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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 7583037" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 40: THE SIEGE OF ASHFALLPC Roster:  Daleth Stormsea, elf wizard 11             Galen Thorne, human paladin 13             Kaspar Hardstrike, elf monk 13             Orion Nightsky, halfling rogue 12             Syngaard, human fighter 13Game Session Date: 20 March 2019 - - - "We will meet here tomorrow morning at eight bells," Skevros announced to the assembled conscripts.  "His Majesty, King Leornic the Third, will be here to give you your next mission himself.  However, I want to go over a few rules of conduct now, so that we all understand how we will behave in front of the king."  Despite the "we all" in the adviser's statement, he was looking straight at Syngaard as he said it and everyone there got the feeling that the emphasis on the rules was specifically for the bald fighter's benefit."I'm listenin'," Syngaard grumbled."First of all, no one is to say Alexandros's name in front of His Majesty, upon pain of death.  I cannot stress this one enough: now that we know that anyone who knows the true name of the Mithral Mage will be trapped here as a ghost upon their death, allowing King Leornic to learn Alexandros's name is an act of treason that will be dealt with in the most severe way possible.  Are we all understood on this point?  Syngaard?""Got it," Syngaard scowled."The mission you will be sent on will in fact be a paying mission, but no one is to bring up the subject of remuneration - of payment, that is.  We do not wish to appear to be motivated merely by greed, when the mission will be to the benefit of the kingdom and its allies.  Is this point also clear?"Syngaard realized Skevros was looking directly at him.  "Got it," he repeated."Finally, we will not be referring to Syngaard's griffon by name.  Should the need arise to mention the beast, it will be referred to simply as 'the bronze griffon'."Syngaard let out a sigh of exasperation.  "Tell you what," he said.  "Howzabout I just keep quiet during the whole meeting?  That make everyone happy?""That'd certainly make me happy!" Orion piped up.  "In fact, you might want to start practicing now, so you'll be real good at it by tomorrow morning.""Suits me fine," Syngaard snarled.  "We done here?"Skevros nodded.  "Be sure everyone's in place well before eight bells.  I'll have you all enter as a group once His Majesty's settled in.  That is all."  Without another word, Syngaard turned on his heels and exited the Enchanted Flagon, heading back to Mama Kat's and his job as a bouncer.  At least there he didn't need to put up with any such grief!But the next morning he was in place with the others, over by the stables, as King Leornic's carriage pulled up to the Enchanted Flagon.  The ruler stepped down with the aid of his adviser, and then Skevros turned back to the carriage and helped down a young woman in the yellow robes of an illusionist from the Azure Glade.  This was Leorna, Galen realized, the Guildmistress of the Illusionists - the conscripts had met up with her on several previous occasions.  Two of the king's personal guards took up positions just outside the tavern's door, while another went inside with the king and his two companions.  A few minutes later, Galen received a message spell from Skevros bidding the conscripts to enter.Galen led the group of five to the front door of the tavern, where the guards stepped aside to let them enter, then resumed their positions blocking the only entrance to the building's lower interior.  Entering the tavern, they saw King Leornic III sitting in Skevros's usual place at their head table, with the adviser on his left and a royal guard standing at his right.  Leorna stood off to the side, by another table.  Karen was conspicuously absent.  The group lined up, bowed as one before their liege, and took seats at a table farther away, each facing the king."I have news," King Leornic stated.  "Yesterday, the exsanguinated body of an Ashfall messenger was found in an alleyway.  He bore a message requesting the assistance of the Heroes of Ashfall" - and here he indicated the group at large with a wave of his hand - "in dealing with a group of wizards who took over the mithral mines.""By the time we were made aware of the message, it was too late to act, " Skevros added.  "The wizards had erected a two-way teleportation circle and the Ossirnan army used it to enter the kingdom and lay siege to the capital city of Ashfall.""I intend to divert a portion of my armies to help break the siege," King Leornic said.  "Unfortunately, with the teleportation circle in place, the Ossirnans can send in reinforcements whenever they need.  Therefore, I need you five to retake the mithral mines and shut down the circle before my forces move in.""Most of you have already been to these mines," Skevros observed.  "I will teleport you directly outside them - the mines are shielded from scrying attempts, so I cannot simply drop you inside.  I have already provided Serenity with a dimensional anchoring stone; she will meet you there, but of course she cannot enter the mines herself as they've been warded against her kind."  Skevros wasn't spelling it out, but the conscripts were all well aware that Serenity was a redeemed succubus - not that her redemption did anything to prevent her from being warded away from the mines like any other outsider.  The king's adviser continued: "You will defeat the defending force, meet up with Serenity, and use the stone to shut down the teleportation circle.  You need merely place the stone within the circle to render it unusable.  Once you've accomplished your mission, exit the mines at once.  Leorna and Orlin will be scrying upon the exterior of the mines and when they see you exit they'll teleport in and keep the mines defended while the assembled armies break the siege of Ashfall.""Do you have any questions?" asked the king.  Syngaard clamped his jaws shut and pointedly said nothing.  Instead, Galen answered for the group.  "We understand our duties, Your Majesty.  We will complete our mission for the glory of Durnhill!""Good man," King Leornic III nodded in approval as he stood up and, escorted by his bodyguard and Leorna, exited the tavern.  Syngaard waited until they were well outside before saying "Suck up!" to the young paladin in a quiet voice, earning him a stern look from Skevros."You will each be paid 5,000 pieces of gold to complete this mission," Skevros said, knowing that would get Syngaard back on track.  "Come along, now."  And he led them outside to the city wall, where he could cast a teleport spell without interference from the magic shielding against such effects within the boundaries of the capital city of Durnhill.  He pulled a crystal ball from a pocket of his robes and concentrated on it, bringing up an image of the area just outside the mines.  There seemed to be a half-dozen armored figures standing guard before the mine entrance.  Galen peered through the crystal sphere, focusing upon the auras of those whose images appeared within.  "Definitely evil," he announced.  Daleth cast a see invisibility spell upon his eyes and peered through the divination sphere, seeking any hidden enemies.  "I see no invisible forces," he announced to the group."Me neither," Syngaard added, squinting at the images in the crystal ball.  Orion just rolled her eyes, not wanting to waste the time explaining to the scarred fighter that the whole point of invisibility was that you couldn't be seen except through magic like Daleth's.  Instead, she pointed out something her keen halfling eyes had picked up about the warriors' armor.  "Note the reddish color of their metal," she said.  "That looks like it's the same metal that tuning fork thing was made of, when we fought the cultists in the mines trying to open permanent gates to Hell.  Remember?""Oh, I think I remember that fight," Syngaard replied, glaring down at the halfling with distaste.  That was the battle where he'd found out the hard way she'd swapped out one of his healing elixirs with a potion of reduce person and he'd been shrunken down to halfling size in a failed attempt to graft some empathy for the wee folk into the bald fighter's brain."Are we ready?" asked Skevros, standing just inside the gate of the capital ciy.  The conscripts walked through the gate so they were outside the city's borders and the teleport spell would affect them normally.  Galen summoned Burt and Orion whistled for her ghost-dog Carl, then the paladin cast a bless weapon spell upon the sword of Zehkar and a resist fire spell upon himself.  Daleth cast a series of spells - stoneskin, magic circle against evil, and fly - upon himself, and then, using scrolls Orion had purchased and provided to the elf to cast for her, stoneskin on Orion and mage armor on Carl.  Syngaard and Kaspar stood waiting for the spellcasters to finish their stuff, the elf with a serene expression on his face and the scarred fighter wishing they'd just get on with it already.  Finally, all the preparations were finished and Skevros cast the teleport spell, sending the group instantly across the miles to the mithral mines in the kingdom of Ashfall.Kaspar, as usual, was the first to react.  There were two soldiers standing before the group and the monk used his extra speed to pass by the first warrior - best to leave him to the slower members of the group, so they'd have something to do - before he could react and slammed the soldier farther back with a stunning fist powered by his tenryutsume.  The fighter reeled from the blow, but the monk could see the man's hellish armor absorbed the fire damage from the sky-dragon's claw and he retained his weapon and shield so the stunning hadn't been all it could have been, either.  Still, it was a good start to a sudden combat the defenders apparently hadn't seen coming.Syngaard followed the elf's path and struck at the same soldier with his human bane scimitar, dealing him a significant amount of damage - but again, not as much as he'd hoped; the hellish armor was somehow deflecting some of the power of the fighter's attacks.Daleth cast a greater invisibility spell upon him and his pseudodragon familiar Todd, then they flew over to the first soldier.  Todd stabbed out with his scorpionlike tail but failed to penetrate past the defender's reddish metal armor.Straight ahead of the place where the conscripts had teleported in stood a ramshackle set of ruins, a one-story stone building that now had naught but a canvas tarp for a roof.  Into a side entrance of this ruined structure dashed the captain of the Ossirnan elite force ordered to guard the entrance to the mines from any opposing forces.  His heavy armor slowed the speed of his sprint, but he thought by ducking inside the building he could pop out of a gap in the northern wall and get in a surprise attack against these interlopers.Off to the far west stood the defenders' only female member, a ranger with a powerful longbow ready to shoot a flurry of arrows at the attackers.  Quick as a wink, she sent three arrows streaking across the distance to strike Galen, sitting astride his dire lion mount; fortunately for the paladin, the first two were easily deflected by his shield, leaving only one of the three to deal him any damage.  Almost disdainfully, he brushed it from his right arm with the edge of his shield.A defending cleric advanced, casting a magic circle against good spell upon himself as he did so - he was too far away to bring his weapon to bear on the invaders.Burt pounced forward, crashing into the first soldier with a flurry of teeth and claws.  Upon his back, Galen channeled a smite evil attack through his longsword, sensing while he did so a bit of discomfort from his dire lion upon contact with the hellish metal of the man's armor.  Burt, a creature from the Beastlands, definitely did not like the feel of the hell-metal.  Behind them, the other mounted pair - Orion and Carl - faded from view as the ghost-dog phased over to the Ethereal Plane, dashing forward unseen and unsensed directly behind the first soldier, who was busy trying to defend himself against Burt's assault.  The second soldier attacked Syngaard but his sword's blade only struck the bald fighter's shield.  Over by the cleric, the third soldier moved forward, eager to prove himself before his superiors.With a flurry of movement almost too fast to be seen by the naked eye, Kaspar sent a barrage of kicks and punches at the soldier who had foolishly assumed Syngaard to be a greater threat than an elf wearing no armor and wielding no weapon.  The soldier fell to the ground, dead - the first casualty of the battle.  Kaspar stepped nimbly back, out of range of the approaching third soldier.Syngaard swapped weapons quickly, opting to use his brilliant energy flaming morningstar instead of his human bane scimitar despite the fact that all six of the defenders appeared to be human; they were all heavily armored and the magic morningstar's weapon-head would pass right through the armor as if it wasn't there.  Even better, the flames of the weapon could then actually burn the flesh of the men wearing the hellish armor that normally shielded them from the worst effects of flames.  "Ha!" Syngaard chuckled at the look of pain on the face of the soldier who first learned of the magic effects of the bald fighter's weapon.Daleth, still invisible, flew into the ruined structure and came up behind the Ossirnan leader.  He cast a simple color spray at the captain, realizing it was far from his most potent spell but part of him merely curious of what the effects might be - plus, if the spell had no effect, the captain wouldn't know who had cast it even if he was aware that a spell had been cast upon him in the first place.  But surprisingly, the low-level spell had as much as an effect as was possible for someone of the captain's mental strength: he froze up, his hands going numb as he dropped his unholy hellsteel longsword and shield to the ground before him.  The equally invisible Todd tried stinging him for good measure but his stinger failed to find a way past the fighter's thick armor.Over to the west, the ranger changed targets since Burt and Galen had charged over behind the side of the ruined structure.  However, Syngaard made an equally viable target, especially given the magic imbued in the ranger's longbow, which doubled the distance over which the arrows fired from it were still effective.  She shot three arrows at Syngaard, all three of which plinked off his raised shield.  She was not amused.The cleric was now close enough for ranged spellcraft to be effective.  He opted to drop an unholy blight spell down upon Kaspar, Syngaard, Galen, and Burt.  (Orion and Carl were also well within the spell's radius and would also have been affected had they not currently been on the Ethereal Plane.)  Syngaard was the only one affected by the cloying miasma of the spell, the others able to shrug off its intended effects.Galen and Burt continued their attacks upon the first soldier, but it was Orion who finished him with a backstab with her flaming short sword as Carl faded back into the Material Plane.  Now without a target close by, Kaspar dashed off around the side of the stone building, coming up behind Daleth (who scooted to the side at the monk's approach, realizing Kaspar couldn't see him) and striking the captain of the Ossirnan detachment with a stunning fist.  Just as the leader had been shaking off the stunning effect of the color spray spell, the monk's attack renewed the effects for him.  It was all the poor guy could do to remain standing.Syngaard caught a glimpse of the stunned figure standing inside the building with his weapon and shield at his feet and a dazed expression on his face and decided this was an opportunity too good to pass up.  Dashing inside the building, Syngaard gave the captain the full force of his brilliant energy flaming morningstar, practically knocking him from his feet.  Daleth popped outside the building through the opening Syngaard had just used as an entrance and targeted the third soldier with a chain lightning spell, arcing the spell back to strike the captain and the approaching cleric.  The main target of the spell fell over, dead, while the other two remained standing - although the captain, still stunned, only just barely.The ranger took a step to her right, for she could see Kaspar standing in the ruined building through a side entrance - in fact, it was framing the elf perfectly to line up her shots.  Off went another trio of arrows in rapid succession, this time against the ranger's third target of the day.  To her utter disgust, despite him looking directly into the room ahead and apparently unaware of the incoming missiles, the elf turned at the last possible second and caught the first arrow in his left hand, then dodged his head by a small amount and allowed the second arrow to fly harmlessly by.  He moved as if to swat the third arrow off to the side with his right hand but it hit, getting caught up in the links of his tenryutsume and doing little damage.  Kaspar gave the ranger his best glare as he tossed the arrow in his left hand to the ground in disdain, then pulled the other one from his right arm and broke it in half - never once breaking eye contact.  Against her wishes, the ranger found herself gulping in intimidation.The cleric continued with his spellcasting, bringing a flame strike spell down upon Galen, Burt, Orion, and Carl - the latter two only because they had mysteriously appeared a mere moment before.  Galen and Orion were both partially shielded from flame attacks which mitigated the amount of damage they took from the spell; Carl's ghostly form allowed him to avoid the spell entirely, despite his current presence in the material world.  Only Burt had no such protection and he roared his displeasure to all in the immediate area.  Galen turned Burt and had him retreat behind the cover of the ruins, healing his own wounds with a surge of Hieroneous's restorative energy flowing through his own hands.  Burt raced through an opening in the east side of the building and charged down the hallway, heading towards Kaspar, who stood glaring at a figure to the west.Orion and Carl phased back into the Ethereal Plane and raced straight through the walls of the building, headed toward the still-stunned captain standing in one of the interior rooms.  Sensing the captain starting to move - indicating a return to his senses - Kaspar whirled on him again with another stunning blow, leaving him standing all but helplessly.  Syngaard took full advantage of the leader's immobility, getting in three good whacks with his magic morningstar.Daleth, now outside the building, cast a shocking grasp spell on the cleric.  Todd by now had tired of trying to sting people almost entirely encased in hellish armor, but he flapped his invisible wings noisily behind the cleric to divert his attention while Daleth cast his touch spell, sending jolts of electricity to arc up and down the cleric's armor.  The cleric had no choice at this point but to waste a spell healing his own wounds, so he could remain in the battle without passing out.The ranger bit down her fear and fired another trio of arrows at Kaspar, this time failing to hit him even once.  Worse yet, he accelerated in her direction, speeding out of the building and headed straight for her, slapping away any arrows she sent flying his way almost as an afterthought.  Upon his arrival, he sent his right hand striking at her like a cobra, catching her in the side of the neck and stunning her into immobility as well, causing her to drop her enchanted longbow to the ground.Galen cast a heal mount spell, sealing up the worst of the wounds Burt had taken in the battle thus far.  He came up behind the stunned captain, flanking the stock-still Ossirnan with Syngaard, who was attacking him from the front.  But before the dire lion could strike, Orion and Carl phased back into the Material Plane and the little halfling stabbed her flaming short sword into a groove between the captain's front and back plates of hellish armor, dropping him instantly.  Burt growled in irritation as Carl then raced out of the building through the rent in the north side, bringing him and his halfling rider up behind the Ossirnan cleric.The cleric attempted to cast another spell but was taken out by Orion's flaming short sword - the surprised spellcaster hadn't even heard her approach (which was to be expected when the riding mount was a ghost whose paws never even touched the ground).  At almost the same time, the ranger was taken down by a flurry of blows by Kaspar, leaving the defenders of the mine all laying dead on the ground outside the entrance to the mithral mines.  Galen noted absently that even while dead, the bodies of the slain were radiating evil - no doubt the result of the hell-metal used in their armor's construction.  However, the ranger's longbow was not tainted by evil so the paladin snatched it up - as well as the quiver of arrows that went with it - as the conscripts made their way into the mine entrance.Just as they were about to enter, there was the sound of flapping wings above and Serenity the succubus dropped down among the heroes.  "Where have you been?" snarled Syngaard.  "We been dealing with the defenders all by our lonesomes!""And I'm sure you did just fine - as did I, fighting off another group entirely on my own."  Her smirk indicated she wasn't the least bit fazed by having had no support in her own battle.  "Who wants the stone?""I'll take it," answered Daleth, reaching out for the dimensional anchoring stone the succubus held out before realizing he was still shrouded in a greater invisibility spell - and was then amazed when Serenity, smirking even harder at the invisible elf, passed him the stone (which turned invisible as soon as Daleth held it in his hands) and gave him a wink that showed without doubt she knew exactly where he was.  "Good luck in there!" she said to the group, then flapped her wings and was off.Galen used his illumium scabbard to channel healing energy into his companions as they walked down the central shaft of the mine, so that they were all in fighting trim before their next encounter.  The mine didn't look to have changed much since the last time the heroes had been here; Kaspar dashed ahead and verified the branch to the left was still a dead end and no forces waited there to ambush them.  Then he backtracked and headed down the other way, which led to the large cavern of pure mithral, the source of Ashfall's sudden wealth.  The cavern was there, all right - as were four robed wizards, their identical white robes designating them as a quartet of diviners.  They stood around a large circle carved into the cavern's stone floor: the teleportation circle, no doubt.Syngaard deemed it time to whip out his Dick.  Leaping upon the bronze griffon's back as soon as he had attained his full size, the bald fighter sent the creature winging down the twisting shaft behind Kaspar, who had made it to the edge of the cavern and dropped prone so he could see into the vast chamber without being spotted.  Daleth and Todd trailed the griffon and his rider, and then the elf cast an Evard's black tentacles spell in the center of the teleportation circle.  Ink-black, rubbery appendages rose up from the ground, grabbing each of the diviners who squirmed in their grasp.  Daleth noticed the tentacles in the back of the spell's area of effect seemed to be slapping against something unseen.As one, each of the diviners realized there was one sure way out of the embrace of the ebon tentacles and cast a dimension door spell that sent them well outside the area of effect of the Evard's black tentacles spell.  Then Galen, astride Burt, came running down the tunnel and the dire lion leaped down into the chamber, landing ten feet below without breaking his stride.  He picked the closest diviner and headed in his direction.Orion and Carl, in the meantime, had shunted back to the Ethereal Plane and ran in a straight line towards where all the action seemed to be taking place, bypassing the twisting tunnel and popping right out of the side of the mithral-lined cavern.  Orion was surprised to see a winged being standing - untouched by the waving tentacles - in the middle of the teleportation circle.  Her arcane vision allowed her to see waves of negative energy coursing through the figure's body much like Carl's, allowing the halfling to deduce he was a ghost, much like her own riding dog.Osleth turned to the halfling.  "It's nice to see you again, Miss Nightsky," he said in a pleasant voice.  "Thank you and your friends again for freeing me from that skeletal form.  I have two messages for you: the first you should share with your friends, while the latter might be best kept to yourself for now.""Okay," agreed Orion."First, when you get back to Durnhill, you should get in contact with your mentor.  Ask about the Nightforge -  he'll know what that means."  That sent Orion's mind spinning: how did Osleth know about her mentor?  And what was this about a Nightforge?  But Osleth continued, forcing the halfling to ignore such questions for the moment so she could hear his second message.  Her mouth hung open in disappointment upon hearing it, and she understood the value of holding onto to such information at least until this present battle was over.Kaspar sped forward and struck one of the diviners, and unlike the armored opponents outside the mine this spellcaster had no protection from the flames of the monk's tenryutsume.  Syngaard had Dick go for the wizard farthest back in the cavern, thinking they were the best suited to reach him before he could cause too much trouble with his spellcasting; the others could easily reach the diviners closer at hand.  Unfortunately, Dick slammed straight into an invisible wall of force that spanned the back of the cavern.  But the griffon's powerful wings allowed it to stay airborne while it backed away from the unseen obstacle, then Dick diverted from his original path to go attack the diviner currently battling Kaspar.  One blow from Syngaard's morningstar brought down the spellcaster, who fell dead in a heap like a rag doll before Kaspar.Daleth brought forth his metamagic rod and channeled a scorching ray spell through it, sending twin blasts of fire at another of the white-robed wizards; alas, only one of the two hit.  Then the two remaining spellcasters on the group's side of the wall of force each cast a fireball spell, one blast enveloping Kaspar, Syngaard, and Dick while the other hit Galen and Burt.  Kaspar managed to somehow dodge between the flames of the spell, remaining completely unscathed, while the others all took at least some damage - especially Syngaard, whose scarred face had been the point of impact of one of the fireballs.Galen and Burt attacked a diviner with sword, fangs, and claws, and were surprised at the wizard's magical defenses, for neither attack managed to pierce flesh.  Orion finished off the wizard Daleth had scorched with his rod-enhanced spell, dropping him with a well-placed strike of her blade.  Kaspar ran around the circumference of the writhing tentacles to strike the wizard fighting Galen and Burt.  Syngaard and Dick also attacked the wizard, the last remaining foe they could reach from this side of the wall of force.  Absently, the bald fighter wondered if he had really seen what looked like a winged angel standing untouched in the middle of the tentacles, and if this was something else they needed to worry about.Daleth send a magic missile spell flying from his wand to the wizard who was now pretty much surrounded on all sides, but the spell was harmlessly absorbed by a shield spell the diviner had cast before battle.  Beginning to show signs of panic, the diviner began the words to a teleport spell but was cut down by Burt, who finally got a foe in his jaws.  The dire lion bit down hard, nearly biting the slain wizard in two.Now there was but a single foe left, and he was safe behind a wall of force spell - but one that blocked his own attack spells from targeting the heroes.  Daleth dismissed the Evard's black tentacles spell - at this point it was doing little but limiting their own movements - and watched to see what their final foe would do.  He ran to the middle of the back of the cavern, seemed to grab something that couldn't be seen (it was apparently a very good day for invisibility) and dimension doored to the mine tunnel leading back to the surface.Burt gave chase, easily leaping the ten-foot rise in elevation to the exit tunnel and catching the white robes of the spellcaster in his claws.  Galen swung the sword of Zehkar at the diviner but missed; fortunately, Burt pulled the wizard in and grappled him, pinning him to the ground with all of his bulk.  But then another figure popped into view, swinging an outstretched, skeletal hand at Galen; the paladin ducked back just in time to avoid the crackling negative energy coursing around the lich's hand.  With the cold, dispassionate part of his mind, Galen noted the robes the lich wore were silvery in color."Daleth!  The stone!" called Orion, and the elven wizard tossed the dimensional anchoring stone at her, the object popping back into full visibility again once it left the elf's hands.  Orion caught it, wheeled Carl around, and with the skill of a halfling tossed it directly into the center of the teleportation circle.  With a flash of energy, the circle went out, the grooves in the floor that had indicated its location now all smooth again.Todd flew up and struck the pinned diviner with his tail, coursing sleep venom into the hapless spellcaster and causing him to snore deeply while pinned under Burt's massive paw.Kaspar raced up the side of the cavern and entered the tunnel, striking at the skeletal foe in the silver robes.  Syngaard sent Dick that way as well, switching from his brilliant energy flaming morningstar to the one with the simple enchantment steering it towards it intended target and striking for all he was worth when Dick brought him within range.  The mithral skeleton collapsed, its bones flying in all directions and clattering to the stone floor.  Dick landed beside Kaspar and Syngaard gave out a cry of astonishment: "What the Hell--?  No way should Alexandros have fallen apart that easily!""You're right," said Orion, as Carl flew up to the level of the tunnel and joined the others.  "That mithral skeleton was a fake.  Osleth told me: we've already failed here.  We may have gotten rid of the teleportation circle so the siege of Ashfall can be broken, but they already sent somebody through a rift nearby to free Alexandros from Dwarven Hell - and we're not able to follow, to stop him.""The Hell--?" sputtered Syngaard again, turning on Dick's back to look behind him to the mithral chamber where Osleth now stood.  "You dumbass - why didn't you stop him?"  His grip on the morningstar tightened, as if he was going to send Dick straight at the ghost of the half-celestial bard.Orion put a restraining hand on Syngaard's arm.  "He's a ghost, like Carl," she replied.  "What could he have done?""But..." continued Syngaard, still wanting to blame someone for their failure."Take heart," suggested Galen.  "We fulfilled our immediate mission: we put an end to the teleportation circle.""And I recovered these," said Daleth, canceling his greater invisibility spell and revealing the magic rings and necklaces he'd taken from the slain diviners in the mithral cavern.  They looked to match the ring and amulet worn by the snoring wizard under Burt's paw, making four of each."Come," said Kaspar.  "We should leave, so Leorna and Orlin can watch over the mines."  He led the group back the way they'd come.  Shortly after exiting the mines, the two Azure Glade Guildmasters teleported in, joined by a group of conjurers.  They began systematically calling forth extraplanar beings as reinforcements to help guard the mines.  Burt was dismissed back to the Beastlands, Dick was reverted back to his statuette form, and the conscripts used the ring of return to appear back at the gate into the city, so they could report their success to Skevros and King Leornic III could send in his armies to break the siege of Ashfall."Damn that Mithral Mage anyway!" cursed Syngaard.  "He's always a step ahead of us!""We will find a way to put a stop to him," promised Galen.  Syngaard only hoped the paladin was right. - - - Logan used a "Wasteland" Pathfinder Flip-Mat for the area just outside the mithral mine, and several of the cards from the GameMastery "Mines" Map Pack for the mine tunnels.  The mithral cavern was homemade, using two sheets of sparkling, glittery silver paper that Logan drew 1-inch grids onto using a yardstick and a Sharpie pen.  (He had made it earlier for adventure 5 - it pays to hang on to things!)And poor Logan!  He was pretty upset at the complete and total uselessness of the captain of the Ossirnan forces - a 15th-level fighter who only managed to take a move action during the first round of combat and was then systematically stunned until slain, first by a lowly 1st-level color spray and then by a series of stunning fist attacks by Kaspar.  (To make matters worse, "stunning fist" is a monk ability that Harry had completely ignored during this entire campaign until I pointed it out to him at the beginning of this session - and now it's something he'll not ever forget about again!)  It also didn't help the DM that his dice were not his friends that night.This session went fairly late for these Wednesday night sessions, going to nearly 9:30 PM - a good 3 hours of play.  Orion and Daleth earned enough XP to level up to 13th and 12th, respectively.  We decided to give the +1 distance composite longbow (+2 Strength) to Mikito, the PC likely to get the most use out of it.  (Also, Sami's due for a visit the end of May and Logan's decided he'll have a Mikito-centric adventure ready to go for the session she's here with us.  We'll just level her up to whatever level Daleth is at that point, the result of whatever missions she's been performing for Skevros while we've been sent elsewhere.)</blockquote>

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