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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James McMurray" data-source="post: 1583434" data-attributes="member: 743">The next day the group returns and luckily avoids guard patrols. Having fully explored the underground area they head to the trap door they found. Direction sense tells them that it will most likely open into the section of the stockade that was separated from where they snuck in.Above the trap door is a hallway, which Nadeem scouts out. He finds one burnt out room with fallen and rickety beams, which he elects not to explore. The earlier experiences with rubble filled rooms has made hi wisely cautious. Heading back the other way down the hall he finds a door, behind which can be heard guttural voices. He waves the party forward and Vides summons a construct with the orders to go in and attack.Nadeem opens the door. Inside are two half-orcs and several humans. One half-orc is wearing studded leather armor and cracking a whip at the human slaves that are shackled to the walls. The other is wearing full plate and giving him orders.Vides’s construct follows its orders, moving into the room and attacking the first thing it can reach: a chained human. Unfortunately, Vides’s surge dazed him and he cannot call the creature off.Nadeem moves in and throws his blade at the one brandishing the whip. Tor also moves in and meets the full-plated warrior in battle. In unison, the humans chained to the walls reach behind themselves and draw short swords from hidden recesses. Their fake chains are pulled from the walls and they move in to attack.The half-orc with the whip drops his prop and draws a sword, moving into position to flank Nadeem. When he gets there, he plants his blade firmly into the soul knife’s side. The warrior priest also attacks, missing the agile xeph.Tahm moves forward and begins systematically killing humans with energy missiles, while Vides regains his senses and attacks as well. It isn’t long before the false slaves and their “masters” are all lying dead on the floor.Continuing his scouting Nadeem finds a section of hallway with a collapsed floor. Raw sewage floats through the tunnel below, and at the far end is a door. Electing not to swim to the door, he returns to the room and opens the only remaining exit.Behind the door is an ancient garden. The trees are all dead and bare, and the ground is choked with weeds. Sitting in the trees are four filthy winged women. Despite their hideous appearances, their voices raise in captivating song, and everyone but Lord Djonnimar finds themselves drawn inexorably towards the women. Tor is the first to reach his goal, and he is welcomed there with two sound blows from a club. The song continues, and he waits patiently for his mistress to rain more wonderful blows upon his head.Lord Tahm moves forward and energy missiles two of the harpies. The are wounded but not killed, and the harpies leave off from killing their captivated prey. Swooping and dodging, they assault the kineticist. Each one in turn flies past him, swinging with her club, landing blows more often than not. In return, Tahm lashes out with blasts of fire. The harpies seem to have learned quickly that if they are too close he can hit both of them. One of the harpies dies, and her captive is freed. With more than one person attacking, the group soon overwhelms the remaining harpies. As the group searhes the area, Argol moves back into the room with the dead slaves and searches one of the ha;f-orc bodies briefly, before returning to the group empty-handed.They proceed cautiously through the remainder of the garden, but not before Tor takes the opportunity to do a little scouting. He runs up the wall and onto the roof, where he spies a courtyard. Inside are several orcs and half-orcs. They are near overturned tables and the half-orcs are manning a large contraption. A covered wagon with a large bellows points towards the doorway.The group gathers together and heads in for their assault. Nadeem moves forward, drops prone, and opens the door. Several crossbow bolts fly over his head, and alchemist’s fire splashes near his head. The group moves in and makes short work of their foes, leaving the courtyard smoking from where the liquid fire dropped.A closed portcullis blocks the exit to the courtyard, but large double doors draw the explorers forward. Nadeem opens the door, finding a long hallway lined with alcoves. In each alcove is a statue. The statues alternate between orcs and gargoyles. Each orc holds a different weapon, poised to attack the hall, while each gargoyle is perched on its toes, ready to pounce.Fearing a magical trap, Tor buffs himself up and moves in. He destroys the first two statues with no resistance, and then decides just to hit each one once, reckoning that if it is actually alive, it will react when hit. He moves forward and hits 12 of them, with Tahm at his side. When he moves to hit the 13th several gouts of fire lash out at the surrounding statues. Each statue rocks on its base and falls forward. One brushes strongly against Tor, and another drops squarely onto Tahm, crushing him beneath its weight. The rest of the group (except Vides) moves forward.At the far end of the corridor are two more double doors. When they are opened, the party finds themselves in a large altar room. Raised high on a dais is a statue of a bloated bat-winged, goat-headed man brandishing a sword over his head.Arranged in fighting positions are 3 full plated half-orcs. Behind them and to the right of the dais stands a woman in full plate. Behind them and to the left of the altar is a human wearing a scholar’s outfit.Nadeem and Tor move in, Tor’s charge killing a fighter before he can even react. Nadeem’s soul blade slams into the priestess, but she recovers quickly. A shimmering wall of electricity appears across the doorway, blocking the remainder of the group’s access. Meanwhile in the hallway, Argol unleashes a fearsome mind thrust at Vides. The strong-willed wilder shakes it off and calls out the treachery before returning fire with a crystalline shard. Just when the group begins to realize that they are out-numbered and out-gunned, a huge troll jumps out from a tiny poor box beside the entryway, blocking off Nadeem’s retreat. The party decides to exercise the better part of virtue and everyone makes for the exits. Tor rushes through the shimmering wall of sparks and comes out the other side shaken but not badly hurt. Nadeem tumbles around the troll, which takes a swipe at him but misses. The priestess attempts to stop his escape with a blast of sound that leaves him shaken. It fails to stun him as intended though.Out in the hallway, the scholarly human has walked casually through the wall of sparks unharmed. He tries in vain to lock Vides’ brain in place, which would leave him as easy prey for the remainder of the group.Out in the courtyard Tor speeds his escape by heading over the walls and out into the surrounding wilderness. He makes for camp to meet the party later. As he flees, he looks over his shoulder and sees the scholarly psion flying through the roof and over the courtyard. As the party flees under him, the psion again tries to grab a mind, but Nadeem shrugs the assault off and continues his flight. The psion dips through the floor, and when Nadeem rounds a corner he sees a familiar head poking out of a wall. This time he is unable to shake off the assault, and he stops in his tracks, mindless and dazed.Lord Tahm rounds the corner and sends a small gout of flames towards the head, the last of his power for the day. It splashes against the wall harmlessly, and when the psion sends Nadeem into the future with Time Hop, Lord Djonnimar knows he will be unable to save the Xeph and flees.A little over a minute later Nadeem returns to the time stream and finds himself yet again held frozen by the mind of his powerful adversary. The full plated fighters grab his unresponsive form and carry it back to the altar room. The priestess reaches into a hidden cubbyhole behind the statue and draws forth a pulsating and slimy egg sac. She breaks it next to Nadeem’s arm and he can only watch helplessly as a fist-sized slug ozzes out and onto his hand. It slowly makes its way under his shirt, where it nestles itself comfortably up against his spine. He feels the slightest of pricks, less than that of a hungry mosquito, and suddenly he is in heaven. This creature is not disgusting at all. It is in fact his only true friend, the love of his life, and the only family he has ever had all rolled into one. For the love of this heavenly being Nadeem will do anything. He looks around the room as his newfound friends welcome him to the fold.</blockquote>

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