Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7435041" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 17: BONE SPEAKS TO FLESHPC Roster:  Galen Thorne, human paladin 6             Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 6             Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 5             Syngaard, human fighter 6Game Session Date: 30 May 2018 - - - The trudge from the Sanguine Swamp back to the Enchanted Flagon took practically no time at all - since both Point A and Point B were within the boundaries of the Kingdom of Durnhill, Skevros was able to teleport them directly to the front door of the inn.  "Please be sure to wipe your feet," he reminded the group, looking down at their sodden boots."Here," said Syngaard, passing over the severed head of the elven druid they had slain in the swamp.  "Brought you a present."  The king's advisor took it with a grimace.  "And what, pray tell, am I to do with this?" he asked."We thought we could dip it in osteovox, see if we could get some answers from it," suggested Galen."Er, yes, that is a definite possibility," agreed Skevros.  He motioned to Karen, the illusory "seen" unseen servant spell effect he had permanently bound to the tavern's interior; she took the grisly burden from Skevros without any indication of distaste, placing it upon the bar in the back of the room.  "However," continued the king's adviser, "given the late hour, I suggest that be a project for the morning."  And with a curt nod, he ushered the group back outside; Syngaard trudged back across town to his own bed while the others simply went upstairs to their rooms above the Enchanted Flagon for a well-earned night of rest.The next morning, the four adventurers - for Daleth was still off somewhere on his own assignment - gathered back up in the tavern for the osteovox ritual.  "What shall we ask it?" asked Orion."'What were you doing in the swamp?'" suggested Galen."No, that's stupid," answered Syngaard.  "We'll just get some answer we already know, like 'fighting you guys' or something.  What we really want to know is why they were planting that blue tree and all that blue grass.""To expand the borders of the Azure Glade, presumably," offered Kaspar."Best not be presumin' nothin'," countered Syngaard, and Skevros actually nodded his agreement for once - it wasn't very often the king's adviser and the scarred fighter saw eye to eye."How about this, then," suggested Galen.  "'What was the end purpose for growing the azure grove in the Sanguine Swamp?'""I should think that should suffice," agreed Skevros.  The paladin put ink to parchment, wrapped the question around the severed skull and bound it in place with a piece of twine, and then dropped it into the small barrel of osteovox sitting upon one of the tavern's round tables."And now we wait," reminded Skevros.  "The ritual usually takes about an hour.""Worst part of the whole deal," grumbled Syngaard - patience was not one of his strong suits.  But Skevros surprised them all by having Karen serve up a small breakfast to the group while they waited for the necromantic fluid to work its magic."Do you think the osteovox will affect the head?" asked Orion."It's already been severed from that elf's body," answered Syngaard.  "What else could happen to it?""Back in the graveyard, when we first procured the barrel of osteovox, we found out what happened when you drink the stuff," the halfling reminded the group.  "Are we going to pull out an animated skull trying to bite us?  And is the answer going to be written on the parchment, or is it going to start talking to us?"  She shivered at the thought."Talking skull?" asked Syngaard.  "That would be kind of cool!"  But when the time came to remove the severed head from the barrel, nobody was willing to stick their hand in to fish it out, for fear of being bitten.  "Fish it out with your javelin," suggested Orion to Syngaard."You kiddin'?  I ain't sticking my javelin in there!  But if none of the rest of you are willing to take charge of this little project, I'll handle it."  The bald fighter turned to Karen, standing behind the bar awaiting instructions.  "Hey, Karen - be a good girl and fish that severed head out of the barrel for us, will you?"Karen put an illusion-clad arm into the barrel of osteovox and pulled the head out by the hair.  Immediately, the skin split open and she had to grab the skull with her other hand; she removed both skull and parchment, while the sloughed-off skin fell back into the osteovox like a rotten banana peel, presumably to be absorbed into the necromantic fluid.  Karen set both items on the table top and stepped back.  The skull's eye sockets were lit by colored flames: blue in the right eye socket and silver in the left.Glancing worriedly at the skull, Galen picked up the parchment and unfolded it.  It was completely blank on both sides.  "No answer to our question," he observed, confused."Question asked of host or self?" spoke the skeleton, the silvery flame flickering in time to its voice.The assembled group looked to each other for answers.  Not having received an answer to its simple question, the skull reworded its query.  "Do you ask the head of Elorathien or the osteovox?""Um," began Galen, stalling for time.  Receiving shrugs from most of the group, he answered, "The head of Elorathien."  That was, after all, what they had expected, and how the osteovox had worked in the past - answering questions specifically about the item placed within the magic fluid.Both flames turned blue as the skull spoke again, this time in a different voice.  "Build the trap.  Test the trap.  Spring the trap." Then, turning its eye-flames toward Skevros, it added, "Kill the traitor."  The skull having answered its question, both flames in the eye sockets went out."That was certainly unexpected," commented Skevros, before the flames blazed up in the skull's eye sockets again, this time both the silvery color.  "Silver-Eyes is back," observed Galen."I don't think that's silver," observed Syngaard.  "Betcha anything that's mithral."Back in its original voice, the skull offered the following: "Ask me no questions for I am bound to answer.  Ask me one question and I return to my prison."  In a barely audible whisper, it added, "Please don't send me back.""I think we're talking to the Mithral Mage," said Syngaard."I believe you're most likely correct," agreed Skevros."Indeed," confirmed the skull.  "I am the Mithral Mage, the creator of not only the osteovox you used in your divinations, but of the entire substance in the first place!  But go ahead: ask me my real name!  Go on, ask me!""We must tread very carefully," pointed out Skevros, despite desperately wanting to know the Mithral Mage's true name, which had been excised from the copy of "The Curse of the Mithral Mage" his conscripts had procured for him from the Diviners Library in Azure City.  "Ask it a question - any question - and its spirit will depart the skull.  We don't want that happening."  Syngaard immediately bit off the "Seriously?" that almost escaped his lips, afraid the skull would assume the question had been directed its way.  Then, while the group tried figuring out a way to question the skull without asking it anything directly, it spoke again."Don't worry about introductions," it said.  "I already know who you all are, including the one who's missing."  Staring straight ahead, unable to "look" in the direction of those indicated, it began its roster.  "We have the Skydragon's Heir," it began, and the assembled group looked at Kaspar..."The Dimwit," it added, causing everyone to look at Syngaard, while the bald fighter looked around to see to whom the skull might be referring..."The Father of Hirek's Key," it continued, causing only puzzled looks among the conscripts..."My brother's Champion," was next, and everyone looked over at Galen, then the skull added in a whisper, "I'm still wearing your flesh..."Continuing on in its normal tone, it hissed, "The Traitor..." and the conscripts made an obvious effort not to look at Skevros (all but Syngaard, who pointed at the king's adviser and laughed)..."And last but not least, Miss Nightsky and her mostly faithful companion."  Orion looked over at Carl, her riding dog, who had been dominated by the elven druid Elorathien and forced to attack his mistress.  Carl whined and laid his head on his front paws as if it penance."And I, of course," continued the skull, "am...unable to speak my name due to my bindings, though yes, I am the Mithral Mage.""Intriguing," remarked Galen.  "How did--?" he began, before catching himself about to ask a question.  "One wonders," he hastily amended, "how the Mithral Mage is capable of speaking through the skull of a slain elven druid associated with the Azure Glades.  And whether said skull is a force of good or evil.""One wonders," added Skevros sarcastically, "why a paladin is left to wonder as to the possible evil nature of any object when he has been trained in the reading of auras?"  Galen grinned in embarrassment; he'd been too caught up in the wonder of a talking skull to concentrate on detecting evil, something he'd have ordinarily done at once.  Now, concentrating on the task at hand, he stared at the skull, winced in pain, and then screamed aloud.  Months ago, he'd detected so much evil in Serenity the succubus of the Ashfall Kingdom he'd cried out in pain; this was so much worse!  The Mithral Mage's spirit, embedded in some fashion in the skull of the druid Elorathien, was evil to an extent the paladin had never encountered before.  He dropped down into a chair, rubbing his temples."What shall we do with the skull, Skevros?" asked Kaspar, making certain there was no ambiguity as far as to whom his question was being addressed."I believe we shall keep it for now," the king's adviser declared.  Then, speaking into the silver ring he wore on his finger, he spoke to Daleth, out on whatever mission he'd been sent on, "Daleth, disregard your current orders.  I want you to go immediately to the marketplace and procure a lead box the size of a man's head.  Return with it to the Enchanted Flagon.  You will be reimbursed the cost of the purchase."  Skevros then directed Karen to remove the skull to his own quarters, out of earshot of the group's further discussions."Now then, to the task at hand," began Skevros.  Syngaard began to interrupt him as usual with a question.  "Yes, this is a paying mission," snapped Skevros, irritated at constantly being interrupted by the scarred fighter.Syngaard looked confused.  "That's not what I was gonna ask," he said.Skevros sighed heavily.  "Very well, then, what was your question?"The fighter pointed at the members of the group around the room.  "Traitor," he said, pointing to Skevros.  "Nightsky, Champion, Dragon-Boy," he added, indicating Orion, Galen, and Kaspar in turn.  "What's up with this Hirek's Key business?  I ain't no father of no Hirek's Key.  And why's he calling Daleth a dimwit?"Skevros's blank expression indicated he had no real idea of how to answer that.  "Questions for another day," he finally suggested.  "For now, we must concentrate upon finding Serenity.  You will each be paid a thousand pieces of gold to find out what happened to her.  From the information previously gathered by Daleth and Miss Nightsky, I believe the Temple of Hieroneous in Ashfall might have some answers for us - or, at the very least, be a good place to start."  Syngaard and Galen both had sour faces at the thought of rescuing the succubus from any fate she might have earned, but the paladin's expression lightened at the thought of visiting a temple of his god.  Syngaard's brightened at the thousand gold pieces, up front for once.Once the group had assembled - with Galen and Orion on their respective mounts - Skevros teleported them to the outskirts of Ashfall's main city - a place the conscripts had been many times before.  Smoke filled the air; that was nothing new in a land this close to the Baator's Breath Mountains, but closer inspection showed it was coming from the city itself, not the volcanic mountain range to the north.  Was there a building on fire nearby, perhaps?Galen spotted a couple of guards keeping curious onlookers at bay and sent his warhorse Seneca in that direction.  Upon seeing his approach and recognizing the paladin as one of the Heroes of Ashfall, he waved him over.  As Galen neared the city watch and the small crowd, he saw there was indeed a building on fire - and he knew exactly which building it was: Quillbender's Potions and Scrolls."I think Maria's still in there," said the elderly guard in a voice filled with worry.  "But the flames - they're too thick to get through!"  Galen confirmed that the entire front of the shop was a sheet of fire.  With a click of his heels on Seneca's flanks, he wheeled the warhorse through the back alleys to the rear of the shop.  As he passed, he thought he heard the muffled cry of a young woman from inside the building over the roaring of the flames.Reaching the back door, Galen leaped from the saddle and entered the shop.  There, backlit by a wall of roaring flames, stood a thin woman in dark leather armor with a blood-soaked dagger in hand.  She bent forward, carving words into the flesh of a young woman who was bound naked to a column in the middle of the shop.  The victim's hair was red; this was undoubtedly Maria, the granddaughter of the wizard Dave Quillbender and a sorceress in her own right."I say!" exclaimed Galen, rushing around the counter to put a stop to the woman's deeds.  She looked up from her unfinished handiwork - carving a message into Maria's stomach - and pulled a short sword from a scabbard at her hip, facing the rushing paladin with twin blades raised.In the meantime, Syngaard had opted for a direct approach.  Pushing past the city guard he ran up to the flames, kicked the door open, and charged through the roaring fire.  Although the charm person spell had long since run its course many weeks ago, the bald fighter still refused to believe he had ever fallen sway to the spell of a sixteen-year-old sorceress; if he'd latched onto her as her protector it must have been because he subconsciously saw the good in her, despite her grandfather being a kidnapper of orphans.  Unable to see through the wall of flames he staggered forward, bumping blindly into the leather-clad woman facing off against Galen.  The heat still burned his back, but he was out of the flames; from this vantage point, he could see the bloody message begun on Maria's stomach: "SECRETS ARE" - but the sentence stopped there.Kaspar had used his speed to follow in Galen's wake and entered the shop from its back door.  Orion had directed Carl to the front of the shop but the riding dog quite wisely refused to enter the wall of flames; the halfling stationed him directly across from the shop's main door and had her sword out for action should it become necessary.  It seemed likely, too - the rogue had noticed there were no waves of heat emanating from the wall of fire at the shop's front, meaning it was either an illusion (but why?) or it was the result of a spell and the heat had been purposefully directed inwards.  That meant direct intent, which implied a spellcasting enemy within.  And from within the burning building the halfling could hear the sounds of combat: steel blades striking each other and against sturdy shields.Inside the building, Narisca stabbed out at the scarred fighter who'd come bumbling in through the blazing wall of fire, making a successful strike with her short sword but finding her dagger deflected by his shield.  While she was thus occupied, Galen stepped forward and laid a hand upon Maria's bare shoulder, channeling healing energy into her body.  The scars on her stomach sealed up, leaving a mere ghost of the "SECRETS ARE" message traced only in bloodstains.Sweat dripped down Syngaard's face as he stood within the area of heat blasting from the wall of fire; his opponent seemed not to suffer from its effects.  He struck her hard with his morningstar, cracking a rib or two by the sound of it, but his second swing got caught up in her hood and was accidentally deflected.  Still, with the hood out of the way and her rounded ears exposed, Syngaard could see he fought a human, not an elf.  He smiled as he contemplated how a change of weapons could end this fight that much quicker.Kaspar struck suddenly from Narisca's flank, braving the heat of the flames to help bring down the enemy.  It was a solid blow, and one that helped the leather-clad assassin come to a decision: setting the wizard's shop ablaze and leaving him a message on his teenage granddaughter's belly was one thing, but taking on a trio of seasoned enemies was another thing entirely.  With a sudden spin, she burst through the wall of fire and out the front door, unscathed by the flames.But not unscathed entirely.  Quick as wink, Orion's flaming short sword stabbed out at the escaping assassin, and where the sheets of vertical flames had caused her no harm, the halfling's sword made up the difference.  Narisca fell to a knee, dropping her dagger as her hand went to the wound in her abdomen, and fell to the street, unconscious.  Orion was on her in a flash, rolling her onto her back and doing a quick perusal: well-crafted studded leather armor punctured and cut through in several places, a ring on one finger, and a bracelet on the other wrist.  The halfling went for the easily-removed jewelry, depositing them both into the top of her own armor for further investigation at a later time.While the men cut Maria from her bindings (she was remarkably unfazed by the heat spilling from the wall of fire, but it fizzled out in any case soon thereafter) and Galen healed her fully of her wounds, the sorceress's first reaction was to flinch from the sight of Syngaard's scarred face - not because of its startling appearance, although that would have been an understandable reaction and one the bald fighter had become long used to - but because she still regretted having tried to help her grandfather by charming this idiot into subservience.  Still, she gratefully accepted the scarred fighter's cloak, which she used to wrap herself in as the group left the shop through the front entrance.The city guard allowed the fabled Heroes of Ashfall to interrogate their prisoner.  Galen healed her just enough to bring her back to consciousness; she awoke to find herself ringed by enemies, several with weapons pointed at her throat.  (Syngaard had unsheathed the human bane scimitar he'd taken from the elven druid Elorathien.)  Unfortunately, Galen's interrogation ended up revealing more information to the assassin than she gave back in return."Why did you attack Dave's shop?" questioned the paladin.  "And why torture his granddaughter?""Had a message to send," Narisca replied.  "Secrets are meant to be kept.""What secrets?" mused Galen, and Kaspar reminded him that Dave was the one who had explained the hourglass symbol was the mark of the Seekers of Eternity.  On a sudden whim, the monk gently pulled Narisca's hair away from the back of her neck; sure enough, the familiar hourglass tattoo was present.  "She's no doubt been sent to punish Dave Quillbender for helping us.""I'm confused," admitted Syngaard.  "We got too much going on.  Finding that damned succubus, the Mithral Mage's talking skull, those Azure Glade druids growing blue stuff in the swamp...can't we just go kill bad guys and stuff?  I don't wanna put puzzle pieces together!""The Mithral Mage?" demanded Narisca.  "You have found and freed our master?""Your master?" repeated Galen.  "Your master's the Mithral Mage?  He's the head of the Seekers of Eternity?  Well, I got news for you, sister: your master's burning in Dwarven Hell!  Hope he likes the eternity he earned!"Narisca started laughing aloud.  "At long last!" she exulted.  "Now we know where to find the master!  He can be freed!""Uh, not likely," countered Syngaard.  "Not if we kill you before you go spreading that info to anybody else."The assassin merely laughed again.  "You think my death will prevent me from talking?  That the Seekers cannot interrogate me merely because I've been slain?  Guess again, dimwit!  Go ahead and kill me - it won't be the first time, and it won't likely be the last!"Syngaard looked over at Galen for confirmation.  The paladin nodded in confirmation.  "Assassin," the paladin intoned, "You have been judged guilty by a paladin of Hieroneous, God of Valor.  For your crimes against the person of Maria Quillbender and the Kingdom of Ashfall, you will be put to death!"  The assembled city watch members all knew when they were out of their depth; they all looked aside as Syngaard brought his human bane scimitar down upon Narisca's head, severing it from her neck in a single blow."We keeping this?" the scarred fighter asked the group, holding up his bloody trophy.  "We can give it an osteovox bath, get at least one good answer out of it.""At the prospect of activating the Mithral Mage again," reminded Kaspar.  "He's already bound up in one skull, but if we dunk this into the same barrel of osteovox, will the Mithral Mage's spirit be able to talk through both of them?""More importantly, will he be able to see through them both?" asked Orion.  "If so, we're going to need another lead box.""In the meantime, there are more assassins where that one came from," interjected Maria, stepping up to the group still wrapped in Syngaard's cloak.  "She spoke of meeting up with her associates at the Hieronean Temple, to torture information from the adherents there.""The Temple of Hieroneous!" exploded Galen, remembering the whole reason they'd come to Ashfall in the first place.  He raced back to his warhorse and pulled himself up into the saddle.  "Here, hold this," commanded Syngaard, passing Narisca's severed head to one of the city guards, who held it distastefully at arm's length.  "We'll be back for it later!"  And then he and Kaspar raced off after Carl and Seneca and their riders toward the Temple of Hieroneous.An uneasy feeling settled into their stomachs as the conscripts approached the temple building.  The front doors were ajar, and from within there could be seen bloodstains on the walls.  Galen rode Seneca in through the front doors, seeing a wide corridor before him flanked by pew after pew; dead bodies lay among the rows of seats.  Two paladins still stood, one along the back of the chapel and another off to the side; two female leather-clad assassins armed much like Narisca had been advanced upon the young man to the side, while a black-robed cleric and a fighter in black armor headed towards the clearly frightened paladin in the back.  "S-Stay back!" he cried, his voice breaking.Zehkar's holy power flared up in Galen's longsword, spurring the paladin to send Seneca galloping down the chapel at the blackguard apparently leading this group of desecrators.  He channeled the power of Hieroneous through his sword, ready to smite the evil man before him.  Unfortunately, his charge was dodged at the last minute by Velorik, who looked at Galen and sneered.  "I was once like you," he chuckled, smiting the paladin with a longsword wreathed in black flames.  Galen felt the power of evil behind the blow; a second such blow had him struggling to stay in the saddle.Syngaard rushed into the chapel seeking enemies.  The closest was one of the assassins; without breaking his stride he threw his javelin of returning at her, not only scoring a decent hit but more importantly drawing the attention of both women his way instead of at the cowering survivor and the staggered Galen.  At his side, Kaspar threw a shuriken at the black-clad cleric; it missed, but whizzed by so close to the cleric's ear that he also turned about to face these intruders.  Calling upon the might of his unholy god Hextor, he caused a ghostly flail to manifest above the elven monk's head and strike down at him.Savoring the thrill of combat, the assassins rushed forwards to take on these newcomers in melee combat.  But Carl bounded up the aisle, allowing Orion to lean to the side of her riding dog as it raced past and bring down one of the assassins with her flaming short sword.Struggling to retain consciousness, Galen spun Seneca around and had him race back the way he'd come, just far enough back down the aisle to be out of immediate range of combat.  The paladin healed himself with positive energy channeled through his illumium scabbard as he did so, restoring enough of his vigor to allow him to return to the combat."See how the mighty champion of Heironeous turns and flees at Hextor's might!" Velorik bellowed as he marched in Seneca's wake.  The conscripts were silently grateful their opponent was slowed down by his full-plate armor.Syngaard had noted during his dash down the chapel's central aisle that all of these intruders were human; as a result, he returned his returning javelin to his shield hand as he closed to within melee range, and then drew not his trusty magic morningstar but his human bane scimitar.  He practically cut the remaining assassin in two as he passed by, heading for the blackguard Velorik.  Orion struck her at nearly the same time and took credit for the kill, calling out "Got her!" as the human woman fell lifelessly to the temple floor in a pool of blood.  Syngaard didn't care; he was too caught up in battle-lust and eager to cross weapons with the ebon-armored warrior before him.Kaspar sent several shuriken flying at the Hextorian cleric, but the evil spellcaster's spiritual weapon kept the monk from achieving any of his normal accuracy.  Galen, meanwhile, channeled the day's remaining healing energy through his fingertips into his own body, repairing the worst of the damage dealt by Velorik's evil blade.  It would have to do for now; battle raged all around him and his friends surely needed his assistance!Velorik's eyes filled with black energy and he chortled to see all of his opponents were vulnerable to his dark power, save for the two mounts, whose auras had no taint of goodness about them.  "That's not even a proper holy mount!" he scoffed to Galen as he turned to face his nearest opponent, Syngaard, and dealt him a painful blow, smiting him with Hextor's unholy energy channeled through his ebon blade.  The scarred fighter retaliated immediately, earning Velorik's ire and respect.  Kaspar moved to flank the blackguard with Syngaard and fared a bit better with his hand-to-hand attacks than he'd done with his shuriken, catching Velorik with some targeted strikes to the joints of his limbs.  Orion stabbed out with her flaming blade, penetrating the armor in a place where two overlapping surfaces were temporarily separated by the blackguard's movements.However, then Hextorian cleric then moved to flank Kaspar with Velorik, resulting in a line of four alternately opposed combatants.  And the cleric's spiritual weapon was still targeted on Kaspar, following his movements to continue striking the monk and force him to divert his attention away from his human foes.Galen attempted to smite the evil inherent in Velorik but missed entirely; he slid from his mount and used poor Seneca as a temporary shield, blocking any retaliatory strikes from the blackguard's black blade with his warhorse.  But Velorik had already realized Syngaard's scimitar was a weapon to be feared more greatly than Galen's own sword of Zehkar and concentrated on bringing the scarred fighter down.  He hit Syngaard twice in rapid succession, unleashing not only twin streams of blood but a string of invective not often heard within the walls of a Hieronean temple.Syngaard returned the favor, striking a one-two blow against the blackguard that slew him immediately.  Facing four armed assailants, the Hextorian cleric didn't last very much longer, with Kaspar striking the final blow that took him down; a crushing blow to the temple that fractured his skull and had him falling lifelessly onto his back.  The spiritual weapon vanished along with its summoner's life force.Looking over the bodies of their slain foes, Syngaard determined Velorik's armor was made up of some strange sort of blackened mithral; he wasn't tempted to swap out his own mithral breastplate, but he did claim the blackguard's shield, as it was the same general size and shape as Syngaard's own wooden one but made of the same lightweight black mithral.  As for the ebon blade and the cleric's unholy symbol of Hextor, Syngaard's magic morningstar soon shattered each to pieces."Four more heads to question via the osteovox," commanded Galen, and the scarred fighter, grinning, pulled his human bane scimitar back out from its scabbard to comply."Round up the survivors!" commanded Galen, and Orion and Kaspar went to find the two young paladins who had been the original remaining targets of the strike force.  They found them locked in a back-room office, where they'd apparently hightailed it during the fight once they'd had the opportunity.  "The danger is over!" the halfling called through the locked door.  "We've slain the Hextorites!"  Then, in a questioning voice to herself, she asked, "Hextorites?  Hextorians?  Whatever."  But once the timid neophyte warriors had been coaxed out of hiding, the conscripts were finally able to perform their primary mission.  "Do you know of Serenity's current location?" demanded Galen."We haven't seen her in a month or more," admitted one of the young paladins, his face pale at the sight of all the bloodshed in his temple.  "I can show you to her cell, though.""Her cell?" echoed Kaspar as they headed to a small room at the side of the temple."Yes.  Normally, once a week she's interrogated, under a zone of truth spell, to ensure she hasn't been acting against the kingdom.  The king may trust her, but he's no fool.""She submits to this willingly?" asked Orion."Sure," replied the young paladin.The cell was empty save for a single tome sitting on a shelf, detailing important holy sites to Hieroneous, most of which had been lost to the ages.  A piece of parchment covered in indecipherable writing served as a bookmark, marking an entry on the Halls of Redemption - whatever they were."I smell future assignment," remarked Syngaard dryly.Galen found a hollow spot beneath the floorboards of the cell and unearthed another tome, written in the same language as the note.  "We should take these to Skevros," suggested Kaspar and the local paladins gave no argument."You'd best clean this place up," remarked Galen absently to the two cowards as the conscripts departed the building.  He had no stomach for those who fled and hid from battle, even against overwhelming odds.  "I'll send a member of my own temple to oversee this one until such time as you can get it back on its feet again."Unfortunately, Skevros couldn't teleport the conscripts back home from outside the confines of the Kingdom of Durnhill, so it was a two-hour trek back to their headquarters.  But Syngaard retrieved Narisca's severed head before leaving Ashfall, adding it to the four they'd taken in the temple of Hieroneous.  Skevros was overjoyed to see five more severed heads show up in the Enchanted Flagon several hours later."You have got to be kidding me," he sighed, having them place the decapitated trophies on the bar in the back next to Elorathian's.  It was hard enough clearing his name and reputation without frequently performing necromantic rituals with severed heads.  Then he devoted his attention to the book and the note Kaspar provided, confirming both were written in Abyssal - and in the same hand.  Galen, in the meantime, decided he'd try an experiment of his own: he touched the sword of Zehkar to the skull of Elorathien, apparently inhabited by Zehkar's brother, the unnamed Mithral Mage.  The skull disintegrated immediately in holy fire."What's the note say?" Galen asked Skevros, eager to turn the conversation away from his just having destroyed a possible lead."It mentions Hirek and his friends being the last people to enter the Halls of Redemption," Skevros replied absently.  "And this is interesting: the book is a diary of 'Serene Bliss Found Through Lust' - apparently, that's Serenity's real name, translated from the Abyssal tongue.""That figures," grumbled Orion.  "The hussy.""The diary's final entry says she's going to the city Hirek founded to try to speak to his ghost.  Hmmm, a city founded by a color-themed sage?" Skevros mused; Hirek was the man known as the Scarlet Sage, and apparently the person responsible for wiping all traces of the Mithral Mage's name from existence.  "I wonder..."...could it be the Azure Glade?" - - - I'm glad I kept that human bane scimitar after all; Syngaard ended up dealing 62 points of damage to Velorik in one round (a new personal best!) after hitting with one attack and confirming a critical hit with the other.  And the sword of Zehkar is now a full-blown holy weapon, which will no doubt allow Dan to try to beat my new combat record.Incidentally, Dan and I were talking recently about Logan's campaign and how he's running the adventures: while my Kordovian campaign (where we meet up every 4-6 weeks or so on a Saturday for a 4-6 hour game session) is written like individual, mostly standalone episodes of a TV show, Logan's (almost) weekly Durnhill campaign is more like individual chapters in a novel.  Now we just need to work on getting Joey to show up more often, as his PC Daleth is still at 4th-level while Orion just joined the rest of us at 6th level after this session.</blockquote>

Verification