspicuously outside, not bowing as she should be doing.  But the dwarf didn't particularly feel like bowing down before undead mummy lords, so she found another solution: casting an ethereal jaunt spell, she faded from the Material Plane and entered the Ethereal, from which she could see the events all around her but was herself invisible to view."Bring these strangers before me!" bellowed King Amotok, and the four guardsmen ran forward to comply, the mummy at the front of the procession moving to assist.  But the living drow moved faster than the shambling mummy, even in their armor, and they pulled Xandro, Wakuren, Thurloe, and Zander to their feet.  Neither of the four offered any resistance as they were dragged to the front and side of the royal palanquin.  Petey obstinately refused to leave his master's shoulder, snorting in irritation at the drow fighters.  Wakuren noticed the two Obedients making spellcasting motions, and decided they were likely casting protective spells upon themselves - protection from good, if the evil auras flickering about their heads were any indication.Thurloe was brought to the front of the palanquin, where the King and Queen stared down at him.  Their own eyes widened at shock upon seeing the Mark of Akari upon his brow.  "Wh-what?" sputtered King Amotok.  "Explain how you came to have that mark upon your forehead!"Thurloe knew he wasn't the best one to offer up explanations, and he did not want to get blamed for messing up this situation any worse than it already was.  "Uh, actually, Your Majesty," he rambled, "Wakuren can offer up a better explanation."  He helpfully pointed at the half-orc to indicate where the king should address his inquiries.The King swung his head to stare over at the half-orc - who, with a complete lack of understanding of how this wasn't helping at all, had used his robe of blending to give himself the appearance of being half-orc, half-drow (and he'd missed the look of distaste the drow fighter accompanying him had given him upon getting his first look at the half-breed "abomination").  Knowing King Amotok was himself a devotee to Akari, Wakuren said, "The great god Akari has found it to be worthwhile to have a group of living Emissar--"That's as far as he got.  "Why would He grant such an honor to the living, when I have devoted my entire life, and the centuries of undeath beyond that, in His service?" the undead king demanded.  Then, the jealousy coursing through his unbeating heart (which, of course, had been removed from his body and was sealed in a canopic jar with several of his other major organs) led him to the only explanation that made any sense.  "Fakes!  Imposters!  Slay the infidels, who would pass themselves off as Blessed to Akari!"Wakuren, who had seen this reaction coming, did several things at once.  First of all, he channeled Cal's positive energy throughout his body, preparing to enrich the very air around him such that healing energy would be maximized.  But at the same time, he brought his shield of Cal slamming into the drow fighter who had brought him before the city's rulers, being sure to activate his weapon's merciful enchantment, so the blow would cause the drow no permanent harm.Robin and Beetle had hung back but heard the king's orders.  Beetle, who spoke enough of the drow tongue to get by, explained what was happening to the young bard.  "Oh, no!" she cried, pulling the lute from her back and readying to begin the song of inspirational courage.  But the juju zombies, having been given orders by their king, saw that neither of the two strangers riding their bonehead mounts wore Akari's symbol on their foreheads, and thus were fair game.  They started surrounding the two in an arc across the wide street, preventing them from getting any closer to the palanquin.  And those near the palanquin, having been ordered by their king to attack - but fearing to harm those chosen by Akari Himself - opted to go for Xandro, whose forehead was devoid of any such personal attention by the God of Death and Undeath.Zander pulled away from his guard long enough to cast a finger of death spell his way, which killed him instantly.  But then he was struck by the lead mummy - the one not involved in holding up the four ends of the palanquin - and felt a weakness travel through his system from the very touch.  Fortunately, the mummy rot did not find a hold - at least not this time.As Queen Draenora cast some sort of spell upon herself, Alewyth advanced, dropping out of the Ethereal Plane and casting a mass cure serious wounds spell.  Due to the positive energy-enhancing effect Wakuren had set in motion, the dwarf's spell did a major amount of damage to the mummies and healed up Wakuren and Xandro, and then a strange thing happened: Alewyth felt a wash of positive energy flow back her way, as if it had rebounded off the mummy lords.  The healing energy did nothing to her - she had no wounds requiring healing - but it also seemed not to have affected the king or queen at all.The drow guardsmen stabbed out with their rapiers, the three of them attacking Wakuren, Xandro, and Thurloe.  And then King Amotok cast a summoning spell, bringing forth a fiendish tyrannosaurus in the middle of the street.  It wasted no time, bending forward and snapping up Alewyth in its jaws before she had time to react to its presence; one moment she was standing in the street of the marketplace, and the next she was inside the creature's fetid mouth, using her warhammer as a barrier to prevent a jagged tooth from piercing her through the thigh.Each of the Obedients lashed out, one with an inflict critical wounds spell at Thurloe and the other, too close for easy spellcasting, swung his mace at Xandro, who was already fending off several juju zombies.  Both attacks hit their marks, to the heroes' detriment.  But then Xandro stepped back out of range long enough to activate his ring of invisibility and then move away in a different direction, so that none of the drow or undead could tell exactly where he was.  Taking care to step quietly, he maneuvered himself behind one of the drow clerics to set up a nice sneak attack."Flee!" called out Beetle, pulling back on the reins of his bonehead mount.  "There are too many of them!""But what about the others?" demanded Robin, as she did likewise and the two dinosaurs fled back in the direction from which the group had come."They can take care of themselves!  We'll meet up with them later, once we ditch these juju zombies!"  That took some doing, for the undead chasing after them were much fleeter than the shambling corpses that made up most zombies, but by darting off onto side streets and through narrow alleyways, the two finally managed to give their pursuers the slip.Thurloe flew 10 feet straight up and hovered in place, out of reach of the guardsmen and their rapiers.  With a smug grin, he activated his ring of silent spells, which not only encompassed him in a 20-foot-radius bubble of silence, but also allowed him to cast spells that normally required verbal components.  The undead king and queen below him, however, had no such ability and their spellcasting had been nixed - at least for now.  Realizing her predicament, the queen allowed a spell to come to the forefront of her mind but resisted attempting to cast it until she was out of the bubble of magical silence.Wakuren cast a mass cure serious wounds spell, which slew three of the four palanquin bearers and toppled the queen onto the street; the king fell sideways into her place on the capsized platform.  Zander, the farthest away from the palanquin and those around it, cast a cone of cold spell, converting it during mid-casting to deal sonic energy, since he was pretty sure a lot of different types of undead were immune to cold damage but was fairly certain not many of them had any special resistance against sonic energy.  He dealt a great deal of damage to the mummy nearest him and to the fiendish tyrannosaurus (he'd seen it grab up Alewyth and thus had made sure to cast the spell such that it hit the dinosaur's legs, not its mouth), but he'd been unaware of Thurloe's zone of magical silence, and thus the two remaining mummies, the fighters and clerics, and the mummy lords were completely shielded from the sonic attack.The sole remaining palanquin-bearer mummy bent over to help King Amotok to his feet, while the other one slammed a fist at Zander.  This time, the mummy rot made it past the elf's defenses and his throat went immediately dry as weakness coursed through his system.  He did his best to ignore it, however; surely Wakuren or Alewyth would be able to heal him after this fight had run its course.Alewyth managed to wriggle out of the tyrannosaur's mouth and she fell to the ground, landing on her feet.  She then cast a righteous might spell, doubling her height and increasing her weight eightfold.  That, she felt, ought to give her an advantage when fighting a fiendish tyrannosaur on her own!  Only, not so much: the dinosaur bent forward and grabbed her up again, finding no difficulty at all in lifting her into its massive maw.  However, as it raised its head to swallow her whole, it did come to an unfortunate realization: she might not be too big to gobble up, but she was definitely too big to fit down its throat!The drow fighters advanced upon Wakuren and Zander, while King Amotok scrambled away from the downed palanquin until he could once again hear the sounds all around him.  No longer in the zone of magical silence, he cast another summoning spell - but this one was different.  Instead of calling forth some creature from another plane to serve him, he created one right here on the Material Plane: casting his arms wide to encompass the dazed drow shop owners and customers, he caused them to start hemorrhaging from their eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and even the pores in their skin.  As they collapsed into lifeless heaps upon the street, their mingled blood pooled together, then rose up into a semi-humanoid shape.  The greater blood elemental rose up, seeking living foes to slay.  Spotting Wakuren, it oozed its way over by him, forming an armlike pseudopod that struck the half-orc a mighty blow, nearly sending him reeling.One of the drow Obedients accidentally crossed right before the invisible Xandro as he tried to line himself up for a spell, and the rogue dropped back into the visible spectrum as his rapier Deathwhisper stabbed through the cleric's torso, killing him instantly.  Of course, now the juju zombies could see him again, but it was worth it!  He spun about and sent his blade stabbing into the back of a drow fighter who hadn't known he was even there, slaying him as well.  The other cleric cast a flame strike spell down upon Thurloe, attempting to slay the irksome human and do away with the magical field of silence all around him.Staggered under the magical burst of unholy fire, Thurloe flew over to keep the mummy lord queen well within his area of silence; he knew from his association with Zander that sorcerers could fling spells about all day, and he didn't want to give her the opportunity.  He cast a lightning bolt spell down at her to keep her occupied.  Smoke rising from her bandaged body, she backed away out of the silence field and then retaliated with a chain lightning spell of her own, blasting full-force at Thurloe and arcing out to hit Wakuren and Xandro as well.  Wakuren cast a heal spell, sending the positive energy blasting through the rarified air to damage both remaining mummies and King Amotok as well.  (Now that he'd been driven from the palanquin, neither he nor his undead bride benefitted from the transport's spell turning effect.)  It also served to heal some of his own wounds, as well as those suffered by Xandro and Thurloe.Zander jostled himself into position and then let loose with a widened lightning bolt that slew both remaining mummies and the last of the drow Obedients, as well as hurting the fiendish tyrannosaurus and the closest fighter.  Alewyth, shielded from the elf's spell by dint of being up in the dinosaur's rancid maw again, cast a destruction spell at the tyrannosaur, but while the spell dealt the reptile a fair bit of damage, it failed to slay the beast outright.  Unable to swallow the priestess of Aerik, the fiendish dinosaur contented itself with chewing on her with its serrated teeth - maybe if it reduced her to smaller, bite-size chunks it'd have better luck making her into its next meal.As the drow fighters attacked with their rapiers, King Amotok cast an implosion spell at Wakuren, hoping to slay the half-breed at once.  But Wakuren gutted out the worst of the spell's effects, and knew that particular casting of the spell could no longer deal him any harm - the mummy lord would have to try targeting it elsewhere.  However, the spell did focus the half-orc's attention away long enough for the blood elemental to get in another attack, this one almost knocking Wakuren senseless.  For a creature made out of blood, the thing could certainly pack a punch!Xandro slew another guardsman with Deathwhisper as Thurloe did an aerial charge straight down at Queen Draenora, slamming her with his bastard sword Spellslicer, the strength of his blow enhanced by the spellsword's torc of the titans.  But she was made of stern stuff - as was her husband, as Wakuren was learning - and she backed away, letting the momentum of his sword-strike help propel her back out of the zone of magical silence once again, as it was centered on Thurloe's ring and moved about with him.  Once it was safe to do so, she cast another chain lightning spell, once again targeting Thurloe as the primary and arcing bolts of electricity out to encompass Xandro; Wakuren had, by this point, moved too far away from the undead queen for her spell to reach him.Zander cast one of his most powerful spells, a meteor swarm.  Two of the flaming spheres of fiery energy struck the fiendish tyrannosaurus and exploded into wide balls of fire, encompassing Thurloe and Wakuren as well as slaying one of the drow fighters.  The other two meteors struck King Amotok and exploded to encompass the greater blood elemental and, unfortunately, Wakuren, who could barely stay on his feet at that point.  A drow fighter went rushing up to the elf to try to take him out, and while his rapier blade cut at Zander, the sorcerer failed to fall to the sword.Alewyth swung an oversized Sjondra at the interior of the tyrannosaur's mouth, breaking off teeth and sending them tumbling down the great brute's throat.  She punched a hole through its palate and was rewarded with a rush of blood and saliva, then spun about as the creature fell to its death.  She managed to exit its mouth but fell prone upon the marketplace street, covered in blood and other fluids.  But as a summoned creature, it vanished upon death and was no more.King Amotok backed further up and cast a fire storm spell at Thurloe, nearly knocking him senseless, making it anyone's guess whether he'd collapse before Wakuren, who wasn't in much better shape.  The blood elemental settled that score my slamming the half-orc to death with a fluidic appendage, then started oozing its way to its next-closest living foe: Alewyth.Xandro charged the drow fighter attacking Zander, slaying him with a quick thrust through his back.  Thurloe continued his sword attacks upon the queen, hoping to take her out before he collapsed, but she turned and actually fled from him - but only until she was once again out of the zone of magical silence, and then she slew him with yet another chain lightning spell, this one arcing over to strike the double-sized Alewyth with a secondary arc of electricity.  Zander thanked Xandro and stepped to the side, casting another meteor swarm spell, two fiery meteors each heading towards King Amotok and the greater blood elemental.  The mummy lord wore a ring that protected him (to some extent) from fire damage, but it wasn't enough to shield him from the two flaming meteors, and he was slain on the spot.  Unfortunately, as this was a new spell for the elf, he wasn't yet used to its areas of effect, and the explosions washed over Alewyth, a quite literal example of "friendly fire."  "Sorry!" he called over to the priestess.But Alewyth, caught up in the heat of battle, hardly even noticed.  She moved away from the advancing blood elemental, glad to see she could move much faster than it could.  She cast an implosion spell at Queen Draenora, but the mummy lord survived the attack."Looks like just the three of us left," observed Xandro, seeing the fallen forms of Wakuren and Thurloe.  Not wanting to get too close to Queen Draenora for fear of getting in the way of the spellcasters, and realizing his training on how best to target his blade into a living body to inflict the maximum damage was useless against an undead mummy lord, he unpacked his little-used crossbow from his back and set a quiver into place.  At least it had magical enhancements to power up the bolts with magical fire, cold, and electricity - hopefully at least some of that would get through!  He took careful aim and fired, striking the undead queen in the side as she faced Alewyth.But then Queen Draenora turned and fled again, although the magical field of silence was no longer moving as Thurloe lay dead in the street.  But she ducked behind a row of buildings, only to pop out a few buildings over, hoping to catch Alewyth in surprise.  However, Zander had been ready for her, with a prismatic spray spell at the tip of his tongue.  Speaking the arcane words, a rainbow flew out in a wide arc before him, catching the mummy lord in its rays.  She staggered for a moment as she felt the pull of another plane trying to drag her away, but stuck it out and remained in place, fully unscathed.  Alewyth, unable to cast another spell as long as her implosion spell was still active, swung and targeted the greater blood elemental.  It rose up and condensed itself into a single point in midair before vanishing altogether.Xandro reloaded and sent another crossbow bolt heading at Queen Draenora.  She, for her part, could not manage to care for a moment about whether juju zombies prostrated themselves before living beings wearing the Mark of Akari, but now she was determined to slay these strangers for the crime of having slain her husband, as well as several of his most loyal followers, living and undead.  She cast a chain lightning spell at Alewyth - why mess with a tactic that was working? - with an arc of electricity reaching out to strike Zander.  The elf winced at the incoming blast of energy, but was surprised when nothing happened - until he recalled he'd placed a chain lightning spell into his ring of counterspells months ago, and it finally discharged when the anticipated conditions were finally right.He'd have to remember to recharge his ring after this battle, but first, he had to deal with the remaining mummy lord.  He cast a sunburst spell at her, and grinned in excitement once it became apparent the spell had not only harmed her, but blinded her as well.  Alewyth positioned herself halfway between the elf and the queen and cast a mass cure critical wounds spell, healing up herself and her two remaining living compatriots while chipping away at the queen's ability to remain standing.  Xandro shot another bolt at the queen for good measure, figuring every little bit of damage helped, even though it would undoubtedly be one of his two friends to finish her off.Unable to see, Queen Draenora could no longer target chain lightning spells against her foes, but she could hopefully get them in a spell with a wide area of effect.  With that thought in mind, she cast a fireball spell at the spot where Alewyth had been standing when the mummy lord's sight was taken away; Alewyth was no longer there, but she was within the blast area, and the fiery explosion dropped her into unconsciousness."Uh oh," said Xandro, looking over at the elf sorcerer.  "It's just the two of us now."<And me,> piped in Petey telepathically."Yeah, but you think you can put a mummy to sleep with your tail venom?" argued Xandro.  "Not likely!"  He shot another bolt at the queen; at least she was easier to hit when she couldn't see the bolts flying at her.  She flinched under the attack, then stood still with her head cocked, trying to pick up her foes' location by hearing alone.  Zander let her know exactly where he was when he called out the words to a cone of cold spell, once again altering its energy output to sonic damage.  That was enough to take her out of the fight.Xandro ran over to Alewyth and grabbed one of her healing potions from her belt, unstoppered it, and poured its contents down her throat.  She woke coughing, some of it having gone down the wrong pipes.  But by this time, Zander was starting to feel the effects of the mummy rot to which he'd been exposed, and the dwarven priestess cast the necessary spells to rid him of the affliction.  "Thanks," breathed the elf with a sigh of relief."We'd better get out of here," suggested Xandro.  "Those juju zombies all skedaddled after Robin and Beetle, but there are plenty of living drow eyewitnesses to us having slain their king and queen."  He ran over to Wakuren, grabbed Hesperna's lamp from its pouch on the half-orc's belt, set it on the ground, picked up Wakuren's corpse, and said the word that transported them into the lamp's extradimensional interior.  Popping back out soon thereafter, he scooped up the lamp and repeated the process with Thurloe's body.  Zander, in the meantime, had pulled a magic ring and cloak from each of the two rulers, after a detect magic spell indicated they were all magical.  He didn't bother with looting the guardsmen or Obediants; time was running out and he thought he could hear the sounds of running steps headed their way from several streets over; more guardsmen, most likely.  The three remaining heroes fled via narrow alleyways.Eventually, their wandering path led them to bump into Beetle and Robin.  Telling them what all had happened, the halfling entered the nearest inn and purchased a room for himself for the night, then smuggled the others into his room via the lamp.  After that, he and Robin went to go find overnight lodging for the two boneheads at the nearest stables.The next morning, Alewyth cast two true resurrection spells, one on Thurloe and one on Wakuren, then welcomed them back to the land of the living with her traditional heroes' feast spell.  It was while they were all finishing up their breakfast that Beetle gave the group his final suggestions.  "Andrea left by the northern gate," he said, "entering the desert and heading directly north.  If you do the same, you should find the entrance to the Forbidden Lands - that's what she believed, in any case.  I'd recommend you sneaking back out of the city, fetching your wood colossus, and circling the city until you line up with the northern gate.  But this officially completes my duties as a guide, bringing you as far as I brought Andrea.  With your permission, I'm going to take Ceph with me, to replace Yellow-Belly, as I make my way back to my tribe.  You can take Pachy with you, although I really don't know how long he'll last in the desert.""Actually..." began Robin, somewhat hesitantly.  Xandro looked over at her in surprise.  "If you don't mind, I'll take Pachy with me.  I'm going to ride with Beetle, as far as Chu'curan, in any case.  There are plenty of taverns and inns for me to perform in to earn my room and board, and we have friends there: Baronessa Vhondryl Morgaunt and Alaknarr.  I'll be fine there while you guys go about your business in the Forbidden Lands.""But why?" asked Xandro.  "Don't you want to come with us, and see this to the end?""I'll just be a drag on your resources," Robin countered.  "And that prophecy, it says you five need to be there to save the world, but it doesn't say anything about me.  I'm afraid I'll just get myself killed, and be a distraction from what you need to do.  Seriously: you need to concentrate on the mission at hand, not worry about me.  So Beetle can escort me back to Chu'curan, and I'll be fine there.  Better than here, where I'm a known accomplice to the strangers who killed the city's king and queen.""Are you sure?" asked Xandro, not wanting to part with his girlfriend."I'm sure,  And don't worry, I won't be going anywhere.  Just go save the world, and then don't forget to come back for me!""I won't," promised Xandro. - - -I was a bit concerned that this adventure, which was basically one big fight in the streets, could easily be finished quickly with the right set of spells: a few of Zander's prismatic sprays could have cleared the battle map of all but the king and queen (which is why I put a spell turning effect on the palanquin; I figured that's the sort of thing a pair of centuries-old mummy lords would come up with), leaving us all several hours short of our normal game day duration.  So I had the adventure that comes after this all prepped and ready to go, just in case - but it wasn't necessary, as running through this took us almost four hours.Harry was a bit surprised that I took Robin away from the rest of the campaign, but he followed my reasoning and accepted it.  Logan, however, had one more thing he wanted Wakuren to do before leaving Spiraclast: using his robe of blending to appear as a full-blooded drow (not as a half-drow, half-orc as usual), he wanted to buy some sovereign glue and some lumber.  He plans on building a structure on the top of the attic roof (the "head" of the wood colossus in its humanoid form), so two spellcasters can ride on the palanquin once he glues it in place up there, letting them cast spells while under the protection of its spell turning effect.  He also wants to pick up an ioun stone to grant him a +2 to Intelligence, because - after seeing how tough mummy lords can be - that's the route he's going to go if he needs to actually become an undead creature himself, and getting mummified comes with a -4 decrease in Intelligence.  So with the ioun stone in place, that'll only drop him to an 8 Intelligence, something he's decided he can live with. - - - T-shirt worn: My white "The Walking Dead" shirt, for obvious reasons.</blockquote>

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