"Return of the Rod of the Seven Parts" - D&D

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 56, “First Blood”, September 27, 1018, 5:00 P.M.

The next section of hallway has a wooden wall built sixty feet across it, which does not appear on their schematic. This hallway has two doors, and from one a distant muffled sound of voices is heard. The party decides to enter, with Lannon unlocking the door. The party is now in a room with two other doors one locked the other is not. “Why would they lock one and not the other?” asks Lannon. “To keep the fat chicks out” is Mojo’s reply.

Aradyn and Lannon hear voices speaking common from behind the unlocked door. They are engaged in causal conversation, and from the munching sounds, appear to also be eating. Narg say “This probably isn’t the section of the castle where Morgarth is, but these don’t appear to be cooks or bugbears, so it’s as good a place as any to start.” The group draw their weapons, and spellcasters get ready to throw spells.

Mojo turns himself invisible, and prepares to open the door. Aradyn gets his bow in position near the doorway as Timothy stands beside him preparing to cast a Silence spell. Narg and Lannon both stand by the other side of the door, ready to charge once Aradyn releases his first arrow. Mojo opens the door.

Inside the room is a table with two chairs, both occupied. The DM describes the occupants as “Two of your old drinking buddies. Of course, the last time you saw them drinking they were tied to trees and drinking in water from the hurricane falling on them.” The group immediately recognizes them as the low-level cleric and high-level assassin who had been taken alive during the island assault seven weeks earlier. They had been later rescued by the evil cleric Roger.

The assassin looks up at the sight of the door opening, in time to see Aradyn’s arrow fly towards his head. The assassin reflexively moves to the side, the arrow grazing his ear. Timothy successfully casts the Silence on the cleric, preventing him from casting any spells.

Mojo invisibly charges into the room, heading towards the door at the rear of the room, where the assassin has now begun to move towards. Narg and Lannon enter the room, Lannon taking to the wall and Narg charging directly at the cleric. Mojo swings his hammer into the assassin, knocking the foe against the wall. Serita charges up beside Timothy, and casts a Faerie Fire onto the two enemies. Cassie moves in behind Serita for a better view of what is going on.

Because of Mojo and Narg’s positions Aradyn is unable to fire another arrow into the room. Narg however, does not need any assistance, getting a perfect swing with his ‘Nargblade’ (a +5 Sword of Sharpness) into the cleric and cutting off the man’s weapon arm. The cleric mouths out a large scream, which is soundless due to the Silence spell. Mojo gets another hit into the assassin, and then dodges a dagger thrust in return. The enemy attempts to shoulder Mojo into the wall, and is surprisingly stronger than Mojo had expected, but Mojo holds firm.

Cassie realizes that if the assassin manages to exit the room an alarm will be sounded, so lets loose a Magic Missile spell, hitting the man with five missiles for twenty-two points of damage. This weakens him, and Mojo swings his hammer squarely into the man’s chest, knocking the man to the ground. The assassin then scampers under the table, with Mojo following right behind.

Meanwhile, Narg has hit the cleric again, who appears dazed. Narg then takes two near perfect sword slashes, the first cutting off most of the man’s face, the second literally slicing him in half, showering the room in blood. Mojo moves in towards the assassin, who throws his dagger up into the fighter, hitting Mojo for minimal damage. Mojo assumes the dagger was poisoned and decides to end this quickly to get healed. Mojo draws his sword and two sword slashes later the assassin lies dead on the floor. Timothy cancels the Silence spell.

Lannon assists in carefully extracting the dagger from Mojo’s armor, and Mojo then investigates the blade. As expected, he finds a thin pinpoint tube flowing from the hilt to the blade. He does not, however, see any liquid on it. Mojo unscrews part of the hilt, checking the recessed compartment inside for poison, finding it dry. Mojo draws a sigh of relief. This also gives the party their first clear indication that the enemy is not expecting them at all, as the assassin’s blade would have been full if they were.

Lannon examines the table, finding that they had been eating an elaborate multi-course meal with a fine wine and using fancy silverware and silver dishes. Lannon comments “Too bad Duegar isn’t here, he’d sit down and eat.” Cassie points out that the food is now completely covered with the cleric’s blood. Lannon answers “Like that would stop him, he’d just wipe it off first.” Fiona looks down at the bodies, commenting to Narg about his having used excessive force to stop the cleric. Narg answers “It’s their own fault. We let them live after the battle last month, and warned them not to return to Morgarth.” Nobody disagrees with that assessment.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 57, “A very close call”, September 27, 1018, 5:45 P.M.

They notice that there are three other doors in the room, one on the same wall that they entered from, which would lead to the room that they could not unlock. A door is on the side wall, and there is another door on the back wall that the assassin had initially run towards.

As Mojo checks the assassin’s body, Lannon checks the cleric’s and the rest of the party enter the room. The only thing of significance is a magical hammer on the cleric that Narg never gave him an opportunity to use. This search for treasure reminds Lannon of the pouch that he had found in the druid’s trunk, which he never counted out, so he does that now. He comments “Not much here, six platinum and twenty-three gold.” “Decent amount for a druid,” comments Mojo. Narg interjects “I didn’t even know they used coins, I thought they just traded bark or something.” “What!” Serita yells. Cassie comments, “Serita uses money.” Narg answers, “I didn’t mean her. She probably has her own mutual funds advisor.” Mojo interjects “Has one? She is a mutual funds advisor.”

They search of room, not finding much of anything other than the rug, table, two chairs, and a mirror mounted to the wall. Cassie points to the door on the same wall as they entered from, saying, “That probably leads to the assassin’s room.” Lannon checks the lock, which like the one from the next room is rather elaborate finding two traps. One is a poison needle trap, which he springs and then bends back the needle with his pliers. The other is a wire built into the door, which he cuts. He then cautiously enters the room, Aradyn and Cassie following. Cassie looks at the ceramic vial positioned above the doorframe that the wire went to, seeing similar vials at the other two doors of this room. She speculates that they contain either contact poison or acid.

The room has a nice rug on the floor, a bed, a large mirror on the wall, and a large dresser/hutch. The hutch has a number of small drawers, none of which appear to be trapped. The dresser has three drawers, each running the length of the dresser. Only the middle of these three drawers has a lock, so he checks the other two. The top drawer has regular cloth clothing. The bottom drawer contains a suit of studded leather armor that appears to be magical. Lannon suggests to Aradyn, “Why don’t we take it for Lono.” Aradyn answers, “He already has a suit of magical studded leather that we got last month.” Lannon answers “I know, he got that suit from the same guy whose room we are now in, but this one could be better magic.” The armor is thrown into one of the Bags of Holding.

Lannon attempts to deactivate the trap on the lock, hearing a click sound. Unsure if he was successful, he fastens a rope onto the drawer handles. Cassie gives him her Breathe without Air Ioun Stone, and she and Aradyn leave the room. Lannon goes to the opposite side of the room before starting to pull it open with the rope. A barely visible yellow gas begins to seep out of the drawer, so Lannon rushes up and pushes the drawer shut with his broadsword. He begins to see the gas starting to seep out of the cracks in the dresser, and decides that now is a good enough as any time to leave. He exits the room, shutting the door behind him.

Lannon checks the door to the next room finding it unlocked. Aradyn opens the door. It is a room that contains ten wooden bunk bed frames with no mattresses and a large amount of dust on each. Elsewhere in the room are some other wooden furnishes, and a dust-free section on the opposite wall that matches the dimensions of the dresser/hutch that was in the assassin’s room. On the opposite side of the room is a large spiral staircase down. Aradyn looks for tracks, finding a well-traveled path between the staircase and the door that he is at. Mark joins him to help identify the tracks. They see an older set of boot tracks, but all fresh tracks are of small-footed sandals or slippers. They conclude that either elves or small female humans made these. Mark notes that the freshest set are only around an hour old, traveling both directions.

Relaying this to the party, Cassie reaches the conclusion that the tracks were made by serving girls, who had brought the food that the cleric and assassin were eating. She then speculates that they will probably be back soon to collect the dishes, so the party should leave the dishes outside of this door. Otherwise, the servants will enter the room, see the bodies and mess, and sound a alarm. The others quickly dump the uneaten food off of the plates, wipe off the blood, and bring them to the door.

They are just in time, as Mark hears sound coming up the spiral staircase. The silver dishes are quickly put down as Aradyn and Mark head back into the room. Not having time for Lannon to lock the door, Aradyn holds it shut. They listen at the door, soon hearing the sound of dishes banging together. There is a knock on the door, and a female voice says something in Chinese. There are no further sounds from the other side of the door, and the knob never moves.

The party waits five full rounds, deciding that the servants must now have left, but not risking opening the door to find out. They opt to now leave this group of rooms the way they originally came, with Narg concluding “I think we’re safe, but let’s try to get to Morgarth right away.”

[DM’s note: Huge experience point bonus for Aradyn, Mark and especially Cassie. The party came incredibly close to having a castle-wide alarm being sounded.]

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 58, “An Unexpected Turn of Events”, September 27, 1018, 6:15 P.M.

The group heads down the hallway, not bothering to check doors along the way, as they now wish to get to Morgarth’s tower as soon as possible. They see a mirror mounted in the corner at the ceiling of the next intersection, and speculate that these mirrors may be used by Morgarth to monitor the castle.

Lannon peers around the corner under the cover of invisibility. He sees a group of eight young oriental women exiting a door down the hall, and head away from the party. They appear to be carrying empty dishes and cups. Another door, further down the opposite wall then opens up, and out walk four Hengeyokai, all in their humanoid form, their sub-races being dog, duck, panda and rat. They are also carrying dishes and cups, and head into the same side alcove where the girls went. Lannon relays this to the others.

Fiona suggests, “Why don’t we wait a while, until the dinner traffic lessens.” “What, you mean wait until the theatre crowd arrives?” Mojo comments. Mark suggests checking the map to see where they went. The alcove looks to go into a short hallway with two staircases, one up the other down. “Kind of like an escalator,” Narg comments. Mojo says “Yeah, except for the fact that they are not moving and very wide. They’re called stairs you idiot.” “I liked escalators better, we did come here for the shopping, right?” comments Fiona sarcastically. Narg answers, “We came here to make Morgarth dead. He touched my still.” Cassie speculates that “Morgarth may already be dead, as in Lich”.

The door that the women came opens again, and out walk six adventurers, heading away from where the party is. Lannon recognizes them from the prior month back on the Island as the half-dwarf Barthrock and his party. [Background: Barthrock and his team had negotiated a truce with the Silver Moon. Barthrock had become convinced that Morgarth could not be trusted and was only using his team as ‘cannon fodder’. The Silver Moon had allowed them to leave the Island unharmed, and taking two of their dead, with the impression that this team would no longer work for Morgath.]

Two members of this team, its male druid and the female fighter/thief (who had died on the Island) head into the alcove with the staircases. The other four, the half-dwarf, his dwarf fighter sidekick, human cleric (who had also died on the Island), and a human mage that they do not recognize (he had remained invisible during the entire Island battle), head to the door on the opposite wall which the four Hengeyokai had come from, and go through it. Lannon tells the rest of the party about who he saw. The party has a brief discussion about this. Narg is upset that Barthrock apparently lied to them, since he is clearly still working for Morgarth. The Silver Moon discuss the fighting strength of these four.

Fiona reminds the group that this was one of the most formidable teams who they had fought, which was one of the reasons that a truce had been negotiated with them in the first place. She also reminds them that this group of foes never returned a key item that they had taken from Alton, namely his 45 caliber handgun (She would definitely remember this given her high intelligence, plus the fact that Fiona and Alton are played by the same player). The group discusses fighting these people. Cassie says she would first like to know where the other two went, not wanting to caught in a crossfire between two groups from this team. She also reminds them that Barthrock’s team previously had another member, an Oriental monk.

The party continues single-file down the long corridor, being watchful of the doors. As they near the corner alcove where the woman and druid disappeared, Lannon tells the party to wait, and he invisibly heads into that section. He peers into the opening, seeing the two large staircases, one ascending the other descending. More importantly, he sees an Oriental gentleman attired as a monk, coming down the ascending staircase and heading directly towards him. Lannon invisibly hurries back, but before he can inform his party the rapidly moving monk also reaches the intersection.

Aradyn had been on high alert, and immediately releases an arrow point blank as the man walks into view. The monk has good instincts and very quick reflexes, and spots the arrow at the last possible second, catching it in mid-air. The monk then uses this arrow to deflect Aradyn’s next arrow, ricocheting it against the wall. The monk holds up his hand with the arrow, and makes a “stop” gesture with his other hand. This is followed by a “come here” gesture. The party cautiously approaches.

As they near him the monk speaks softly in common, saying “We have been expecting you, but not this soon. Morgarth uses mirrors to monitor what is going on in the castle. He is currently preoccupied, but that will not last long. Quickly, get to the rear tower of the castle, as it is the only part of the castle without mirrors. My team leader will then contact you. Do you know how to get there?” The party is taken aback by this response to their presence. “This may be a trap,” Mojo cautiously advises. Timothy is asked to check the man’s alignment, telling the party “lawful neutral”. They decide to trust him. They tell the monk that they know the way. The monk hands Aradyn back his arrows.

[DM’s note: Big experience for everyone, especially Lannon, for their unexpected restraint. I had anticipated that either Lannon would stay invisibly backstab the monk or that Fiona and Cassie would blast him with Magic Missiles. This monk only had eighteen hit points, and either type of attack would have probably been fatal. If that happened it would have seriously jeopardized their getting Barthrock’s team as both an information source and potential allies.]

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 59, “Allies and Information“, September 27, 1018, 6:45 P.M.

Serita reminds the party she has boots of speed, and is handed the ring of invisibility as the others get into the bags of holding. She picks up the bags and runs back to the tower where they first entered the castle from, along the route that they already know. She arrives at the door, removing Lannon from the bag of holding so that he can unlock the lock. They enter the forge room, and empty the bags. They debate staying in this room, but decide to head higher, to put more distance between themselves and the rest of the castle than the single door. They bypass the strategy room, not wanting to activate the light globes with their voices. They decide to stop in the third level storage room.

The party waits for close to half an hour, discussing what they know of Barthrock’s team, and of how dissatisfied he had been of the way Morgarth had treated his team back on the island. They decide that “They must have stayed on, figuring that Morgarth wouldn’t really let them just leave, and have been waiting for a way out.” They hear sound from the staircase below. The half-dwarf Barthrock and his dwarven fighter join them. Barthrock begins the conversation by introducing his companion as Tokrah, and complimenting the group on arriving at the castle undetected. He apologies for taking so long to arrive saying “I had to stop to check your handiwork.” The group immediately picks up on this reference to the two bodies.

He reiterates what the monk had said about Morgarth using the mirrors of the castle to monitor what is going on but that Morgarth’s druid advisor Spring lived in this tower, and removed all of the mirrors from this tower for privacy, being the only one that Morgarth allowed this privilege. “How does he do that?” asks Cassie. “I don’t know” answers Barthrock. “Probably just some trick, done with mirrors,” is Lono’s comment. “Your monk indicated that you were expecting us?” Cassie states. Barthrock answers “Yes, we knew you were coming, we just thought it would take a few more months”. “We’re good,” says Mojo. Serita then asks “Did Morgarth know we were coming?” “No, just my team,” the half-dwarf replies, “and we’ve kept it that way.” “How did you know?” asks Serita. Barthrock answers “This castle was once owned by a high-level druid mage named Li-Tak. He was apparently able to predict the future, and he told his daughters of your coming here.”

“His daughters are here? Now?” asks Cassie. “Yes,” Barthrock replies “Li-Tak kept…what is the term for a group of concubines?” “A harem,” Lono immediately interjects. “Right, Well Li-Tak had genetically designed his harem of human-animal to provide him with male offspring, who he then used as his castle guards. Although the vast majority of children born were male, occasionally in a large litter there would also be female offspring as well. He allowed these girls to be raised until they reached puberty, then put them into a state of a deep sleep.” A player whose daughter has just become a teenager, interjects “Gee, can I get a copy of that spell.” The DM's wife, who has seven younger siblings, adds “Makes a lot of sense to me.”

Barthrock explains that “He put them into this deep sleep because it would have been inappropriate for them to mate with their father or brothers, so he decided that they would be kept asleep until he had a successor, and they would them become the successor’s harem. Unfortunately Li-Tak outlived all three of his apprentices who he had trained to succeed him. Before putting his final daughter to sleep he instructed her to be weary and careful of the people who would wake them up, to keep this information secret until they met someone from this region, and to wait until a group whose name translates as Silver Moon comes to rescue them. Morgarth woke these girls three years ago, and has been using them as servants ever since. We did not know any of this until after we returned here from your island. Our monk is originally from near here, so was able to speak to the girls, and they told him their story.

Anyway, after we got back to this castle there was a dispute as to which team won the competition on your island”. Serita interrupts “Yeah, we know. He sent you out on a tie-breaker to kill the Hobgoblin King.” Barthrock smiles, and says “Ah, so that is how you got here so quickly. You’ve been speaking to Hendry.” Narg interjects “Don’t worry, He’s next on our hit list.” Cassie yells out “Hey, I like the Hendrys.” “That makes one of us,” Aradyn mutters.

Barthrock continues “Before going out on the tie-breaker, as additional incentive Morgarth offered the winning team these girls, to do with as they wished. My team was appalled at that idea of these innocent girls being molested, so we made sure that we won, to protect them from the lecherous degenerates on the other team. We have been guarding these girls ever since, with my Monk, L, guarding them during the day and Chandra, the female member of my team, guarding them at night. We also have made sure that when they are performing duties around the castle, primarily cooking, cleaning, and collecting dishes, they always stay together in groups for their own safety.”

“So Li-Tak said that we would come to rescue them?” asks Aradyn. “Yes,” answers Barthrock, “He told them that you would take them to a far away land, where a group of brave and courageous men would wish to marry them and provide them with safe and happy lives. Cassie says “Well, we told our ship’s crew that we would help to find them wives. Looks like we’ve now accomplished that without even trying.”

“Exactly how many girls are there?” asks Narg. Barthrock answers “Forty-two”, which gets quite a reaction out of most present (in part, because they recognize this as the answer to the secret of the universe). Barthrock adds “They were told that you would bring them to a place where they and their offspring would be accepted for who they are, as nowhere else on this continent would they have been accepted. While they can transform into humanoid-animals, being half-human, they cannot become full animals, so would not have been accepted by the creatures living outside of the castle perimeter. Beyond the barrier they would have been captured and treated as slaves. They also could not go to Li-Tak’s original homeland, as hybrid races are unwanted there.” Cassie comments “Yeah, we noticed. But if they were put to sleep when they reached puberty, they’d now only know be what? Around twelve or thirteen?” “No,” he answers “Due to their being part animal most are aging at a rate faster than humans. I’d say that nearly all of them are now human equivalent of sixteen to twenty years of age, and rather lovely too.” Lono comments “Sounds good to me,” earning him some dirty looks.

“That’s all well and good, but we came here to clean Morgarth’s clock,” says Narg. “What can you tell us about where he is now?.” Barthrock explains that his team just escorted Morgarth over to the tower of his apprentice Ashemmi, who he trains every evening. He says that that Morgarth seldom leaves the “Mages Wing” of the castle, the section with the library and two towers above it. “And your team guards him?” asks Narg. “Only when he decides to travel outside of his own tower,” answers Barthrock, adding “We will be going back to escort him back to his own tower three hour from now”

“And he’s unguarded while in his own tower?” Mojo asks. “Hardly,” answers Barthrock. “He also has with him three purple flesh golems.” “Ragnors,” Narg interjects, “We've fought them before. Those we can handle.” Barthrock continues “More importantly, while in his own tower he is protected by a being called Notrathar.” “What is a Notrathar?” asks Cassie. “A powerful devil bodyguard, a Pit Fiend, summoned up from Hell” the half-dwarf answers. “So, Morgarth made a deal with the Devil?” comments Narg. Barthrock answers “That is an understatement. He refers to the Prince of Hell as his Liege.” This causes some uneasiness among the party.

[DM’s note: When Lannon saw Barthrock’s team earlier, the four of them were heading into the library to go escort Morgarth. The female member of the team had gone up the stairs to relieve the monk guarding the daughters of Li-Tak. Barthrock’s team was waiting for the monk to rejoin them before going up to get Morgarth, so if the party had killed the monk it would have only been a short time before Barthrock’s group went looking for him. Similarly, if the party had taken out the monk and then entered the library, they would have had to then fight Barthrock’s team waiting there, which would have immediately alerted Morgarth to their presence in the castle, as well as either delaying or eliminating this team as potential allies.]

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 60, “Strategies”, September 27, 1018, 7:15 P.M.

Barthrock continues to tell of Morgarth’s devil bodyguard, saying “While we were all on your island, and the anti-magic shell was there instead of surrounding this castle, a mage from your continent’s Zalpar Lordholding attacked Morgarth in his library. Morgarth felt vulnerable to further attack at that time, so called on his Liege to send Notrathar to protect him. This devil guards him when he sleeps, and accompanies him during any travels outside of the Mage’s Wing.” “So he is with him now?” asks Cassie. “No,” Barthrock answers “Since Morgarth was only going to the adjacent tower Notrathar stayed to guard Morgarth’s tower. While in the Mage’s Wing he feels safer, with Ashemmi there, and two more mages living on the first floor immediately below the library. Still, given that he was recently attacked there, he has my team be present when traveling through or reading inside of the library.”

Narg begins to strategize about the best way to take out Morgarth. Mojo points out that “He’s old, so we just need to set up an ambush at Denny’s for when he comes for the early bird special.” Barthrock asks if the group would again be able to get in contact with Hendry. “Why would we want to do that?” Aradyn asks. Barthrock says that Morgarth has recently logged a journal, adding “My mage and I suggested that he do that, in the event that he be assaulted mentally, to remind himself of his own plans. He thought that unlikely, until we reminded him that it was unlikely for him to have been attacked in his own Library. In reality, we just wanted to find out for ourselves what his plans were. My mage has now managed to read this journal.”

“So what exactly is his plan?” Serita hastily asks. “World domination” Barthrock answers. “Yeah, that’s standard,” comments Mojo. “How does he plan to do that?” asks Cassie. Barthrock answers “He has this preposterous plan of expanding this anti-magic shell to conquer lands, projecting it from several key points on this world, one of which is your island, and then modifying the spell projected by the sphere to something other than anti-magic, such as sleep, charm person, or even disintegration.” As the group ponders this, Barthrock continues “As I was saying. The journal also speaks of Hendry, and Morgarth describes how he was responsible to having Hendry’s wife killed. If you could get this journal to Hendry, chances are he would then try to kill Morgarth. Then again, since Hendry died trying to capture her (gesturing to Cassie), I wouldn’t count on him being able to successfully eliminate Morgarth.”

Narg suggests to Barthrock that the Silver Moon attack Morgarth in the library, when he is being escorted back through there by Barthrock’s team. Barthrock does not favor that idea, as his team would get caught in the crossfire, adding “Since we’re supposed to be his bodyguards, we would have to fight you, and at least make it look convincing. I also doubt that Morgarth or Notrathar would be at all concerned about accidentally killing my team to get to you.. Even with my team not a factor, the library would be a really bad place to mount an attack. As the mage Oterel attacked Morgarth there he has now made sure that his other forces are situated to get there quickly.”

“How long would it take for others to arrive?” asks Narg. Barthrock replies “Reinforcements would be able to get to the library very soon. Here let me draw you a diagram of the castle.” “You mean like this” says Lannon, and he pulls out the detailed map. Surprised at seeing this, Barthrock says “My, you are a resourceful group.” “I said that we're good,” comments Mojo.

He shows them where the library is, explaining that the high level mages from Roger’s team reside in the rooms immediately below the library. He points out on the nearby rooms where his own party resides, and the nearby exterior tower that is Roger’s home, where he could fly there quickly on his Chimera. Next they are shown where a group of ten armored giants are on the third floor, which could easily get to the library by the main staircase. Finally, Barthrock reminds them of the devil, who could gate in from Morgarth’s tower above. [DM’s Note: Had the party actually initiated a fight against Barthrock’s team in the Library, all of the above mentioned reinforcements would have then come at them.]

“OK, that’s a lot.” Says Narg, “Why don’t you run through exactly who else is in this castle?” . Barthrock says that there are at least three of the purple flesh golems, possibly more as they can turn invisible, a total of thirty of the elephant-footed giants, and around two hundred bugbears. He adds that Morgath also has a dozen captured Hengeyokai that are directly under Morgarth’s control.

Narg says “We’ve met all of your team, right?” Barthrock answers “Well, you’ve met four of us during our two negotiation sessions on your island, and saw the bodies of those who died and have since been resurrected. My magician remained invisible during those times.” “Why?” asks Cassie. Barthrock answers, gesturing towards Aradyn “Because my mage was the one who hit both of your elvan archers and their pegasi with fireballs during the initial assault. When I brought Narg to check the prisoners during the first negotiation he saw his wounded and scorched girlfriend and he said he wanted a piece of the man who did that to her. My mage overheard that comment and decided it best to remain invisible until after we had left your Island. I imagine he will do so again now that he knows you are here.” “Sensible,” says Fiona.

Narg asks for more information about the other team. Barthrock explains that the other team consisted of Roger, his Chimera, and six others, two of which the Silver Moon have just slain. Of these, the two wizards and Roger serve as the “Day Guards.” The other four act as the “Night Guards”. Barthrock says that he and Tokrah are scheduled to meet up with them in about twenty minutes to patrol the castle grounds. The problem now is that two of these four are dead, so their absence will be noted.” This causes some panic, with Cassie suggesting using the Belt of Shape Change to impersonate one of them. Narg asks “Can’t you come up with an explanation for the absence of the other two?”

Barthrock stops and thinks about it for a minute, saying “I have an idea. We could say that the pair tried to molest the servant girls when they came to collect the dishes from supper. Since these girls can change into humanoid animals it is feasible that they could have transformed and fought back, killing their attackers. That explanation should work with the other two guards and Morgarth, as they tend to believe the worst about people. I doubt it would work with Roger, who is overly suspicious of everyone. Tell me, did those two who get a good look at you?” “Yes, definitely” Narg answers. Barthrock replies “Damn. I imagine that Roger will cast a Speak with Dead on the bodies to confirm my explanation. Still, the story would buy you some time. I will have to tell Morgarth when we escort him back to his tower, but we can keep from notifying Roger until breakfast. You’d therefore still have until around seven in the morning to do whatever you need to do.”

“Where will this night guard be?” as Narg. Barthrock explains that the normal schedule is that he and Tokrah join the night guard for to do a perimeter walk on the castle grounds followed by an interior walk of the castle. After that, each pair of guards take stationary positions on the first floor near the two castle exits. Barthrock then says “Once we leave them following that patrol I then reassemble my team to escort Morgarth back to his own tower. My team is then dismissed for the night and I have a short briefing with Morgarth regarding his next day’s activities. I then leave and am off duty until the next day.”

Fiona ponders “I wonder what Morgarth does after that?” Fiona asks. Narg replies “He’s old, he probably watches Wheel of Fortune and whatever show comes on after it.” “That’s it,” says Mojo, “We wait to attack him while he’s watching Diagnosis Murder.” “But not until after that show puts him to sleep” Lannon adds. “No,” says Narg, “That would put us all to sleep too.”

Barthrock finishes by telling the party that “There is no activity in the castle between 11:00 P.M. and 5:30 A.M. The only ones awake at night are the four night guards and the bugbears on duty outside of the castle. At dawn the girls begin preparation for breakfast, which is served at around 6:30 in the morning. I will fill in the rest of my team about your group, and tell them to stay out of your way. If you do run into us, please don’t blow our cover. The only safe place to talk, other than this tower, is on the spiral staircases, as there are no mirrors there. Good luck, we have to get going.” Barthrock and Tokrah then leave.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

[Author's Note: OK READERS, After a rather long but interesting build-up, we're now into the action part of the module - enjoy!]

Chapter 61, “Hi Morgarth, We were in the neighborhood so decided to drop by!”, September 27, 1018, 8:00 P.M.

The group is in the storage room on the third floor of the rear tower discussing the information about the castle and its occupants that has been provided to them by Barthrock, who Lono keeps referring to as Bath-Rug. A variety of different options and plans are discussed.

Narg suggests hitting Morgarth, and then making a quick exit. Cassie strongly objects, pointing out the obligation they now have to save Li-Tak’s daughters. This leads to a heated debate, with Narg stating that they never agreed to do that. Cassie points out that Li-Tak left the castle map for them in return for the daughter’s rescue, and it would be wrong to have used the map and not followed through on the rescue. Fiona points out that killing Morgarth, and leaving the daughters to Roger and his minions would also be wrong. Mojo raises a different objection, saying that if they rescue these beautiful girls their ship’s crew shouldn’t have them all, that the party should get some too. Cassie points out that the crew will become the girls’ “faithful husbands” and asks Mojo is he is ready and willing to permanently settle down. He declines to answer.

They discuss that whatever strategy is chosen they will need to get the party quickly out of the Bags of Holding. It is suggested, “we need to find a Ziplock Bag of Holding”. Narg insists that he be the first out, stating “I’m not known for my patience”. Eventually the conversation around the table degenerates into a discussion of the role of stuffed bears in porn. Lono’s player points out that, strictly speaking, that would be considered ‘soft porn’. The Silver Moon’s debate continues until nearly two hours have passed since Barthrock left. Narg decides they need to go now while Morgarth is still away from his devil bodyguard. Fiona points out that they are probably too late for that, and another heated argument follows, with the party trying to convince Narg that he needs to make the devil his primary target rather than Morgarth.

Lannon is loaned the Ring of Invisibility and the others get into the bags of holding,. Lannon heads down the tower. Rather than reentering the castle itself, he exits the tower from the rear door, and travels along the outside of the castle up to Morgarth’s tower, sooon reaching the top. He finds that unlike, the other tower, the windows here are all shut and shuttered with gigantic wooden shutters that are too heavy for him to move. He cannot find another way in.

The frustrated dwarf descends to a spot on the library roof, where the two nearest towers block the view from the bugbear guards atop the outer wall, and lets the party out of the bag. Narg is very disappointed to find himself atop a cold damp roof rather than inside of the tower. Narg suggests that they head up the outside of the tower and kick the shutters in, but it is pointed out that that would ruin any element of surprise. Eventually they decide to return to the rear tower, and travel inside of the building along the route that they know. They reluctantly get back into the bags and Lannon spends the next half hour getting them to the hallway outside of the library.

The library door is easily unlocked by Lannon. He enters and lets everybody out of the Bags of Holding except for Lono and Hiroshi. Cassie is amazed by the quantity of books, with all four hundred feet of the walls within this vast room filled with bookcases that extend from the floor to the ceiling thirty feet above. The party pulls her along to the spiral staircase leading to Morgarth’s tower, past five desks in the room and the dome covered book on a pedestal on the opposite wall.

The next level of the tower is a large room furnished as a living chamber. A huge ornate mirror is mounted on one of the walls, which the party concludes is where Morgarth casts his viewing spells from. The party ascends to the next level, which is a laboratory. Cassie wants to spend time in this room, but is discouraged by the other party members. The spiral staircase in this room goes up to the ceiling, ending in a field of magical darkness. As this tower is designed identical to the rear tower they conclude that there is only one more level above, which is where Morgarth would be.

The party climbs the stairs, deciding that Narg should enter the room first. To dispel the darkness he is handed several coins with Continual Light spells cast on them, as well as a coin with a Silence spell cast on it. Climbing to just below the darkness area, he tosses the coins upward. The stones immediately bounce back and fall back to the laboratory room below. Some of the party briefly saw wood where the coins struck, before the darkness reappeared. Only then do they realize that since this tower is identical to the other, there would also be an identical ten-foot square trap door between the fourth and fifth levels. A player comments to the DM “I can’t believe you were able to keep a straight face during all that.”

Cassie’s owl familiar Deanna flies down to retrieve the coins, as the group ponders how to get the door open. The Darkness is dispelled, with the group seeing that the large bolts to the door on this side are currently unbolted. They assume that it is also bolted on the other side. They decide that Cassie should use a Reduce spell on the door. Narg and Lannon take up positions on the ladder immediatley below the door, followed by Cassie and Mojo. She has Deanna fly keep a distance with the Silence coin, instructing the familiar to fly the coin to Lannon one the Spells verbal component is completed, to hopefully buffer the sounds of the reducing door.

The spell is cast and the massive wooden door reduces in size to a sixteen-inch square, and only one-and-a-half inches thick (about the size of a pizza box). The three massive metal hinges holding the door in place did not reduce, and the door is ripped apart by these hinges as it reduces, with the remaining piece dangling from a singe hinge. Narg charges into the room, followed by Lannon and Mojo. Even with the Silence covering the sound, the sight of the reducing door was definitely noticed by Notrathar, the devil bodyguard. The devil is barely out of the range of the Silence and casts a Hold Person spell on the three of them, with only Mojo being caught by the spell.

As Narg closes the distance between him and Notrathar, Lannon sees that Morgarth is now awake and sitting up in his bed. Lannon tosses the coins, the Light spells now fully illuminating the side of the room where Morgarth is. Unfortunately for Lannon, his toss of the Silence coin is actually too accurate, striking Morgarth in the face. Since the arch-mage has a Stoneskin spell cast on himself, the coin does no damage and bounces off as if it had struck a stone wall. The coin rolls on the floor a full eighteen feet away from Morgarth, moving the Silence out of range [DM’s note: I got very lucky on the dice roll for the distance of the coin roll].

Lannon moves a few steps closer as Cassie move up into the room. Morgarth casts a Major Globe of Invulnerability spell onto himself. Narg has reached the devil, and swings the Nargblade. His dice roll comes up with a natural “20”, which means a severing blow from the Sword of Sharpness. He then grabs the six-sided, saying “Daddy needs a One”, for the determination roll of what was severed. He then rolls a “1”, indicating decapitation. The whole table erupts in a loud cheer. The devil's body falls, and then dissipates, returning to Hell. Lannon has almost reached the Arch Mage when Morgarth casts a Teleport spell and vanishes.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 62, “We’ve got to get out of this place, if it’s the last thing we ever do.” September 27, 1018, 11:00 P.M.

“Damn, he buggered off” Lannon exclaims. Cassie yell to Lannon “Look around for his magic books” as she hurries into the room. Narg says “We have to get out of here, NOW, AND FAST!” turns towards the stairs, and is the first to notice that Mojo is frozen like a statue. Narg shakes him loose, Mojo’s first words in response being “Glory hog!” Meanwhile, Lannon has retrieved the magical coins. Cassie has gone over to the bed, and begins searching under the covers and mattress, saying “this is probably where it is hidden”. Narg yells at her to hurry up, as the rest of the party begins going down the spiral staircase. Narg yells “Roger is probably already on his way here.”

Cassie looks under the bed, seeing a large two-by-three foot leather-bound tome strapped to the bottom of the bed. By now Mojo has reached her, and yells “CASSIE, LET’S GO!” “Not without his book,” she says, “It’s fastened to the bottom of the bed.” Mojo grabs the bed by the frame, and with his exceptional strength, lifts it up and smashes it against the wall. The book is still held to the box springs by straps, and Mojo says “Forget it. It’s probably just filled with Life Savers.” Cassie insists that they get the book, so Mojo draws his sword and quickly cuts it loose. He then puts the book under one arm, Cassie under the other, and charges towards the stairs.” As they reach the stairs Cassie yells out “Can I Be Put Down!” “Fine, he answers, and taking her literally says “Fiona is a better magic user than you, and there’s nothing wrong with arranging books by their color.”

The group descends and heads through the laboratory level. Cassie wants to stop and collect things but Mojo again refuses to put her down. Aradyn convinces him to let go of her, saying “I’ll keep her in line,” earns him a nasty look from his girlfriend. Narg reiterates that they need to leave NOW!.

The group descends to the library and makes their way across the room. Unbeknownst to them one of the purple flesh golems known as a Ragnor (picture a violet-hued Frankenstein monster holding a gigantic mace) descends from the spiral staircase at the opposite end of the room, under the cover of invisiblity. The Ragnor becomes visible when it is directly in front of them, pointing his mace (which channels a magic spell ability) in their direction.

Mark, Mojo and Narg rush the monster, getting hit by a Cone of Cold from the mace. Not deterred, Narg slashes into the creature. The Ragnor then strikes Narg with its mace, knocking the fighter back. With Narg temporarily out of the way Aradyn is able to fire two arrows point blank into the creature, as Fiona throws a Magic Missile spell. Mojo then charges up and hits the monster for a fatal blow, which causes it to explode, catching Mojo in the blast.

The group hesitates before moving on, concerned that the noise of the blast will draw more unwanted attention to them. Suddenly, alarms begin to sound throughout the castle. The party draw weapons, and wait for the enemy to open the door, but nothing happens.

Meanwhile, outside of the castle gate the Hengeyokai cat ranger Ebony Shadow, one of those rescued by the party at the Y’Cho-Kang auction, has been waiting patiently for several hours. The Hengeyokai Elders had sent her to discreetly follow the party, her primary mission being to find and free the 14 Hengeyokai who the ‘Storm God’ had captured. She had followed Lannon to the castle that afternoon, but could not follow as he climbed up the castle wall. As lights go on and alarms go off, she gets ready to attempt to enter the castle if the outer gates are opened.

Back in the library, Mojo is very tempted by the book on display in the glass case, and decides to smash the case to get it. He swings his sword into it, resulting in a shower of plaster and dust, as the illusion of the book and wooden pedestal is dispelled, revealing a now smashed plaster pedestal that had actually been there. As the group moves towards the door Mojo begins to take damage. A cure is cast on him, but the damage continues. The group concludes that the plaster must have contained a type of contact poison. Mojo continues to take further damage, until Serita takes pity on him, and casts a Neutralize Poison.

Narg opens the library door a crack, seeing Barthrock’s dwarf companion Tokrah further down the hall. Tokrah silently signals Narg to be quiet, and to go back into the library. Narg shuts the door and whispers for the party to be quiet. They wait a while before Narg opens the door again and looks out, this time finding the hallway empty. They head over to the staircase, and debate whether to go up or down, eventually deciding upon up. As an added precaution Mojo deside to smash the large mirror on the staircase-landing wall with his hammer. The Silence coin is taken out of the Bag of Holding to muffle the sound of the breaking glass.

The group reaches the top of the stairs, finding one corridor that goes straight, along what would be the upper wall of the great hall, and then turning left, and another corridors to the right, that then turns right along the castle’s outer wall. The corridor to the right is check out, leading to a twenty foot square alcove with a locked door. They then check the other way, with the left turning corridor continuing for some distance, with a door along the right-hand wall, which they estimate leads to a room above the main entryway to the castle. Lannon hears voices behind the door but cannot make them out. Both Aradyn and Cassie move up to also listen. Aradyn then collapses.

The group pulls back, carrying Aradyn to Timothy. Timothy casts a cure, which has no effect on the elf, with his eyes staring straight ahead. While he is alive and breathing, he is clearly in a comotose state. Cassie immedatley suspects that he has been mentally taken to the Astral Plane, and she removes her magical Crown (which blocks Psionics) to mentally probe for him. As soon as she removes it she is also mentally assaulted, by a powerful being who she assumes to be Morgarth. She successfully saves from his initial attack, getting a major headache, and replaces the crown on her head. This ends the assault and blocks any future mental attack.

She quickly tells the others what has happened. Narg yelling “Damn, that means he knows exactly where we are right now. Let’s get the hell out while we still can.” They head back to the stairs, Mojo signaling everyone to stop as he hears footsteps approaching from the staircase above. The person descending is recognized as the monk from Barthrock’s team, known simply as “L”. Narg immediately asks, “Where’s Morgarth?” The monk gestures in the direction that they have just came from, to which Narg says “I thought so, everyone follow me,” and then says to the monk “You too.” They head away from that direction, around the bend and into the alcove on the same floor.

“Where were you coming from right now?” Fiona asks L. He replies, “The rooms upstairs with Li-Tak’s daughters. I was making sure that they stay put and also that the Hengeyokai which Morgarth controls remain locked in their own rooms.” “Good,” answers Narg, “And where were you going now?” L replies “To the room above the entry hall, where Barthrock and others of my team are currently guarding Morgarth.”

While this conversation is going on both Timothy and Fiona are both successful in warding off mental assaults, resulting in each getting a massive headache. Cassie yells “Quick, get Hiroshi out of the bag, he has experience with the Astral Plane.” As Serita dumps both Hiroshi and Lono out of the bag Mark exclaims “Oww, my head,” as he too repels a mental assault. Serita then collapses, having been less successful than her comrades.

Seeing both Aradyn and Serita on the ground, Hiroshi immediately begins to deduce what is happening. Cassie tells him “Morgarth took them to the Astral Plane, can you help rescue them?” “I can try,” Hiroshi answers, quickly thinking up a plan. “What are you planning to do?” Cassie asks. Hiroshi replies “Put to work the information that we’ve found out about this place that he doesn’t know yet.. Although, to be honest, I would really prefer to not take him on alone.”

A brief discussion follows as to who should accompany Hiroshi, being mindful of the need to also guard the bodies. The party is somewhat surprised when Lono, of all people, volunteers to go with him. Lono says “I’m tired of sitting on the bench. My missing leg shouldn’t effect me on that plane, and I might be able to get in a backstab.” “Fine,” Hiroshi answers, and he grabs Lono’s hands, saying “Relax your mind…” The two then fall into unconsciousness. Narg has the others form a protective circle around the four unconscious bodies.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 63, “The Audacious Charade”, September 28, 1018, 12:00 A.M.

Fifteen rounds earlier Aradyn had been listening at the door, then he instantaneously appeared elsewhere. His unclothed body, devoid of possessions and made of golden light, appeared floating in air on a land comprised of open spaces and misty clouds, with pink and crimson colored skies in all directions. Also floating around him were porous light to medium green rocks of various sizes [visually like the Astral Plane as depicted in Marvel Comics early Doctor Strange stories drawn by Steve Ditko.].

Aradyn grabbed onto the nearest rock, a five wide by ten long foot boulder, noticing for the first time another unclothed being floating forty feet away. The person was a tall bald human male with a long beard, apparently Morgarth. The light that comprised this man’s body was a deep blood red color, with parts that were nearly black in shade. The man stared at him, and said “You fool. Your band thought that you could defeat me, but now you are all mine.” “Morgarth I presume,” is Aradyn’s casual reply. “And who else would I be?,” he answers.

Before saying anything further Aradyn sees that Morgarth became mentally distracted, the Mage then yelling out “Damn, I almost had Cassie-Andra”. Morgarth then rattles off to Aradyn about how Narg’s team will soon be defeated, and how they are nothing compared to his might. He finishes with “So, are you prepared to grovel and beg for a swift death, or should I make it slow and painful?”

Aradyn is astute enough to realize that, with no weapons at his disposal, he won’t last long in combat against a 26th level mage. He also realizes that with Morgarth mentally on the Astral Plane, then the mage’s unmoving body would be back at the castle, so the best strategy is to stall for time until the Silver Moon can find and destroy it. To keep Morgarth busy, he asks “OK, so what is your master plan?” He is shocked when the villain replies “None of your business.”

Morgarth then goes into another period of deep concentration. From the Mage’s facial expressions Aradyn concludes that whatever he is doing is not working. After a few rounds, however, Serita appears on the astral plane. Her body is comprised of a grayish-white light. She quickly orients herself to her surroundings, and starts to experiment with how to move about the plane, swimming through the air over towards Aradyn.

“Well, that’s two of you insignificant whelps that I’ve captured,” Morgarth bellows. “Can’t you see that it is hopeless for you to defy me!” Serita remains her typical obstinate self with a response of “Yeah, sure. Did you miss the part where your Pit Fiend bodyguard got its head cut off?” This comment has a visible emotional impact on the mage, with his shading temporarily changing from to a very deep black.

Both Hiroshi and Lono then appear about one hundred feet away, well behind where Morgarth is standing. Hiroshi quickly pulls Lono over with him behind a rock, since Morgarth has not seen them yet. Aradyn and Serita both saw the other two and decide to continue to press Morgarth’s buttons to distract him from the others. Aradyn exclaims “If your are in such a superior position over us, then how is it that we managed to infiltrate your impregnable castle undetected?” Serita adds “Yeah, and for such a brave man you sure ran off in a hurry an hour ago.”

Morgarth looses his temper, and lets loose with a Magic Missile spell. Thirteen missiles dart out from his fingertips, seven striking Aradyn for 28 points of damage and six striking Serita for 24 points of damage. Watching this, Hiroshi softly mutters an expletive in the Heian language, and then tells Lono “That was only a First Level spell. Those two don’t stand a chance.” “What can we do?” Lono asks.

Hiroshi tells Lono “I’m going to have to distract him. Listen up, moving on this plane just requires thinking about where you want to go. Once Morgarth is watching me, go over to the other two and garb them. I’m mentally anchoring you here, and will let you go if I am injured or worse. Hopefully you’ll be able to pull them back with you. Have Serita wait until I appear to really need help before throwing any spells.” Lono starts to ask a question, but Hiroshi is already gone. He appears twenty feet behind the evil Arch Mage, standing beside a large green floating boulder.

“HOW DARE YOU!” Hiroshi screams, catching Morgarth by surprise, and the mage quickly turns around to face the elderly Japanese man. Lono thinks himself next to the others, and he appears there. Hiroshi continues to yell “You have one hell of a lot of nerve threatening these people! Haven’t you caused me enough aggravation already! Give me one reason why I shouldn’t destroy you right now?” Morgarth is taken back by this confrontational verbal assault, and asks the obvious question “Who are you?” Hiroshi feigns disbelief, saying “Who am I? You honestly don’t know? I’M LI-TAK!” Lono, Aradyn and Serita briefly exchange glances at this, as Hiroshi’s tirade is so convincing they each wonder if maybe he actually is Li-Tak.

A now befuddled Morgarth answers “You can’t be. Li-Tak died over three centuries ago.” “Oh really,” Hiroshi counters “Then let me ask you this. If I had died, then where is my grave? You’ve combed every inch of my castle, and by now you must have noticed how much my daughters and the Hengeyokai revere me. Don’t you think they would have left some sort of shrine or tomb in my memory? But you haven’t found that, have you? I have no tomb because I haven’t died yet, I just left the castle for a while. Nor have you found my most precious texts, and do you know why? Because they are not there, I took them with me.”

Morgarth appears very troubled, so Hiroshi presses the advantage, raising his voice to new levels, and yelling. “And look what you’ve done! You’ve trespassed in my Castle! You’ve disturbed and destroyed my things! You forced my children to wait on you as if they were your servants! You even have had the nerve to offer my daughters as prizes in a contest to your lackeys!”

Morgarth appears ready to cast a spell at his accuser, and Serita prepares to cast one as well. Hiroshi then interrupts Morgarth saying “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Exactly where do you think I’ve been these past centuries?” That causes Morgarth to stop his casting, and he asks “Where?” Hiroshi answers “I’ve been visiting with the deities on their planes. It’s only due to the calming influence of the Lawful Good deities who I spent the last century with that I haven’t destroyed you already. Oh, I suppose we could now fight each other using spells, but a mere mortal like you is limited to what? Ninth level spells? You haven’t been taught the tenth, eleventh and twelfth level spells that the deities have taught me. So where would be the contest in that?”

Hiroshi presses on “And if we don’t use spells, where does that leave us? Hand to hand combat?” Hiroshi yells out in Japanese, and swings his right arm, striking the boulder next to him with a karate chop. This causes a triangular section, about three feet on each side, to break off and float away. Looking back to a now visibly shaken Morgarth, Hiroshi says, “Then again, hand-to-hand might not be very fair either.”

Hiroshi continues “So, I’ll tell you what I am going to do. If I were to kill you within the anti-magic shell, either here or at the castle, it would leave part of your essence behind. Since I don’t want your vile filth soiling my home, I’ve decided to give you an opportunity to leave.” Hiroshi holds up his left index finger and announces “I’m going to start a Firefinger spell. It will serve as a timer, and last for about half an hour. When it goes out, I’m returning to my Castle, and if you are either there, of anywhere within the territory of my sphere, you will then suffer the consequences. You had better go now, this is your only chance.” He casts the spells, the finger lighting up in flame. Morgarth wastes no time in exiting from the Astral Plane.

Hiroshi’s Firefinger spell then goes out, and he moves himself over to where the other three are. “Very impressive,” Aradyn comments. “You are some B.S. artist,” states Lono. Hiroshi answers “Well, I got nervous for a while there, thinking that he would notice that my Astral aura was the wrong alignment color for a druid. That is why I threw in that cow manure about Lawful Good deities. Thankfully, he couldn’t differentiate from my aura that my flares of emotion were my telling lies rather than anger.”

Finally relaxing a bit, Hiroshi adds “I guess it’s not every day when an apprentice mage, who only knows one cantrip, can outclass an Arch Mage.” He turns to Serita, and says “Could you please do me one huge favor?” “What?” she replies. With his left hand he now holds up his limp right arm and says” Could you give me a cure spell before I pass out. I haven’t tried to do martial arts in thirty years, and I think that I may have broken every bone in my hand.”

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 64, “Morgarth on the run”, September 28, 1018, 12:15 A.M.

On the Astral Plane, Serita casts a Cure Serious Wounds spell on Hiroshi’s injured hand. After checking the hand she suggests that he also borrow a Ring of Regeneration for an hour or two. “We’d better get back to the others,” Aradyn comments. They form a circle, with Serita and Aradyn each taking a hand of the other two, and Hiroshi projects them back.

Their four bodies regain consciousness, and Narg asks “What happened?” Lono replies “Hiroshi’s silver tongue saved our butts.” Serita states “Morgarth now thinks that Hiroshi is a very pissed off Li-Tak.” Aradyn says “Yeah, Morgarth is packing up to leave, let’s go get him while we can.” Hiroshi suggest that he get back into the Bag of Holding before Morgarth detects him, and discovers it was all just a bluff. Hiroshi borrows the Ring of Regeneration from Mark, and returns to the bag along with Lono.

The party charge down the hallway, in the direction of the room above the front gate. Mojo wastes no time is smashing the door lock, and pulling the door open. Aradyn, Mojo and Narg charge into the room. The large eighty-foot square room has no Morgarth inside, but is instead occupied by ten of the elephant footed giants and Barthrock. Barthrock charges towards the party, yelling for the giants to attack. Cassie lets loose a Fireball, which drops nine of the ten giants.

Barthrock and Narg begin fighting each other with their swrods and it becomes obvious to Narg that the half-dwarven fighter is only faking it. Charge in close to Narg, and gesturing with his head towards the large mirrors on the north and south walls, Barthrock softly mutters “Block the mirrors,” and then pushes Narg back. Meanwhile, Mojo tosses his hammer into the remaining giant, which Aradyn also hits it with a few arrows.

Narg pulls back, instructing Fiona and Timothy to block the mirrors. Timothy throws a Darkness spell over the mirror on the south wall. Fiona tosses a Sunburst in front of the mirror on the north wall, to blind anyone who may be scrying through it. Fiona then uses her Wand of Force to create a cage around the remaining giant. Barthrock pulls over alongside the north wall, to be out of the line of sight of the mirror, and gestures for the party to join him. “Where’s Morgarth?” Serita asks. “He teleported out a few rounds ago,” Barthrock replies, “but there are only a few places in the castle he might have gone to.”

“Where?” Cassie asks Barthrock. The half-dwarven fighter answers “He was in a big hurry to get out of here, and teleported away with my cleric and druid. Because of the Anti-magic shell he couldn’t have left the area, so probably went to get a vehicle to transport him away. The fastest vehicle is a metal flying device that uses a metal swirling blade above it to make it go.” “A helicopter!” Serita yells out. “Yes, I believe he called it that,” answers Barthrock. “It’s in the back courtyard, I’ve seen it,” answers Lannon. “What! You knew that there was a helicopter here and didn’t tell me!” Serita yells at the dwarf.

“OK, what other vehicles?” asks Aradyn. Barthrock answers “There is another large device in the lowest sub-basement, but it is almost the size of the room that it is in, so I don’t know how Morgarth would get it out of here.” There are also some four wheeled overland vehicles in the gatehouse below this room, and another down by the outbuildings.” “They would take too much time to drive out,” says Serita, “He’s going for the copter.” “Let’s get there fast,” Narg yells as the party piles into the Bags of Holding again. Barthrock stays in the room.

Lannon teleports to the well-lit courtyard, alongside the building and thirty yards from the helocopter. The helicopter is now surrounded by a dozen bugbears, who spot Lannon, and draw shortbows. Using his Boots of Spider Climbing, Lannon scampers up the wall sixty feet to the roof, dodging arrows as he goes. He gets out of the sight of the bugbears, who stop firing at him, and then lets the others out of the Bag of Holding. “Why are we on the roof!” Narg yells. “Peer over the edge and you’ll see” answers Lannon.” Narg does so, and a volley of arrows are sent towards him, striking the wall just below the roof. Narg says “So? A few bugbears, what’s the big deal?” “Twelve-to-one odds,” answers Lannon. Serita speaks up, saying “This range will do just fine for my Call Lightning.” “Start casting it now,” Narg replies.

Meanwhile, the Hengeyokai ranger Ebony Shadow, in cat form, has made managed to sneak into the castle. She followed a group of bugbears through the front gatehouse and into the great hall. She then slipped down a side hallway leading to the grand staircase, all the while avoiding being seen by the bugbears who are now rushing around the first floor. Not knowing where to go from here, she descends the staircase a few steps, sitting in the shadows cast by the staircase wall.

 

[Silver Moon]

Chinese Take-out

Chapter 65, “Come out, come out, where ever you are!”, September 28, 1018, 12:25 A.M.

Up on the castle roof, Aradyn looks around, and says “Damn, there’s no easy way to get back inside of the castle from here.” “Good,” answers Lannon, “That works both ways, since they know this is where I went.” As Serita continues her spell, they suddenly hear very loud sounds from the opposite side of the castle. “Sounds like a truck,” Mojo comments. Narg tells Lannon “Check it out, we’ll stay here.” The dwarf rushes off along the roof, using his Slippers of Spider Climbing to hurry around the two nearest towers.

It takes Lannon eight rounds to make his way to a point where he can see the front of the castle. About a quarter of a mile away, between the outbuildings at the gate along the wall at the bottom of a hill, the dwarf sees a large object moving away from the castle that is making all of the loud noise. Enough light from the castle wall is being cast for him to vaguely make out the shape of it as being the tractor-trailer truck that they had previously spotted. He can tell that the cab secion is pulling something, but is unable to make out exactly what.

Back at the rear roof, Serita completes the turn required for the Call Lightning spell. She sends the Lightning Bolt down into the helicopter, causing it to explode. The explosion drops all of the bugbears surrounding it. As the sky was briefly illuminated by Serita’s bolt of lightning, Lannon was able to see that the truck was pulling some sort of large cannon. He decides that he needs to stop this thing from escaping, and pulls out one of the recently acquired Flare Wands. Lannon has the flare shoot out, but misjudges the angle, and it strikes the outer wall of the castle, sending a shower of green fireworks in all direction. The party in the back of the castle can see some of these fireworks shooting up and onto the roof, and immediatley conclude that Lannon has done something.

Meanwhile two of the wounded bugbears near the helcopter wreckage manage to stand up, only to be cut down by a pair of Aradyn’s arrows. Narg tells the party to wait for Lannon to come back and for Serita to continue casting her spell, as it sounds like another bolt may soon be needed. Lannon quickly returns, filling in the group and announcing that the truck has gotten away. “Damn,” yells Narg, “We need to all get back inside, fast.” Narg orders the group back into the Bags of Holding, and breaks Serita’s spell concentration, telling her “We’re going to need you and your Teleport Ring instead. Take us to the main staircase.” Narg grabs the bags, and jumps onto Serita’s back, as she teleports away.

They arrive on the staircase between the first and second floors. The rest of the party, except for Hiroshi and Lono, are quickly emptied out of the Bags of holding. They head down the stairs to the first floor. The door to the great hall is currently opened, and they can hear the sounds of a vehicle coming from inside. Narg and Mojo cautiously approach the doorway, and peer inside.
They see ninety feet away, near the elaborate throne, a one-ton pickup truck whose engine is running. The truck has a truck-trailer cap on it and a Ragnor flesh golem sitting behind the wheel. Standing alongside the truck are a pair of the elephant-footed giants, guarding Roger and Morgarth.

The two fighters pull back and tell the others, and both Fiona and Cassie decide to throw in fireballs. The two half-elvan mages head towards the door to cast the spells, each flanked by one of the fighters.

As Narg and Cassie move up to the right side of the doorway. Cassie peeks through the doorway, seeing the two enemies standing alongside the truck talking to each other. Cassie whispers to Narg “This is wrong. It is way too easy.” Cassie signals Fiona to wait.

[DM’s Note: Huge experience points for this realization. I was going to let them attack and thereby fall into the enemy’s trap. Since they figured it out I then shifted to my Plan B, a plot twist that clearly comes from my having read far too many comic books.]