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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ancalagon" data-source="post: 7251116" data-attributes="member: 23">SESSION 15 July 18th I had a brief chat with Cobthach last night, just before bed, and he said that he planned to send some men to investigate the cave. I asked him to wait a day, while we bring our party back up to strength, and make other preparations. He agreed. Immediately after waking up, we went to visit Torin's remains in the temple of Lugh. I cast speak with dead, asking Torin if he wanted to be returned to life. He seemed rather cheerful, saying that he was mining gems in the halls of the dwarven fathers. I could have sworn he said ambrosia gems, but that doesn't make any sense (de mortuis nil nisi bonum). Anyway, it was obvious that Torin did not want to come back, so we sadly made burial preparations. While Blades went off to perform dwarven burial rites (with Finis following to keep an eye out for trouble), I shared a drink with Rinver. Rinver apparently has a very low tolerance for alcohol, and was soon completely drunk. He told me that the thorn dart spell that Suleiman had been casting was associated with evil and evil sorcerers. I helped him back to our room, where we found Suleiman reading an encyclopedia. Rinver collapsed onto a cot, and Suleiman and I went outside to discuss the problems that he and Rinver were having. I cannot reveal the nature of the problem, out of fear that this might fall into the wrong hands. Nonetheless, we have taken steps toward solving his dilemma. I think that I may soon begin my return home, and Suleiman has expressed an interest in returning with me. I am confident that High Priestess Octavia will know what to do. Blades and Finis returned late in the day, covered with dirt. They directed Suleiman and me to Torin's grave, and left us there to mourn him. Atop a hill stood a stone column, with dwarven runes carved on it, which Finis had shaped and Blades had inscribed. We were silent for a while; it is a suitably somber place. I sanctified the area, and performed the farewell ritual. We tarried a bit longer, and then headed back down the path to town. While we were walking and discussing Suleiman's problems, Suleiman suddenly stopped, listening. Someone was running at us from behind! We turned to see two ogres and what seemed to be a half-ogre. The ogres motioned to the half-ogre (who was about fifty feet from the ogres). The half-ogre seemed surprised to see them, but nodded in return. Suleiman and I turned to run for our lives, shouting an alarm to the town ahead. Blades and Finis quickly ran up to help us. Finis lit the ogres with faerie fire, revealing that the being we thought was a half-ogre was in fact some sort of oddly misshapen man, his head hidden by a cloak. Much to our surprise, he began swinging his huge two-handed sword at the ogres as ferociously (if less effectively) as we were. Blades delivered the killing blow to both ogres, just as men from the Dun came running up to help. Seeing the large, rather ugly man, one of them said "That must be one of the three ugliest men in Connaught!", to which the large man quickly replied "Who are the other two?", as if his title were being challenged. We all laughed, and talked to the strange man on the way back to town. His name is Corwin MacBennan, and he's very secretive (as I mentioned, he covers much of his head with a hood). He ran with the ogres out of fear that they might attack him if he did otherwise. Corwin has hinted that he was forced from his home, but it is not clear why. He seems jovial enough, so we offered to let him stay with us tonight. After tending to our wounds, we decided to check our most recent acquisitions for magic. The torc given to us by Cobthach is not magic, but the goblet given to us by Loeg MacMane is. Rinver is recovering from his hangover, and I've explained to him that Suleiman's situation is under control. He seemed reassured. July 19th Our first task of the day was to try to get the collar (which blades removed from the troll in the cave) off of Blades' neck. A remove curse didn't work, so we decided to try the anti-magic area in the cave. Urym came in to tell us that the King and his men were ready to embark, so we quickly appointed Finis as party leader and joined with Cobthach's men. We met the MacMane men at the stream, and three from each clan joined with us to investigate the cave. The anti-magic area in the front of the cave was apparently not powerful enough to remove the curse on Blades' collar--which is amazing, as it temporarily disabled the magic on everything else in the party. Fearing that it was a control collar of some sort, we asked Blades to stand guard at the front of the cave (as Blades could probably kill us all if he wanted--or someone else wanted). It's probably for the best, as the Cimbrian warriors were constantly teasing Blades about his armor. Even I was growing sick of it; I half wished that Blades would teach them some manners. The cave complex was empty; the only humans inside were dead. No Gogglers were to be seen, although their fishy smell was overpowering. Suleiman called Tanvil, the lynx, to look around. Further investigations yielded the following information: 1) The underground river went down into the the ground, where we could not follow; 2) A tunnel in one room led a half-mile almost straight down, into Longshadows; 3) An altar was adorned with a strange metal, upon which were inscribed strange runes that could be used to summon the Sea Mother and her minions, whatever that means. I defiled the altar, and as I did so, I felt the hairs rising on the back of my neck--but I persevered. We took the pieces of strange metal with us, and after searching caves, we left. The Cimbrians wanted to explore the entrance to Longshadows, but we did not, so we continued to investigate Blades' collar. The collar is magical, and it seems to be some sort of charm or controlling device. The writing on it is similar to that on the strange metal plates. Blades wanted to find his missing armor (he was wearing Torin's armor), and I tried to do so with a Locate Object spell. It was not within the spell's range. We finally persuaded Blades that going into Longshadows was not worth any piece of armor, and returned to town. Upon returning to town, Finis and Urym went off to talk, while the rest of us purchased some supplies. We reassembled back at the inn, and Urym said that he would guide us the rest of the way to the monastery of Oghma. He also said that undead live there, as well as a woman that can turn men to stone. I suggested that it was a medusa, although I am not sure what one is doing so far from Ionia's Magic Lands. We also noticed that Finis' staff was repaired once again. There was a celebration at the Dun tonight, and we all went, except for Blades. I don't think he can take much more of the teasing. It was an interesting night; the Cimbrians began a boasting contest, with outrageous, unsupportable claims getting the most applause. I decided to impress them with a display of Prometheus' power, by walking over the bonfire. I think it worked. I left long before the party ended, in order to get sufficient rest to regain spells. Suleiman went with me, and we talked some more. Tomorrow, we resume our mission. I am both nervous and excited; if our present luck continues, we're doomed. Corwin has decided to join us; at least the Pentachromata are back to five! July 20th Urym has led us down a road through some hills. It has been a pleasant, quiet day. I asked Urym about the goblet, and he said that it has the ability to neutralize poison which is poured into it. That may prove useful, but I hope that we don't meet anyone that pours poison into our glasses. The hills are slowly becoming woods. That is good; it will cover our approach to the monastery. July 21st Urym is an excellent traveling companion. He has been telling us what he knows about the monastery. He says that it was one of the Three Pillars of Knowledge in Connaught. There was some kind of trouble, and the monastery burned for days. The priests fled and disappeared. Another one of the temples was in Alcyone, but was probably destroyed during the revolution that cast out the Taygete League. He is not sure what happened to the third temple, but he does know that all the disasters have led to the decline of the church of Oghma. According to Urym, there is a large mage's guild around here called the Blue Guard. I wonder if they are as friendly as the White School. Not only does Urym tell interesting stories; he is also an excellent cook. I have never met anyone that can make dry rations taste good, until now. July 22nd We are about to descend an ominous-looking staircase, so I will make a log entry while we rest briefly. This morning, Finis asked Urym if he would be interested in joining the party, and ending his service to Cobthach. Urym says that if we survive the monastery, he might join us. That would certainly make traveling less dull! We reached the monastery in the late afternoon. Standing atop a hill, we could see it, about four miles away. Urym says that he will wait near here for us, for up to six days. After that, he will return to Prolingmur. Approaching the monastery with great care, we could see that the tower had fallen across the middle of the it, crushing a large section. A small guard building stood off to the side. We decided to investigate the small building first. As we approached, a voice inside called "Send in your best, coward!" We paused, and soon it repeated itself. A little while later, it just said "Coward!" Again, we approached the building. I threw the rock of continual light inside, and Suleiman looked through a window. A terrible abomination charged out of the doorway, attacking us. It had a stag's body, cloven hooves, a badger's head, and bony ridges for teeth! It was truly a frightening sight. Nonetheless, Finis and Blades dispatched it. There was little in the guardhouse--only a pile of skulls and a variety of other filth. Finis sifted through the pile, and found a ring. It did nothing for him, but when I put it on, I felt a surge of Promethean power--my channeling ability is now greatly increased. Perhaps Prometheus has had pity on us for our recent poor fortune; this is a great gift! We entered the monastery through the section that was damaged by the fallen tower. I will not bore you with every detail of what happened inside; I will summarize.Throughout the area we explored, we found animated skeletons, wearing monk's robes, and doing the things in death that they did in life: eating, praying, taking confessions. Unfortunately, they also attacked us, and we dispatched most of them with ease. Suleiman, in particular, seems to be very effective with his magic dagger, and his cat, Tanvil, is excellent for peeking around corners. Poor Corwin did not have a magical weapon, and seemed unable to affect them. These were not ordinary skeletons--one of them scratched Finis, giving him a disease. I believe they may be the undead known as Heucuva. Corwin was useful nonetheless, as his extraordinary strength allows him to tear through the damaged doors of the monastery as though they were paper. Upon reaching the chapel, an unusual thing happened. One skeleton, with a gold circlet upon his head, told me to "begone!", before I could react. Suddenly, I was outside the monastery! By the time I got back inside, the rest of the party had dispatched the undead, and was calling out for me. We searched the room, finding some damaged religious artifacts. A cabinet under the altar revealed much more interesting items: a three-stringed harp, some bottles with liquid, a clay urn with healing salve, and a long sword with a pommel made to look like a wren. While Corwin and Blades argued over who should get the long sword, Suleiman looked behind a tapestry and found a secret doorway. It opened onto a spiral stair, going down. Rinver was excited, and said that we must hurry--that this was the way to the library! Finis suggested that we should first stop to find out what the potions do. I must admit, I was skeptical that this would work; it didn't work very well the last time we tried it. But Rinver, impatient to get down the stairs, tried a little of one of the potions, Finis tried another, and Suleiman tried the third. One potion allows the reading of minds, another gives the imbiber the gift of persuasiveness. The third potion seems to be a love potion of some kind; fortunately, Suleiman drank very little, so his momentary fascination with Corwin wore off quickly. Much to Blades' consternation, we decided that Corwin should get the magical longsword, as he is the only one in the party without a magical weapon. Now that our new items are allocated, we are ready to descend the staircase. I close my entry for now; I suspect that the medusa is not far away. May Prometheus light our way in the darkness below!</blockquote>

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