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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Altalazar" data-source="post: 3825898" data-attributes="member: 939">Book XXIV    Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Sixty – Noble Largesse    One of the perks of our new station in the Kingdom is that we are often invited to dine with nobles throughout the realm. Over the past several months, I have taken up every noble who has offered an invitation, teleporting myself to many a banquet in many a fancy noble hall across the face of the Kingdom. Predictably, Ee was not much interested in such "fancy pants" gatherings as he called them, but Nin and Morwen showed an interest, so I brought them along. Strangely, Morwen would sometimes absent herself from the proceedings for a time, though I should say this is normal for her. I get the sense that she has a lot more going on than she would ever care to admit. That said, she did know how to use her "assets" as a woman to great effect at these parties, dressing in clothes that generously could be called a dress, if worn on a halfling. Nin seemed to mostly enjoy making people at these fancy gatherings uncomfortable with the fact that he was an orc, a noble one at that.    At the latest gathering, this time at a Castle in Aldeberon in one of the further provinces, I spied something that looked very familiar. A painting. It was not the artistry or the artist that caught my eye. It was the subject matter itself. It showed a map of a territory I know I have never been, but that I have seen before. When I pointed it out to Higgins, he said it looked familiar to him as well. I asked the hostess to tell me about the painting.    "Oh, that is just a map, nothing special. I bought it in town from an artist - he's dead now, so it is sure to be worth something. His name was Davinchee or something like that."    She walked away after giving that "helpful" information and then it hit me - The map was similar to one of my three treasure maps I bought many moons ago but still have yet to exploit (so many parties to attend and planes to save). This painting resembled the map that I had that I was unable to discern the location of and unable to teleport to, no matter how hard I tried. The artist's map, however, showed additional land to the east of my map, and perhaps that would be sufficient to teleport near the map's location.    I gathered my fellow noble partiers around me and we made ready to go back to Cauldron (to grab Ee) before heading out in search of what lies at the end of my treasure map. We spent the night at the castle, so as not to insult our hosts, and then left the next day. I found Ee still out in the woods. He had been very busy out there."Me building me own village. Population Ee."    Ee's attempts at construction were not very impressive. Mostly he had built a lot of survival shelters. I suggested to him that perhaps he ought to get some contractors to build the more permanent structures.    "Me here!" he said to my suggestion. I told him about the treasure map and so, hearing the mention of gold, he was ready to go. This despite his returning to me the 30,000 gold coins I had paid him for the tournament months before. I guess even Ee has his pride.    We made plans to depart in three days so we would be leaving on the day before our secret moon was at its fullest. We knew this would make us stronger for a day. We decided to take every advantage we could get going into the unknown.    Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Sixty-One – Wrongful ImprisonmentWhile I was waiting for the moon, my information network informed me that there was someone who was wrongfully imprisoned in the jails of Cauldron. Apparently a Bartender named Brup had a problem with this individual and falsely accused him of stealing ten gold from his bar. Not wanting injustice on my watch, I sent some of my best attorneys to rectify the situation. Soon, the man was free. The only unfortunate thing was that he had already been feeding me lots of information from inside the jail. But that can be rectified. I have guards there as well. Now the only loose end is seeing that Brup finds his way inside that jail. But that will have to wait.    Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Sixty-Two – The Moon is Almost Full    Once the day of departure arrived, we wasted no time in teleporting in. It turned out that the new map allowed me to teleport within 300 feet of the location that defied all attempts at scrying or magical transportation. Walking, however, was perfectly fine. We opted to go on foot instead of on our still new golem mounts simply because we did not know what we were getting into. I created a teleportation circle back for a quick exit, if need be.    It did not take long to find a cave entrance. Footprints in the dust looked to be over a year old. The cave itself led down a tunnel which dead-ended in a wall, one which the map clearly showed blocked the way into a large chamber. Nin and Ee started to bash the wall down, eventually allowing passage. Beyond, we found a huge ring on the far wall with a pedestal in the center of the chamber. Both were magical. Both were tied together. Both obviously formed some sort of transportation device. Looking them over, Morwen determined that the device, which was controlled by four colored stones, was functional but drained of all magical energy. It would take a fair amount of cold, electrical, fire, and acid magic to provide the charge for a single use of the ring. Summoning up my mental reserves, and aided by Nimue, Morwen, and Higgins, we were able to provide it enough energy for eight charges, though then we needed to rest. Which would then be perfect, for the next day was the full moon.    My companions, for reasons unclear, decided they wanted to rest in this chamber. I left for my warm bed in Cauldron, wondering what strange hold the hard rock of the cave held for them. The next morning, I found out that the rock apparently had strong feelings for them as well.    Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Sixty-Three - Morning Rockhug    When I returned the next morning, the cavern again ended in a solid face of rock. Apparently the rock slowly healed itself overnight, sealing in my companions. I decided to see if they were still alive by tapping on the rock with my specially enchanted silver dagger I acquired so many moons ago. There was no response. Then I heard a voice in my head.    "Why are you messing with Ee like this," asked Nin as I continued to tap.    Then I asked Ee, via the mindlink, "Ee, do you hear sounds on the other side of the wall?"    "How you know!" said Ee. "You omnishent!"    "Ee."    "Yes?"    "That's me."    "Ah!"    "Please stand back and open a hole for me."    I heard the sounds of shuffling as Larch started to intone magic to shape the rock and then was interrupted by Ee shouting, "No, me can!" and then the sounds of an axe striking the rock echoed down the hall. After about a minute of this, Larch again intoned magic and the way was clear.    "Obviously, rock retreated from me blows!" said Ee.    Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Sixty-Four – We Open the Iris    Morwen activated the pedestal, which caused the large ring to slowly fill with a misty fog that then solidified. Ee was volunteered to go first. He stepped up to it and put his axe into the mist. While he seemed to have no trouble putting it in, he was unable to pull it out. Finally, Ee being Ee, he just stepped all the way through and vanished.    I tried to contact Ee with my mindlink, but with no success. Either the plane he travelled to blocks it, he is on a plane again with a huge time differential, or Ee is no longer in any condition to talk (well, more-so than usual). Not wanting to think about it too much ourselves, we all stepped through the ring.    Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Sixty-Five – Dire Circumstances    On the other side of the ring, we found ourselves in a very sandy, windy place. I could hear mental gasps from my companions (their audible gasps drowned out by the driving wind around us and their pale faces obscurred by the sandstorm) as something rather awful happened to each of them. I felt fine, but both Higgins and I felt a warm glow from the rings we shared on our right index fingers that protected us against the ravages of the negative material plane. While this did not appear to be that plane, it seemed to have at least one similar effect. My companions felt a bit weaker.    On the plus side, I was able to contact Ee. Ee said, "Me here. On top of rock." He seemed to be referring to a rock outcropping that was behind us as we arrived (unfortunately a rock without any ring evident). Ee said that he heard a voice in his head to "climb the rock." I had a bad feeling about that. It wasn't any of us who told him that.    We all climbed the rock and found ourselves above the driving sand, on an oasis of rock. In the distance, we could see a few more rocks sticking up from the sand below us and then, in the far distance, we saw a huge rock oasis with a tall tower at its apex. Given that we had nowhere else to go, we made plans to head in that direction. Then the dread wraiths struck.    Two huge creatures made of mist came up from beneath the rock. The immediately began trying to drain the life from Ee. Fortunately for Ee, his life is hard-headed, so they did not succeed, but they did keep us occupied for several minutes. Or rather, they kept Ee, Nin, and Morwen occupied. Apparently another property of this plane prevents me from manifesting any powers. Those that were already active seem intact, but no new powers could come from my mind. Higgins found he also could not cast a single spell. Only those already active or those from items, such as scrolls, seemed to function. Wonderful. I thought about, right then and there, attempting to leave, but decided to let things play out a while.    Soon the dread wraiths were returned to the mists and we were again contemplating the tower. It was a long ways off. I did not feel like walking. I told Morwen and the others that I could get us there.    "How?" She asked.    "Watch," I replied. I then picked up a rock from the ground. A small, round rock that looked almost artificial in origin. In fact, it was. I know this because I dropped it there a moment earlier, when no one was paying any attention. I then held the rock and held everyone's hand and teleported us all to the base of the tower. I knew those power stones would come in handy when I made them months before. I imagined I might need them for a quick escape, so I made many to allow travel and transportation, both within and across the planes, at at time when my mental reserves were low or gone. I did not imagine I'd need to use them before I'd used any of my mental reserves at all.    Once we were at the tower, I suggested to Larch some recon.    Sir Cordozo – Chapter Two-Hundred Sixty-Six – The Tower    Larch agreed, and transformed himself into a small bird. He flew up to the top of the tower, to what apparently were the only windows, two small slits at opposite sides of the tower. Inside were three lovely women, all lounging about on couches in a well-decorated room at the top of the tower. Somehow, I doubted diplomacy would help, but it was worth a try. I picked up another stone and prepared to transport everyone to the women.    I was only slightly worried about the strange glowing ball of darkness sitting in the middle of the room.    As it turned out, the women, vampires all, were more interested in using their mouths for sucking out vital bodily fluids than they were for talking. Interestingly, they all used rapiers rather than their negative-draining touch. Perhaps they figured that anyone who could survive here is immune. In the case of myself and Higgins, that assumption is certainly an accurate one.    Unable to manifest powers, I spent the next several minutes in a defensive posture, watching my companions in a desperate melee against the three powerful vampires. Nin's chain was quite effective at keeping one of them on her knees, so she opted instead to try to bash Nin with her Ring of the Ram rather than trying to get up again. Nin's chain soon pounded her into gas. The others also were soon gas, and they all headed toward the fireplace. Given the lack of stairs in the room, it seemed to be the only method of egress between the levels of the tower. How inconvenient for us.    I watched the gas carefully as it left. Higgins watched as well. Higgins, bless his heart, was able to participate more fully. He used several scrolls to both heal Morwen and harm the vampires, turning a second vampire to gas in the process. She then took a scroll of disintigrate and used it against one of the fleeing gas clouds, sending the gas to dust and dumping to the floor a bunch of equipment, including a rapier. Unfortunately, within the gas was six more vampires coming up from below.    Nin kept three of them on their butts with his chain, but despite concentrating our efforts, we still hadn't taken down even one of the newcomers before three more vampires arrived from below. I hoped there weren't three of them per level. That would be eighteen vampires in all, and I had my doubts about us handling the nine that were before us. Then a thought came to mind, courtesy of Higgins.    "Yes, my hair is all in place, why do you ask?"</blockquote>

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