Memoirs of a Lawyer turned Dungeoncrawler (Updated May 13, 2008)

[Altalazar]

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Eight – Taking back the night

One of the night beasts pointed a finger at Higgins. Higgins staggered a bit, but did not go down. Over the mindlink, I heard him mutter “finger of death, sir.” That was close.
The beast on Morwen decided to confiscate her weapon, pulling it from her grasp and crushing it to dust in one smooth motion. The beast on Ee attempted to do so as well, but only got as far as grabbing it before Ee snatched it right back.
I summoned forth Moira and her sister Valaria into the fray, surrounding the one to our rear, helping Ee. They both attacked it with the fury of the righteous, but still the beast stood firm.
Finally fed up with these beasts, I sent forth a ball of fire at the one to our fore, taking it down in a blaze of sparks. Then Ee, Morwen, and Kyrnyn finished off the one to our rear, and we quickly ran further up the path and into the village.
As we were within sight of the great building, its walls now fully intact, the ground began to rumble and then it burst open. A gargantuan worm appeared, its maw swallowing Marcus as it emerged. It was covered in armored plates and was as undead as all of our previous foes. As Marcus went down its gullet, I saw a flash of light shine from between its teeth and it looked illuminated from within. Marcus’s positive energy as a shining light of Pelor seared the beast from within, wounding it grievously.
As we all slowly wore down the beast, we continued to see periodic bursts of Marcus’s light from within it, until finally one final blow from my Valrkies sent it scurrying away. We were covered in darkness and by the time I dispelled it, the beast’s long tail was all that remained above ground as it ran away beneath our feet. I called forth a huge beast of ectoplasm to fight it and with one mighty blow the worm lay dormant.
Larch quickly transformed into a Xorn and burrowed his way down to Marcus, held deep in the creature’s dead belly beneath the ground. While he dug, Morwen examined the door to the great building and Higgins began to weave great magic to help all of us, starting with Morwen.
By the time Marcus was free and had healed those who were wounded, Higgins had almost exhausted his arcane magic, and used a good portion of his divine magic as well, in weaving special protections and boons for all of us. The strong glow of magic enveloped us all as Morwen, invisible from Higgin’s touch, entered the great building.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Nine – Colorful fight

Morwen advanced down a long hallway that led to an empty desk. Standing behind the desk, just in front of the back wall of the building, was a large sphere of light. I know this because the first thing I heard Morwen say over the mindlink when she got there was “Prismatic Sphere!”
Thus our plan, formed just after our last encounter with one of those arcane creations, was sprung into action. Morwen held steady, waiting for her color to come up.
Higgins lept forward, pulling out a scroll from his anti-prismatic sphere bandolier, and reading the words of magic, sending a cone of freezing air down the corridor (narrowly missing Morwen, who jumped out of the way), eliminating the first of the colorful shells of light. Larch then stepped forward, sending a blast of wind down the corridor, knocking out the second of the shells of light.
As Larch’s magic reached gale force, the walls around Morwen burst open and the walls of the building’s exterior burst open and nearly a dozen golems of clay engaged us. I sent my two valkries into the fray to guard Morwen’s flanks, though she was still safely hidden by Higgins magic, and so she was not engaged. Ee, still enlarged by Higgins, stepped up to hold the main entrance, and I sent my huge protoplasmic creation to guard our right flank, along with Kyrnyn.
Marcus was caught on our left flank, but he held it well and I was also standing there. I put my trust in all of my mental protections and concentrated on the sphere of light. I sent a green ray down the corridor, past all of the clay golems, past Morwen, over the desk, connecting squarely with the sphere, disintegrating the third layer. Only four remained.
The clay golems proved particularly hardy. My valkries could barely scratch them, but they did hold three of them off. My ectoplasmic friend held off two more (with Kyrnyn’s help) and then three more surrounded Marcus and I. The last two were dealt with by Ee as he slowly waded through them with his axe.
Higgins told me that whomever was in the sphere was doing some magic, but there were not any visible effects. Higgins then sent more magic of his own down the corridor, eliminating the fourth layer of the sphere. Then, finally, an impatient Morwen could act. Morwen held out her wand of magic missiles that we had given her for just such an eventuality, and she concentrated and tried to make it work. She had not had much practice with it, or with magic in general, and so it would take a bit of luck for her to activate it. Luck was on her side. The fifth layer of the sphere evaporated as the missiles struck.
Now Marcus jumped into the fray, disengaging from the golems around him so he could send a ray of magical daylight down the corridor, eliminating the sixth layer of the sphere. That left just one left. I moved to the entrance and sent forth my mind down to the sphere, dispelling the remaining layer of protection from around the hopefully very surprised former occupant of the sphere. Then I quickly returned my attention to the two clay golems still threatening our left flank.
I heard from over the mindlink Morwen’s voice, “Damn! I thought I had him!” Apparently she thought she was well positioned to stab him through his heart, but instead seemed to only scratch him.
Higgins warned me soon after that the man from the sphere, who was encased in heavy plate armor, was weaving magic of a very powerful sort. Then the figure vanished. I knew he could not have teleported away, given the strange magic of the area. Higgins confirmed this when he told me that the magician had stopped time with his magic. Perhaps he ran away. That would be a shame. I was tempted to go looking for him, but decided we needed to finish dealing with the golems, who were falling, but only slowly, from our efforts.
It turned out that I needn’t have worried. I soon saw him emerge from around a corner, just after I had sent forth a stream of sharp crystals into one of the golems, shattering it into the remnants of a hundred clay pots. The magician weaved magic and a large sphere of blades surrounded us, apparently cutting off our options for escape. The magician was standing just outside of the radius of the blades. Then he turned his attention to me and attempted to weave some horrid magic against me. His enchantment failed. My retort, however, did not. I send a huge ball of flame slamming into him, nearly knocking him from his feet.
Marcus then turned and saw where my flame went, and he turned his own flames onto the magician, encasing him in magical and divine fire. When the smokeless fire cleared, we saw the armored magician lying prostrate on the ground, defeated.
We made short work of the remaining clay golems, our attention focused fully on their destruction. Then we began to survey the situation, knowing that we had only 45 minutes or so before dawn came and the building as it was would slowly fade away.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Ten – Treason with a capital T

The armored figure was covered with very powerful items of magic. Morwen discovered that his armor is what protected his heart from her blade – it was heavily fortified against telling blows. We also found documents on him that detailed the rasing of troops. It was far worse than we imagined. It was not just a matter of a few thousand troops raised by the single Baron. It detailed the raising of over 150,000 troops, from every barony in the kingdom. The King must know of this at once! I wonder how many Baronies will become mine?
Searching the building itself, we found vast quantities of arms stored in its cellar. Summoing more valkries and more ectoplasmitc friends, we managed to empty the basement of arms and placed them out in the middle of the village. In the morning, when the buildings all faded away, the weapons remained.
We again borrowed Tuvstarr’s portable hole and used it to transport all of the weapons to the Capitol to show the King. The King was greatly troubled by what he saw. He paid us 100,000 pieces of gold for the weapons, mostly to keep them from falling into any other hands than his own. He did not immediately say what he planned to do about the 150,000 troops raised. I saw from his mind that he was greatly troubled by it. I am sure he will come back to us with what he intends to do about it. Barony, here I come!
Now we just need to sell our most valuable acquisitions so we can raise cash to pay for all of those powerful weapons we lost to those nightwalkers. I have some plans for my own gold. Long term plans. Plans fit for a Baron.

 

[Arkhandus]

I've only read the first few installments so far, but I really like this Cordozo guy.

Great storyhour, Altalazar.

 

[AnonymousOne]

Wow, I just finished reading all of the entries that you have up. I love this character, his wit and cynicism make for a great combination. Brilliantly told and keep it up!

 

[Altalazar]

Arkhandus, AnonymousOne, thanks for the sentiments. It is always nice to know someone reads and appreciates these!

And now, without further ado, the next installment...


Book XVI

Sir Cordozo – Chatper Two-Hundred Eleven – Research, Rumors, and Real Estate

The first thing we did with the cash was pay for replacements for the weapons destroyed by the huge creatures of the night. That left us less than 20,000 gold coins left. We then sold a strand of prayer beads for just over 90,000 coins, and then divided the money up, giving over 20,000 coins for each of us.
From what we found, I acquired a cloak that improved my social standing and a periapt that improved Higgins’ wisdom, something he already blessed with.
The King asked me to stay in the capitol for one night because Poseidon was having a VIP visitor, though he did not say who it was. I then returned to Poseidon’s tower the next day and Poseidon told me someone named Master Annada had stayed with him.
I spend the next several weeks working on researching my new mind ability, something never before seen, a mind power specially suited for my needs. I used Poseidon’s lab for my research. I’m sure I’ll eventually be sharing the power with him, though as it stands, he owes me some power sharing of his own when he gets the chance.
As the weeks went by, I also heard various rumors in the streets and at the Cusp of the Sunrise. Most of them were probably false, particularly the ones about myself. Apparently I’m engaged to be married to one of Poseidon’s followers. Funny how I was the last to find out. Crystal is my only current consort, and she is nobody’s follower.
There were rumors of a new eruption of Cauldron’s crater coming, but that was mostly the whispered fear of traumatized citizens. The reality was that real estate was being bought up rather quickly by out of Cauldron interests, which is always a good sign. Foreign investment in such numbers is a strong sign of economic recovery. I contributed to that myself by purchasing a plot of land for myself near the Cusp of the Sunrise, in the most expensive part of town, at the upper ridge of the crater, where the sulfur smell is softest and where the view of the entire city is best. There was a structure on there already, but it was damaged by the eruption and was not part of my plans, so I had my astral construct help tear it down.
The plot cost me only 100,000 pieces of gold. That left me 400,000 gold to invest in construction, though I may be taking on additional projects later. The funds were courtesy of the King, who appreciated my noble help in the recent uncovering of the plot against the Kingdom. I was promised more funds later, if all goes well. By the time my research was nearing completion, my plans were ready. A momumental structure, dedicated to the law and to myself will be built there. My plot is only two hundred feet by sixty feet, but the sky is the limit.
I heard additional rumors as the weeks progressed. One that may be true is that the King was forming either a Kudeam or an El-Kadeam (or both?) A Kudeam is a royal adventuring company. An El-Kadeam is a royal adventuring company that admits members only after a fight to the death. I left further inquiry into either for another day.
The most interesting rumor I heard is not a rumor at all, but simple truth. Ee is going to be a father. Maxine is the mother. Ee is unaware of this as of now; in fact, he is still unaware that Maxine is in town. But he soon will be enlightened.
I had a few errands to take care of in between my research and building plans. I took three trips back to my future barony over three months in order to renew my control of his two servants. Soon enough, I will return for my final trip out there, to test my newly crafted discipline.
Speaking of that, my research is complete. I am almost ready to try it, though I wish to do one more test of the power in the lab before using it in the open. I was discussing this with Posiedon, on a day exactly three months after the encounter in the Haunted Village, when there was a loud explosion in the distance and we felt the ground beneath Poseidon’s tower shudder.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Twelve – Where’s the fire?

At first I wondered if the volcano was erupting, but that was quickly disabused when I realized it was just a single warehouse that was on fire. Poseidon created a teleportation circle and then quickly stepped into it. Higgins and I followed behind him. We emerged a few dozen paces from the fire. The faint sound of screams for help could be heard over the crackling flames.
Poseidon ran forward into the flames. I followed closely behind him, my constant elemental protections shielding me from harm. I began searching for the source of the screams, though the thickness of the fire made me wonder if I would just find a well-cooked corpse.
Then I heard screams over the mindlink. And I heard “Higgins!” shouted by Morwen. Apparently something rather bad had happened. Poseidon confirmed it. He found the source of the screams – an enchanted rock. We both headed back out into the street.
What I saw once clear of the smoke confirmed my fears. Higgins’s corpse was laying in the street, surrounded by a dozen chain demons. I guess they skipped over the whole “attempting to hire us with plans to betray us later” routine and just decided to ambush us from the start. Well, at least they were upfront about it.
I ran straight over to Higgins’s corpse and quickly pressed my hand to his chest. It had been only moments since he died, so I was able to pull his breath back into his body. I pulled from his mind what had happened. He was standing in the street when a dozen demons covered in chains burst out of a building and ran and surrounded him, Marcus, Morwen, and Tuvstarr. Then from nowhere, a volley of at least 20 magic missiles slammed into him, followed quickly by 20 more, ending his life.
Higgins first action was to make himself vanish from sight. He was alive again, but barely, and so he decided it was best not to be such an obvious target. Looking to the sky, he also noted that we were encased in a green sphere of magic, probably something to prevent escape by teleportation. Not that I was going anywhere without Higgins.
Tuvstarr acted next, and hit the center demon with a blast of lightning that then arced to all the rest of them. The middle demon was left a smoking corpse and the other 11 looked half-dead from the blast. That was the last good news for a while.
Apparently the invisibility did not help Higgins. He was again hit with 20 more magic missiles from nowhere, followed by a blast of hostile lightning that then arced to the rest of us. I was unable to move out of the way, but needn’t have bothered. It did not penetrate my elemental protection. Unfortunately, Higgins need not have bothered, either, since the first of the 20 magic missiles was probably enough to kill him by itself. The lightning bolt was just a wasted effort on his behalf. Tired of this, I reached my mind up to the sphere of green that surrounded the area and then ripped it to shreds and dispersed its magic back to the ether. I then picked Higgins still invisible form up and transported to a place of safety some distance away. He would no longer be a target for the common street thugs who had ambushed us.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Thirteen – A brief respite before returning to the inferno

I quickly returned breath to Higgins’s body, and then Higgins was kind enough to place enchantments of protection on me while I prepped myself more thoroughly for a fight, splitting my mind, protecting my body, and then planning my return.
With my next thought, I was in the street behind the warehouse, which was now half extinguished by a huge elemental of water that was slowly working its way to the remaining demons. The friendly, invisible mages continued their work, sending volleys of magic missiles to new targets. I gathered from Tuvstarr’s mind that she had seen this before – or rather had NOT seen this before. Our assailants must have been protected by dust of disappearance. Expensive stuff, particularly when spread out to so many foes. Someone spent seirous money on this ambush. Looking back at the fire, I wondered if they were also engaging in insurance fraud to cover the costs. Then again, I reminded myself, Cauldron’s law system was primitive enough that they might not even use insurance. Sometimes I missed Desbury.

Sir Corzodo – Chapter Two-Hundred Fourteen – Ambush Denoument and a New Proposal

My companions finished off the (probably summoned) demons, and then the fire was out. Our would-be ambushers were gone. I guess that dust does not last very long. I went to talk to the citizens of Cauldron in the area afterwards and discovered that many of them had seen the preparations. Non-descript humans dressed in regular clothes were seen holding wands before vanishing from sight, and were later seen to appear from nowhere before running off.
Further inquiry led us to discover that the attackers were probably members of the Brawlers, the owners of the secret arena we had uncovered. Given the power of the magic used against us, I was more convinced than ever that Tuvstarr’s twin sister Sigrid was responsible. Later private conversation with Poseidon confirmed this.
“I think Sigrid is responsible too,” he told me. “But Tuvstarr simply can’t accept that her sister could do evil.”
I understood what he meant. Almost all of my guilty criminal clients had ready supplies of relatives and friends who all genuinely believed them innocent. Mothers, in particular, seemed to be in denial. Of course, since actual convictions also had nothing to do with innocence or guilt, but instead how well connected (or not) the defendant was, I suppose none of it really mattered. But in Tuvstarr’s case, it did matter, because she was apparently the only one who knew where Sigrid was.
“I have no idea where she is,” Poseidon told me. “Only Tuvstarr can contact her.” Wonderful. We might as well ask a mother to turn in her children. “But we have something else to discuss,” continued Poseidon. “I have consulted with Tuvstarr and others and we have determined why the Haunted Village is haunted. There is an artifact there of immense power called the Necrotic Cradle that both attracts undead and prevents teleportation. That is the source of the trouble there.”
“What does it do?” I asked.
“It allows one to literally reshape one’s existence. All choices you have made in your life can be rechosen. Even choices you have not made, such as your race or gender, can be altered by the device. The only catch is that it can be done but once and that it is in the center of the disturbance because it IS the disturbance. I plan on going there for myself. I don’t know if I can make it on my own, so I ask you and your companions to accompany me. We can all benefit from the cradle.”
From reading the mind of Kyrnyn deep down, I knew he would be interested in this in particular. He has made many bad choices in his life that he wishes could have been different. This is his ultimate chance. I did not know what benefit it would have for me, given that my choices in life have all been excellent, but perhaps a few minor alterations would be fun, just for novelty’s sake.
I gathered my companions and we set out the next day for the cradle.


Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Fifteen – Cave entrance leads to Zigguraut.

We teleported to the edge of the area near the Haunted Village, then walked and searched the grounds, all during the daylight. It did not take long for us to find a cave with a door constructed at its mouth. Higgins gave Morwen some divinely inspired agility to aid with her search for hidden devices or ambush, but she still found nothing. While we pondered the door, Poseidon pulled out his portable hole and made an opening through the door so we could venture inside. We found stairs spiraling downward.
Our descent took over twenty minutes and led us to a huge cavern that had, at its center, a massive Zigguraut. This was clearly where we were supposed to go. Six entrances at various levels were apparent on the side facing us. One of Poseidon’s companions named Kerrick offered to scout around its base in the plane of Shadows, but quickly returned when he said that he saw hundreds of shadowy creatures orbiting the Zigguraut in that plane and that they started to turn their attention to him. We had a brief discussion about where the cradle might be.
“The Zigguraut itself is where the graves are stored that attracted the necromancer to this area,” said Tuvstarr, “So it seems unlikely that the cradle would be there, and yet the undead circle it, so it seems most likely that what we seek lies somewhere inside.”
“Yes,” said Marcus, “perhaps it is underneath it. We should take the lowest entrance and start from there.”
I agreed, mostly because I did not have information to do otherwise, though I wondered if the top would be the place because that would be where the fewest tombs would be in a given floor, making it likely the place for the bodies of the noble dead.
As we walked toward the massive structure, Tuvstarr and Marcus filled us in on what they knew of the legend of the Necrotic Cradle. Apparently there was a famous paladin turned infamous vampire who sought it ought, seeking his own redemption. He actually managed to reach the place and restored himself to his former self. His name was Tanis Silverwright.
Unfortunately for Tanis, all did not end well. His companions of the time, who were as evil as he had formerly been, chose not to redeem themselves. Tanis was thus denied absolution from his own church for his failure to hunt down his former allies in evil. He ended his days a broken man, a drunkard, who never completed his task and never obtained the absolution he so desperately sought. As Tuvstarr recounted this, I wondered to myself why anyone would ever want to be a paladin in the first place. So many restrictions on what you can do, and unlike a restriction in a contract, there was not much compensation offered. And it seemed that so many met such horrible ends. When, exactly, does one ever hear a story about a paladin that does not involve either the paladin becoming evil or the paladin dying some horrible death at the end? Lawyers may be universally despised, but they also live well and don’t tend to end up in tombs. I looked around at the bodies in the Zigguraut as I wondered just how I ended up here.
Tuvstarr continued her tale, telling us of a half-elf monk companion of the paladin’s that is said to stalk this area still, refusing to seek absolution and apparently refusing to leave. There was also supposed to be a guardian, a living contstruct known as an Inevitable. I tried my best to keep the few dozen puns that popped into my mind upon hearing the name, but I was not successful. What Tuvstarr could tell us about its weaknesses was that it was vulnerable to chaotic weapons, it was relatively slow on reflexes, but not much else.
The story over, I started to look closely at the tombs around us inside the Zigguraut. They were stacked three high in the lowest level and the level was quite huge. Each body was labeled in some ancient language that Tuvstarr could read without trouble. I suspect Higgins could as well, but I did not bother to ask him. I was much more interested in the fact that all of the thousands of bodies seemed to be moving. Wonderful. Now why was a lawyer in here again?

 

[Altalazar]

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Sizteen – Mental Midgets Accost Us

The interior of this zigarraut was absolutely enormous. The central corridor seemed to stretch on forever. After a rather long walk, we finally reached what must have been the center (and it turned out it was). There was an intersection there with another corridor equally huge that was perpendicular. Morwen scouted ahead. Poseidon followed close behind her. When she reached the intersection, she glanced in both directions down the cross-hall, and as she looked, two creatures appeared to either side of her. They had pale skin and tentacles covered their faces. Then the air shimmered around them and I could feel their minds send out waves of force against all of us, missing Morwen only because she was standing between them instead of in front of them.
I glanced to my right and, unsurprisingly, saw Ee’s brain could not take the strain and he was standing there, slack-jawed, staring ahead blankly. The mind blasts passed harmlessly over my own mental defenses, like a soft breeze running past an adamantine-bricked fortress. Mind flayers are such mental midgets.
Poseidon morphed himself into a stone giant and ran forward. Tuvstarr transformed herself into an large angelic creature that reminded me of Moria. Four more mind flayers appeared ahead and then sent a volley of magic missiles toward Poseidon. Higgins cringed and weaved some protective magic, then I could hear his impecible accent in my mind taunting the mind flayers to target him with their missiles. Fortunately for them, they never did.
I decided that I needed to see what I could do to protect the minds of my companions. I concentrated and extended my mind out toward them, and suddenly felt a connection stronger than I’d ever felt before linking me to them all. The first thing I did was protect myself with precognition, setting my reflexes on edge as I felt myself anticipate moves against me with great clarity. I felt my protection surge outward through my connection to my companions, granting them the same boost to their reflexes and the same protection to their minds.
In the meanwhile, Higgins stepped up behind me and pulled out a scroll. As the parchment burned away from his incantation, Ee’s eyes came alive and Ee then charged forward to the mind flayers on the right. With my next thought, I protected myself with an invisible shield of force, then felt with satisfaction as that protection surged down the mental connection I had to all of my companions and protected them as well. Just let those little mental midgets try and get to my companions now!
Tuvstarr sent a raging storm of snow and ice forward, covering everyone, including Poseidon and Morwen in with the mind flayers, but only harming our enemies. Those that did not resist the magic entirely, that is. Impressive. Though from what I could tell from Higgins’s mind, it might not be so harmless to Higgins and myself. Apparently the celestial powers that be don’t appreciate the more nuanced point of view of a neutral arbiter of the law.
Higgins sent one last enchantment Ee’s way, enlarging his form to that of a giant as he charged forward. Before he could connect his axe to a mind flayer’s head, they did some magic of their own and suddenly each mind flayer was surrounded by six identical images of itself. Higgins’s mind told me that this was not the only protective enchantment they had going on themselves. Skin of stone was the most obvious. He was unsure of the rest. I decided I needed to do something about that. Pulling together my concentration, I called forth a massive, huge creature of ectoplasm, cutting off the escape of the mind flayers on the left just as those in the middle crumbled under Ee’s, Morwen’s, and Poseidon’s blows.
One of the mind flayers tried to touch Ee, but missed, its enchantment wasted. Then three of them again tried to mind blast my companions. I knew Ee’s mind would probably need my help again, and so I surged up my own immediate mental protections, which were then transferred to Ee (and everyone else) by my special connection. And just in time. I could feel the blast bounce harmlessly off of my new mental shield around Ee, but only barely. Ee’s thoughts, as transparent as always, echoed back to my mind, “Cordozo did something to me! Ta da! Me feel the power!”
Higgins cast one more enchantment before the fight was over, speeding everyone’s reflexes. Then he sat back and saved his strength for what lay ahead as we mopped up the remaining mind flayers, who could not escape because of the teleportation blockage. I stripped away the magical defenses of one of the flayers, ending its images, softening its skin, and evaporating away several other enchantments I could not identify. Poseidon and my ectoplasmic servant then quickly turned that now defenseless flayer into paste. The remaining two fell soon after.
Our minds still connected, and ready for battle, we quickly searched around the rest of the base level of the zigurraut, but we found nothing. We went up to each of the other five levels to the top, still searching, and we still found nothing. It was quickly approaching evening and so we had to make a decision about where to rest for the night. Staying down below seemed a poor choice. Then Morwen pointed out that we had not searched the flayer bodies.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Seventeen – Mental Midgets with Money

The mind flayers were all wearing magical mithral shirts – very pretty in the torchlight. They also all had magical rings of protection. But not much else. Then Morwen discovered a folded cloth on one of them that looked very familiar. Morwen laid it out on the floor in the intersection to open it and confirmed that it was, indeed, another portable hole. And she discovered something else as well – that the floor in the intersection covered a shaft heading downward. Given the late hour, we opted to leave that for another day.
Morwen laid the portable hole to the ground outside the intersection and was then able to discern its actual contents. More gold than I could easily count, though Morwen later did count it at 174,000 pieces of gold. I wondered where they had gotten such wealth. I later wondered if it was part of what they intended to use to transform themselves at the cradle (had they lived to see it).
As we left for the surface, I noted that Tuvstarr took all of the bodies, mentioning something about material components. I wondered if she’d wear their brains as adornments. It would only be poetic justice for such foul mental midgets.
Once we reached the surface, we hiked out of the area of death and then Higgins created a magical shelter for the night. We then returned to the zigurraut in the morning.
Not wishing to rush forward without information, I summoned Moira and then had Higgins make her invisible so she could scout ahead down the shaft. We did not know how deep it went or how long we might need to fly to explore its depths. As it turned out, we need not have worried. It was a mere 300 feet down.
Moria told me over our link that the shaft opened into a cavern that had large drop-offs to either side and led to a blindingly bright light at its end. Standing in front of the light were eight figures. Four were huge creatures with a dozen heads each, what could only have been Hydras. And four were constructs, what could only have been the Inevitables that Tuvstarr had heard were guardians of the cradle. None of them seemed to notice Moria’s presence. I asked her to wait until we could join her. A plan formed in my mind and then the real preparations began.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hudnred Eighteen – Strength of One to Many

My mind fresh from the night’s rest (and in anticipation for this moment) I sprang into action. I quickly linked myself to all of my companions, including a new companion conjured up from the ectoplasm just for this occasion. I then engaged every form of protective power that I knew, all at maximum strength, draining a great deal of my internal reservoir in the process. In parallel, Higigns cast spell after spell on all of us, speeding us up, cloaking us in further protections, aiding our weapon’s hands with luck, divine providence, and morale. He gave divine agility to Morwen and hardened her skin. When the dust settled from our frenzy of mind and magic, strong protections surged around all of my companions, almost making Ee and Morwen feel invincible. Through one means or another, every one of us then vanished from sight, leaving only my huge ectoplasmic friend to be seen in the torchlight. To aid us in seeing each other and in seeing anyone else who might be hidden from view, I sent one past power to my companions, allowing them to see through a psychic touch. Finally, Higgins enchanted all of us for flight.
Only then did we then fly down the shaft to face what would likely be a difficult battle. My ectoplasmic friend came last, and only when he came within sight of the guardians below did the inevitables speak.
“This place is forbidden. Leave now or be destroyed!” was all they said. Then battle was joined.
With my protections in place, my companions barely suffered a scratch. The guardians had difficulty landing even a single solid blow, made more difficult by Ee’s and Poseidon’s displacement from vision.
Morwen charged forward, then deftly appeared from her invisible cloak, striking four quick blows in rapid succession to one of the hydras. I’d never seen such precise strikes before. Just four quick pokes of her rapier and the hydra fell to the ground, dead, its heart overloaded from the shock. There was barely even a trace of blood evident.
The rest of the guardians fell quickly after, one by one, as they failed to do much harm to us. I was about to raise a finger to disintegrate one of the remaining hydras when suddenly the remaining two Inevitables caused an earthquake, sending rubble down on top of us and wiping away the platform we were standing on, sending it down into a deep abyss below us. Thankfully, Higgins’s flight was still bestowed upon us all, and so beyond a few bruises, we were all find. All that remained was the blindingly bright necrotic cradle hovering before us.
Not wanting to waste another moment, Ee flew forward into the light. He began immediately to feel his flesh melt away. But with all of the protections and with all of his flesh, it took rather a long time for it to melt completely away. When it did, Ee died and was then instantly reborn, still Ee, yet changed. Ee found his new destiny. I looked up at the cradle, then at my companions, and then we all walked toward the surging artifact. When we emerge, we will be different. I stepped into the light…

 

[Altalazar]

Book XVII

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Nineteen – Our Party goes through some Changes

I could have sworn that for a fleeing moment, Ee had become a great scholar, a wise sage, a learned professor of the world, whose insights, wisdom, and piercing intellect made him the most profound thinker that has ever existed. Then it was over, and I just heard a single thought from Ee: “Nah, me just want be Ee.”
Still, there were some subtle differences. Morwen kept her changes close to her chest, though I sensed that she might be asking me for a favor later. Marcus barely changed at all.
Then there was Kyrnyn. Emphasis on “was.” What emerged from the cradle looked like Kyrnyn, in the sense that he was still an orc, but everything else felt different. His mind was almost completely different except… it wasn’t. It was rearranged. Probing deeply, I saw back into Kyrnyn’s past, back to when he was cursed to walk the Earth as an ettin to learn the error of his angry ways. Then I saw the spark I saw before. The second head. A second mind that survived the transition, that held all of his earlier, uncontrolled anger. It was always there, biding its time. Now this mind, strangely a female mind now still in male (and orcish) body, had come to the fore. Kyrnyn was still there, but now he was the small spark and this new mind, this new voice, Ninrick, or Nin, was in control. I could no longer sense the divinity in him, but I sensed a cunning and ferocity that was never before present. It would be interesting to see how this manifests itself.
Posiedon underwent a transformation as well, similar to my own. The others with us also changed, though it was difficult for me to discern exactly how, given my limited time spent with each of them. Tuuvstar seemed as knowledgeable as ever. Thus transformed, we all returned home, quietly contemplating the changes in each of us.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Twenty – Some Growing Developments

Over the next four months, the construction on my new home, with much help from Higgins and my slowly accumulating followers, was completed. The structure was in the most expensive portion of town, so the neighbors were appropriately noble. It has three stories, and can house comfortably nearly 100 souls. I intend to house the current bulk of my followers there, where they can serve me appropriately, but I have tasks for the rest of them that will take them far from this small town of Cauldron, which I will mention in a moment.
The entrance is impressive, with a two-story porch held up by six stone columns of proper judicial solemnity. The entry doors are massive twin doors of steel that open up to a welcomer who sits at a desk to greet all who enter.
Inside the structure itself, I had a very large, luxury library, housing the best law library money can buy. There is also a courtroom, jury room, and judge’s chambers on the ground floor, for use on real trials if that day may come, or for use on mock trials to aid in the training of my cadre of lawyers. Study rooms outside the library double as client consultation rooms for those who seek our services.
My lower level servants are also housed on the first floor, the better to allow them to service to the needs of the ground floor denizens.
My kitchen is luxurious, providing food the likes of which most never see outside of the Cusp of the Sunrise. The dining room / ball room serves a luxurious complement to it, seating over thirty in dining splendor. Only the upper crust dine there, though I allow all of my followers to take a turn dining there, as a perk of my generosity, though they also have their own private spaces to dine in common areas on the second floor.
Which brings me to the second floor. There, the bulk of my followers are housed. Most share rooms like barracks, but some have a bit more space and privacy. All can share the well-appointed common rooms that go down the middle of the floor. Two small and one large fountain provides them with a space for reflection and quiet contemplation.
The third floor is where I reside. My room is in the corner with the best view of the rest of Cauldron and includes a warm tub of water, ever ready for a dip. Crystal resides there with me now. Higgins’s room is on the opposite corner. He usually resides alone. Between the two is a secret warroom where we can meet with my other companions to discuss matters of importance.
The room outside these three rooms is the central hub of the place, though it is left of center. This is where the scrying pool, the healing platform and bed, the guardian statues, and the rest of my private library are stored. My followers are always busy in here, keeping track of various matters that require their attention.
The central portion of the third floor is mostly an open area, with its own fountains and another, more quiet place for dining. I have four fancy bedroom suites there to house VIP guests as I have them, or some of my companions, though they usually have their own accommodations. Ee, in particular, has made his own special arrangements, as I will mention shortly.
All told, the structure cost me nearly 270,000 gold coins, and that is on top of the 100,000 gold coins I spent just for the rights to the land. But it is money well spent. I still have additional funds granted by the King for further construction, and I plan to make use of those throughout the land, if need be. Which brings me to the duties of my non-resident followers.
It has become apparent that there is much happening around the Kingdom, and even outside of it, that I am only dimly aware of. This must change. So I have sent my followers to live in places across the Kingdom. My most noble followers reside in the Capitols of the land, attending court, keeping an ear to the intrigue there, and reporting it back to me. My more common followers reside in more humble surroundings, practicing their chosen profession, perhaps running a tavern, and keeping an ear to the latest gossip and rumors in the street, gathering what information does not by happenstance already come their way, and reporting it back to me.
My followers of the more barbaric or druidic persuasion are on the outskirts of civilized lands, living among the more basic-living citizens, and listening to what tales they have to spin. All of this information is transmitted back to my home, though mental reports, through scrying and listening by my more arcane followers. They organize the information and keep it up to date, storing it and sorting it for my perusal as needed.
I am greatly aided in that task by two very capable followers in particular. Johann and Kitiara, brother and sister, came to me in the same day, seeking me out because of my fame (in certain limited circles) as a psion of some reknown. They were both of some skill already when I saw them, and they grow ever more skilled by the month under my tutelage, though it may be some time before they truly come in to their own.
Their skills allow them to do much of the coordination work and they are invaluable to me in that regard. They also sometimes travel to gain further information for me when what they have gathered from my network does not suffice. Over time, my network will grow until its tendrils reach into everywhere in the Kingdom, making me the first to know many things that others will hear only rumor of. I will connect the pieces together and truly understand what is afoot.
One of the first things my network alerted me to was something of a more personal interest to one of my companions. Ee’s Maxine, whom I was kind enough to transport to town, is pregnant. Further, she was seeking Ee now to marry him. Apparently the Law under St. Cuthbert requires such things. She found Ee and dragged him before the authorities and demanded that he marry her. Lest it seem too harsh on her part, I should mention that this was only after Ee treated her with disdain and refused to have anything to do with her or her unborn child.
When the time came to go to court, I offered to represtent Ee in this matter. Ee at first asked me if I could transport her out of town. I told him I could not do so without her permission. He asked if I could wipe her memory of ever meeting him. I again told him I could not do so without her permission. White lies, those, since I probably could force her permission on both matters. The big huge whopping lie was what was unsaid. That to do either would defeat the purpose of my having brought her to town in the first place. But Ee need not know that. I think, in the end, it will be good for Ee to have a child. At the very least, he should take responsibily. If nothing else, it will give him more incentive to travel the planes in adventure, if only to avoid staying in town.
The only real legal help I provided Ee was with his assets. Before the ceremony, he asked me to wipe his memory of the 54,000 coins he had to his name as he gave them to Nin (formerly Kyrnyn) for safekeeping, leaving him with a single gold coin. Then, when they asked him about his assets, he could truthfully say that, as far as he knew, he had only one gold to his name. What I did not tell Ee was that the trigger to remembering all of those coins was someone saying to him “I love you” or him saying that to someone else (and meaning it). Of course, I could trigger it at any time even without that trigger, but this way, I figured, if he ever did find love with Maxine, at least then they could recover Ee’s fortune.
But this seems unlikely. After the ceremony, Ee told Maxine that he had no home and that he lived in the woods. Then, just to prove it, he went to live in the woods. Maxine opted not to join him and instead stayed with Posiedon. And so things went for four months. Then I heard Ee’s voice call to me from the forest.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Twenty-One – Ee gets us hired

“Cordozo, me Ee” I heard over the link.
“Yes, Ee?”
“Malvo here say he want hire us, find Earth Weird named Moonstone. She prophecy. They miss her. They pay 40,000 coins.”
“What kind of demon is Malvo?”
“Huh?”
“Nevermind. So Ee, what else did he say?”
“She Oracle. She gone missing. Him want find. Oracle live in ground. She gone long time.”
“Ok Ee, ask him how long we have to find her.”
“He say three weeks.”
“Ok Ee, come meet everyone at Tuvstarr’s tower.”
Soon we were all at the tower. I always am linked now with the others, though sometimes Morwen balks at that. Morwen likes to disappear for days or weeks at a time. I sent a message to her anyway. She usually shows up, even if she doesn’t respond.
Not having seen Ee in quite some time, I asked him, “where’s your wife?”
“Me don’t know.”
What a wonderful father and husband Ee must be. I wonder what he’ll name the child. Given the origin of Ee’s name and the state of his relationship with Maxine, it ought to be an interesting one. I suppose we may all find out in another two or so months.
Thus assembled, we knocked on Tuvstarr’s door.
Skylar, an overly pompous-looking, self-righteous, formal teenager opened the door.
“Do you have an appointment?” he asked, with the false accent of those who aspire to nobility but never achieve it.
“Yes,” I said, lying with perfect smoothness and sincerity.
“Come in,” he replied, his voice making the “m” and “n” sound like a long, trailing song. He told us to wait.
Ten minutes later, after we were left waiting to satisfy Skylar’s twisted sense of importance for himself and his mistress, Skylar appeared and said, “Madam Tuvstarr will see you now.”
Then we walked up this magical shaft to the third floor, where Tuvstarr was sitting behind a desk covered with books and papers. Tuvstarr gave Skylar a withering look, but said nothing. Deciding we had waited long enough, I asked, “Ok, just what the heck is an Earth Weird?”
Tuvstarr then explained to us a bit about the Chisel. They are an organization that is apparently on good terms with Poseidon. They were the first ones to take advantage of his regular teleportation circles created to travel from one city to another. They knew about it ahead of time and even created special circular wagons to take advantage of them. They set up contacts first and so they have prospered under this new trade system.
For years, they had an Oracle in the form of an Earth Weird named Moonstone. They did not know where she resided exactly, they just knew how to call her so she would come. Then just after the eruption in Cauldron, they called her and she did not come. They tried everything they could to locate her, but could not.
And what she is is essentially a form of an elemental who can apparently foresee the future. The implications for tort law overwhelmed me for a moment. Proxmiate cause is based upon whether or not a given harm or danger is foreseeable. I wondered if the Chisel had taken proper precautions to protect themselves from liability in their endeavors. I’ll have to ask them about that once we’ve located Moonstone for them. Back to the matter at hand.
Tuvstarr could not tell us where to go next, but we tried Poseidon. He knew the same thing she knew, probably because he gets most of his information from her, but he did suggest we see the Mayor, Jenya, who was also High Priestess of St. Cuthbert. He said she had an oracle item that may prove helpful. And so we departed for the temple.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Twenty-Two – Takes an Oracle to Find and Oracle

We knocked on the door to the temple of St. Cuthbert and asked to see Jenya.
“Do you have an appointment?”
“Yes,” said Ee, rather unconvincingly.
The acolyte turned and left, presumably to fetch her. After the required ten minute wait (I wondered if there was a handbook somewhere that said that ten minutes was the appropriate time to keep important guests waiting), Jenya walked in, flanked by six Samurai bodyguards. Where she found them out here, in Cauldron, I wondered.
What was interesting was that, while they usually eyed all of us suspiciously, this time, all six pairs of eyes were focused solely on Nin. Apparently that summer course he took in “ninja” training, despite being buried deep in his mind, and in his past, is somehow visible.
We asked Jenya about the Oracle. She had heard of the Chisel (of course) and said she would do what she could by consulting her Star Mace. She said, “Make yourselves at home” and left to consult her artifact.
When she returned, she had this cryptic answer:

The seer found what she was looking for.
What she was not looking for found her and sent her home.
At home she went looking for what she lost.
She was again found and is now waiting to be found, so she can find what she wants.

Wonderful. I wondered if we should also “drink lots of water.”

Tuvstarr, upon later consultation, seemed to think that “home” for Moonstone would be the Elemental Plane of Earth. Great, that really narrows it down.
I must have expressed that sentiment aloud because Morwen responded by saying, “It’s not like it’s an infinite expanse of Earth!”
“Uh, actually, it is.” I said.
“Oh.”
Tuvstarr did suggest to us a location to try, a major city on the plane where we might find more information. Unfortunately, shifting between the planes can be imprecise at times, so we just aimed as best we could and prepared to depart. But first, I wanted to consult with Malvo personally.
Malvo, the man who hired Ee from the woods, was helpful. He explained that the power used to summon Moonstone only had a five to ten mile range, so her residence here must not have been that far from Cauldron. He gave us a symbol of their order that we could use to identify her. He said Moonstone would recognize it if we showed it to her.
I also asked Malvo about the Brawlers. He had no new information to share, though he did mention that they came to town only within the past year. We’ll have to get back to them later.
Our preparations complete, we joined hands in a circle and I then shifted us from Cauldron to somewhere near the Major Elemental Metropolis on the Elemental Plane of Earth mentioned to us by Tuvstarr. And then the bashing began.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Twenty-Three – Spelunking the Earth

We arrived in a medium-sized cavern. Unfortunately, it had no exits. Even more unfortunately, it was a sacred place to elementals, so they did not want us “invaders” in it. And in the ultimate of misfortunes for us, there were ten huge earth elementals in the room, in a circle around us, who saw it as their personal mission to punish us for our trespasses.
Higgins quickly hasted us, and then Nin and Ee began to fight them. They barely made a scratch in the thick stony bodies of the elementals. Morwen did a very impressive acrobatic move to stand between two of them, but then also made nary a scratch in their thick stoney bodies. Then their massive fists came down like avalanches, nearly killing Morwen, knocking Marcus unconscious, and severely wounding Higgins as well.
This did not look good. Four were within pounding distance of Higgins and though one, incredibly, missed him despite Higgins almost total lack of protection, the others did not, and so I quickly grabbed the minds of the four closest elementals and dominated them. Unsure of where this was headed, I simply had them stand still for now while we dealt with the rest.
We still did little damage to them. I considered trying to disintegrate one or perhaps crush one of their minds, but decided that it would be best to deal with as many as possible, so I managed to dominate three more. One shrugged it off, and the other three who were slightly wounded retreated down into the earth. It was at this point that Nin decided to try conversing with the one undominated one who was left.
They spoke in deep, guttural, almost resonant tones for a few moments before I decided to try and link my mind to it so I could converse with it as well. While Nin could speak their words, he was about as eloquent with them as Ee. I gave them the most eloquent speech, profusely apologizing for our trespasses, and promising to leave immediately, without even touching their sacred walls. I just asked for distance and direction to another open space, one less sacred. I also asked if he could help us with locating Moonstone, assuring him that our intentions were entirely benign. In the end, he found me quite persuasive and told me that there was an open space just over 400 feet from here. I transported all of us there and then he and his companions escorted us to the vault of their leader.
We traveled far, through tunnels made by the elementals just so we could pass. Then we reached the chamber of the High Leader, who was an impressively huge earth elemental who also knew our own common tongue.
The stonework in her chamber was beyond belief. Dwarves would cry and tear their beards out at how beautiful it was. The walls were opulent, covered in gemstones that dwarfed the treasuries of any Earthly Kingdom (in the non-elemental sense of the word “Earthly” of course).
To give more goodwill, Marcus took this opportunity to offer to heal one of the injured elementals. His touch healed him completely, impressing the Leader.
They took us to another chamber, non-sacred, and closed us off, telling us to wait while their Leader saw if she could find out information for us about Moonstone. Her last command to our escort was that he was in charge of us and that if we hurt things, he would pay. Such brutal efficiency. I guess that is what one would expect of one made of the earth.
We waited in the chamber for five hours. Then our “guardian,” who’s name was Morphysis, came back and said he would take us to see someone who could help us. Apparently Moonstone went through a portal, looking to get back to where she came from, and never came back. They did not know to where the portal leads. They know it is located some three weeks travel away (if you’re an elemental) or three months if you were us. Not wanting Ee to miss his baby’s birth, we asked if someone who knew its precise location could talk to us so we could teleport there. And thus, we were taken to see the Earth Wizard.
Morphysis took us down many more passages until we reached a wooden door. I could tell from his mind that this indicated great wealth, since all trees were imported from other planes. We knocked and asked for the owner.
An assistant answered, and asked us if we had an appointment.
“Yes,” Morwen said, lying somewhat better than Ee.
“Oh, you have brought the soft ones,” the assistant said back. We were escorted inside. “Wait here and make yourselves comfortable.”
Ten minutes later (ten minutes now having been established as the universal waiting time when seeing someone important, holding true even across planes and even for creatures made completely out of granite and with rocks for brains), the Earth Wizard appeared. She was very pleasant, as far as earth elementals go. Her name was Mantle.
She offered us food and drink and we had a nice meal with her. Her great wealth and his ease of manner with us “softies” clearly identified Mantle as amongst the “upper crust” of earth elementals.
Her assistant, Stalagmite, offered to help us purchase goods if we wished, particularly potions to help us “beathe earth.” It took me a moment to realize that this was not a eumphism for having us all killed. Higgins and I purchased a few of the potions just in case. We had to watch our spending, my funds having been mostly depleted on permanently enhancing my intelligence. (Courtesy of the cradle, I was able to make a certain fund conversion).
After the meal was over, we were shown the location of the portal through Mantle’s scrying. We then thanked her and I transported us to the portal’s location.
It was unclear where it led. Not wishing to go in blind, I began to manifest my interplanar correspondence power. Once complete, I summoned Moria, and then sent her through the portal.
She communicated back to me that she was in a small cavern that was hot (with a lava pool in the center) and had a large anvil. Working the anvil was an efreeti that took notice of her, but otherwise ignored her, continuing his assigned task. There was an exit to the cave to a hall, but that was not what caught her attention.
In one corner of the room stood imprisoned a creature of earth. Moria approached her and discovered that this was indeed Moonstone. Moonstone, for her part, looked grateful to see Moria, though she apparently already knew we were coming. Oracles must not have much fun reading mysteries.
Now we needed to decide the proper approach. Moria had but a few moments left. I contemplated what I would have her do before our next move. It might be wise to rest, but then it might be wiser to move quickly. But which was the better move?

 

[Altalazar]

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Twenty-Four – Through the Looking Glass

I connected my mind and body to my companions and boosted them with strong layers of protection. I even boosted an ectoplasmic companion and Valaria, whom I summoned to join us before our journey. Then we stepped through one by one, my huge ectoplasmic companion going first. Not until I arrived did I realize that there was a bit of a timing problem.
When I arrived, my ectoplasmic companion was gone. It turned out that Ee had been there quite some time before me, even though I was right behind him. Stranger still, we found out that time flowed there slower, not faster, than in our own plane. There must have been something about the portal in transition that gave the reverse effect.
In any case, I quickly found Moonstone in her magical prison. Once we were all there, we prepared for an ambush through the only door to the room and I attempted to disintegrate the magical circle holding Moonstone. Instead, I removed a chunk of rock from the floor that quickly filled with magma from some infinite source below. It appeared that we were on some sub-layer of the abyss, a demi-plane home to some unpleasant beings.
Moonstone informed us that she had prohesized that we would be triumphant. Beyond that, the details were a little hazy. She did inform us that the other two inhabitants of this complex were Pit Fiends. Devils of the abyss. Well, at least we know they didn’t hire us. That’s a demon’s job.
Higgins attempted to speak to the efreet. Higgins knows and speaks all languages through some special means of magic. The efreet, though, was uninterested in talking. The only reaction he gave was to Higgins’s question regarding his availablility for employment when his current task was done. To that, he simply raised an eyebrow and kept on pounding away at the adamantine.
Lacking any immediate means of freeing Moonstone, we decided to explore further. The efreet seemed quite content to keep pounding away on a breastplate while we searched. I could tell Ee wanted to fight it, but we talked him out of it.
With no lock on this side of the metal door leading from this room, Morwen could not unlock it, so I disintegrated it and then we moved on. Beyond the door was a hall heading in two directions, split like a ‘V.’ We took the right branch. I left a new ectoplasmic companion guarding the left branch, to warn us of any approach. We found a rather large bedroom The furniture left no doubt that the occupant had large wings to contend with, both for sleeping and for sitting at its desk.
The next room was a summoning room of some sort. A magic circle inscribed inside a magical triangle filled the floor. Higgins informed me that this was a very ancient way to summon. Apparently triangles are long disfavored and safe-summoning manuals all require the double-circle now. I pointed out to Higgins that despite that, if the Pit Fiends upgraded to a double circle, this could not be used as evidence of negligence in using a circle-in-triangle (in the event of a summoning gone bad), because otherwise, there would be disincentive to correct problems.
Sitting on a table in the summoning room was a wand, apparently used to inflict harm on a summoned creature in order to help control it. Given that it only spat out magic missiles, it was doubtful that it was very effective.
The next room was apparently the kitchen. The smells wafting out would have smelled good to us, had we been evil devils who enjoyed the taste of gnome flesh. As it was, it smelled putrid. Then Morwen cracked the door open.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Twenty-Five – Gnome is what’s for dinner

Two pit fiends stood at separate counters preparing dinner. The room was absolutely huge – they could have boned an ancient dragon in there. As it was, they had only a single small table, upon which a gnome lay. Marcus did not need to look at the gnome for long to determine that he needed a recall from the afterworld, not healing.
We retreated down the hall so Higgins could cast a few protective spells (what few he had left after using them all up earlier to no avail) and I added a few protections of my own. Then we returned to the door and Larch (in the form of a wolf) summoned an ape and I summoned forth another ectoplasmic friend (my seond having already expired in our explorations) and then Ee charged into the room.
Ee was large in stature, thanks to Higgins, as was Nin. Ee managed to get the door open and halfway through before Nin charged past him and right up to the Pit Fiend. Then an ape appeared next to him. The next moment, both the ape and Nin were running away screaming, an aura of fear overcoming them both. Higgins reacted quickly, casting a spell of heroism on Ee, protecting his mind from fear and enhancing his prowess in battle.
Before Higgins could turn his magic on Morwen, she had already bound into the room, her arrows flying. Higgins soon ran after, and gave her the same boost as Ee before turning his attention to Nin. A few moments later, Nin’s enchantment of fear had been dissipated by Higgins’s magic.
My ectoplasmic friend had little effect on the beast. Then both fiends turned to the doorway. Higgins was still hidden by his magic, but I was not. They sent forth two balls of fire each at us. Thinking quickly, I dampened the blast of the first, but I could not dampen the rest, and so fire washed over all of us in four successive waves. Thankfully, Higgins’ protections held strong and so most of us had nary a burned hair from the blasts.
Apparently unsatisified with that result, the fiends then both sent forth waves of magical rocks against us that, upon impact, exploded into even more balls of fire. Higgins’ protections again saved us, though the rocks that impacted myself had no effect at all as my own resistance against enchantments held firm. The fiends then charged forward, one against Ee, the outher coming around the table to engage Ee from the other side. It was then that I struck back.
At the speed of thought I sent forth a quick ray of distintegration against the fiend coming around the table. It easily shrugged it off, as my power failed to penetrate its powerful resistance. Undaunted, I lined up my aim, filled myself with maximum empowerment, and tried again, and this time, I struck the creature dead in the chest. The fiend then vanished into a pile of dust, a small pendant falling to the floor from where its neck once stood.
The other Pit Fiend screamed in agony and rage. I turned my mind toward it and tried to crush it, but never quite managed to get past its strong will. Ee, Morwen, and Nin surrounded it (with the help of my ectoplasmic friend) and slowly wore it down.
I could feel a surge of power from within the fiend’s mind. It was calling to mind its most awesome power. I could hear its thoughts begin to form as it stated “I wish I were totally he…” but its words were cut short as Nin’s chain snapped into its throat, and then through it, ripping out the arteries from its neck. The only sounds remamaining were the gurgling of blood drowning out its dying breath, as it was unable to complete the words to its enchantment. Then there was a dull “thud” as its massive body fell to the stone floor. Then silence.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Twenty-Six – Gnome no more, then more gnomes.

Larch, still a wolf, walked up to the table where the gnome lay. He then touched his paw to the corpse, and began druidic incantations. Soon thereafter, we had a naked halfling looking rather confused. Then he turned and saw his former body in the form of a corpse, cooked, and seasoned for eating. And thus, one of the great mysteries of the universe was solved. When one is reincarnated into a new body, there is, in fact, nothing in one’s stomach if one is inclined to vomit all over one’s shoes. Or in this case, over two pair of hairy, but bare, halfling feet.
I silently decided to myself that it would probably be best for this new halfling/former gnome to have his memory erased of that particular sight. One never needs to see the visual associated with the literal fulfillment of having one’s goose cooked.
We completed our circuit of the complex, finding a few other rooms but nothing much of interest, save the ten still-living gnomes that apparently were on special the last time these Pit Fiends went out for food. We freed them.
The pendant that had fallen from the neck of the disintegrated fiend was a key to unlock Moonstone’s prison, so we used it to free her. We found somewhere on the order of 114,000 gold coins worth of coins, gems, and valuables in the complex, making the trip somewhat worthwhile. The 40,000 gold piece reward for rescuing Moonstone made that even better. We managed to get that despite coming back later than three weeks. Apparently time moves faster on the abyss, so two months passed at home while only two days passed there. That could come in handy sometime.
We waited two days so the efreet could finish his work. He then picked up his tools and left, leaving his craftsmanship behind. The adamantine full plate and bastard sword, both large, were a good portion of the 114,000 mentioned above.
Much had happened in our absence.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Twenty-Seven – King’s Contest

My stronghold was long since completed when I returned, and my network of informats well-established. The first thing they informed me of was the official announcement of the King’s Contest for an adventuring company. The screening process involved one-on-one combat with the King’s champion. Those who survived it with enough points would become the king’s new adventuring company, with all of the perks that go along with such a distinction.
I still want a noble title of my own, a meaningful one. The King has not said what he intends to do about the baron or the troop plans I gave him. But this adventuring group should be a step up. We would get the king’s resources and his authority, including authority over his subjects. We could even give orders to nobles, but only those of Knight rank or lower. Thus, by my reckoning, we would be above Knights in status. That would be a step up from where I am now.
The other perks and resources were nice, but not ultimately what I am after. I want my own lands, my own title, and at the very least, my own province. Having the royal coffers and lands available to use as resources to aid quests is all well and good, but it grants me nothing toward my ultimate goal. But I must be patient. (And if patience is difficult I suppose I can always go visit the fiends’ home). I know I can work this to my advantage.

 

[AnonymousOne]

I love this character ... So crafty, and really quite bright (if a little paranoid about Demons).

One question though? Why is Cordozo so obsessed with lands and recognition?

 

[Altalazar]

Anon - thanks. And as to why he wants noble titles and lands, that has sort of evolved over time. Cordozo realizes rather cynically that in the end, truth and justice don't matter as much as one's personal connections and power, so he's striving to attain both, perhaps because he thinks that's the only path to justice. Or perhaps he's just reflecting his own pretensions - he's always been interested in the noble - when he started out, all of his starting money was spent on nice clothing (and a briefcase and paper).

The past few sessions have had some wonderful meta-game moments - I keep forgetting to share them, though perhaps they are evident in the prose...

And speaking of prose, here's last night's write-up...


Book XVIII

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Twenty-Eight – Nimue – no that’s Nim-You-Ay

I’m not sure how I missed it, but apparently since the cradle experience, I noticed that the ever-secretive Morwen had a companion similar in disposition, but slightly smaller and more arcane, named Nimue (that’s Nim-You-Ay). She was about 5’3” tall, young, and cute. And about as forthcoming with information as Morwen. They seemed to have a lot in common. They even both had pet rats that seemed somehow familiar. Morwen’s was named Brie and Nimue’s was named Wensleydale. I bit back a few dozen puns when I heard those names.
Nimue would only tell me that her profession was cleaning the garbage off of the street. Given how clean her hands looked, I figured she meant it figuratively. Higgins told me she had some arcane magic in her, as did Morwen now. Probing Nimue’s mind, I found her even more closed off than Morwen. I would hate to see what would happen if either of them figured out that Posiedon knows a lot of their secrets.
In my two month absence, Ee’s baby came due. But Maxine was no longer in town. My information network informed me that she had been spotted returning to Thomasville, the seat of the traitorous Baron. Then she vanished from sight altogether. I guess that would satisy Ee, but I think she deserves better. I guess Ee is too stubborn to deal with her. Maybe he’ll change his mind when he sees his new child. And maybe that new child will get more than a vowel for a name if Ee isn’t shot in the neck with an arrow when naming him or her.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Twenty-Nine – Planar Cartography

I was strolling down the street, keeping my mind on the pulse of the city, when I was accosted by a man named Flanders. He claimed to be part of some organization that did Planar Cartography. He offered me membership, but said I had to keep it secret. Apparently they focus on exploring places no one has ever been to before (probably defining ‘no one’ as no humanoid, since I assume there are all sorts of horrendous creatures in such far-off places). The benefits of memebership included information, salvage rights to what we found in a new place, a stipend of at least 9,000 gp for each new mission (at least for me), and the opportunity for special training to be a cosmic descryer, whatever the heck that was.
Flanders then warned, “All information for my organization is proprietary. So don’t share it with anyone. And you need to pass a test to join.”
There seemed to be a lot of that testing going around. I thought ahead to the upcoming combat with the King’s Champion.
“You know that upcoming combat with the King’s Champion,” Flanders said.
“Uh, yes,” I said.
“If you win at that, you will have passed our test of membership.”
I was momentarily dumbfounded. What a lazy organization. They don’t even bother to come up with their own test, they just piggyback on the King’s test. I wondered what the King would have to say about this likely unauthorized wager on his business. But diplomatically, I told him, “Lazy bum, come up with your own test.” Only it was more like, “do you not have the resources to come up with your own contest?”
He did not really have an answer. So I kept it secret, as promised. And I’m sure Morwen, Nin, and Ee kept it secret as well when they were likely approached by this man, because none of them said anything to me.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Thirty – The Nosy Bard

Construction had been completed on four new taverns while I was gone. The first one completed was in my original home of Desbury. There I had sent one of my more colorful (and musical) followers, a young bard of great skill. Given my desire to set up each tavern and inn establishment as a place to gather information and keep the pulse of its locale, it was only appropriate that this tavern be named “The Nosy Bard.” My bard was a featured performer there. He kept his name secret, in fact, just to further play up the name of the tavern as his namesake. “Who are you,” some would ask, “Why, I’m the Nosy Bard himself,” he would reply, before then acting up to his name. To encourage participation, he would weave whatever new things he was told into his songs, though one could pay a price for his silence. Sometimes that price was money, but usually it was an offer of exchange of information. I have a feeling this new venture will bring me great dividends.
I also had three other tarvern/inns open in three other locales. One in Cauldron, one in the Capitol, and one in Twin Oaks, but I will leave those details for another time.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Thirty-One – Late Night Geezer Call

One night, just before midnight, I was settling in with a good book from my rather large library, trying to relax in my tub full of hot water (and with Crystal) when I heard over my everpresent Dragonslayer Minklink Morwen’s “voice.”
“There’s someone here who wishes to hire us, we are almost at your location,” she said.
“Ok, bring him on up, I’ll get the others.” I then contacted Nin. Nin, despite being further away, managed to arrive first. Apparently our would-be employer was a very very slow walker.
I saw Nin at my front desk after he arrived. For some strange reason he ended up waiting there exactly 10 minutes before I got down there. Nin seemed perturbed by the wait. I tried to explain to him that the wait was apparently a Fundamental Law of the Universe, but he was not in the mood to discuss philosophy.
Morwen still had not arrived, though with a 600 foot jump from her dimension door armbands, she arrived relatively soon. On her arm was Chin Lee, a very old man, 86 years old, who looked like he had seen better days. I offered him some food.
Ten minutes later, we were in my luxurious dining hall, and Lee was shoveling in food by the plateful. Either he really liked my remarkable chef’s cooking, or he was just hungry. In between mouthfuls, he told us his quest. He sought water from the fabled Fountain of Youth. Apparently he had sent a group of six adventurers known as the Sunblades to get it already, but none of them had returned.
Given his appetite, I wondered if he was what he appeared to be, so I shifted my vision to true and looked him over, and he looked just as old and wrinkled, if somewhat plumper from all of the good food he’d binged upon from my kitchen.
Once he was satisfied we would take on his task, he showed us a map and he showed us our payment. He brought out a huge gem that he could barely hold in his hands. I quickly summoned my chief librarian to appraise its worth as well all looked it over. The final consensus was that it was worth between 100,000 and 120,000 pieces of gold. And all we needed to do to get it was to bring him a drink from the Fountain of Youth that actually makes him younger.
His map was of an area some 6,000 miles away, though conveniently, Posiedon’s regular portals take people there for trade, or at least to an area near there, a city named Xie-Nin. From there, with any luck, we can find someone who can describe for us a portion of Xie-Tin, a city that is only six shorts weeks travel, across nasty desert and mountains, to the location on the map marked Chin-Wan, the Fountain of Youth. As luck would have it, today was the day of the outgoing teleportation circle to Xie-Nin, so we need not have waited two days for it. Without too much fanfare, we headed for the circle and then stepped in.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Thirty-Two – Langauge Barriers

The distance of our travel was made clear when it went from midnight outside to early afternoon. We stepped out into a bustling market area, where there were lots of people of ethnicity similar to Lee’s going about their business. One of them grabbed us and moved us out of the teleportation circle to allow others to come through behind us.
None of us spoke the local language, save Higgins, who speaks and understands all languages due to one of his many aiding enchantments. He aided me as well, casting a temporary form of it on myself so I could try and locate someone who had been to Xie-Tin.
After a few hours, I was successful. I found myself walking toward the home of a family who apparently had a cousin who had been to Xie-Tin. I still marveled at the different attire worn by those of this town. The only armor I saw was of a flimsy, wooden variety. But then the only weapons I saw were short, slashing swords that apparently had no points and no particular impact. Against these “katanas” apparently such armor was worthwhile. Against the many bows I saw, it probably was not, but then, not even full plate can stop a skilled longbowman from piercing one’s heart, so perhaps the lighter weight and mobility is worth it in the end.
It turned out that the cousin who had been to Xie-Tin was in fact still IN Xie-Tin, so that was a dead end. I suppose I could have gone back to Cauldron and scryed him and then teleported to his location, but I decided to try a different approach. I soon found myself in a nice tavern with a huge tapestry on the wall depicting a well-known temple in Xie-Tin. I studied the illustration carefully. Then I noticed that in a cosmic coincidence, Nin and Morwen (and Larch and Nimue) were already there, making preparations to eat and sleep.
Since we were teleportation circle-lagged, I decided we should stay there for the night, so we ordered some delicious noodles (for the whole place, in fact, I’ve never seen bowls disappear so quickly) and then retired for the night. Morwen was particularly paranoid, and asked about magical options for shelter within the room for the night, but in the end, we just kept watches and nothing remarkable happened. I did catch from Morwen’s mind “I . . . need . . . more . . . cover” as she looked at the paper thin walls that were, in fact, made of paper, and simply slid open to allow us to sleep on the matted floor. Given the horrors we usually face, I didn’t think there would be much difference between paper walls and those of enchanted stone.
In the morning we had something called “sushi” which really was nothing more than raw fish. It was not half bad, though Higgins said we might need some healing magic later if they did not prepare it properly. I make a mental note to bring back some of the recipies for my cook.
Morwen and Nimue looked a bit off. Apparently they don’t even like the sight of fish, so they waited outside. When I joined them, I took their hands and then we all found ourselves standing next to the temple in Xie-Tin.
As luck would again have it, were were in a market by the temple, so we did some idle shopping for the afternoon, sampling the strange wares of the city. We asked around and determined that the scale of the map indicated a six week journey north, of about 1,000 miles or so, to reach our destination. The locals thought it was bad luck to even attempt to cross the desert. No one in town would admit that they had even ever tried.
Higgins told me we could windwalk it in about 17 hours, which would be a bit of a marchless march. Then Larch volunteered that he could cut that time almost in half to 9 hours with a bit of extra wind at our backs. And so we turned into a bunch of clouds and blew our way north.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Thirty-Three – Snakes and Ogre Magi, Oh my

After nine hours of travel, we were indeed just at the base of the mountains, not too far from our destination. We decided to stop because a few of us were tired and because it would be best to eat and rest before venturing further. Larch managed to find a poisonous snake to eat, which he did not share (and which he was immune to in any case – I think that’s why he did not share). We found the paw-prints of a rather large cat. Were we not the Dragonslayers, we probably would have been worried about being that cat’s meal. As it was, the cat was probably lucky it did not stumble into our midst.
Higgins made a hut for us and we slept for the night. The next morning, we resumed our journey on foot.
As we were walking, Larch saw something in the reflection on a rock face just before the path narrowed between high rocks. I don’t know how he saw it, but he gave us enough warning that we all became invisible through various means and then Higgins helped us all fly up to our would-be ambushers. Two Ogre Magi sitting on an outcropping above the path with several piles of boulders at their side.
I changed my vision to true and watched as my companions surrounded the two Magi and then, before they could even act, quickly struck them both down. They had only a handful of gold coins between them, and we could not see any lair, despite Morwen searching for hours. I decided that their spot would be a good one for the night, so we set up another hut there and slept.
Higgins and Nimue told me in the morning that they saw two more Ogre Magi fly out and check the location in the morning. Finding nothing but dust (I took care of the bodies) they quickly turned around and went invisible and flew away. Apparently we had not seen the last of the Ogre Magi.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Thirty-Four – Green Valley of Lush Slavery

After two more days of walking in the mountains, we came to the top edge of a lush valley. From our vantage, we could tell that it was actually cultivated, though we knew not by who (and were too far away to see). I dimension-doored us down to the valley floor and then we crept up closer in the uncultivated brush outside of the fields. We eventually saw over a 100 young men and women working the fields. At first, I wondered if this was some sort of idealized commune of people living in harmony with nature, ever young from the Fountain of Youth. Then I saw the dozen Ogre Magi spread out amongst them, overseeing them, and my vision of harmony was shattered.
I decided to creep up closer to one of the men and entered his mind. Unfortunately, there was plenty of room in there.
“Don’t say anything, don’t look up, but tell me, are the Ogre Magi your friends or foes?”
The man then looked up and said out loud, “Who’s there?”
I sighed. “I SAID don’t look up and don’t say anything aloud.”
“Who’s there? Where are you?” he said aloud.
“I’m a friend. And don’t talk out loud. I’m in your mind. Are the Ogre Magi your friends or foes?”
“Where are you? Who’s there?”
I could see this was going to be a long day.
“Do you like the Ogre Magi,” I asked again. And again. Finally, he responded.
“Me no like him.”
Ok, now we were getting somewhere. I tried to get more information out of him, but he refused to answer and refused to shut up, finally, I gave up. Just as the Ogre Magi nearest was starting to wonder why this crazy person was shouting and looking around, I told him, “Go back to work or the Ogre Magi will get you!” He then immediately bent over and went back to his crops, a fearful look in his face. The Ogre Magi stopped and then went back to his duties, looking only slightly bored. I gave one last glance to the man, and decided that perhaps Ee would have had a better conversation with him.
I explored further, hidden by Higgins’s magic, and found that there was a keep nearby, built into the side of a mountain. Ogre Magi could be seen manning the rapports. I saw at least two to three dozen of them at any one time. This could be trouble. I returned to my companions.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Thirty-Five – Ogre Magi Humor

I briefly considered what the odds were that I could quietly disintegrate all of the Ogre Magi in the fields without an alarm being raised, then abandonded the idea. Then I had another idea.
I slid close to one of the further Ogre Magi and grabbed on to his large, but not particularly strong, mind and made it my own. Then I slipped my mind into his and had a bit of a conversation. Apparently he wasn’t dumb enough to talk out loud.
“How many of you are there?”
“There are about forty or fifty of us,” he said.
“How many of your… underlings… are there?”
“My what?”
I gestered mentally to the people in the fields.
“Oh, about a hundred of them.”
“Why are they all so young?”
“They die when we make them drink from our ‘Fountain of Youth,’” he said as he chuckled to himself.
“Wait, the fountain kills them? Why do you call it a ‘Fountain of Youth’ then?”
“We make the old ones drink from there to get rid of them, so that’s why there are only young ones left.”
I somehow thought that they wouldn’t appreciate the joke. And apparently the Ogre Magi considered them “old” when they were over 30. I didn’t ask why they didn’t revolt. My conversation with the one already convinced me that they were not too bright.
The Ogre Magi certainly have a sick sense of humor. Stll, it seemed unlikely that someone would build a keep on the side of a mountain, right where there is a spring, in the middle of nowhere, unless there was something special about it. I sure hoped at this point that the joke was not on us. When I explained to Nin that the fountain just kills, he said that this “even if it is poison we can still get paid.” Even Morwen, normally such a stickler for fairness, seemed to like that idea. I wondered what else the cradle had changed in her. In any case, all was not lost yet. We could get a sample and see.
“Can you get me water from the fountain tonight?” I asked the Ogre Mage.
“Yes, I can do that,” he said.
I gave him one of Nin’s water flasks, and then we retired for the night, far from the valley. In fact, we slept in Cauldron, in our own beds. Ah, the wonders of teleportation.
The next morning, we returned, and the Ogre Mage was back in the fields. He gave me the flask. Examining, there was definitely something off about the water. It was tainted. Perhaps this could be fixed. Higgins and Larch tried to purify it, but that did not work. I had a feeling if it could be fixed, it could only be fixed at the source. Still, the sample deserved further analysis, so we took it back to Cauldron.
I had a feeling we would have to fight those Ogre Magi after all. Morwen wondered if we could sneak inside. The Ogre Mage indicated that the fountain is locked up at night. I somehow suspected there was more than just your average Ogre Magi inside. We would soon find out.

 

[Altalazar]

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Thirty-Six – Back in Cauldron one Night, New Job Finds Us

I was back in my warm bed with Crystal, contemplating our next move, when I heard what I always love to hear when I’m in bed relaxing. Ee’s voice in my head.
“Meet Ee at Poseidon’s? Ee have job. Ee dragonslayer!”
“What was that, Ee?”
“Of course Cordozo is here, Ee talk to him now! See, Ee smart!”
It was clear Ee was sharing with me his side of the conversation, though it was hard to tell who he was talking to. I felt excitement from Ee that reminded me of the time Ee ingloriously selected our group moniker of Dragonslayers. I did not know why he went to Poseidon’s instead of my home. I think Ee has been living in the woods too long. I gave it a moment’s thought and then I was standing in Poseidon’s foyer next to Ee.
Ee looked very excited. “See, told you he be here!” He shouted. “How me know me Ee be here if he not be here!” Ee said, with ironclad Ee logic.
The man he was with looked over at me and said simply, “Is he yours?”
I nodded, sighed, and then got the real information about the job. Apparently this man and his companions were seeking Dragonslayers. Apparently a black dragon was giving them trouble. Judging from the gills in the man’s neck, he was merfolk of some kind. His city was off the coast and well under the water, as in 1000 feet under the water. Shellovar, population five to eight thousand merfolk. Now it made sense that they had black dragon troubles. Blacks can breath underwater.
The merman offered us 20,000 gold each to rid them of their dragon problem. He could not tell us how big the dragon was, how old it was, or really anything about it except that it was west of their town in the “forbidden zone” that they were loathe to enter because of their strict taboos. Apparently the taboo did not apply to us as outsiders. He said we could also keep anything we found (e.g. the dragon’s horde) but that the dragon had stolen from them an egg-shaped gem that was blue with white stripes that they wanted returned. He gave us four days to start on our task before they sought help elsewhere, starting with the Stormblades in Cauldron. I definitely did not want to let those charlatans getting onto our territory. Ee’s name, unfortunate though it was, creates certain expectations. When there is a dragon to be slayed, you come to us FIRST.
Our arrangements thus made, it was time to get back to the ogre magi.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Thirty-Seven – Back to the Valley

I met up with the others and prepared to transport us all back to the ogre magi. I could take all of us, save Larch. Larch then turned into a bird and flew into Ee’s handy haversack, and then we were off. I returned to my friend in the field to ask him further questions about the keep.
Larch was sent on ahead to plant some special berries by the outer gate. The rest of us then flew up and over the wall invisible, with flight and invisibility courtesy of Higgins. We saw at least a half-dozen ogre magi manning the walls and at least a dozen in the courtyeard between the walls and the keep. Larch, in the form of a bird, flew up onto one of the tall columns by the entrance of the keep and perched, awaiting my signal to set off the diversion.
The main entrance to the keep was a large hole well off the ground. I guess they can just fly in, so they don’t need a normal door. Apparently their slaves do need one, though, so there was a side door at the base of the keep. Morwen made quick work of it and then we slipped inside. There were stairs inside leading to the second level of the keep, but we skipped those and headed for the main body of the structure.
Not wanting to arouse suspicion, whenever we came to a door, I simply dimension doored us through it, hoping there was sufficient room on the other side in this structure built for large creatures. Fortunately, there always was.
The core of the keep was a huge dining hall. They were apparently in between meals, though there were still servants carrying things around. A full two dozen ogre magi were sitting at various tables engaged in ogre magi gossip. With slaves to do all of their work, that was probably their primary activitiy. They all looked rather soft and fat.
A door at the far end of the dining hall led right into the mountain itself, presumably to the fountain. Flying over the gossiping giants, we transported through that door and into a long tunnel into the mountain.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Thirty-Eight – Fountain of Youth

There was indeed a fountain at the end of the tunnel. There were also three cages suspended around it. In each cage was an unclothed slave, probably barely 13 summers old. Two were female, one was male. I probed their minds and discovered that there was barely anything there. The deeper I probed, the more horrid it became. Empty. These there had no memories of anything beyond this room. They must have been practically born in these cages and left to live their lives in them.
Morwen was already unlocking and lowering their cages by the time I discovered this. Such nasty creatures, these ogre magi. To lay bare a mind like that, from birth, is an abomination. The ogre magi must die.
The fountain proved to be as tainted as we thought. I do not think we can untaint it. It appears to be connected to another plane. Probing it deeply, based on its aura, I suddenly got a flash of insight from my stolen planar knowledge from our former demon employer. This water came directly from the River Styx. To drink it was to die. Damn, we’re not getting paid. But the ogre magi still must die.
To facilitate their deaths, Morwen put the three young ones back in the cages, so they would not be discovered loose. We can come back for them. We then turned our attention to the keep. The ogre magi must die.

Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Thirty-Nine – The Ogre Magi Die – Chapter One

We headed back into the main part of the keep and then up to the second floor. I transported us instantly to the stairs from where we were, then we headed up into the upstairs halls. I contacted my “friend” outside and asked him which room was the leader’s room. Six seconds later, we were all standing inside the leader’s room. Then I turned around and saw a sight so hideous I was tempted to immediately erase the memory from my mind. I think my companions would also ask for a similar favor.
Hovering before us, ten feet in the air, was the leader of the ogre magi. And his mistress. And nothing else. Not even a pair of ogre magi socks. They were doing things that would give nightmares to small children and the sight was probably enough to keep the most amourous of young lovers abstinent until after five years of marriage.
I reached out my mind and wrapped it around both of theirs, careful not to get dirty in the process. Distracted as they were, I easily grabbed them both and made them under my dominion. But then I realized I had a problem. Control can be broken if one forces a creature to do something very contrary to its nature. In this case, it may be very contrary to force them to stop while deep in the throes of passion. So I paused. Then I decided I would just limit it to questions while letting them continue.
With my hands over my eyes, I started asking the leader questions. In between grunts, he gave me his answers.
There were indeed forty to fifty ogre magi in the fortress. They built this fortress hundreds of years ago. They have always had slaves, bought from other humans with the money they make selling their wares. They did see a group of six adventurers reacently and killed them. Their possession have already been sold and used to buy more slaves.
All while he talked, he continued his “work.” Still not wanting to risk losing control, I asked him, “Uh, how much longer are you going to be?” Apparently, ogre magi can go for hours.
Finally, I decided to go for it. “Where do you keep your treasure?” I asked, after some prodding from Morwen.
Not wanting to give that up, he broke free of his control and started to run for the exit. Morwen jumped in and slashed him with her rapier. No one but her and myself were visible to him, so he made his way for his door, his body turning to gas before our eyes as he walked. The last thing he did before he lost his body entirely to the mist was shout “Guards!”
I sent a signal to Larch, “We’re attacking the chief. We may need that diversion soon!”
My companions quickly surrounded the gaseous form of the leader and sliced it to bits. Within seconds, the ogre magi’s body reformed and plummeted to the floor. At that same moment, his door’s opened and in the hall we could see one of the aforementioned guards about ready to enter the room. Thinking quickly, I grabbed a hold of his mind, dominated it, and then had the leader’s former lover (who was still floating, waiting instructions from me) scream “Aaaaa! Get out! How dare you disturb us!” And then I had the now dominated guard at the door act appropriately embarrassed and close the door. Though I sensed in his mind that probably he would have been more likely to sit and watch with the other guards rather than leave. Ogre magi. Must die. In any case, that would not work because if the other guards made it to the door, they would have seen us.
My plan was brilliant. Until Ee stepped in. Before the guard could close the door, Ee stepped up to him, slicing his axe through the air, and slicing the ogre magi guard with four long, deep gashes. The guard fell to the floor, dead.
“Well, there goes that plan.” I ran to the window to see if the general alarm had been raised. Yes, it had. Time for plan A. “Larch, NOW!”
Larch then, by his command, set off his berry bombs left along the outer wall by the gate. Even from here, we could hear the many explosions and feel the ground shake. Larch reported back that many of the guards were heading in that direction to investigate.
Marcus saw that many more guards were flying up from the courtyard to the leader’s three windows. He then put up a barrier of whirring blades across the entire wall, blocking all of the windows. That ought to slow them down.
I could see three getting close to the windows. I reached my mind out to one of them, then grabbed it, and crushed it. Then I sent two globes of fire into the remaining two, nearly burning both alive. But this would not do. There were more ogre magi than I could easily crush without resting. My companions were busy slaughtering the remaining four guards in the hallway, but more would be coming soon. I think we are going to need some additional help.
I closed my eyes and began summoning some additional help. The ogre magi must die.