Wizardru's Story Hour (updated 11/21)

[Zad]

The Grand Tour - Chapter 3

The Grand Tour - Chapter 3

OOC Notes:

Exp this session is 1500.

Loot as follows:
1900 gp in assorted jewelry
4000 gp in coins
Potion of intelligence
Scroll of chill metal (Bolo)
Wand of Summon Monster I (Much giggling ensued)
Gauntlets of Ogre Power (Aethramyr)


This Week’s Adventure:

We took a moment to cast a few spells in preparation, and then began moving down the stairs into the darkness. Valanthe had a concern about the many symbols of Therizdun that were carved near the top of the stairs, and her prudence proved justified – there was definitely some magic about them. We tried to use the wand to dispel the enchantment but it wasn’t up to the task and required Scorch to act directly. Once negated we moved quickly past and into the caves below.

We came quickly to a fork in the tunnel and I tried to sense which way Aran’gel was. My heart began beating loudly in my ears and my muscles slowly locked up in a distinctly unpleasant way at my attempt though, and I was left with the feeling there was something very wrong here. Bolo was able to tell that there had been some movement at least down one passage that was partially blocked by fallen rubble. Scouting beyond it, Valanthe found a small chamber with a large symbol of Therizdun carved in the floor. In an alcove on one side, there was a great deal of blood and the remains of some humanoid that looked as though he had been exploded from the inside out, his skin completely gone from his body. Looking up, Valanthe found more remains of the victim, who from what she could tell was likely and elf from Aran’gel’s group. She retrieved the man’s bow so I could inspect it and verify it was one of Aran’gel’s men (and not Aran’gel himself) and we moved down the other tunnel.

Past more stairs, we came to some very old human bodies. From what little was left of their clothing, it seemed to be relics of the Sule empire. Along one wall was some kind of winch machinery made of wood but the cave wall had collapsed on it. From here the passage split again, and Bolo found indications that while Chavram’s forces had gone one direction, Aran’gel may have gone the other. (I’m thankful that we have Bolo with us – it’s wonderful to have someone who can track well.) It occurred to at least two of the group to look and see if Aran’gel had left any kind of mark behind indicating which way he went, and with some looking around, he had indeed left marks. Whether this was to find his way out or because he thought someone would be coming behind him was unclear to me, but I was glad to see it all the same. The marks verified that Aran’gel went a different direction.

So the question now was which way to go. Bolo firmly believed we should follow Aran’gel to muster our forces together and get more information on those we pursue, and his argument swayed most of us. Little did I know at the time that it would end up being a moot point.

The passage led to a pool of brackish standing water. The cave roof came down until it was only some inches above the water surface.

Now all things being equal, I would have preferred to follow Aran’gel. However things just became unequal, and I didn’t relish the idea of mucking about in the water any more than Rasha did. We also had no idea what might be in that water, and fighting anything underwater is difficult at best. So we were discussing turning around and heading the other way when the situation . . . changed.

Valanthe was at the water’s edge Out of the water came a large beast with green skin and three arms. The stench was awful. The beast had two clubs in its hands, and the third arm hung from the middle of its chest. Behind the rest of us, another similar beast came stomping down the tunnel. Neither of these were the primary worry for us though.

Suddenly, I had a sickening feeling, and I realized that it was all the enchantments running away, like water down a drain. In a moment, every magic spell and item ceased to function. We all felt it, and Scorch wasted no time verbalizing what at least some of us had already thought…

“BEHOLDER!!!”

[OOC: Hey, we all read Wulf’s too ya know.]

Our first thought was to kill the beast near the water so we would only be fighting on one front. I backed up a bit from the beholder, and came out of the anti-magic eye, and then opened fire on the beast. He was none too pleased at my attack but was too slow to respond immediately. The eye tyrant then closed its main eye and began blasting Scorch and Bolo with various rays. To my surprise they managed to avoid any ill effects. Bolo quickly stepped into the stone wall beside him – a move which rather surprised me. I hadn’t expected him to flee like that.

Scorch and Dravot then followed with a stunning cone-of-cold/flame strike combination that staggered both the beholder and the other beast. Aethramyr charged down the cave to the one I had injured and dealt some vicious blows. The thing staggered but was not ready to give up yet. (These creatures were very strong, whatever they were.)

Since the large… things were not dying easily, the beholder was the primary worry. I stepped back towards it and fired. It must have suffered badly from Scorch and Dravot, because one arrow from me was enough to make it shriek and sink slowly to the floor. That done, I turned my fire to the other three-armed monstrosity and put a few arrows into it. It was not at all happy with that, and those large arms had an amazing reach. I was fully expecting it to tear me to shreds soon. However it too was rather slow, and before it could respond, Scorch blasted it and Dravot was able to finish it off. This left only the one beast that Aethramyr was fighting with the two of them trading blows. Aethramyr had the upper hand though and it was not long for this world. I personally made sure of that.

[OOC: Poor Valanthe was engaged with the monster too but was having a rotten run of luck tonight. This also seems like a good time to point out that Bolo was saying that the eyestalks were valuable for spell components, and then I went on to the notion of making Beholder deely boppers.]

The creatures had some malformed jewelry on them that they must have taken from corpses and bent til it fit on their huge misshapen hands, but there was no other valuables around. Bolo took a quick dip in the water and saw that the cave continued underwater to the north a ways. Rather than take a swim, we chose to investigate the other passage. Just around the bend was a more recent corpse. The body was human, his leathers still wet, and he wore a black armband. His ears looked as though they’d been ruptured and there was dried blood coming from them. We moved on down the passage.

Much to our regret.

Valanthe was up ahead as usual. I had hoped we could move through these caves faster since two groups had gone before us, but there were clearly many dangerous traps and creatures still in place somehow. Suddenly ahead there was a shriek that seemed to come from the grave itself, and it pierced through the air like a cry of death. After it faded, Valanthe didn’t answer, and we moved carefully up to see her laying on the rock, only a small trickle of blood coming from her ear.

She was dead.

[OOC: Wail of the Banshee, 9th level spell. The entire party was hit, but Valanthe did not make her save.]

This was the third time one of us had died, and the impact was still profound. The group was numb with the sudden and random nature of her death.

Unfortunately we were now without Lord Gelban’s support to handle such emergencies. But we did each have a “favor” owed from the Church of Pelor. Dravot could now even raise the dead himself, but not today. He would need time, and that we did not have. The Church granted us each a true resurrection to be used in our time of need however we would have to go to one of the few churches that had a priest powerful enough to perform it. So we would need to take her to Greyhawk.

And then it dawned on us. Greyhawk. In flames. In chaos. There would be little chance of help there. Dravot said that someone in Hexpools would be able to help, and so he took Valanthe’s body and teleported there.

While he was gone, we investigated the area. The trap, now sprung, seemed to be safe for the moment. Beyond was a chamber that must have been the lair of the creatures. Their stink penetrated the place, and the remains of a few bodies showed their preferred diet. There was the half eaten corpse of a gnoll and a pack mule also. In the ceiling were the marks from some kind of blast or targeted explosion. At the back, was another winch system, and this one had been used recently. The shaft went both up and down, although the winch only went down.

Taking this in, it became more clear. I believe that Chavram’s forces (or was it the Black Brotherhood? The armband was a possible clue there) encountered the beholder and his slaves, and made a bargain. They gave them the bodies, and perhaps some trinkets, and the eye tyrant let them pass down the shaft. Aran’gel and his men must have gone by the water route.

Bolo flew up the shaft as a pixie, and found a small chamber that was the beholder’s lair. A sack was on the floor with some items inside, but when Bolo went for it, the gravity in the chamber reversed. He was fortunate to be holding on to the bag and was not smashed against the ceiling, full of notably sharp rocks. After some futile attempts to get himself out, he informed us of his situation, and I flew up and retrieved him and the bag.

The bag had an assortment of coins as well as some other minor items. [OOC: DM sends props out to James Buck.]

Bolo did some more scouting and by communing with nature, he determined there were no elves that he could detect, but there were some large unnatural creatures on this approximate level. That in itself helped us decide to move down the shaft.

By this time Dravot had returned with Valanthe, now looking much better. She remembered nothing from her time “away”. I was relieved to see her alive again, and glad she didn’t have to go through the pain that I and Dravot went through. Hopefully none of the rest of the group would learn what that was like.

Dravot also mentioned that the Overking had attempted to contain Rauxes but had the opposite effect, and Chavram and Kargoth’s forces were now running around openly. The Overking was also apparently looking for him, but the Church in Hexpools kept his brief visit a secret.

We moved down the shaft, and saw several passages. The stone in this area was beginning to look more and more worked. One room nearby held a pride of chimeras. We decided that was best avoided and moved another direction through more caves. Various rooms had pictures carved into the walls, mostly depicting the rain of colorless fire and the emigration, which Dravot and Scorch found interesting.

We came to a room that was some kind of burial chamber. One skeleton had Suel robes. There was a large sepulchre of bones against one wall. The bones were of various colors, and many of them had words written on them. Dravot said that Suel traditional methods for protecting the dead from undead acts involves scouring the bones through magical means, and then writing information about the dead upon their bones such as names and other personal information.

[We stopped here for the night]

 

[Argent Silvermage]

A Halflings point of view

We entered to cavern after casting some spells for protection. Scorch granted me a spell he calls Cat's Grace. Val was ahead of the party scouting out the way. She and I were able to lead the party down to a small lake area. before we knew what had happened we were attacked.
a giant of some sort with 3 arms appeared in front of us, and another right next to me (I was bringing up the rear) then the anti-magic field hit us. I was caught unaware, my mistake. before I was able to attack the Beholder (as Scorch called it) attacked. I was hit by 3 rays. The first one would have turnned me to stone. I could feel my limbs hardening but I fought it off. The second ray almost disintigrated me. I could feel myself loosing my substance. I fought against it and way able to retain my solidity, but I was badely damaged. The Third ray out and out would have ended my life. I could feel my spirit ripping away from the body of Bolo Brandybuck, but i was not done with this lifes trials yet, unfortunatly I took even more damage.
When I was able to move I called on the local stones to shelter me and slipped inside one inorder to make the creature think it had killed me, that way i could attack it from underneath as it floated by me. It never got the chance. Scorch let fly a cone of cold and hit one giant and the eye. next Dravot called a flame strike down on the same 2 creatures. then Kayleigh ended the beholder with a few well placed arrows.
I emerged from the stones and attacked the Giant with my staff but it was Dravot and scortch that killed it.

we eventualy returned to the other passage where we found the death trap and lost Val for a while. and I found the beholders treasure.
While waiting for Dravot and Val to return I dove into the lake and found arrow marks on the other side. I Communed with Nature and found that ahead of me was a major powerful eliv force and below me.. below the bottom of the lake was more evil but Nothing like the presence in front of me. I relayed that back to the party Via our dragon scales. I think it fell on deaf ears. I returned to the party and we went down the tunnel.

 

[Valanthe the Sleepless]

Valanthe’s Journal – The Grand Tour, Part 3

And here I thought dying would be a fun new adventure. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t, but I remember nothing. Zero, zilch. Oh, yeah, a few odd symbols of a square, circle, and a triangle, but I have no idea how the heck that’s related to anything. Boy do I feel like I’ve been given a bunch of jark jink.

I could blame my recent string of bad luck on ol’ Ralishaz, but it’s probably fair to say that I just haven’t been as careful as I coulda been. That and the damn nasty banshee trap that I fumbled on. Blast me and my case of over confidence! Last I remember was that I thought I had figured out the control for it, but I guess I stumbled over the last arcane word pronounciation. I barely had any time to mutter a curse under my breath before I blacked out.

Next thing you know, I am waking up and through the fuzzy haze I make out the forms of 3 older men in robes fussing over me. At first I thought “Eww” but luckily, I recognized Bellamy and then I realized what had happened and where I must be. Dravot was nice enough to get me to hexpools. Well, there goes that favor cashed in.

Damn, I’m gonna need to “study up” on Scorch some more so I can brush up on my magical trap knowledge. Looks like we are playing with the big dogs.

And someone needs to put a leash on that druid. He’s gonna get himself poked full of holes or burnt crispy or the likes.

Sheesh!

 

[dravot]

Dravot's Journal (sidetrip to Hexpools)

Today another of my comrades has fallen. Valanthe died today when she unwittingly set off a trap which unleashed arcane majiks upon us all. I’m not sure why she was the only one affected; maybe we were far enough away to resist the spell, maybe her concentration fell when she realized that she set off the trap. I’m not sure that it would be wise to ask her, though she seems no worse for the wear. After my journey into the afterlife, it seems rude to ask others about their last moments and their experiences elsewhere.

We were hot on the trail of Aran’gel, and of Chavram’s minion (who I suspect to be Sebastian, but only time will tell), and followed them into a cavern that most certainly seemed that it could have been the location for a Binder. We avoided 2 other magic traps, found several corpses, both new and old, and fought a grand battle against a beholder and it’s lackeys before we ran up against the wail of the banshee trap.

I gathered Valanthe into my arms and teleported to Hexpools, as Greyhawk was not an option at this time. I chose the library at the temple there…someplace that I knew quite well. There were 3 novices in the library when I arrived. I breathed deeply, remembering the slightly musty smell of books and their leather bindings and recalled simpler times when I was a novice here.

They recognized me immediately. I’m still a bit surprised by this, but I forget that the faithful had seen the image of me slaying the Coot. They were obviously confused by my sudden appearance, unsure as to how I had arrived. I lay Valanthe on a table, and straightened out her hair, and explained without giving any details. “My companion here had a bout of bad luck, and we need her back as soon as possible. Is Bellamy around? I teleported here because I do not have the majiks today to bring her back myself.” I noticed a small trickle of blood near her left ear, and I dabbed at it, trying to clean her up.

One of the novices ran for Bellamy, while a second one went outside to keep anyone else out. The third novice kept me company. “You must stay here. There are spies everywhere and it wouldn’t be safe for you to walk around.”

I asked what he meant. “Xavener is looking for you.” When one hears that the Overking, an undead animus is looking for oneself, one tends to feel a shiver run down their back…which I did.

Bellamy arrived just about then, and after we exchanged a few brief words, took Valanthe with him to be raised. I had thought that he would do it himself, although I had not specified this, and he took Valanthe to the head of the temple and Valanthe was granted her true resurrection.

I occupied myself with books while I waited for Valanthe and Bellamy to return, and sent for some hot broth and fresh bread, that I might bring back to my companions. When Bellamy returned, we exchanged some brief words, as time was still pressing back in the cave. Bellamy told me that Xavener had taken troops to isolate and cut off Rauxes from the countryside, but this backfired, and Chavram’s people moved about at will. He also mentioned that there was someone helping Chavram. I explained to Bellamy about Chavram’s plans for Apotheosis, and that he had allied himself with St. Kargoth; this deeply trouble Bellamy, and rightly so.

He had no idea why Xavener was looking for me, and said that he didn’t trust him at all. I took this as good advice and pressed a few gems into his hand. “From an anonymous donor.” He nodded and placed them in a vest pocket.

With that we returned to the caves, to continue our search.

 

[Zad]

The Grand Tour - Chapter 4

Chapter 4 - Loves me like a rock

OOC Notes:

Experience this session is 2050.

Loot

From the beholder's lair, brought to you by random treasure tables:
1500pp
2000gp
100gp gem
800gp silver chalice
500gp idol of Pelor
130gp gold vestments (Pelor)
750gp gold comb
Scroll of protection from arrows
Scroll of lightning bolt
Potion of ghoul touch
Potion of swimming
Potion of cure moderate wounds
Scroll of protection from elements
Scroll of invisibility to undead
Scroll of detect snares and pits
Ring of protection +2
Scroll of entangle
Wand of melf's acid arrow, 33 charges (Valanthe)


This Week's Adventure:

We found nothing of particular interest in the burial chamber and moved on down a long hall. Ahead was a fork, with a small chamber in one direction. From the fork we could see corpses in the room but it was hard to tell how fresh. Rather than investigate we went to check for problems down the other hall first. Things were very quiet and only the stray echo of shuffling rocks and the gentle rustle of Aethramyr's chainmail broke the silence as we crept down the long rough stone tunnel.

That is, if you didn't count that clanging bell ringing loud enough to make your teeth hurt.

Something left an alarm spell waiting, and Valanthe walked into it. Over the clanging, I we could hear guttural voices. It was mostly orcish with some other language mixed in, and crude at best. One said something about "telling the master" and then grunted and howled in fury.

Whatever it was, I had the feeling it was big, and it was now enraged.

About then Valanthe was greeted by the sight of an ettin, charging down the tunnel at her. It had two spears and was hunched over in the small corridor but was intent on skewering her, and nicked her fairly well.

Scorch however was in no mood for it, and a quick Hold Monster had it frozen in place. I was about to kill it when suddenly it turned to stone.

Stone. How odd. Scorch and I looked at each other - that wasn't supposed to happen. Of course with the hulking thing bent over, and now a big rock, there was no way we could get past it. We began to suspect there was another beholder back there and it turned its minion to stone to slow us down and protect it while it was held.

Bolo had an answer for that, and cast Soften Earth and Stone. The edges of the ettin softened and now it was just soft clay. Aethramyr easily pulled off pieces and cleared the hallway.

And nothing else happened. The beholder might be waiting for us to enter the large chamber ahead, or it might be waiting for the Hold Monster to wear off. Either way, charging in would be bad.

Valanthe moved up quietly to see what was happening. She slipped in undetected and could see the eye tyrant hovering over the exit of the tunnel, waiting for us, it's anti-magic ray covering the area. Another ettin was also waiting. In the room were several statues, apparently elven.

[Now, at this point, you just know what we're gonna find. At least we did.]

Scorch summoned up a small xorn to drop on the beholder from above so that we could attack. However once it arrived, it said "Must obey the call of the Master…." And then it promptly tunneled away.

So instead, Scorch took Aethramyr and Dravot and dimension-door'd to the other side of the chamber near the statues, and Dravot dropped a flame strike on top of the beholder. It was badly charred by this but was still able to counterattack. Dravot shrugged off the three deadliest rays, and Valanthe was subjected to a few others. Once the anti-magic cone was gone, I ran in and had a single arrow finish off the beholder, and then we started on the ettin. I fired away and put one arrow in each throat, and the beast howled. It was clearly not happy with me. [Two crits. And I never roll crits.]

The ettin had two clubs and had room to fight. He battered me with the clubs in return for the injuries I did, but we surrounded him and he howled more as attacks, both magical and physical, battered him, from Scorch, Dravot, and Aethramyr. By the time I was ready to fire, he was hardly standing, and it didn't take much to finish him off.

Another beholder, and we had survived. Dravot had taken a lot of punishment from the rays, but could have fared much worse. Otherwise we had fairly minor injuries.

I looked at the statues, and was not overly surprised to see Aran'gel and his men. All I could do is shake my head and say to him "You know, I said that you hardly needed me to come save you. That you could take care of yourself." Well, at least I could plan some interesting things for when we turned him back. I was concerned about his condition but at the same time, he was here and at least this we could fix. Of course, neither Scorch nor Dravot could do anything about it right now. I would very much have liked to have him restored, and in part because he could tell us a great deal about the people we were pursuing. But there was simply no way to fix it right now, and hopefully he would be safe enough in his present state. As much as I would have liked to stop and rest and restore him, it seemed more prudent to press on.

The room was rather odd. It was originally a room but it had obviously been enlarged by the beholder with its disintegrate ray. There was also a lair carved into the ceiling where the beast had its treasures stored.

The other chamber from the fork had human corpses. They were killed in the last few weeks, rather than days. They were dressed in finery similar to the Sule in the murals, but somehow cruder. It was as if these clothes were an attempt to re-create what was shown in the murals, and the result was not as high quality.

One passage from the lair opened into a large chasm. It seemed this was once some kind of great hall with a rich ceiling and murals, but that some kind of shift in the earth had opened a chasm and the floor disappeared into the black depths. There was a wood and rope bridge that connected the two sides, and various passageways leading out.

We crossed to one end of the bridge, using flight and various other means to span the chasm and proceeded from there. At an intersection we found a large symbol inset into the floor - a circle of mithril inset with a triangle of gold inset with a square of silver. As Valanthe approached it, she had a vision.

[I would like to note for the readers that this marks the longest period of time that the party has gone without any sort of vision. Cheers on a new record for us.]

What she saw was hard to describe - there was a loss of perspective and things moving in ways impossible to describe. She did see several tall spires made of a crystalline material along with glass and bone.

She was standing in the middle of a large triangle formed by three objects. One was between her and the fortress and was a large purple crystal with a mithril circle inscribed on it. The others had a square and a triangle.

She felt compelled to look at the fortress and the landscape on which it sat. It was between two valleys, both strangely smooth.

Suddenly the land moved, and it all became clear - the valleys were immense eyelids. They opened for just a fraction of a second then closed - she was standing on an immense face of some being.

She then heard "A debt must be paid" and she heard the rolling of dice. And then she snapped back to the present.

She chose to step on the symbol, and a whispering wind blew through the tunnel and in the distance she heard "still…trapped."

[Another whispering wind blew through, this time it said "Brownies….fresh…brownies…" Yum.]

Valanthe asked where the binder was, and a voice, clearer this time, said it didn't know. They (the voice spoke in plural) were the Ralishad. They kept her safe when she died. The Shadow King would have tried to capture her soul but they kept her safe.

They seem to be some kind of avatars of Ralishaz. To free them, we must destroy the trapped djinn who's power keeps them here. (Obviously the binder is nearby though they did not recognize it by that name.) Or they could be freed by waking Ralishaz, or by finding all of the wakening stones. The Ralishad said we would have to get at least one from "The others who passed". It seems our quarry has been busy as well. They said that the "others" sacrificed some of his own people to get it. Ahead it was clear what they meant - there was a small chamber with several dead human bodies. They were melted by acid, probably a gas. The opposite wall was featureless and solid white, but there was a small triangular notch.

Whomever it was, they had also been injured, and Bolo found a trail, partly in blood that lead back to the wooden bridge. It seemed they had jumped from the middle of the bridge to one of the passageways. So that's the direction we followed.

We continued to find traps along the way. At one intersection was a gnoll corpse, very fresh, which one of the traps had obviously claimed. I must admit I completely underestimated how difficult it would be to pass through this area.

The stone was becoming more and more worked as we progressed and the passage finally opened into a sizable chamber with a large set of stairs. Bolo was sure our quarry went this way. At the top of the stairs was a ripped set of bright red velvets, and an unholy symbol of Therizdun, broken in half. It felt as if someone had shed their disguise.

This area was also better maintained, and had no dust or decay. There was some graffiti of therizdun symbols on some of the murals however. Most of the murals were replications of what we had seen before, but had the appearance of more a celebration of triumph over adversity rather than a simple history.

We were in a much more structured hallway, and behind one door was a terrarium while behind another was a magical symbol on the floor. From what Scorch could tell, it seemed to be part of some kind of magical transportation system.

Ahead was a large intersection. Each direction had a pair of torches on each side of the hallway, the flames a different color. The one directly ahead was blocked by a wall of force, while the other two branches went a short way and ended in a doorway.

Dravot spent some time manipulating the torches in an attempt to disable the wall of force. There must be some kind of trigger to lower the wall he reasoned. However while some things were happening, it was not having the desired effect. We decided to explore the other branches.

The doorway at the end of the right corridor had only a collapsed tunnel behind it, and so we promptly turned around.

The left corridor had more traps, which Valanthe dealt with. The door at the end was innocent enough, but on the other side, a dark shadowy shape awaited.

Dravot could only whisper "Nightwalker"

 

[Zad]

Chapter 5 - Family Reunion

OOC Notes:

Experience this session is 3500

Bolo was still sick this session, and hence found his way into danger. Good thing Dravot can Raise Dead. Nodwick anyone?

Loot:

2 brooches of shielding
+2 heavy mace of terror
adamantium breastplate
Tome of leadership and influence +1
Gems worth 4000gp
841pp
Greater rod of Silence Spell (metamagic feat rod)

This Week's Adventure:

The room beyond the door was once a grand receiving chamber of some kind, and fairly lavish. However a great deal of the decorations had been ripped out or scavenged. Cutting across the room was a a swirling portal of black and purple energies - a slow vortex churning and spinning. Even the very warmth was being pulled into the vortex. On the floor were the bodies of gnolls, frozen solid and recently dead.

However the shadowy beast with glowing red eyes was the more dominant element of the room and there was only a moment to see it before the beast shrieked, and a sickly yellow-green cloud appeared in the hallway searing our lungs.

Dravot quickly informed Scorch that these beasts were immune to most spells, and so Scorch started with a mass haste. Bolo put a barkskin on Aethramyr, and then Aethramyr and Dravot moved into the room to attack. Unfortunately the shadowy nature of the creature made it hard to lay a blade on, and we had only limited success in striking it. I fired several shots down the hall into the room but hit mostly shadow.

[OOC: Ok, we really suck. This thing had some kind of concealment, and I've never seen people as a group roll so low on percentage dice. We didn't know it til later in the fight that it was only a 20% concealment, but fully three quarters of the attacks this round rolled under 20% and so we missed a lot.]

Valanthe was still in the hall, and the creature tried to Hold her, but she shook it off and moved in to attack as well. Like the rest of us, she too failed to find the creature's body. But we were getting better and started finding purchase. Aethramyr swung relentlessly, while Dravot and Valanthe kept at the beast from all sides, and I fired from down the hall. I had worried about fighting it in the small space, but after some sound blows, the beast collapsed and dissolved into shadow and ran away like spilled ink. What was left behind was the remains of . . . something. Probably a human, and likely the one who's skin had exploded off his body in the earlier cave. There were purple crystals imbedded in the body along the body that cracked and turned to ash as we watched.

In the room, the portal still churned. There were four L-shaped brackets of gold that had been mounted on the wall in front of the portal. These seemed to be creating some kind of force wall that held the portal back, or perhaps prevented passage through. Regardless it was not a standard wall of force as heat and gasses (from the cloudkill) were being sucked in despite the wall.

Valanthe and Scorch seemed sure it lead to the Plane of Shadow.

What was not so clear was the purpose. Had our quarry opened the portal? If so, why obstruct it? Was it so something could leave? Or so something could enter? Scorch believed that both the barrier and the portal were temporary and would not last overly long.

This raised yet more questions about who we were pursuing. Descriptions seemed to indicate Sebastian, and Dravot felt that was the case. However other trappings indicated it was the Scarlet Brotherhood, or a faction thereof. On a whim, I tried to use the Dravot-seeking-arrow, thinking if Sebastian was near it might point to him. However it pointed straight at me - likely due to whatever magics protected this place.

However all this left us with no way to proceed save the barred passage. Dravot and the others resumed playing with the colored torches in an attempt to drop the wall of force. I had no idea how to proceed with this particular problem, and simply sat waiting. Part of me was thinking that we should reason it out rather than just randomly moving torches around and burning scars into people, but the others were perfectly happy to keep swapping torches around. A blue one here, a green one there. Two like colors definitely repelled each other. And as one swaps them around, various marks seem to get burned into you. I wasn't even near them and the flame arced and burned a square on my hand.

After a fair bit of back and forth, Scorch had both a triangle and a square on him, and then after another move was staggered when a circle was burned into his forehead. Realizing this was it, he tried to start exchanging torches with the red ones past the forcewall blocking our way. He was now able to reach through and the torches leapt from sconce to sconce at his gesture. By moving the two red torches he was able to move the wall of force to another passage and we were finally free to proceed.

The corridor beyond had a set of double doors plus two passages leading off each direction. Valanthe peeked into the room past the doors and saw a chamber the size of a grand hall or temple. A variety of different colored lighting made it very hard to understand the scene. There were four large pillars of solid marble, and the ceiling was some twenty feet up. Along each wall were a series of alcoves, some with statues in them. In the central area the floor was carved lower, and the ceiling higher. And there was a glowing red being, his legs more of a burning mist. Around him circled three rings, each spinning and rotating so rapidly as to be a blur. The figure inside was clearly angry and kept trying to force his way out.

The evocation binder.

Around the binder were four large rough hewn purple crystals. Periodically energy would arc from the binder to the crystals. They looked like raw ore ripped from the ground and were about ten feet high themselves. At the far end of the passage, Valanthe could barely make out a large spider-statue.

We took a moment to cast a spell or two in preparation. But it wasn't long before whoever was in the chamber acted as well. The doors were blasted off the hinges and thrown down the hall at us. Dravot took one of them full in the chest but the rest of us avoided them.

And inside waiting was a bebilith.

The bebilith. There was no doubt. It was the same beast we met in Brindinford that posed as Dravot's brother.

[OOC: Or, as we have called him for months, "Bubba the Bebilith".]

It simply laughed after blasting the doors, and then faded out. Scorch said it wasn't invisible - it had plane shifted. But we all knew it'd be back soon.

I entered the room and Sebastian's voice called out, echoing around the chamber.

"So Dravot, you've followed me all the way here. Will I never be free of you? I'll bring you before Grandfather and kill you right in front of him, as my Lord has commanded!" Sebastian sounded a more than a little unstable, but that didn't make him less dangerous. He cast a spell and tried to dispel the enchantments on those of us near the door.

Sebastian was, predictably, invisible. I threw a couple glitterdusts around the room hoping to catch him but had no luck. Then Scorch teleported into the room with Aethramyr and Dravot. Scorch wisely had see invisible cast on himself and spotted Sebastian right next to where Aethramyr had landed.

There was a door at the far end of the room, and a reptilian creature came running in, carrying some kind of spear. Scorch said something about "Slaad."

Sebastian hastily moved away from where the group had arrived and proceeded to tear the group of them apart with a blade barrier and a flame strike. After the blade barrier, Dravot was badly injured. Why Sebastian wouldn't just kill him is unknown to me, but he made sure to place the flamestrike to avoid hitting Dravot. Oddly the slaad took the full brunt of these spells and was nothing more than a bloody mist. It seemed that Scorch's sudden move had disturbed Sebastian's plan.

The bebilith re-appeared and attacked me leaving a wound. Scorch had something in mind for it though, so I looked to Sebastian. Scorch had told us where he moved to and I wasted no time in glittering him so everyone could see him. With that I opened fire and he cursed as the arrows hit him.

Arrows however were the least of his problems.

Valanthe had snuck in behind him. He had moved against one of the pillars, thinking he was safely away from the group, but in fact Valanthe was right next to him. And she took full advantage.

Sebastian had…changed. His one hand was shadowy, and there were other oddities. Whatever he was now, it wasn't an animus. And whatever it was, it had vital organs, and Valanthe found them. There was a hurk, and a gurgle, and Sebastian collapsed dead.

The bebilith didn't even notice. Dravot hit it with a searing light, then Bolo, now a dire bear, attacked.

And then the paladin charged. Shatterspike glowed an intense light, and Aethramyr smited the beast for all he was worth, He sliced it in two practically, and it exploded in a mass of rank ichor.

[OOC: Aethramyr did some outrageous amount of damage. There was one single attack with more than 50 points and it was the first time a fort save for massive damage had ever come up. Of course we were still working out numbers trying to get Bolo's damage figured out but he was pretty much dead in any case and so WizarDru just called it dead and was done with it.]

Sebastian was dead, and the bebilith was dead. Their play for the binder had failed. The conversation made it clear though that Dravot's information was correct - Sebastian had indeed broken away from his grandfather's control and sworn some new fealty. With luck, Chavram didn't know where he was.

We checked the area quickly, and Scorch spoke to the binder. I dug through my journal to find the name of the Prince contained in the binder - Prince Sumez ben Taal. He said a greeting in draconic, and the binder in return slammed him against the wall, and returned something in another tongue. From there they had an extensive conversation. Scorch only occasionally stopped to fill us in. Prince Sumez told him that the old Suel descendants had carved their way to this place with his power, but the strain was too great for their leader who died. And thus they were trapped here. The Prince also had no desire to be containing the Ralishad, and apparently if the bindings were destroyed, it would not only release the Ralishad but free him as well.

Scorch talked to Prince Sumez further, and then Scorch touched one of the crystals. There was a ring of light around the binder, and then Scorch was gone.

Fortunately wherever he went, the scale still worked. He was, it seemed, in the same area as in Valanthe's visions. He appeared to be on the shoulder of the sleeping god. Nearby was a domed structure - a mage academy of some kind. Scorch could not speak to the binder however from there. He saw some fighting going on in the distance but seemed to be in no danger himself.

And here I thought Valanthe was the impulsive one. Scorch was by himself on Limbo somewhere.

Then the binder deigned to speak Common and made us an offer. He said that he cannot force us to go but he will ask us to. He will transport us back to this plane if we go and destroy the three "intertial links" which will release the Ralishad and free him. In exchange, he will unlock the "Mark of Fire" within each of us.

I had no idea what the "mark of fire" was. But if he was offering it this way, clearly he thought it was something valuable. Frankly it hardly mattered - Prince Sumez didn't realize the implicit part of the deal: If he were freed, then the evocation binder would be gone, and no one could use it. I had deep concerns about finding this binder because I didn't think we could keep it safe from Chavram or others who would use it. But this way, we wouldn't have to. The binder would be out of Chavram's reach.

I asked for one other thing from the Prince - the binders have strengths and weaknesses. Their powers have limits. We would know what those limits are, so that when we are forced to confront those holding other binders, we are better prepared. He agreed to this, perhaps thinking it might lead to more of his fellow Princes being freed.

There was more discussion, but in the end everyone seemed ready to go. And so it was agreed.

"No."

Everyone turned on me when I said this.

"I am not leaving this plane on some adventure with Aran'gel in the state he's in."

It wasn't a demand or a threat, it was simply the truth, and no one fought me on it. We would need to rest and recover spells to free Aran'gel. The Prince said we would be able to recover spells at the academy but that wouldn't help in this context. He was impatient but reluctantly agreed to wait. It seemed that Scorch was safe for the time being so it seemed we could afford the time.

So we recovered ourselves. Dravot spent some time in meditation, no doubt considering his family. I brought down the four statues of Aran'gel and his men so they'd be on hand.

The next day, after praying to Pelor, Dravot was ready.

I'll admit my mischievous side had thought of a number of entertaining possibilities - mostly involving changing clothing or other such things. But in the end I decided to be nicer than that, even if it was fun to consider.

Aran'gel had been ready to fire when he had been petrified, so I sat down on an old chair just out of his view. And Dravot cast his spell and broke the enchantment, and the elves all returned to flesh.

As their limbs softened and returned to flesh, their minds returned as well. The process was quick, but slow enough for them to realize something had happened and they each looked around as they were able to move.

"You sir, seem to get into trouble far too easily if left . . . unsupervised." I said when I thought he could hear me.

He spun around fast and his face raced through being threatened, to recognition, to something a bit . . . softer, and finally around to realizing I was poking fun at him. Only after all that did he settle on confusion as to why I was there.

Some of the other elves were injured, and Dravot took them to another room to tend to them, politely leaving Aran'gel alone with me for a bit.

Aran'gel stopped several questions before they started and didn't seem to know where to start. So I made it easier.

"I was reporting to Her Majesty and chanced to be there when Tirem was. He informed me of his meeting with you and I recognized the nature of the problem. So my friends and I set off after you and your prey. Unfortunately we had a lot of ground to cover and could not catch up as fast as we might have liked."

"But we did find you, more or less" I added with a smirk. "And we found your quarry."

"Yes there were ettins - and at first we didn't realize the beholder was there. We had killed one and were killing another and…" he trailed off.

I smiled broadly as I started "'Oh Aran'gel can take care of himself' I told them. 'He doesn't need me to save him' I told them. 'He can handle it' I told them." At least he took the offered drink while I teased him.

He just looked at me flatly and said "You're going to be hold this over me for some time then?"

I'm just blinked at him innocently. "Me?" Then I couldn’t' help but start giggling. After I'd settled down I added more seriously "I'm just glad that we did decide to come after you. Well actually it was more going after Sebastian but the effect was the same. I would have been most put out to have you stuck as a statue in some unknown cave for centuries. To say nothing of your mother."

He smiled at that, until I mentioned his mother, at which he rolled his eyes. He finally decided to sit down, and I explained to him who he was pursuing and what they were after. After that I told him of the dragons, the orcs and so on. His face sank lower and lower with each bit of bad news.

"What of Lord Gelban?" he asked.

I gave him the only answer I could. "We don't know. We don't think he's dead but he is surely not well."

"Aran'gel, you said that if your people needed you, that you'd be there. Well they need you now. Your brother is commanding the forces in the south holding back the orcs. I've asked Bolo to arrange a wind walk so you and your men can get out of these lands much more quickly. Go to Celene, find Melf and drive the orcs back. "

He nodded, and thought about that. He said "My mother will not be pleased"

"Sometimes it's easier to ask forgiveness than ask permission. Simply find Melf in the south and join in the fight. The Queen will be glad for the help, and I'm sure you will have little trouble leaving afterward if that is your will. I wish I could join you myself."

Of course then I had to explain about sleeping gods and so on. I was trying to keep up a good front, but the truth was that orcs were attacking my homeland, and I was doing nothing to stop it. I very much wanted to return to Celene, preferably with the entire group, and smash the orcish armies. The Queen wouldn't welcome the help of outsiders, but I had the feeling that Melf would have been less picky. We can make a big difference in this war, and quickly. We could tip the balance and while the Queen might be annoyed with me, I doubt she'll be too cross if it protects Celene. Indeed I was hoping to ask my friends to do exactly that after we had finished here, but it seems Corellon has something else in mind for me. But that doesn't make me feel any less like I'm failing my duty. The binder was a threat to Celene and to the whole of the Flaness. But a god who's been sleeping for centuries upon centuries - surely he could wait a little longer.

But if we waited, then the binder would still be here, free for anyone to claim. And that would be very bad indeed.

But Aran'gel said he would do what he could to help Celene. I told him that I would come as soon as I could manage it. If he felt my place was on the field, he didn't press the point. He surely knew I was conflicted enough already.

He was disappointed when I told him I had to go soon - the efreeti prince was already becoming impatient. There was time enough for a kiss and an embrace - it was the safest I'd felt in a while. Then I remember that this was the man who just had to be rescued from becoming a birdbath, and I had to bury my face in his shoulder to keep him from seeing me smirking.

And that was that, for now at least. I explained the way back out, and Bolo sent Aran'gel and his men on their way. The spell should get them well into Keoland before it expires.

Once he had left, the Prince was even more impatient. We each touched one of the purple crystals, and a wash of light grew around us, blocking out all sight.

When it cleared, we stood on a hill. No, not a hill.

A god.

 

[Zad]

(From Dravot, who's having a hard time with the boards today)

After the fight, I got a good look at my bastard half brother. In the few months since I had last seen him, he had undergone a lot of changes. He now had horns in his forehead, which was most certainly the influence of the abyssal, and his face was scarred as well. Something in that change had made him vulnerable to Valanthe's sudden strike; normally undead are
unfazed by this. I will take some notes on this and follow up later. I confess that I was somewhat disappointed by Valanthe.s success. I didn't realize it until now, but I had been secretly hoping that the last thing Sebastian saw was my face as I banned him to the afterlife.

Now that it is done, I'm surprised to discover that I am torn by what has happened. I am glad to have an enemy slain, but my heart is torn for the loss of a brother that I never knew. I wonder what might have been, had father acknowledge Sebastian's existence. Would the tragedies of the past few months have occurred? Would they have been significantly delayed without his assistance? I do not know. I do not know who his mother is (or was). If I find out, I will endeavor to let her know of her son's death (though I will not tell her of the details, nor of my opinions about him). I am considering taunting grandfather with the news, but haven't decided yet. I do know that I don't want to say anything until we have freed the binder, as our trip to Limbo would leave the binder unprotected in the short run.

In the meantime, I need to make some preparations for our next journey.

 

[Zad]

The Grand Tour - Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - The Githyanki Hilton

OOC Notes:

Experience is 2200

Next game is Friday, July 12.

This Week's Adventure:

I should add a few notes. The rather jarring notion of appearing on the vast body of a sleeping god made me forget a few relevant details.

Before we left I spoke to Prince Sumez again to be clear on our purpose. We are to destroy the "intertial barriers" but he had no idea what they looked like, or where they could be found. They should be able to be destroyed by physical or magical force as a mundane object though. He will be sending us to the "Sanctum dome" which was some kind of magical academy. The people who built the device are supposedly there. But since he has never been on the other end, he is unsure where we will find the barriers. But if we destroy the intertial barriers, that will stop the siphoning off of his power, and he should then have the strength to break free of his damaged binder. He would then return us to the prime material plane.

I suspect he perceived some hesitation from us, and he mentioned perhaps rewarding us with a further boon should we succeed. I did not bother to mention that we had good reason to see him freed on our own, and there was little need for further incentive. Even if I did not know, I would guess him to be the evocation binder - he was direct, lacking any subtlety or tact. He thought that in order to get us to free him, he'd need to motivate us himself, not knowing we had other reasons. Well if he wants to reward us, I certainly won't refuse him.

Dravot teleported off to take care of some business, and returned the next morning. He seemed a bit . . . confused but I didn't ask.

In any case, we were on the astral plane. Scorch was there waiting, and was quick to point out that while generally the "rules" here were not going to be too much trouble, all spells would be cast very rapidly here.

Nearby was a large dome with shuttered windows all around. Scorch said that when he got closer, ballistae began shooting at him. Once close to the dome however you were below their arc of fire. So we shrugged and made a run for it. A few of us were clipped by the ballista bolts, which had another interesting effect - a dimensional anchor. The effect would only last for several minutes though, so we didn't give it much thought.

An inscription at the doorway of the Sanctum Dome read "Ruun-khazai". It meant "Grey Stone Hand" in githyanki. Ruun-khazai, according to legend, was large enough to hold 200 troops including dragon riders, and was swallowed up by a dark storm of energy about 100 years ago. Karloth the grim built Ruun-khazai and ran it as his personal feifdom.

The dome itself was polished obsidian sixty feet across, and iron shutters ran around the perimeter, except in the south where there were stained glass windows. On the top platform, a pale blue flag was flying in the astral breeze.

South. Hm. Well, we had to discuss this quickly, and while "north" and "south" had no meaning, we just decided arbitrarily that towards the head was north, and went about our business.

The doorway itself was blocked by an iron portcullis. Bolo grinned and stepped up to it and reduced it to rust with a spell and we were able to enter. Scorch then remembered another minor detail. (Scorch was already demonstrating the absent mindedness that seems so typical of wizards.) We would not age here in the astral, nor would we need to eat or sleep. Nor would we naturally heal. However it's important to know that the time spent still matters and while we might not need to eat, we would be well advised to do so, since the effects will catch up when we return to the prime material plane, and could be fatal.

Past the portcullis was a softly lit, welcoming room lit with small lanterns. A fire burned in a brazier near the door, and a massive teak desk stood in the center of the room. Two iron doors marked the exits from the room, one marked "Domiciles" and the other "Diversions".

As we entered, the brazier flared and we were each encased in a glow. Aethramyr and Dravot seemed to be glowing markedly brighter than the rest of us.

Around the room were frescoes depicting various ceremonies and rituals. The entire place seemed very welcoming and had a certain elegance to it. Valanthe said the desk had papers of no interest inside.

We decided that we were more biased towards "Diversions" and went that direction.

The next room was marked as the Hall of Swords, and contained an array of swords, all taken from vanquished foes. There was a statue in the hall that had some kind of magical trap or alarm on it, that we unfortunately set off. But the entire place had the look of being abandoned, and we didn't worry immediately. All of the weapons were of fine quality but not magical. Again, this was an expensive collection of rare weapons from a variety of locations, if we could find a way to haul it.

And as fate would have it the next thing we found was the bar.

It was a small tavern-like room, with tables, chairs, and the most extensive liquor collection I had ever seen. Some of the bottles were extremely old, and of course here they wouldn't age or spoil. Scorch estimated that the entire collection would be worth a fair price to someone interested, if we could find a way to carry it. Aethramyr and I simply began selecting choice bottles for our own purposes. Of course it would take an elf to appreciate that a fine wine is only fine if you actually drink it.

The next room had the foodstuffs, and was an even more impressive collection of rare and exotic foods. We stopped long enough for a meal since it was all here, and then resumed exploring.

In the distance I heard the sound of explosions, and Bolo heard it too. We opened a window and looked out and could see a sizable flying ship. There were conch shell elements in the design, and it had broad wings like an insect. It was firing on the towers in the distance, which were returning fire. Energy was arcing back and forth between the two, but we couldn't tell who was winning.

But then we realized a fog was starting to fill the rooms and hall. A cabinet that had no lock would suddenly not open. It all sounded familiar, and I realized that something had activated a Guards and Wards spell. We decided to move on and see if anyone was coming to attack us.

Apparently the ballistae were not so easily thrown off their quarry, and we stepped into the hallway to be attacked from two sides by the animated artillery.

This was not good. For form's sake I fired at one, but the arrows simply landed in the wood with no real effect. The ballistae returned fire and missed, but where the bolts hit, the wall turned to stone.

Fortunately the others had more effective weapons available, and Dravot's flame strike did a good deal of damage. Bolo followed his lead and used a second.

Unfortunately we didn't have an unlimited number of them. Aethramyr set about hacking one apart but these things were very hard to hurt. I had no ready way to damage them so I just stayed out of the way.

Oddly, the ballistae decided they were getting the bad end of things, and after three of the five of them had been destroyed, the remaining two retreated. I thought this was rather unusual behavior for an animated object but presumably whoever had enchanted them did so with the notion that the retreat for repairs when damaged.

[OOC: These things were tough. They were just constructs and nothing that mean, but we didn't have a lot of good ways of getting past their 10 hardness.]

The next room had a large theatre with a bare stage. This area had the stained glass we had seen from the outside. Around the edge were balconies with stairs leading up to them. In one corner a stairwell lead down into darkness.

Adjacent to the theatre were dressing rooms, and in there we found the two ballistae that had fled. They continued to try to move further back into the room and we disabled them without any difficulty.

Beyond the theatre was a gallery. There were easels in neat rows, each with an oil painting. Most were of fierce githyanki or battle scenes. One was particularly violent and titled "Vivisection of a mind flayer".

We were finding a lot of very nice, very boring rooms and we picked up the pace of our explorations. One room had a desk with several speeches (perhaps scripts?). One had a large loom.

And then there were the "Domiciles". Apartment after apartment, each the same. All very nice of course, with an everflowing basin and all the amenities. But thoroughly dull.

We decided to move upstairs and see what was above. And found some larger apartments, various frescoes, statues, and so on. We found two very nice bedrooms that were protected against scrying and other divinations.

If it didn't look like a large black dome, I'd want to find a way to take this place home. It really was a very nice place, once you removed all the items the githyanki called "art".

One large chamber had several bathtubs. Each was full of water, and I went to one and put my hand in.

The water was warm and wonderful. And I looked up at Valanthe, and she looked at me.

Scorch said "No. No. You are NOT stopping to take a bath now. No way."

Valanthe and I just smiled, but eventually we yielded. We have been travelling for some time and while a bath would be wonderful, it could wait til we were at least sure that there were no other occupants here.

And we moved on to another door, labeled the "Hall of Consumption". It was a large dining area. But unlike most areas, this room was a mess. There were burn marks on the walls, blood stains, and charred furniture. Three green crystals were driven into the floor in each end of the room. Ceramic plates were strewn about, most unbroken. Several goblets were also scattered about, oddly many of them sitting upright and full of wine. (We quickly guessed the plates created food and the goblets wine. At least we'd never have to eat Meepo's cooking again.)

Then suddenly the gemstones cracked, and three salamanders emerged.

They said nothing - they simply screeched and attacked. Aethramyr took quite a beating from one. Scorch began with a cone of cold and Bolo followed that with an ice storm. Dravot used a Heal to undo the beating Aethramyr received.

I decided it was time for my new spell. I had worked out a way to bestow an elemental enchantment on a weapon and now seemed like a good time for a little cold. The spell flowed out quickly here, even though new to me, and my bow quickly iced over.

The salamanders didn't waste time either, and were throwing fireballs and a wall of fire cutting through the room. Two of them were badly hurt but still standing, and not showing any signs of giving up. I fired two arrows on one, and it fell, and then turned two arrows on another and it fell as well.

The remaining one summoned a massive fire elemental, which couldn't even fit properly into the room. Even so it managed to smash into me and injure me severely. We closed in on it and its summoner, and Aethramyr healed me enough that I wouldn't likely die if I were attacked again.

I couldn't see to fire on the salamander so I fired on the elemental. It had no room to dodge, and the iced arrows worked well. Of course it was all for nothing, since Scorch and Bolo arrived via dimension door, and Bolo dispelled the elemental. Dravot stepped in to smash the salamander and put and end to the attack.

If only Bolo had told me what he had in mind, I would have held my fire for the real enemy. Of course, these are the things we learn together - I sometimes take for granted the years this group has fought together. I'm sure that after time, things will sort themselves out and we'll avoid things like this. Had this happened at the start of the battle, it would have been a serious tactical problem, but as it was, it was only a minor thing.

We were all badly burned and battered, and we set about healing our wounds before we had any more visitors.

 

[Argent Silvermage]

A Halfling's point of view

We arrived on the dead god easily enough (though I'm not sure what the reprocussions will be for the Djinn prince smashing through the dimensional barriers like that.) Val and I are working well together I really like her, we filled my bag of holding with what food stuffs we did not eat ourselves. We're sure to make a mint on this in sigil of the Prime. I Loaned her my amulet of adaption since she has been having trouble with traps lately. She took it and seemed touched by the gesture.
Kayleigh and I still are not clicking like I do with Val, Scortch and Aethramyr. I was healing Scortch from a serious wound sustained from a fireball and when we returned to the fight I saw an elemental and dispelled it. She had a problem that I did not tell her I was going to do it before hand. Some people are impossible to please. But I will win her over.

She has no idea what I can do to aid her if she would only ask.

 

[dravot]

Dravot's Journal

[OOC: Dravot hasn't mentioned this to the group yet, mostly because they hit the ground running, and he didn't think that it was the best battle conversation. He'll tell everyone when they rest for the evening.]

My preparations involved a couple of quick trips home. I used the helm to teleport back to Brindinford for the evening, and then on to Hexpools in the morning. I evaluated my choices, and decided that for discretion purposes, it’d be best for me to show up in Thora’s chambers, rather than elsewhere in the house. I thought that this would be reasonable; I didn’t want to alert anyone to my presence if I could avoid it. Until I knew what Xavener’s game was, I was uncomfortable moving about in public, and I considered the main hallways of the manor to be public.

I’m not sure who was more surprised, myself, or Thora and Thorkeld. They were…in flagrante delicto. As they scrambled for something to wear, I caught a glint of gold on Thora’s finger, but I wasn’t sure what I saw, until I spied a matching band on Thorkeld’s left hand. They had gotten married.

I spoke with my man-at-arms. “I figured that you’d need at least 2 more days to get here. It would appear that you were inspired in your travels.”

To Thora, I said: “At the very least, I should have been invited.”

Her response was meek: “It was supposed to be a secret.”

I turned to Thorkeld. “I expected better of you. You should have asked me for her hand in marriage. I would have freely given it. We will speak more of this later. I have news of my own, and many questions to ask and then I will be going. I have a strange trip ahead of me.”

Thorkeld tried to speak, but I put up my hand; I was not going to hear any more about this until a later time when we were all less…surprised by each other’s presence.

I asked if Gerrin was around, as this concerned him as well. He was in Hexpools, gathering information. It would appear that he had found his niche. He was quite the spymaster these days. I’m hardly surprised, but I confess that I did not see it as his calling until I was told about it. It is good to know. I will have to get in touch with him when I get a chance.

I told them that Sebastian was dead, and at the hands of myself and my companions. They asked for details, but I refused to elaborate at this time. I asked them to keep this information to themselves, as the fact of his death alone might alert Chavram to our activities.

Thora did not know why Xavener was looking for me. I am left to speculate on this. I wonder whether I’m going to need to develop some contacts inside the Royal Court. It makes me tired just to think about it. I currently have 3 theories:

- Something involving my eventual betrothal, whomever that may be with.
- Something involving my ascension as Lord of Brindinford (fealty?)
- The situation in Rauxes.

Of course, it could be any combination of the three. I cannot think of anything else it may be.

I am relieved to hear that there are no undead near Brindinford. Regular patrols have found nothing of the sort. I was concerned about this, and now I don’t feel that I need to rush home immediately afterward. Hexpools is having problems though, so my worries haven’t faded completely.

Rauxes is becoming the big problem. Thora expects refugees from settlers in the area to start showing up within the next week or two. I suggested that they start making arrangements for them now. By that point it was late, and I slept in the corner.

As I left, I told Thorkeld that as I may be traveling incognito a few more times, that maybe he could arrange something where I wouldn’t disturb their privacy in the future.

Bellamy was waiting for me in Hexpools when I arrived. I gave him full details about Sebastian, and the binder and our extra-planar trip. He asked me questions about Sebastian, but I could not answer them. I hadn’t looked carefully at the body for holy symbols or other religious regalia. I promised that I would do so when I returned, and I’d speak with the corpse for more information as well.

He hadn’t had further word of Brontal, but told me that one of his acolytes who was investigating had gone missing. Bellamy was worried and planned on doing a commune soon to see if the acolyte was ok. I asked him to keep me updated as developments unfolded.

As I left, I mentioned to him that our foes were becoming increasingly powerful and that the Sunhammer was not as useful in these fights as it used to be. I asked that he look into any other weapons that the Church held that I might be able to purchase. He promised to look into it.

When I arrived back at the binder, I looked over Sebastian’s body for holy symbols and the like. All I found was a black octagon. My best guess is that it’s related to the shadow planes, but I have no proof to back that up. Attempts at speaking with Sebastian’s corpse were for naught, so we’ll have to wait a while until we get any answers in that area.