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The Durnhill Conscripts
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7494896" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 25: A HOPE-LESS SITUATION</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster: <p style="margin-left: 20px">Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 7</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Galen Thorne, human paladin 9</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 9</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 8</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Syngaard, human fighter 9</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 13 September 2018</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>Skevros cast a <em>teleport</em> spell and the group of adventurers found themselves standing just outside the gate to the kingdom of Durnhill.</p><p></p><p>"What? Why here?" asked Galen, perplexed.</p><p></p><p>The king's adviser smiled in apology. "I fear we no longer have the luxury of teleporting directly to the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em>," he said. "The <em>dimensional anchoring stones</em> prevent others from teleporting into the kingdom; unfortunately, they do the same to us."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah, whatever," spat Syngaard. "C'mon, we gotta go check on Hope!" And the scarred fighter started running toward the Temple of Pelor, where his little daughter - nearly a year old - was being raised in the orphanage there. Hirek's ghost had warned the group that Arcturus had been snooping around the orphanage, and damned if Syngaard was going to let his daughter fall into the hands of the Seekers of Eternity!</p><p></p><p>Galen followed immediately, as did Orion, astride the ghost of her fallen riding dog Carl. Only the two elves remained behind with Skevros, Kaspar because he knew he could easily catch up with the others before they reached the temple; Daleth because he didn't feel like running like a madman down the streets of Durnhill in his wizard's robes. "Are you coming?" Kaspar asked the king's adviser.</p><p></p><p>"Alas, no," replied Skevros. "I must report in to His Majesty, to relay the results of the trial. You two go on ahead and I will catch up to you when I am able."</p><p></p><p>Kaspar had caught up to the rest of the group as they approached the Temple of Pelor; down the street, the monk could see Daleth struggling to maintain his dignity as he raced with the hem of his robes held up in both hands like a lady's skirts. Syngaard pulled the double doors open and strode inside, interrupting a conversation between Father Rayburn, the head cleric of the temple, and <strong>Sister Melody</strong>, a low-level acolyte. They were the only two in the chapel, as it was between sessions. "May I help you?" asked the elderly cleric.</p><p></p><p>"Where's Father Rupert?" Syngaard demanded without preamble. "I need to speak with him." Sister Melody volunteered to fetch the cleric, stepping through a door in the back of the chapel that led to the orphanage where a dozen or more children were being raised. Syngaard knew the place well; he'd been by many times to pass coins to the good father, using a portion of his earnings as an adventurer to ensure his daughter - and the actual orphans, so as not to single out Hope - was raised in comfort.</p><p></p><p>Sister Melody's scream split the afternoon, sending the adventurers rushing to the back of the chapel. Syngaard burst through the door to the orphanage, his morningstar already in hand and ready to deal with whatever intruder Sister Melody might have unearthed. But the intruder was not present, merely an aghast Sister Melody looking down at the slain form of Father Rupert lying on the floor in a pool of blood, the side of his head bashed in as if from a club or mace.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar took Sister Melody by the hand and steered her back to the chapel and to Father Rayburn, while Syngaard rushed down the hallway, bursting into the nursery. There were four cradles in the room, to house the four infants who shared the room. Three were occupied by sleeping babies; Hope's was empty.</p><p></p><p>"No, no, no, no!" cried Syngaard, bursting from the nursery to the other rooms in turn. One held the younger girls, another those in or near their teen years, and two other, similar rooms for the boys. None held Hope - although each held a number of orphans screaming in terror at the sight of a half-crazed bald man with a face full of scars and wielding a wicked-looking morningstar bursting into their rooms. Syngaard ignored their screams, continuing his search in increasing terror of his own. Hope was gone!</p><p></p><p>Back in the room with Father Rupert's corpse, Galen bent and examined it closely. He seemed to have been slain fairly recently, in the last few hours, certainly. "Would it be possible to interview Father Rupert with a <em>speak with dead</em> spell?" the young paladin asked the elderly cleric. "It's possible his spirit could tell us who killed him, and what happened to Hope."</p><p></p><p>"Certainly - if I had such a spell prepared," replied Father Rayburn. "In the day-to-day course of events, it's very rarely needed."</p><p></p><p>"Wait, Hope?" asked Sister Melody suddenly. "She's fine. In fact, she was adopted this morning."</p><p></p><p>"<em>WHAT?</em>" demanded Syngaard, returning from his rampage through the orphans' rooms and hearing the last bit of conversation. He looked ready to attack the frightened acolyte with his weapon as he growled, "Adopted by who?"</p><p></p><p>"By--by family," replied a very obviously frightened Sister Melody. "It was a red-haired woman, named Maria. She said she was family."</p><p></p><p>"And you just took her at her word?" demanded Syngaard incredulously, amazed at the apparent lack of security in the church raising his daughter.</p><p></p><p>"Of course not," answered Father Rayburn. "Her story was verified by spells capable of detecting falsehoods. She was as she said." But Syngaard's mind was racing frantically - he was no spellcaster, but there were ways to falsify one's appearance; surely there were ways to get past a <em>zone of truth</em> spell. Or maybe it was actually Maria Quillbender herself who had taken Hope, but under the mental sway of a member of the Seekers? There were so many ways Hope could have been easily abducted from right underneath the noses of these clowns! Damn all spellcasters anyway!</p><p></p><p>Father Rayburn looked sadly down at the body of his friend and fellow cleric. "Poor fellow," he said. "He's the thirteenth this week."</p><p></p><p>"Wait--what?" asked Orion.</p><p></p><p>"Indeed, there have been a dozen previous such slayings this past week. Where have you been? It's been the talk of the kingdom."</p><p></p><p>"We have been away, on the kingdom's business," declared Galen. "Who have the previous victims been?"</p><p></p><p>"Drifters, mostly," answered the elderly cleric. "People just passing through, or the unfortunate poor with no one to look after them."</p><p></p><p>"And they were all killed in the same manner?" asked Kaspar.</p><p></p><p>"I believe so. A heavy blow to the head, as I understand it. And, oddly enough: their brains were removed." Then Father Rayburn noticed the crying of the children in the rooms beyond - some of the younger children were still frightened by Syngaard's sudden appearance in their rooms. He asked Sister Melody to look in on them. She did so, and soon got them to stop crying, but she returned with a worried look upon her face. "Five of the older children are missing," she said, and rattled off their names. Two were girls and the other three boys, each ranging in age from 13 to 16 years of age.</p><p></p><p>"But nobody but Maria has been here today," said Father Rayburn with puzzlement in his voice. "And the only doors to the orphanage are through the chapel."</p><p></p><p>"Oh dear," commiserated Orion. "We'll help you search for them, of course."</p><p></p><p>"Screw that," snarled Syngaard. "We gotta find Hope and Maria! Let's grab a wagon and head on up to Ashfall!"</p><p></p><p>Kaspar and Daleth rounded on the frantic fighter. "Hope does not seem to be in immediate danger," the monk reasoned. "She is with Maria Quillbender and likely safe. These children, however, were taken from here by means unknown. They would seem to be in the greater possibility of danger; we should therefore give them our immediate attention."</p><p></p><p>"But Hope--" sputtered Syngaard.</p><p></p><p>"Let us search quickly for the other children," suggested Kaspar. "If we find no clues, we can redirect our search for Hope and Maria. But it is possible the two events are linked, and in finding the one group we will learn of the whereabouts of the other. After all, we do not know for sure that Maria would have immediately returned to Ashfall."</p><p></p><p>"You search," replied Syngaard. "I'm going to Ashfall."</p><p></p><p>But Kaspar grabbed the fighter by the shoulder and stopped him from leaving. "Skevros will be able to <em>teleport</em> you there directly," the monk reminded him. "And he may be able to first divine Hope's exact location through spellcraft, so we can get to her that much faster. But we must first wait for him to return from his meeting with the king."</p><p></p><p>"What about you, Wizard-Pants?" demanded Syngaard. "You got any spells ready that can tell me where Hope is?"</p><p></p><p>"Not at hand, alas," replied Daleth.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard snorted in disgust. "Then what damn good are you?" he asked.</p><p></p><p>"He will help me search the orphanage for clues," Kaspar replied, and the two elves split up, each taking half of the rooms behind the church, where the children's quarters were. There were no rear exits to the outside of the building; the only two doors leading to the orphanage opened directly to the back of the chapel. And sure enough, Daleth's keen elven senses soon unearthed a secret trap door in the floor in the back hallway near the infants' room. He slid his nimble fingers beneath one side of a square of wood and lifted it, revealing a vertical tunnel leading down into darkness - although, as his eyes got used to the change in brightness, he detected a faint, flickering illumination from below. One side of the tunnel had metal rungs embedded in the stone making up the wall.</p><p></p><p>"It would seem," remarked Daleth dryly, "that this is what damn good I am for."</p><p></p><p>Orion stepped forward, leading her ghost dog by the reins. "Carl and I will go check it out," she offered. He can travel straight up and down, and without making a noise." She hopped up onto Carl's back and - once in contact with the magically enhanced leather of the <em>ghost touch saddle</em> - patted the side of his head. "Let's go, boy!" she said.</p><p></p><p>Carl hopped into the vertical shaft and the two started sinking slowly. Orion's vision was no better than a human's but the lower she got the more she could see in the dim light below. The shaft turned out to be about 20 feet deep, opening up into the ceiling of a 40-foot-tall cavern. Down below her she could see a teenaged boy standing beside a pile of crates against a side wall, while off to the south stood a hooded figure in dark robes. He seemed to be staring off over the edge of a dark chasm that dropped who-knew how deep; the bottom was cloaked in pitch blackness. His back to Orion, he had his hands up by his face, and the halfling heard a disgusting slurping sound. The light in the cavern below was provided by two <em>everburning torches</em>, one by the crates and the other on the side of the cavern below Orion and Carl.</p><p></p><p>As the two watched from their aerial perch, two men entered the cavern from a tunnel to the north. Each had an armload of purple crystals, which were carefully laid into an open crate under the supervision of the teen. Then the two men turned and without a word went back the way they came.</p><p></p><p>Orion had seen enough. With a wordless gesture, she had Carl rise back up the vertical shaft, where the halfling briefed the others on what she'd seen.</p><p></p><p>"Give me your rope," commanded Galen, pulling a 50-foot length of strong rope from his backpack. Orion passed her own over, and the two lengths were tied together and one end securely fastened to the top metal rung of the ladder. "You go down first," the paladin said to Orion, "as you and Carl can do so quietly. We'll follow down the rope after you."</p><p></p><p>Carl jumped back into the shaft and slowly lowered himself down; this was a new way for the dog to travel and he seemed to be enjoying himself. Once the two had exited the shaft Carl moved forward along the top edge of the cavern's ceiling, making way for the rope to be tossed down the shaft. Galen hoped the rope wouldn't make too much noise when it hit bottom.</p><p></p><p><It wouldn't matter> said a voice directly in the back of the heroes' minds. <I'm already quite aware of you trying to sneak up on me.></p><p></p><p>Orion, startled by the mental intrusion, grabbed a throwing dagger from her <em>bag of blades</em> and threw it down at the robed figure. He turned in dodging it, revealing a struggling figure in both his hands. It was humanoid in build, but only a foot tall. At first the halfling's heart leaped to her throat, imagining the slurping noises she heard being a vampire drinking Hope's blood, but then she recognized the struggling victim as being none other than Dow, Skevros's homunculus and former familiar. She'd been sent to watch over the orphans and had apparently been captured as well as the five teens. Oddly, her head was glistening with a sheen of mucus - just what had the strange man been doing to her?</p><p></p><p>Daleth slid down the rope, landed softly, and cast a <em>glitterdust</em> spell at the robed figure. He'd hoped to cause the foe to lose his sight, but his mind was apparently too strong for such a tactic to work; while the robed figure was now outlined in sparkles, he moved as if not hampered by blindness in the least.</p><p></p><p>Galen landed behind the elven wizard with a loud thump, his heavy armor clanging as he hit the stone floor of the cavern. Instinctively, the paladin examined the hooded foe's aura and was not at all surprised to see the taint of evil in prominent display. Galen cast a <em>protection from evil</em> spell on himself, preparing for battle.</p><p></p><p>Orion threw another <em>shock dagger</em> from her aerial perch before the hooded figure struck a blow of his own. He pulled back his hood, revealing a head like a squid with four thick tentacles draping down from the lower part of his face. He allowed Dow to fall absently to the floor and aimed a mind blast at the heroes; the cone struck Carl, Orion, Daleth, and Galen - for Kaspar and Syngaard were still sliding down the rope and not yet in the cavern - but fortunately affected only the ghost dog. Carl gave a quick whimper and froze up, tense and shaking but otherwise immobile. Orion kicked her ankles at his sides to try to prompt him forward, but he was unable - or unwilling - to move.</p><p></p><p>Light as a cat, Kaspar dropped to the stone floor of the cavern and immediate threw a shuriken at the mind flayer, <strong>Quixagoth</strong>, and he started running toward the tentacled abomination. The weapon struck, sputtering in a burst of flame and lightning upon impact. In the spot where the monk had landed just seconds before, Syngaard dropped down, light as a heavy war horse. He snarled at the oddity before him and threw his javelin with all his might, catching Quixagoth in the shoulder. It wasn't where the fighter had been aiming, but a hit was a hit - he wasn't going to waste time complaining. Plus, the <em>returning javelin</em> was instantly back in his hands, ready for another throw.</p><p></p><p>Daleth raised his <em>metamagic rod of empower</em> and channeled a <em>magic missile</em> spell through it, striking Quixagoth in his squidlike face. The illithid gave a hiss of pain, the first real noise he'd made thus far. Dow, in the meantime, took the opportunity to run across the cavern away from her abductor and hide behind the pile of crates. The teenaged boy ignored her; in fact, he seemed oblivious to the battle raging directly in front of him.</p><p></p><p>Galen rushed forward, the <em>sword of Zehkar</em> flashing in his hand. He brought it down and although Quixagoth tried to avoid the blade, it carved a gash in his side on the way down. The illithid hissed again in pain. <I'll have your brain for this!> he cried out telepathically.</p><p></p><p>But that never happened, for Orion caught the mind flayer with another dagger from her <em>bag of blades</em>, burying it to the hilt in his brain. The illithid fell over, dead, electrical sparks still flying from the point of impact. "Got him!" she cried in triumph - but then frowned when she realized Carl was still stunned and immobile, and she was stuck 35 feet up in the air on his back.</p><p></p><p>While Kaspar went to go check on the welfare of the teenager standing by the crates, Syngaard yelled "Here!" and swung the end of the rope like a whip over to Orion. She reached over and caught it, then, in a leap from the saddle (with her <em>bag of blades</em> in one hand), slid down to the ground with the others, trusting that Carl would come find her when he could move again.</p><p></p><p>Kaspar snapped his fingers directly in front of the boy's face, and slowly, he came out of whatever trance he'd been in. "I want you to stay here," said the monk. "We're going to go get the others, and then we'll get all of you back home. Okay?" Frightened, the boy nodded in agreement. Dow stepped up to him and tried consoling him by hugging his knee.</p><p></p><p>Daleth cast a <em>magic circle against evil</em> spell on himself and moved towards the tunnel; seeing him do so, Syngaard beat him to the punch and led the way, glad to have the elf wizard directly behind him so he could stay within the radius of the protective spell. The tunnel was only about 10 feet long, slightly wider than a large man's shoulders, and led into a second cavern about the same size as the one behind them - only this one was covered in purplish crystalline growths along the floor and walls. There were eight people scattered about, teens and adults both, each seemingly in as much of a daze as the teenaged boy in the first cave had been. They chipped carefully away at the base of the crystals, harvesting them for unknown reasons. Or at least reasons unknown to Daleth and Syngaard; <strong>Ixloth</strong>, the mind flayer overseeing the operation of his mental thralls, surely knew the purpose of the violet crystals.</p><p></p><p>One of the teenaged slaves happened to be standing near the tunnel; as soon as Daleth stepped within 10 feet of the boy, his protective spell encompassed the lad and he blinked rapidly in confusion, his mind no longer under the telepathic sway of the illithid. Daleth and Syngaard grabbed at the boy, trying to keep him from crying out in alarm and alerting the mind flayer of their presence.</p><p></p><p>But they should have known better than to try to sneak up to a creature who could read the very thoughts of those in the immediate vicinity. Ixloth spun around as Galen entered the cavern; the paladin ducked behind a large crystal growth in the middle of the room, anticipating another mental blast. While thus shielded, he took the opportunity to cast another spell upon himself, this time a <em>divine favor</em>, which would aid in the power and accuracy of his attacks.</p><p></p><p>Orion ran into the cavern, a <em>shock dagger</em> already in hand and ready to throw. She and Kaspar threw as one, she with her throwing dagger and the elven monk with a shuriken. Both weapons struck, causing Ixloth to hiss in pain. But then he retaliated with a mind blast that encompassed all of the heroes at once. Galen was partially protected by the cover provided by the clump of crystals behind which he crouched, but the others had to face the mental power of the mind flayer's rage by the strength of their own wills alone.</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, all but Syngaard were up to the task. Syngaard merely gave a little grunt of surprise before dropping his javelin and his morningstar; had his shield not been strapped to his left arm, he'd have dropped it as well.</p><p></p><p>Having already proven its efficacy in the previous battle, Daleth channeled another <em>magic missile</em> spell through his <em>metamagic rod of empower</em>. The force missiles struck unerringly at the mind flayer, each causing just a little more damage than they would have normally. Then, while the mind flayer was distracted by that attack, Galen rushed forth from behind the crystal growth and channel a smite evil attack through his longsword, ripping through the illithid's heavy robes and drawing a line of pain and blood across the creature's chest.</p><p></p><p>Orion stood where she was and drew a pair of daggers from her magic bag, sending them flying across the cavern in rapid succession to strike at the psionic foe. Kaspar had had enough of ranged attacks, though, and used his incredible speed to cross the cavern and lash out at Ixloth with his fists and feet. A flurry of blows came crashing down on the illithid, powered with fire and lightning by the monk's <em>tenryutsume</em>.</p><p></p><p>But then the mind flayer did something unexpected. He struck out at the monk, but not with his hands or feet - rather, with the four thick tentacles growing from the front of his face. Each caught the monk's head and crushed it into a painful embrace, drawing the struggling monk closer to the aberration. From across the room, Syngaard watched dispassionately as the mind flayer prepared to rip open Kaspar's skull and extract his very brain.</p><p></p><p>All out of <em>magic missiles</em>, Daleth - once again having failed to prepare enough attack spells - use the last daily charge of his <em>metamagic rod</em> to channel an <em>acid splash</em> spell at Ixloth, one of the first (and therefore weakest) attack spells taught to early practitioners of the arcane arts. But even that pitiful spell failed to strike the target; Ixloth dodged out of the way and Daleth was just lucky his spell didn't hit Kaspar instead!</p><p></p><p>Fortunately, Galen was right there at hand, and another swing of the <em>sword of Zehkar</em> nearly finished off the illithid right then and there. But then, using some unknown psionic process, the mind flayer absorbed life energy from around him, healing the worst of his wounds. Of course, seeing him staggering around - and seeing Kaspar extract himself from the painful embrace of the tentacles while Ixloth was dealing with the paladin - Orion ran forward, drawing her <em>flaming short sword</em> from the scabbard at her hip and stabbing at the mind flayer's lower torso with it. Her blade dug deep, and once again Ixloth found himself standing nearly at death's door.</p><p></p><p>Out of attack options, Daleth cast a <em>stoneskin</em> spell upon himself while Galen once again took the offensive. Another smite evil strike brought Ixloth crashing down to his knees, then slumping over, dead, upon the cavern floor. The effect upon the mental thralls was immediate; they blinked in surprise and cried out in confusion is finding themselves in an unexpected location. Kaspar and Daleth did their best to calm the workers, promising to help them return to their homes.</p><p></p><p>It took somewhat longer, but eventually Carl and Syngaard managed to snap out of it as well. Syngaard, disappointed that he'd missed the big fight, oversaw the traditional "looting of the stiffs," but the only things of value the mind flayers had was some sort of weird psionic nonsense - nothing a regular person could use. Still, Orion said it was possible Skevros could help sell them to a collector, so they were gathered up and placed into the halfling's <em>bag of holding</em>.</p><p></p><p>Getting the previous mental thralls back up to the surface was a bit of a problem; the mind flayers might have been able to <em>levitate</em> them down the vertical shaft, but not all of them were able to climb 60 feet up a rope. Daleth eventually assisted a few of them in stepping into a <em>bag of holding</em> such that their arms, heads, and shoulders stayed on the outside of the extradimensional space, allowing them to breathe. It made for a somewhat comical appearance, but it got the job done.</p><p></p><p>"<em>Now</em> can we go to Ashfall?" demanded Syngaard once the last of them had been safely delivered back upstairs.</p><p></p><p>"Let us first check in at the <em>Enchanted Flagon</em>," suggested Kaspar. "He may be waiting for us there. If not, we will leave him a note telling him of our plans."</p><p></p><p>He wasn't. Syngaard was the first one through the door, gave the room a scan for the king's adviser, and got as far as snarling, "He ain't--" before stopping dead in his tracks. For there, standing up from a chair in the back of the room, stood Maria Quillbender, and snuggled in her arms was Hope, sound asleep and quite content.</p><p></p><p>Syngaard stood in shock, as immobile as he'd been when stunned by a mind blast. "Hello," Maria said. "I hope it's okay that I came here, but I--I had a vision. There was a red-headed woman - she looked kind of like my <strong>Aunt Jezzaline</strong> - and she told me to take Hope and bring her here. It was so real - not like a dream at all. Like I said, I hope--"</p><p></p><p>"It's okay," Syngaard replied, cutting her off. His mind raced: Jezzaline, Mezz had once said, had been her mother's name. She had died when Mezz was still a little girl, long before Syngaard entered her life. Was it possible? Had Mezz reached out from the grave to send a message to Maria, her cousin, to get the two of them to the best place of safety available? And he remembered his own recent dream, where Mezz's voice had told him he had to do whatever he must to keep them both safe, even if it broke his heart.</p><p></p><p>"It's definitely okay," Syngaard repeated, looking down at the form of his sleeping daughter in Maria's arms.</p><p></p><p> - - - </p><p></p><p>This one had me nervous from the start, because Logan told us the name of the adventure before we even started the session. I had envisioned a whole series of adventures trying to track down a kidnapped Hope while worrying that the Seekers of Eternity would want her, as one of the last two members of Hirek's bloodline, dead so they could open the gates to Hell on a permanent basis and free the Mithral Mage. I'm glad it ended up like it did, although having Syngaard fail his Will save against the second illithid's mind blast and end up stunned for the rest of the adventure was a bit of a bummer.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 7494896, member: 508"] [b]ADVENTURE 25: A HOPE-LESS SITUATION[/b] PC Roster: [INDENT]Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 7 Galen Thorne, human paladin 9 Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 9 Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 8 Syngaard, human fighter 9[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 13 September 2018 - - - Skevros cast a [i]teleport[/i] spell and the group of adventurers found themselves standing just outside the gate to the kingdom of Durnhill. "What? Why here?" asked Galen, perplexed. The king's adviser smiled in apology. "I fear we no longer have the luxury of teleporting directly to the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i]," he said. "The [i]dimensional anchoring stones[/i] prevent others from teleporting into the kingdom; unfortunately, they do the same to us." "Yeah, whatever," spat Syngaard. "C'mon, we gotta go check on Hope!" And the scarred fighter started running toward the Temple of Pelor, where his little daughter - nearly a year old - was being raised in the orphanage there. Hirek's ghost had warned the group that Arcturus had been snooping around the orphanage, and damned if Syngaard was going to let his daughter fall into the hands of the Seekers of Eternity! Galen followed immediately, as did Orion, astride the ghost of her fallen riding dog Carl. Only the two elves remained behind with Skevros, Kaspar because he knew he could easily catch up with the others before they reached the temple; Daleth because he didn't feel like running like a madman down the streets of Durnhill in his wizard's robes. "Are you coming?" Kaspar asked the king's adviser. "Alas, no," replied Skevros. "I must report in to His Majesty, to relay the results of the trial. You two go on ahead and I will catch up to you when I am able." Kaspar had caught up to the rest of the group as they approached the Temple of Pelor; down the street, the monk could see Daleth struggling to maintain his dignity as he raced with the hem of his robes held up in both hands like a lady's skirts. Syngaard pulled the double doors open and strode inside, interrupting a conversation between Father Rayburn, the head cleric of the temple, and [b]Sister Melody[/b], a low-level acolyte. They were the only two in the chapel, as it was between sessions. "May I help you?" asked the elderly cleric. "Where's Father Rupert?" Syngaard demanded without preamble. "I need to speak with him." Sister Melody volunteered to fetch the cleric, stepping through a door in the back of the chapel that led to the orphanage where a dozen or more children were being raised. Syngaard knew the place well; he'd been by many times to pass coins to the good father, using a portion of his earnings as an adventurer to ensure his daughter - and the actual orphans, so as not to single out Hope - was raised in comfort. Sister Melody's scream split the afternoon, sending the adventurers rushing to the back of the chapel. Syngaard burst through the door to the orphanage, his morningstar already in hand and ready to deal with whatever intruder Sister Melody might have unearthed. But the intruder was not present, merely an aghast Sister Melody looking down at the slain form of Father Rupert lying on the floor in a pool of blood, the side of his head bashed in as if from a club or mace. Kaspar took Sister Melody by the hand and steered her back to the chapel and to Father Rayburn, while Syngaard rushed down the hallway, bursting into the nursery. There were four cradles in the room, to house the four infants who shared the room. Three were occupied by sleeping babies; Hope's was empty. "No, no, no, no!" cried Syngaard, bursting from the nursery to the other rooms in turn. One held the younger girls, another those in or near their teen years, and two other, similar rooms for the boys. None held Hope - although each held a number of orphans screaming in terror at the sight of a half-crazed bald man with a face full of scars and wielding a wicked-looking morningstar bursting into their rooms. Syngaard ignored their screams, continuing his search in increasing terror of his own. Hope was gone! Back in the room with Father Rupert's corpse, Galen bent and examined it closely. He seemed to have been slain fairly recently, in the last few hours, certainly. "Would it be possible to interview Father Rupert with a [i]speak with dead[/i] spell?" the young paladin asked the elderly cleric. "It's possible his spirit could tell us who killed him, and what happened to Hope." "Certainly - if I had such a spell prepared," replied Father Rayburn. "In the day-to-day course of events, it's very rarely needed." "Wait, Hope?" asked Sister Melody suddenly. "She's fine. In fact, she was adopted this morning." "[i]WHAT?[/i]" demanded Syngaard, returning from his rampage through the orphans' rooms and hearing the last bit of conversation. He looked ready to attack the frightened acolyte with his weapon as he growled, "Adopted by who?" "By--by family," replied a very obviously frightened Sister Melody. "It was a red-haired woman, named Maria. She said she was family." "And you just took her at her word?" demanded Syngaard incredulously, amazed at the apparent lack of security in the church raising his daughter. "Of course not," answered Father Rayburn. "Her story was verified by spells capable of detecting falsehoods. She was as she said." But Syngaard's mind was racing frantically - he was no spellcaster, but there were ways to falsify one's appearance; surely there were ways to get past a [i]zone of truth[/i] spell. Or maybe it was actually Maria Quillbender herself who had taken Hope, but under the mental sway of a member of the Seekers? There were so many ways Hope could have been easily abducted from right underneath the noses of these clowns! Damn all spellcasters anyway! Father Rayburn looked sadly down at the body of his friend and fellow cleric. "Poor fellow," he said. "He's the thirteenth this week." "Wait--what?" asked Orion. "Indeed, there have been a dozen previous such slayings this past week. Where have you been? It's been the talk of the kingdom." "We have been away, on the kingdom's business," declared Galen. "Who have the previous victims been?" "Drifters, mostly," answered the elderly cleric. "People just passing through, or the unfortunate poor with no one to look after them." "And they were all killed in the same manner?" asked Kaspar. "I believe so. A heavy blow to the head, as I understand it. And, oddly enough: their brains were removed." Then Father Rayburn noticed the crying of the children in the rooms beyond - some of the younger children were still frightened by Syngaard's sudden appearance in their rooms. He asked Sister Melody to look in on them. She did so, and soon got them to stop crying, but she returned with a worried look upon her face. "Five of the older children are missing," she said, and rattled off their names. Two were girls and the other three boys, each ranging in age from 13 to 16 years of age. "But nobody but Maria has been here today," said Father Rayburn with puzzlement in his voice. "And the only doors to the orphanage are through the chapel." "Oh dear," commiserated Orion. "We'll help you search for them, of course." "Screw that," snarled Syngaard. "We gotta find Hope and Maria! Let's grab a wagon and head on up to Ashfall!" Kaspar and Daleth rounded on the frantic fighter. "Hope does not seem to be in immediate danger," the monk reasoned. "She is with Maria Quillbender and likely safe. These children, however, were taken from here by means unknown. They would seem to be in the greater possibility of danger; we should therefore give them our immediate attention." "But Hope--" sputtered Syngaard. "Let us search quickly for the other children," suggested Kaspar. "If we find no clues, we can redirect our search for Hope and Maria. But it is possible the two events are linked, and in finding the one group we will learn of the whereabouts of the other. After all, we do not know for sure that Maria would have immediately returned to Ashfall." "You search," replied Syngaard. "I'm going to Ashfall." But Kaspar grabbed the fighter by the shoulder and stopped him from leaving. "Skevros will be able to [i]teleport[/i] you there directly," the monk reminded him. "And he may be able to first divine Hope's exact location through spellcraft, so we can get to her that much faster. But we must first wait for him to return from his meeting with the king." "What about you, Wizard-Pants?" demanded Syngaard. "You got any spells ready that can tell me where Hope is?" "Not at hand, alas," replied Daleth. Syngaard snorted in disgust. "Then what damn good are you?" he asked. "He will help me search the orphanage for clues," Kaspar replied, and the two elves split up, each taking half of the rooms behind the church, where the children's quarters were. There were no rear exits to the outside of the building; the only two doors leading to the orphanage opened directly to the back of the chapel. And sure enough, Daleth's keen elven senses soon unearthed a secret trap door in the floor in the back hallway near the infants' room. He slid his nimble fingers beneath one side of a square of wood and lifted it, revealing a vertical tunnel leading down into darkness - although, as his eyes got used to the change in brightness, he detected a faint, flickering illumination from below. One side of the tunnel had metal rungs embedded in the stone making up the wall. "It would seem," remarked Daleth dryly, "that this is what damn good I am for." Orion stepped forward, leading her ghost dog by the reins. "Carl and I will go check it out," she offered. He can travel straight up and down, and without making a noise." She hopped up onto Carl's back and - once in contact with the magically enhanced leather of the [i]ghost touch saddle[/i] - patted the side of his head. "Let's go, boy!" she said. Carl hopped into the vertical shaft and the two started sinking slowly. Orion's vision was no better than a human's but the lower she got the more she could see in the dim light below. The shaft turned out to be about 20 feet deep, opening up into the ceiling of a 40-foot-tall cavern. Down below her she could see a teenaged boy standing beside a pile of crates against a side wall, while off to the south stood a hooded figure in dark robes. He seemed to be staring off over the edge of a dark chasm that dropped who-knew how deep; the bottom was cloaked in pitch blackness. His back to Orion, he had his hands up by his face, and the halfling heard a disgusting slurping sound. The light in the cavern below was provided by two [i]everburning torches[/i], one by the crates and the other on the side of the cavern below Orion and Carl. As the two watched from their aerial perch, two men entered the cavern from a tunnel to the north. Each had an armload of purple crystals, which were carefully laid into an open crate under the supervision of the teen. Then the two men turned and without a word went back the way they came. Orion had seen enough. With a wordless gesture, she had Carl rise back up the vertical shaft, where the halfling briefed the others on what she'd seen. "Give me your rope," commanded Galen, pulling a 50-foot length of strong rope from his backpack. Orion passed her own over, and the two lengths were tied together and one end securely fastened to the top metal rung of the ladder. "You go down first," the paladin said to Orion, "as you and Carl can do so quietly. We'll follow down the rope after you." Carl jumped back into the shaft and slowly lowered himself down; this was a new way for the dog to travel and he seemed to be enjoying himself. Once the two had exited the shaft Carl moved forward along the top edge of the cavern's ceiling, making way for the rope to be tossed down the shaft. Galen hoped the rope wouldn't make too much noise when it hit bottom. <It wouldn't matter> said a voice directly in the back of the heroes' minds. <I'm already quite aware of you trying to sneak up on me.> Orion, startled by the mental intrusion, grabbed a throwing dagger from her [i]bag of blades[/i] and threw it down at the robed figure. He turned in dodging it, revealing a struggling figure in both his hands. It was humanoid in build, but only a foot tall. At first the halfling's heart leaped to her throat, imagining the slurping noises she heard being a vampire drinking Hope's blood, but then she recognized the struggling victim as being none other than Dow, Skevros's homunculus and former familiar. She'd been sent to watch over the orphans and had apparently been captured as well as the five teens. Oddly, her head was glistening with a sheen of mucus - just what had the strange man been doing to her? Daleth slid down the rope, landed softly, and cast a [i]glitterdust[/i] spell at the robed figure. He'd hoped to cause the foe to lose his sight, but his mind was apparently too strong for such a tactic to work; while the robed figure was now outlined in sparkles, he moved as if not hampered by blindness in the least. Galen landed behind the elven wizard with a loud thump, his heavy armor clanging as he hit the stone floor of the cavern. Instinctively, the paladin examined the hooded foe's aura and was not at all surprised to see the taint of evil in prominent display. Galen cast a [i]protection from evil[/i] spell on himself, preparing for battle. Orion threw another [i]shock dagger[/i] from her aerial perch before the hooded figure struck a blow of his own. He pulled back his hood, revealing a head like a squid with four thick tentacles draping down from the lower part of his face. He allowed Dow to fall absently to the floor and aimed a mind blast at the heroes; the cone struck Carl, Orion, Daleth, and Galen - for Kaspar and Syngaard were still sliding down the rope and not yet in the cavern - but fortunately affected only the ghost dog. Carl gave a quick whimper and froze up, tense and shaking but otherwise immobile. Orion kicked her ankles at his sides to try to prompt him forward, but he was unable - or unwilling - to move. Light as a cat, Kaspar dropped to the stone floor of the cavern and immediate threw a shuriken at the mind flayer, [b]Quixagoth[/b], and he started running toward the tentacled abomination. The weapon struck, sputtering in a burst of flame and lightning upon impact. In the spot where the monk had landed just seconds before, Syngaard dropped down, light as a heavy war horse. He snarled at the oddity before him and threw his javelin with all his might, catching Quixagoth in the shoulder. It wasn't where the fighter had been aiming, but a hit was a hit - he wasn't going to waste time complaining. Plus, the [i]returning javelin[/i] was instantly back in his hands, ready for another throw. Daleth raised his [i]metamagic rod of empower[/i] and channeled a [i]magic missile[/i] spell through it, striking Quixagoth in his squidlike face. The illithid gave a hiss of pain, the first real noise he'd made thus far. Dow, in the meantime, took the opportunity to run across the cavern away from her abductor and hide behind the pile of crates. The teenaged boy ignored her; in fact, he seemed oblivious to the battle raging directly in front of him. Galen rushed forward, the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] flashing in his hand. He brought it down and although Quixagoth tried to avoid the blade, it carved a gash in his side on the way down. The illithid hissed again in pain. <I'll have your brain for this!> he cried out telepathically. But that never happened, for Orion caught the mind flayer with another dagger from her [i]bag of blades[/i], burying it to the hilt in his brain. The illithid fell over, dead, electrical sparks still flying from the point of impact. "Got him!" she cried in triumph - but then frowned when she realized Carl was still stunned and immobile, and she was stuck 35 feet up in the air on his back. While Kaspar went to go check on the welfare of the teenager standing by the crates, Syngaard yelled "Here!" and swung the end of the rope like a whip over to Orion. She reached over and caught it, then, in a leap from the saddle (with her [i]bag of blades[/i] in one hand), slid down to the ground with the others, trusting that Carl would come find her when he could move again. Kaspar snapped his fingers directly in front of the boy's face, and slowly, he came out of whatever trance he'd been in. "I want you to stay here," said the monk. "We're going to go get the others, and then we'll get all of you back home. Okay?" Frightened, the boy nodded in agreement. Dow stepped up to him and tried consoling him by hugging his knee. Daleth cast a [i]magic circle against evil[/i] spell on himself and moved towards the tunnel; seeing him do so, Syngaard beat him to the punch and led the way, glad to have the elf wizard directly behind him so he could stay within the radius of the protective spell. The tunnel was only about 10 feet long, slightly wider than a large man's shoulders, and led into a second cavern about the same size as the one behind them - only this one was covered in purplish crystalline growths along the floor and walls. There were eight people scattered about, teens and adults both, each seemingly in as much of a daze as the teenaged boy in the first cave had been. They chipped carefully away at the base of the crystals, harvesting them for unknown reasons. Or at least reasons unknown to Daleth and Syngaard; [b]Ixloth[/b], the mind flayer overseeing the operation of his mental thralls, surely knew the purpose of the violet crystals. One of the teenaged slaves happened to be standing near the tunnel; as soon as Daleth stepped within 10 feet of the boy, his protective spell encompassed the lad and he blinked rapidly in confusion, his mind no longer under the telepathic sway of the illithid. Daleth and Syngaard grabbed at the boy, trying to keep him from crying out in alarm and alerting the mind flayer of their presence. But they should have known better than to try to sneak up to a creature who could read the very thoughts of those in the immediate vicinity. Ixloth spun around as Galen entered the cavern; the paladin ducked behind a large crystal growth in the middle of the room, anticipating another mental blast. While thus shielded, he took the opportunity to cast another spell upon himself, this time a [i]divine favor[/i], which would aid in the power and accuracy of his attacks. Orion ran into the cavern, a [i]shock dagger[/i] already in hand and ready to throw. She and Kaspar threw as one, she with her throwing dagger and the elven monk with a shuriken. Both weapons struck, causing Ixloth to hiss in pain. But then he retaliated with a mind blast that encompassed all of the heroes at once. Galen was partially protected by the cover provided by the clump of crystals behind which he crouched, but the others had to face the mental power of the mind flayer's rage by the strength of their own wills alone. Fortunately, all but Syngaard were up to the task. Syngaard merely gave a little grunt of surprise before dropping his javelin and his morningstar; had his shield not been strapped to his left arm, he'd have dropped it as well. Having already proven its efficacy in the previous battle, Daleth channeled another [i]magic missile[/i] spell through his [i]metamagic rod of empower[/i]. The force missiles struck unerringly at the mind flayer, each causing just a little more damage than they would have normally. Then, while the mind flayer was distracted by that attack, Galen rushed forth from behind the crystal growth and channel a smite evil attack through his longsword, ripping through the illithid's heavy robes and drawing a line of pain and blood across the creature's chest. Orion stood where she was and drew a pair of daggers from her magic bag, sending them flying across the cavern in rapid succession to strike at the psionic foe. Kaspar had had enough of ranged attacks, though, and used his incredible speed to cross the cavern and lash out at Ixloth with his fists and feet. A flurry of blows came crashing down on the illithid, powered with fire and lightning by the monk's [i]tenryutsume[/i]. But then the mind flayer did something unexpected. He struck out at the monk, but not with his hands or feet - rather, with the four thick tentacles growing from the front of his face. Each caught the monk's head and crushed it into a painful embrace, drawing the struggling monk closer to the aberration. From across the room, Syngaard watched dispassionately as the mind flayer prepared to rip open Kaspar's skull and extract his very brain. All out of [i]magic missiles[/i], Daleth - once again having failed to prepare enough attack spells - use the last daily charge of his [i]metamagic rod[/i] to channel an [i]acid splash[/i] spell at Ixloth, one of the first (and therefore weakest) attack spells taught to early practitioners of the arcane arts. But even that pitiful spell failed to strike the target; Ixloth dodged out of the way and Daleth was just lucky his spell didn't hit Kaspar instead! Fortunately, Galen was right there at hand, and another swing of the [i]sword of Zehkar[/i] nearly finished off the illithid right then and there. But then, using some unknown psionic process, the mind flayer absorbed life energy from around him, healing the worst of his wounds. Of course, seeing him staggering around - and seeing Kaspar extract himself from the painful embrace of the tentacles while Ixloth was dealing with the paladin - Orion ran forward, drawing her [i]flaming short sword[/i] from the scabbard at her hip and stabbing at the mind flayer's lower torso with it. Her blade dug deep, and once again Ixloth found himself standing nearly at death's door. Out of attack options, Daleth cast a [i]stoneskin[/i] spell upon himself while Galen once again took the offensive. Another smite evil strike brought Ixloth crashing down to his knees, then slumping over, dead, upon the cavern floor. The effect upon the mental thralls was immediate; they blinked in surprise and cried out in confusion is finding themselves in an unexpected location. Kaspar and Daleth did their best to calm the workers, promising to help them return to their homes. It took somewhat longer, but eventually Carl and Syngaard managed to snap out of it as well. Syngaard, disappointed that he'd missed the big fight, oversaw the traditional "looting of the stiffs," but the only things of value the mind flayers had was some sort of weird psionic nonsense - nothing a regular person could use. Still, Orion said it was possible Skevros could help sell them to a collector, so they were gathered up and placed into the halfling's [i]bag of holding[/i]. Getting the previous mental thralls back up to the surface was a bit of a problem; the mind flayers might have been able to [i]levitate[/i] them down the vertical shaft, but not all of them were able to climb 60 feet up a rope. Daleth eventually assisted a few of them in stepping into a [i]bag of holding[/i] such that their arms, heads, and shoulders stayed on the outside of the extradimensional space, allowing them to breathe. It made for a somewhat comical appearance, but it got the job done. "[i]Now[/i] can we go to Ashfall?" demanded Syngaard once the last of them had been safely delivered back upstairs. "Let us first check in at the [i]Enchanted Flagon[/i]," suggested Kaspar. "He may be waiting for us there. If not, we will leave him a note telling him of our plans." He wasn't. Syngaard was the first one through the door, gave the room a scan for the king's adviser, and got as far as snarling, "He ain't--" before stopping dead in his tracks. For there, standing up from a chair in the back of the room, stood Maria Quillbender, and snuggled in her arms was Hope, sound asleep and quite content. Syngaard stood in shock, as immobile as he'd been when stunned by a mind blast. "Hello," Maria said. "I hope it's okay that I came here, but I--I had a vision. There was a red-headed woman - she looked kind of like my [b]Aunt Jezzaline[/b] - and she told me to take Hope and bring her here. It was so real - not like a dream at all. Like I said, I hope--" "It's okay," Syngaard replied, cutting her off. His mind raced: Jezzaline, Mezz had once said, had been her mother's name. She had died when Mezz was still a little girl, long before Syngaard entered her life. Was it possible? Had Mezz reached out from the grave to send a message to Maria, her cousin, to get the two of them to the best place of safety available? And he remembered his own recent dream, where Mezz's voice had told him he had to do whatever he must to keep them both safe, even if it broke his heart. "It's definitely okay," Syngaard repeated, looking down at the form of his sleeping daughter in Maria's arms. - - - This one had me nervous from the start, because Logan told us the name of the adventure before we even started the session. I had envisioned a whole series of adventures trying to track down a kidnapped Hope while worrying that the Seekers of Eternity would want her, as one of the last two members of Hirek's bloodline, dead so they could open the gates to Hell on a permanent basis and free the Mithral Mage. I'm glad it ended up like it did, although having Syngaard fail his Will save against the second illithid's mind blast and end up stunned for the rest of the adventure was a bit of a bummer. [/QUOTE]
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