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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 1441985" data-attributes="member: 1210">Return to the Tomb of Horrors“Let’s make sure,” Horbin says fatefully, “that the Deleter is safe, at least, and let’s keep it away from Angel.”  The others nod.  Horbin hefts his bag of holding and looks inside.His face turns ashen.“It’s gone,” he whispers.The group drops into a moment of heavy, ominous silence.“What do you mean, it’s gone?” Orbius finally asks.Horbin displays his bag- with no gloves within.  “But it was just here...”“How could-““Who-““Dammit!” Orbius swears.  “That’s just what we need!  Hopefully it’s not Felenga who’s got it!”  A quick locate object reveals that the Deleter is nowhere within range- not that it’s necessarily detectable anyway, the Eye thinks grimly.“That’s very unfortunate,” Bartholomew commiserates smoothly.  “What exactly was this ‘Deleter’ you are talking about?  I mean, I presume it’s the gloves...”“A very powerful- and very dangerous- artifact,” Horbin tells him.  “It was vital in our fight against the arch-lich Felenga, but I’m thinking that it’s done just about everything it could for us.  Personally- well, good riddance.  It was slowly killing Angelfire.”“Even though she and I have our differences,” Patyn adds, “she should not die like that.”  He shakes his head.  She should die in battle... with me.The group mills about the hallway for a few moments, discussing things.  Then Angelfire’s door opens and she walks shakily out into the hallway, Londo close behind her.  Both of her hands are in the midst of regrowing by now- fresh pink skin slowly extending over new bone and muscle.  They look moist, but not horrible mutilated (as her old hands had started to be).  The party falls into silence for a few moments.Finally, Orbius ventures, “Angel... are you all right?”She nods dumbly.  Glances around.  Her face is haunted, her eyes crinkled in horror.  Blood stains her shirt and, behind her, her bed.  “Where is it?” she whispers, pain and desire in her voice.“Angelfire...” Patyn starts, but Horbin the Holy interrupts him.“That’s a very good question,” he says frankly.  “We don’t know.  It’s vanished- and that’s for the best.”Slowly, Angelfire shuffles about the hall, glancing this way and that as if expecting the Deleter to suddenly have been lying right over there all along, and everyone somehow just missed it.  But no such luck.  Londo glares fiercely at everyone, a warning as clear as daylight that, for now, they must leave her to him.  But Bartholomew leans over and whispers in her ear, something intended for nobody but her. “All is not lost.  I have something you want.”The others, meanwhile, are gathered around Orbius, suggesting things for him to ask of the great powers when he sends his mind into the Outer Planes for information.  Grimly, the Eye remarks, “Not just the Deleter- I also want to try to find the L.  My prior divinations told me to seek him in the Void- that could mean the Negative Energy Plane or maybe the plane of Vacuum.  It could also mean the void of death.  But I have to find out what I can- we have to rescue him if we can!”“Not to mention Thrush,” Horbin says.  “He’s trapped in that... that thing.”At the mention of the Vestige, Patyn shudders.***Who has the right glove of the Deleter?  Barzoul.Who has the left glove of the Deleter?  Barzoul.Is Barzoul aligned with Felenga?  No.Does Acererak the demilich have Lester’s soul?  No.Is Barzoul aligned with Acererak?  No.Is Barzoul a Bile Lord?  No.Is Barzoul seeking to use the Deleter against us within a month?  No.Will we able to reach Lester by going through the gate in Marius’ Citadel of Eternity?  No.Who does Barzoul plan to immediately use the Deleter against?  Nobody.Once we are in the Void, where should we look to find Lester?  Nowhere.Orbius relates his results.  “I know I’ve heard that name, Barzoul, before,” he muses.  Suddenly Horbin snaps his fingers.  “I’ve read about him in some old religious works.  Barzoul is a vrock in service to Graz’zt.  Interesting, but not in a very encouraging way.”***Bartholomew, meanwhile, has retired for the evening.  And by retired, I mean he teleported to Shuljin, his cohort, who runs the small pirate base that Bart considers his true home.  It is to here that the Deleter was delivered, and now Bartholomew makes a most unwelcome discovery, staring glumly at the head that came with it.“Do we know who this was?” he asks.Shuljin shakes his head.  “I assumed it was an enemy of you.  The vrock dropped the things off in your name and issued dire warnings against touching them.”It is perhaps indicative of the number and power of summonings that Bartholomew performs that his men not only did not bat an eye at the arrival of a vrock, but also took it at its word that it came from him.  Bartholomew wonders briefly if that might translate, in some ways, into a weakness.  Well, hopefully he hasn’t made any enemies powerful enough to truly exploit it.Although this might prove to be an exception, if he isn’t careful.To hell with caution; audaciousness is his nature.He communes to find out what he can about Barzoul’s extra little gift, and he determines that he didn’t know the person, nor did it belong to a powerful person who might seek revenge.  Nor, it develops, did Barzoul bring the head for a particular reason.Demonic savagery, thinks Bart.Furthermore, Angel is still compelled by the Deleter; a miracle might be able to break it.  Might.  Bartholomew frowns.  Should Barzoul choose to inform his demonic lord of his recent activities, it seems likely that his forces could infiltrate Shuljin’s stronghold.  Hmm, not the best news, but it certainly could be worse.After all, Bartholomew of Cassis now has the Deleter.  And according to his god, it’s the real thing.Whatever the hell that is. ***Horbin hits a bar that night.  The whole thing with Londo and Angel and the Deleter has left his more than a little bemused; and he feels a strong need to take the edge off.At the bar he finds another friend- Ten Buck Tom, a gnome bard he’s crossed paths with once or twice.*  The two share some anecdotes, and Ten Buck Tom suggests that he compose an epic of Horbin’s life.  To this end, he agrees to follow the cleric through hell and high water- and even through the legendary Tomb of Horrors.***In the morning Bart teleports back to his room in the castle of Var, just in time to hear a knock on the door.  He hustles over and opens it.“Do you have it?” Angelfire asks hungrily.Bartholomew hesitates for a long moment.  Finally, he answers, “I’m hiding it from you.”“No.  You’d better give it to me.”“I don’t think it’s good for you-““You’d better give it to me.”  Suddenly her falchion is in her hand.  Bart takes a nervous step back and teleports downstairs into the dining room.“Morning,” says Horbin.Orbius stands up and points at him.  “All right, what’s all this then?”  The Eye glares.  “What have you done with the Deleter?”“What?  I don’t have the Deleter.”“Liar!  I saw it all!  You just told Angelfire you’re hiding it from her!”Angelfire walks into the room.  Inwardly, Bartholomew groans.  “Look, I don’t have it- you can search me and my rooms if you want.  We’ve already established that Barzoul has it, whoever that is.”“One of your servants?” Rex suggests.“He’s not evil,” Patyn comments.  Maxwell nods.  “It’s hard to believe one could consort with demons without being evil, especially if he’s a cleric.”“Thank you!” Bart cries.  “A voice of reason at last!”Angel stares hard at him.  “If you have it,” she says, her voice slow and full of iron, “if you’re hiding it from me, I will kill you.”“Can you believe,” Horbin says behind his hand to Sybele, “we only started our attack on the Tomb of Horrors three days ago?”“I want my babies’ daddy,” Sybele moans.The party discusses their next move.  Sybele repeats, “I want my babies’ daddy!”  The group agrees that destroying the Vestige will make their hunt through Moil for any other clues much easier, and with any luck they’ll be able to rescue Thrush from it.“We need to think of the L too,” Orbius reminds everyone.It’s time for them to get back to it.  Under the theory that it’s better to keep an eye on someone who’s probably recently stolen an artifact from the party than to let him run off and use it, the party allows Bartholomew to accompany them.  They mass teleport to the Great Green Face, give a pinch of dust to Bartholomew and Maxwell, and step through the mouth that does more than devour, returning to the City That Waits.To hunt the Vestige.*What we have here is Horbin’s new feat, Leadership, at work.  Ten Buck Tom is his cohort.Next Time: Our heroes face the Vestige again!  Will they have any better luck this time??</blockquote>

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