# The Tol Vehara Story Hour



## Pacio49 (Feb 19, 2005)

History and Introduction:

Tol Vehara is the so-called Last City of Free Magic. When the merchant marines of the Jewelled Cities discovered the continent of Brace, they found the place sparsely populated, and proceeded to settle, with each of the Jewelled Cities and families that bore their names jockeying for power and a way to put their multitudinous ‘second sons’ and bastard scions to good use. In the process of settling, the explorers found their way over the White Mountains and found the source of a rather large river which they soon found to have many names among the many races and cultures whose lands they passed through. The land seemed devoid of human civilizations -- apart from a few tribal bands of horse barbarians roaming the lands south of what became known as the Gold River, the humans mostly encountered demihumans. The nomadic halflings and their colorful wagons crawled across the lands to the north, the gnomes and their pastoral farming communities were south of the Gold River to the east. Although rare, the explorers found Dwarves among the mountains and hills of the far east. And in the great forests to the north of the Gold River were the lands of the elven Queen. 

The first exploring bands returned with strange tales of the Dwarven lands to the east, on the shores of an unknown ocean, with strongholds of stone, mines and quarries, foundries and workshops where they crafted exquisite goods of metal and stone. Above their cavernous clan halls and family holdings were the manicured and well-maintained gardens and fields of the gnomes -- expert with all things living, growing exotic crops in abundance and masters of the textile arts. They had a strange substance, light and strong yet soft and supple, that the explorers had never encountered before. The explorers said the gnomes called this ‘silk’, and despite many attempts and promises to obtain the secret of its manufacture, the gnomes would not be persuaded to impart this knowledge.

The explorers also told the Overlord of the Diamond Throne that the gnomes and dwarves were more than willing to trade with the humans, and the fine craftsmanship of the manufactured items and the exotic spices which the gnomes were growing were all brought back to the Jewelled Cities, creating an instant demand for a steady supply of these items. The new settlers made a trail of trading outposts that soon became small towns in the ‘frontier’ lands, to allow for the trading of manufactured goods with the eastern lands. The only problem to it all was the elves. The gnomes and dwarves were a bit insular, and they effectively closed off trading with the humans except in the town called ‘Outpost’, which soon became a thriving trade town. The elves, however, controlled the river and its trade, and soon saw the money to be made by charging tolls for rights to the river. 

This matter of paying for the trafficking of the eastern goods soon led to resentment from the human traders as the elves’ fees cut into their profits. Greed ruled the humans’ hearts, and they all petitioned the Overlord of the Diamond Throne for an army to be sent. The Overlord, long worried at the prospect of the independent Grand Duchal families that ruled each of the Jewelled Cities were fast becoming richer than the Overlord of the confederacy, saw the armed excursion as an excuse to install his troops as unquestioned authority in the area, which would allow him to enforce tariffs and taxes on the goods both before they left the continent of Brace and when they were brought onto the shores of the Jewelled Lands. The Overlord graciously agreed.
He issued his muster, but also turned to the famous Knights of the New Order. Founded at the very early part of the history of the Jewelled Cities, the Knights of the New Order rescued the life and reign of the first Overlord, Lord Tyrant I (it was his great-grandson, Tyrant IV, who was to lead to the word ‘Tyrant’ and ‘Tyranny’ holding the negative connotations they do now). As a result of this, the Knights were given an Imperial Edict to go about their work, answering to none but the Diamond Throne. Since it was a band of evil spellcasters who had threatened Tyrant I, the Knights of the New Order quickly set about to regulate the use of magic in the lands. They did so in a very brutal and very efficient manner, absorbing those arcane spellusers who were willing to join the Knighthood, and destroying those that did not. If not for the powers of the clergy of the Jewelled Pantheon, they would have soon absorbed any divine spellcasters as well. In time, with the Imperial Edict, the Grandmasters of the Knights of the New Order managed to create a stranglehold on all magic in the Jewelled Cities. They erected towers of white stone in every city and topped each of the pinnacles of the tower with crystalline structures of various hues that mimicked the gemstone for which each of the cities was named. It was from these Towers, open only to the Knights, that all magic power flowed. All magical items were dependent on the flow of magic from the towers, and so the Knights prospered as they sold items for everyday use and then charged a monthly magical usage fee on top of that for anyone who used their energy. They tithed regularly and heavily to the Diamond Throne, and thus they were able to keep their Imperial Edict throughout history. Magic in the Jewelled Cities was extremely common, but extremely regulated, and arcanists who operated outside of the New Order were quickly found and destroyed.

The Knights were happy to provide the use of their standing armies for the Overlord, and using their powerful magics the martial and magical warriors of the Knights were sent to Brace to ‘negotiate’ with the Elven Queen. When they arrived, their diplomatic offers were rejected, and the Knights of the New Order proceeded to instigate a brutal war against the elves. The elves, however, proved much more resourceful and magical than the Knights had anticipated, and so despite all efforts of the Overlord’s Armies to the contrary, they were unable to capture Queensholm, the capital city of the elven nation. Heavy losses were incurred on both sides, and months turned into years, years turned into decades, and the Overlord grew old and died.

With the ascension of the new Overlord of the Diamond Throne, the Knights put pressure on the crown to sue for peace with the Elves. The distance between the frontier and the elven lands was formiddable, even for the magically capable Knights, and the spirits of the land seemed to conspire against the invading forces. Those who had begun the battle with rancor and greed were now mostly dead and gone, while the elves themselves were beginning to tire of the incessant fighting with the foul-tempered human foreigners. The new Overlord, Davin III, consented to the suit for peace, and sent the Lady Gillian Varese, one of the minor offshoots of Grand House Amber, to lead the diplomatic negotiations. The Lady Varese was a shrewd choice : already in her 50’s by human standards, she had in her veins the bloodline of a gold dragon, the hereditary claim of House Amber, and it made her unnaturally long-lived. She had the respect of the Knights, and she was a good negotiator. 

The Lady Varese appeared in the elven court under flag of parlay, bringing gifts and tribute from the Overlord and the Nine Crowns of Friendship, silver circlets set with the gemstone from each of the nine major Jewelled Cities: Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald, Garnet, Amber, Onyx, Opal, Topaz, and Aquamarine. The elves were equally gracious, but the gifts they made to the approaching party of humans were not disclosed to those outside of the group. The elf Queen, Saristraiya Misterelle, and Lady Varese worked out what became known as the Accords of Tol Vehara. Representatives from the gnomes, halflings, and dwarves later ratified the Accords themselves, bringing peace and order to the region once more. And humans.

By the accords of Tol Vehara, the westernmost city of the elves, Tol Vehara itself, was ceded to the humans. They gained all control of the forests and lands north of the Gold River and west of the North River (as it became called... the elves called it Silver Stirring Pools, but all except the elves now refer to it as the North River). The humans were granted control of the bridges into Tol Vehara across the North River in a mile radius as well. All prisoners of war were exchanged, and both parties agreed to the nullification of all restitution efforts. The humans were required, as a show of good faith, to construct a stone wall 20 feet high and 10 feet thick minimum, running parallel to the river no more than 10 miles south of it. The elves insisted on this wall, and that it be manned by the humans, because the lands far to the south of the area described were known to be tainted by some miasma of evil. Occasionally this spawned monsters which swept north in bands, and the wall was intended as a way to deter these raids and give the humans and elves some peace from the raids. In exchange for this, the elves ceded any authority over the river traffic itself (an item which led to the grateful ratification of the Accords by the other races), and the new national boundaries were affixed in perpetuity.

All was in accord, and the Knights of the New Order saw to magically enhancing the creation of the wall. Scouting parties which ventured to the south, however, either never returned or else came back sickened by the effects of the Taint on the lands. Tales of monsters and ruins filled with items and treasure became commonplace, but the insidious effects of the Taint made it nearly impossible to venture within those lands.

20 years after the treaty was signed, Tol Vehara began to come into its own as a multi-racial and -cultural trading center. The tree city of the elves and their graceful, living sculptures of vines and treeforms among the middle and upper branches of the Ancient Elvish Trees provided a canopy for the city that began to spring up on the ground between the roots and trunks of the city’s trees. The Knights of the New Order finished one third of the length of the wall under the overseer Lord Hegen of House Aquamarine when a strange storm kicked up from the southlands. Animals fled before it, and a strange feeling fell over those who ventured even as much as a mile to the south of the wall... the Tainted lands had unexpectedly expanded northwards, eating a huge swath of lands. Suddenly, Hegen’s Wall, as it became known, became a tactical necessity as well as a sheer impossibility. The laborers rebelled against their working contracts. Those who had previously volunteered to man the watchtowers reneged on their oaths, and those who had been providing the magical power to expedite the creation of the wall (the Knights) suddenly found themselves recalled to the Jewelled Cities on an urgent matter. They left, and have not returned since.

The Lady Gillian was rewarded for her negotiations and made Governor and Viceroy over the fledgling city. With the disappearance of the Knights, the magical ties with the homelands were effectively severed. Without a Tower nearby or the Knights to bring portable energy sources, there was no way for the magical items and household luxuries to function in the city, meaning that cooling breeze stones and portable heat-boxes no longer functioned. The technology level of the city quickly reverted to one that did not rely on magic to survive, breeding a sense of self-sufficiency among those who lived there. Lady Gillian, bereft of immediate communications and gifted both with longevity and nearly absolute authority, set about to instill order in the new city by her own devices and plans. The Knights’ edict against magic use was immediately lifted. Instead, the Law of Dispersal was installed, stating that arcane users were allowed to function, but anything resembling a magical school or organization was strictly prohibited. Any arcanist found teaching someone beyond the rudimentary instruction of their arts (e.g. 3rd level) would be stripped of name and title and sentenced to execution by hanging OR life sentence serving as a Warden on Hegen’s Wall. A militia was quickly raised and armed and construction began on the temple of Povra, God of Warfare and chief deity of the human pantheon. To prevent the further loss of those building and manning the Wall, Lady Gillian decreed that the oath of service to Ward the Wall was binding for life. Those who swore the new oath would be pardoned of all crimes, but could never leave its service. She made the unpopular move of allowing the elves who owned property in the treetops to maintain that property, if they chose to become citizens of Tol Vehara and abide by those laws. Many left, but some remained.

All was well. The Wardens of the Wall thinned in numbers due to attrition to the point that not every watchtower on the wall can now be manned, but because the sentence for violent crimes in the city involves a choice between death or enslavement at the Wall, crimes became less frequent. Tol Vehara became a thriving trade city, and its numbers were supplemented by the fact that it attained the reputation for being the Last City of Free Magic “in the world”, according to the humans’ point of view. Overlord Davin III’s death left the succession in question for a bit, and after two years of political infighting, Overlord Kestrel I, originally Grand Duke Marthek of House Opal, ascended to the Diamond Throne. Kestrel was happy with the tithes that were sent regularly from the taxes Lady Varese collected, and he saw fit to leave Tol Vehara pretty much alone, focusing instead on using his reign to consolidate power and found a dynasty to follow after him.

With the Taint so nearby, though, the farmers to the south of the river soon began to fall ill. Strange transformations came over them, turning them bestial, mottling the skin, hardening nails into claws and changing the pupils of the eye into vertical slits that glowed red in the dark. Insanity claimed many, who struggled out of their sickbeds and ran like madmen to the south. Those who could breach the Wall did so, scrambling into the Blasted Lands never to be seen or heard from again. Not just humanoids were susceptible to it, though. In fact, it soon became apparent that all organic material exposed to the Taint became Tainted itself, meaning that horses, saddles, clothes, shoes, and food that had touched the Blasted Lands could make anyone sick, or begin the process of Tainting those who interacted with it. A wave of paranoia infected the city, with the whole population becoming hyper-sensitive to the concept of ‘purity’. The upper classes began to wear veils to separate themselves from the commoners and therefore make it so that they could not become Tainted. Government officials came into being to certify that items bought and sold were ‘clean’, and those unfortunate enough to contract some measure of the Taint were ostracized, forced to live on the South Bank of the Gold River, which quickly became a slum that was full of crime and despair. All attempts by the Clerics to cure the effects of the Taint were unsuccessful.

The Taint affected elves as well, but in a slightly different fashion. Elves who were exposed to the Blasted Lands eventually contracted a strange rotting disease, known as the Bane. They did not suffer the insanity or bestial transformations that normally occurred with the Tainted Ones, but they did find themselves in a leprosy-like progressive and infectious disease that killed within weeks of contracting it in a gruesome and painful way. After the strange storm and the advance of the Blasted Lands, the elf Queen declared a Quarantine on all elven lands. The borders were officially closed. Communications were sent via drum codes from city to city, and anyone approaching the elven lands would immediately be attacked with intent to destroy. The elves who were left in Tol Vehara found themselves locked out of their own homelands, and cut off from their kind. Stranded, they settled in to endure the Quarantine as best they could.

The one group that ended up benefitting from the Taint and the Bane, though, were the half-elves. All children of war, sired usually by force, or the descendants of those sired by violation, they were considered at best cause for pity, and at worst, a scourge and reminder of all that is evil within the human race. However, the mixed heritage of the half-elves was discovered to have a kind of odd advantage. The human heritage was resistant to the Bane, and the elvish heritage was resistant to the Taint. Half-elves were rather immune to the cumulative effects of the Taint. If they ate Tainted food, drank Tainted water, or slept on Tainted ground, they would feel terribly ill (-2 to all rolls for each day of exposure, cumulative) but once they returned to an area without Taint, they would recover (at a rate of one day’s recovery per day’s exposure). Furthermore, a half-elf didn’t seem to be capable of passing on the Taint to those they met, making them by default a ‘pure’ race. Suddenly, the downtrodden and despised half-elves found themselves in top jobs as Seneschals, Butlers, Valets, and Servants to the rich and powerful who wished to preserve their ‘purity’. 

They also began to explore the Tainted lands, making forays into the area and grabbing as much treasure as they could, dodging whatever monsters were to be found and making a run out again. It soon became apparent to the early explorers that there were pockets of ‘normalcy’ within the Blasted Lands, places that for some unfathomable reason were free of the Taint. These became known as Havens, and as the knowledge of these spread, more and more of the other races began to plunder the ruins of the Blasted Lands. The Wardens of the Wall would grant them access to the lands to the south, and they named these folks ‘Dust Riders’, for the clouds of dust that their mounts would kick up as they made a run for the Wall, chased by whatever monsters or nastiness they couldn’t handle. (Dust Rider is a prestige class, stats to be posted.) A thriving business was set up as certain folks would make jaunts out into the Blasted Lands as their career, bringing their haul back to the city of Tol Vehara where they would invariably turn it over to Agents, sort of like a legal Fence, who would credit the Dust Riders’ accounts for the loot they returned, and then see to ‘purifying it’ and selling it on the open market in Tol Vehara. Agents grew to positions of economic importance and some political power for the services they provided. They saw to the supply of fresh mounts and equipment after every jaunt for the Dust Rider, gave them housing in a hostel or compound if they needed it, and disposed of any items that were Tainted for them. Agents became the sellers of items and knowledge, lore and history, and became a valued asset in the city.

It’s been 54 years since the Taint moved north following that odd stormy night. Tol Vehara is the city of opportunity -- the frontier city that defines the very edge of human ‘civilization’, without the amenities of magic-enhanced quality of life, far from the reach of the Overlord of the Diamond Throne, perched on the brink of possible destruction should the Taint move suddenly north again, thriving with trade and a stronghold of independent arcane magic, yet under the ever-present shadow of the possibility of a return from the Knights of the New Order. Tol Vehara is the place between places, rooted in the heritage and culture of the Jewelled Cities, yet growing organically among the demihumans. City of threats, city of intrigue, city of chance, city of prosperity. Fortunes are made and lost in Tol Vehara in a way not possible anywhere else in the known world.

And it is here that our story begins. . .


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## Pacio49 (Feb 21, 2005)

*Meet the Party*

Our cast of heroes came together after receiving the rudimentary training in their chosen classes (3rd level).  The party was given the dossier on Tol Vehara and some other information, and this is what they brought to the table.  (_NOTE: This game is running under 3.0 rules with an eye to converting one of these days to 3.5_)

*VALAR*  Half-Elf Male CG Rogue
_Valar's player brings his 13 year-old son RL to the table (see Skalar) and his adult half-brother (see Tanin/Tybok). This isn't the only family relationship we have going on, as Arien and Marcus who RP brother & sister in game are a married couple IRL. Although this is the first time this particular group has gathered, most folks knew each other from work or play already._​Valar hails from the streets of Tol Vehara. A second-generation half-elf, he adhered more to the elvish side of his parentage (given the fact that he was born when it was already known that half-elves were immune to the Taint) and as such, he came to the group already a part of the powerful elvish rogue's guild (one of three in the city) known as the White Masks, a fact that his other party members are still not aware of wholly in game, although they know he does have some kind of connections to the "underground".

*ARIEN*  Half-Elf Female NG Druid (now LN, you'll see it in the story)
Arien and her brother Marcus adventured together for the beginning of their short career. Also natives of Tol Vehara, Arien has grown up drawn like many by the allure and mystique of the Dust Riders and the Taint to the south.  As such, she has already begun to study the Blasted Lands wilderness lore and begun to take the correct steps necessary to study as a real Dust Rider prestige class once she attains the necessary prerequisites. Arien is a whole lotta common sense, and a good dollop of natural diplomacy. She's older than her brother, and grew up caring for him even though they're close in age, so Arien naturally mothers others close to her age as well.

*MARCUS*  Half-Elf Male CG Wizard
Marcus is part of the social resistance movement that dares to study arcane lore, even with the threat of the Knights of the New Order lingering above.  He is quite interested in finding new scrolls and attaining the best magical resources he can. If not for the persistent ministrations of his sister's caregiving he'd often forget to eat, sleep, and bathe in the pursuit of his desire for the mysteries of magic. Left on his own, Marcus might have managed to obtain a fair level and then set up shop for himself, but drawn off into adventure with his questing sister, he finds himself on the fast track for adventure and notoriety.

*SKALAR*  Half-Elf Male CG Ranger
Skalar is stalwart and true, very interested in honing his ranged attack skills and learning the most that he can about being a ranger.
_What more can I say?  Skalar is 13 years old in real life, and although he seems to enjoy the game a lot, he's a bit on the sullen side as part of the normal growth and maturation process for American teens.  I'm going to have to sit down with him and retool his character slightly. Although he didn't know what he wanted to play like when he started, he seems to have finally found a desire to become an Arcane Archer. Unfortunately, his feats and skills don't optimize for this, so I'm going to give him a break and let him switch over his stats to the 3.5e ranger and optimize his feat selection to give his player the mechanics to play the character the way he's developed the preference for. It's not like Skalar's current feats or abilities have ever been the sole turning point of a battle or skill contest, so it wouldn't create messes retroactively._​
*YOVAIRE*  Human Male NG Fighter
Played by EN's beloved moderator, Eridanis, Yovaire was the only character whose player had the guts enough to start him out not automatically immune to the effects of the Taint. Although later it was revealed to be due to an oversight from the onslaught of information that came with joining a homebrew'd game several years into development, he's gotten some rewards based on that initial courage.  Yovaire specializes in 2 weapon combat using the Double Sword form of fighting.  He's quite the honorable sort, despite an alignment that allows him a fair amount of wiggle-room, and quite personable. Aside from a predilection to drinking fairy wine (all in good time), Yovaire's rather straight and narrow, and he tends to keep the party alive in combat.  Together with the cleric Laeka, they have dubbed themselves Hack (Yovaire) and Slash (Laeka).

*LAEKA*  Human Female NG Cleric of Povra, God of War
Laeka is a cleric of Povra, the God of War and chief deity of the pantheon. It says something that the human pantheon places War in their chief slot, but the cosmology bears this out. Of the five major gods, there are two sets of twins, each diametrically opposed (Iola, NG Goddess of Life, and Zaal, N Goddess of Death;  and Ferenthal, LG Lord of Light and Good, and Shardal, LE Lord of Darkness and Evil)  and ruling their interactions and therefore the power that churns out all existence is Povra, N Lord of War and Conflict.)  Povra's temple compound in Tol Vehara are two 60' tall crenellated towers that are connected by a complex at their base and two different bridges connecting the upper stories.  Once a month, the services of Povra are enacted, where Laeka and the other faithful don magical headbands and use illusory weapons to enact a pitched battle with no actual hurt, only the illusion of injury (maintained by the headbands) and appropriate temporary immobilizations. Some are general melee, some are themed combats or scenarios, some are two teams vying for control over the towers, other times there are illusory creatures set up for the faithful to battle. Laeka is your average, run-of-the-mill spiked-chain favoring hot blonde cleric who can tease with the best and defend herself quite well, from fisticuffs to formal rapier duels.  Laeka came to the party drunk, and often finds herself intoxicated or in some form of altered state of consciousness while adventuring as well. (_I'm not sure if Laeka's player knows about the Drunken Master prestige class or not. I'll have to run it by him._)

...and, finally... 

*TANIN*  Half-Elf Male CG Fighter (and pet dog).
At the time of this writing, Tanin is no longer with the party, having drunk impetuously from a forbidden cup.  But for the beginning adventures, Tanin was a rather odd sort of fighter, given to picking on lone, immobilized kobolds when giant-types were still wading through the thick of the party doing massive damage.  His tenure with the party has been short, but his method of exiting has set up a rather promising plot twist for the future that the players still haven't encountered yet.
_If you've played D&D long enough, eventually you'll run into a poor victim of the dreaded Animal Lover Spirit.  It's not something that afflicts every player all the time, but occasionally this dreaded spirit possesses otherwise normal and rational players and turns them into a teeth-clenching ornery burden on the party.  Tanin was one of these -- more worried about his dog than his party, taking things personally when his dog was accidentally caught in an area-effect spell, and in general not liking the fact that his dog was more effective on the battlefield than he was, due largely in part because Tanin never took any risks.  Once Tanin was gone, the Animal Lover Spirit quit the player's body, because his replacement character has been just fine. -- Adam_​
And those are the heroes of this story of Tol Vehara. Since I'm playing catch-up to the party's current state, I'm in the process of gathering information from my back notes and maps.  If any details stray, it's because I tend to GM with a loose sketch of information jotted down, a few key maps, and the best of intentions, and then just think on my feet and see where it leads, to later come up with more notes and twists and threads based on the previous sessions as needed.  It's organic, but my players certainly seem to be enjoying it, and so am I.

Next, on with the story!


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## Pacio49 (Feb 21, 2005)

*A beginning.*

Our tale begins in the usual way, with a bored group of people who loosely know each other from around town and a favor being asked for by a friend.  After all, what could _possibly_ go wrong with helping someone out? 

Arien had just finished her training for 3rd level when she was approached by a friend of hers and Marcus', a human Expert (Farrier) named Tobias. Knowing Arien's reputation for goodness and taking care of folks, the thin man immediately thought of her as a possible way out of his current bind.  He asked for the favor and promised to meet them at the party's impromptu headquarters in town, the Howling Wolf.  Tobias had said to bring some friends, so Arien turned to the others in what became the party and got them all to help out. 

Tobias appeared and quickly explained his problem.  His reputation as a Farrier (a blacksmith who specializes in horseshoes and shoeing horses) and his tireless work at his craft have finally paid off. He's in the employ of several of the more well-to-do houses, and even has a full-time gig at the Sapphire Manor, the local holding of one of the great families from the Jewelled Cities back home.  He's successful enough that he has taken on apprentices, and that's where things begin to get complicated.

One of his apprentices, a young man by the name of Vair, has managed somehow to meet the young Lady of the Sapphire household, Ymanoura Sapphire (Yma for short).  At first, Tobias let their little dalliance go on, since Yma and her family recently arrived in Tol Vehara and there was nothing sinister about two youths having a bit of fun.  However, in the recent weeks, it has become serious.  Ymanoura and Vair started pining for each other, and now, a week before her father, Lord Sappire, is due to return from a business trip to the Gnomish Outpost, the two have disappeared.  Eloped, according to one of the house maids that Tobias was on friendly terms with.  Tobias did some investigating on his own, and he knows that Vair has a brother, Balek, who is a ne'er-do-well sort hanging out with the wrong crowd, a juvenile gang that sometimes met at the Wilted Rose, a tavern in the South Banks.   Tobias suspects that Ymanoura and Vair will turn to Balek in order to get assistance in getting away from the city, but he lacks the muscle power to make a confident foray into the shady neighborhoods of the South Banks against a group of "young hoodlums". Will the party help?  They've only got a week before the girl's father returns, and she just disappeared the day before.

After a quick consultation, the party decides that they've got nothing better going on, so they might as well take a look.  After an aborted attempt to try and gather their own information by gaining admittance to the Sapphire Manor, Valar (our trusty rogue) checks in with his White Mask guild contacts, finding out the general location of Balek and friends are indeed in the neighborhood of the Wilted Rose, a Gold Riverfront tavern in South Banks.  The party arms themselves and makes the long trek to the South Banks on foot, crossing the Gold River to do so.

As the party travels, Valar reveals that the 'hoodlums' that Tobias had spoken of were really a minor gang of thugs with a bad reputation for causing trouble called the Death Hounds.  Nothing serious, according to what little information there was to be had about them from the White Masks, just one of many little bands of thugs that roamed the comparative lawless area of the South Banks.  The party manages to arrive at the Wilted Rose in the late afternoon, and while they make discreet (or so they think) inquiries as to the whereabouts of Balek and his bully boys, one of said Death Hounds slips out into the back alleys and manages to alert the locals that there's something afoot.

The party gets ambushed by the Death Hounds as they exit the tavern to go toward the building that the barkeep mentioned might be where they were holed up.  Although the rogues in the Death Hounds are well hidden in rooftop perches, they're really no match for the trained party (albeit only at 3rd level), and the party quickly dispatches them with only minor damage to Valar, the supposedly-nimble rogue who can't dodge for anything.

One of the rogues breaks off from the attack and makes a beeline for his hideout (what can I say, they're only 1st level rogues and not too bright to begin with or they wouldn't be living in the South Banks). Skalar, the ranger, makes an astonishing Wilderness Lore check to track and manages to pick up their trail among the dusty alleyways. Not that it's necessary:  as it turns out the rogue led them straight to the building that the barkeep had talked about.  The party approaches carefully, and circles around toward the back when they are surprised by a second ambush from the rooftops from the 'security detail' that the Death Hounds keep posted.  By now, Marcus points out that for a group of bully boys, they've certainly got a handle on street fighting tactics. This suggests to him that they may be more organized than everyone on the street thinks.

The party quickly overcomes the token resistance from the security detail and gains access to the Death Hounds' headquarters without too much fuss, only to find that the place has been hastily abandoned.  As it is, after much poking around the rundown two story Victorian-esque house they manage to find out that the lower levels were abandoned in a hurry, but the upper levels look as though they've been carefully vacated in the recent past.  Valar manages to find several minor traps by setting them off, and with a slightly numb leg and hand from pin traps he finally locates a trap door in the ceiling of one of the rooms. Pausing to listen while no one else is in the room, Valar hears the obvious sounds of someone moving about up in the room above.  

Gathering the party, Valar manages to get a boost up to the trapdoor and cautiously opens it. However, the party has been making noise too, and whoever's in the room has been waiting for this.  With a THUD the occupant lands on the trapdoor from behind and slams the poor rogue back down into the room below with a nasty bump on his head.  Marcus casts mage hand and flips the trapdoor open, and Yovaire the fighter makes a wonderful jump/climb check and manages to vault himself into the room...

...only to find that there is a rather upset-looking, dishevelled youth with his legs shackled to the wall with a length of heavy chain.  The youth cringes, expecting punishment, and his dirty face shows signs of tears. Quick questioning reveals that this is none other than Vair, the star-crossed lover who spirited Ymanoura away.  The party begins to question him fully, and finds out that he was indeed the one who had stolen Ymanoura off, because they were in love and she said her father would never approve. Ymanoura managed to get away because she was a sorceress, and they turned Invisible and simply walked out of the compound via the treetop routes while the guards watched.   Vair's brother, Balek, had talked him into bringing her to the Death Hounds "for safety reasons", but then had kidnapped the girl and imprisoned his brother up in the attic when Vair refused to be swayed to Balek's sinister plan.

After they unlock him, Vair continues to inform the party that Balek had the unfortunate luck of making a bad run into the Blasted Lands, getting caught without a haven around, and had come back with the beginnings of the Taint affecting him.  He doesn't show it exactly yet, but those who know what they're looking for can see the change starting to affect him, if only in his eyes, whose pupils are slightly narrower than they were before. In a hyper-sensitive Taint-fearing society like Tol Vehara, it's just enough to brand him an outcast.  It turns out that _all_ of the Death Hounds have just the beginnings of exposure to the Taint, something that isn't to the point where it will progress on its own, but enough to brand them all outcasts.  And Balek, a sorcerer himself, is quite resourceful and visionary.

Apparently, there's been a rumor circulating that a method exists by which the Taint can actually be reversed. Balek has subscribed to the conspiracy theory that those in power in Tol Vehara know this secret, because they successfully cured the Elf Queen of her infection with the Bane several years ago. It's an old chestnut... the drums spread the word that the Queen was stricken with the Bane and that she was offering great rewards to those who were able to discover a cure.  The quarantine was relaxed a bit at that point to allow the Queen to benefit from the supposed cures. Many tried, and supposedly somehow a cure was effected (some say Wish spells, others say she kissed a kobold and that cured her, others say she died and has been replaced by a doppleganger, but those same folks tend to believe that the world is flat and that the moon is made of cheese).  After this, the quarantine was reset in place, with no explanation. 

Balek was convinced that the cure existed, and he was enough of a social activist to be filled with the freedom and opportunity for upward mobility that Tol Vehara represented.  He claimed that it was all a plot by the nobles to keep the common man down, grinding them away to nothing by tempting them to make get-rich-quick jaunts into the Blasted Lands, jaunts which ultimately kill off the ones who fall for it.  Understandably, Balek is bitter, but apparently he's too intelligent for his own good and without enough common sense.

It was Balek who convinced Vair that he should throw caution to the wind and follow his heart where it led him, and it was Balek who filled Vair with the courage needed to approach the equivalent of a visiting Princess of their homelands in the first place.  As the party continued to question Vair, it turned out that from his perspective, it was all Balek's fault to begin with.  And Balek, it seems, has gone mad.  He kidnapped the Lady Ymanoura with the help of his Death Hounds, and they're planning on bringing her out into the Blasted Lands and forcing her to be exposed to the Taint. Once that's done, they'll send a ransom note to Lord Sapphire and demand that he deliver the cure for the Taint into the hands of the common folk, or else they'll complete the process of exposure and make Ymanoura Sapphire one of the Lost Ones who go completely bestial and feral and run off into the south. 

When the party questions the wisdom of such an action, since Lord Sapphire is invariably powerful enough that Laeka said something to the tune of "Even his household farrier can summon up a party of adventurers to go and hunt them down,"  Vair reveals that Balek's already thought of that and off in the land of misplaced ideals.  He's going to deliver the ransom note to the Halls of Lore, the local bard college, and spread the tale throughout Tol Vehara, letting everyone know that Ymanoura Sapphire has 'broken the veil' (lost her cultural purity status), and if she manages to recover, "the people will see that the leaders have been keeping us oppressed."

Vair knows where the Death Hounds would most likely go to do this without further jeopardizing their own health. There's a haven that they know of to the southwest. They'd be able to get there in a day's journey into the Blasted Lands, and Vair has been there once before.  He offers to lead them to the haven so that they can save the girl and he can look like a hero, or at least redeem himself in her eyes as not being part of Balek's madness.  The party discusses the best course of action among themselves, and they're wary of Vair's potential duplicity in this plot. However, calmer heads prevail (and Vair makes a pouty declaration that he won't help them find the haven if they don't trust him), and Vair and party decide to set off for the haven the next morning.

They spend the night back in the city at the Howling Wolf, make a few trips to the market for supplies. Laeka checks in with her superiors at the Temple of Povra, Valar checks in with his handler for the White Masks, Marcus carefully prepares his spells, and Arien makes picks up some potions from an herbalist friend who keeps a stall at the great marketplace.  The night passes peacefully, and on a balmy April morning, the group sets out.  They ride to the southern bank of the Gold River and proceed out of the town altogether, then follow the river to the west for the remainder of the morning and swing south when Vair directs them to.  Hegen's Wall is falling into disrepair in this section, and there's a pile of rubble leading up to a breach in it that was under repair when the Taint overtook the buffer lands to the south half a century ago.  The party makes their crossing and enters into the Tainted lands.

There's general discussion about the fact that the Tainted lands look harmless enough. In fact, there's disappointment that it's not a sere and cracked landscape. Birds still sing in the trees, flowers still bloom, and the plant life is beginning to come into full verdancy like usual. Still, the cleric, ranger, and druid all feel uneasy in the Tainted lands, and point out small places where the natural order is beginning to twist. Roses with thorns that drip some viscous substance, bees that are as large as a human thumb and quite aggressive. Birds that get attacked by squirrels that sit in ambush among the branches, vines that rustle slightly without any wind going through them.  Tiny signs that get more and more noticeable the farther they go to the south. 

As the party is marching along at brisk pace through the Blasted Lands, the group is surprised by a sudden attack on the middle of the party by a pair of ankhegs. The ankhegs burst from the groud to the right of Marcus's horse and manages to grab the mage and reduce him to just above 0, but also to successfully grapple him and begin to retreat back down into the tunnel.  The party makes short work of the ankhegs as best they can, but the damage has been done. Poor Marcus is now in pretty dire shape and Vair has also sustained massive damage in the conflict.  The cleric and druid heal Marcus as best they can, but healing isn't enough for poor Vair and his wounds fester slightly from the Taint. (Marcus had made his save).  Vair needs shelter, but luckily they're within easy distance from the haven he's been leading them to.

The haven that Vair is leading them to looks rather picturesque. On the hillside there's a large farmhouse that someone has been maintaining in good repair, with a spring-fed pond and several orchard trees that aren't in season yet.  The thing that's strange about the place is that there's a bonfire going on piled high with bodies, and there is a pallisade of stakes around the place with various heads stuck upon them.  Upon getting closer, they see that the heads are mostly orcs, ogres, and even a burnt troll-head.  Arien, who's been studying to become a Dust Rider, mentions that this violates the code of the Dust Riders.  

"All quarrels are set aside upon entering a haven. No one can be denied access to the haven, and no one is to interfere with another group entering or leaving the haven.  To do so is to invite a reputation that will eventually lead to all other Dust Riders and adventuring groups in the Blasted Lands hunting you down and exacting vengeance upon you, putting out your eyes or cutting off your ears. Stuff like that."  

Still, the party approaches warily. In the evening's twilight, they really want to enter the respite from the oppressive feel of the Taint upon the Blasted Lands, but if the Death Hounds have taken out the monsters that are arrayed so gruesomely, then they don't want to rush in like fools. Eventually, though, they decide that there's nothing to be done for it... they either enter the haven or risk the Taint for Vair, Yovaire and all of their mounts.  

As they approach the actual haven itself, they are greeted by a pair of adventurers of a most bizarre description.  One is a dark haired human of swarthy complexion, the other is a minotaur.  They don't offer any names, but they welcome the group to the haven under the code of the Dust Riders. When Arien asks what happened there, the man explains that the monsters were stupid enough to violate the sanctity of the haven, and he and the minotaur "had to take care of them."  They mention that so long as the group doesn't do anything stupid, they'll be on their way the next morning. The man and the minotaur have been making deeper jaunts and their mounts are inside the farmhouse laden down with treasure. There's a second floor to the farmhouse, and the group quickly puts Vair into the bed, where he is ministered to by the Druid (whose Heal score is higher than the cleric's) to nurse him through the night in the bubble of normalcy that the haven provides.  They'll attempt to deal with the disease in the wounds on the following morning using Long Term care, but it becomes evident that they'll have to bring Vair back to the city where they'll have someone who can assist him with magical healing.

Valar spends some time eyeing the mounts and the magical haul of loot that the minotaur and his friend have amassed, and although his fingers itch to try out his thieving, the sobering reminder of the heads and bodies of the fallen prove to be caution enough.  Instead, he tries to be friendly and asks for information from them.  The man mentions that when they arrived at the farmhouse haven the monsters were already attacking the folks who were shacked up here. There had been some kind of slaving or raiding party of orcs and kobolds led by the ogres. The minotaur had decided he rather liked the idea of fighting inside a haven without losing the privileges or gaining a bad reputation, so the pair of them had waded into the thick of things and beaten off most of the raiding party. However, they were too late to save any of the group within. They did see a slaving party run off to the west from there, and they guessed that they would be heading to the ruins of Dorecan Manor, an old human settlement that has long been abandoned and picked clean by looters so close to the edge here.  

Valar gets the distinct impression that he's not welcomed at the camp of the other pair, so he goes outside to wander the perimeter, learning the feeling of what a haven's boundary does.  As he does this, he runs into an old man in the moonlight, walking by the shores of the pond.  He greets the old man and the man nods and returns the welcome, saying that it's been a while since he and the missus had nice guests. The last lot has been particularly nasty, but he overheard the mean ones say that they'd be moving on in the morning, and now that there's a druid here the group can't be all that bad. Valar chats with him, and learns that the man's name is George. His wife, Martha, is back up "at the house" dealing with that sick fellow they brought.  George is evidently a ghost, and the moonlight makes him seem real enough that he can manifest and interact with the living.  George says that he and Martha died in a war long ago, and that on the anniversary of the war the house burns down, but appears the next morning as it is now (some nice folks restored it in thanks for their help). 

Valar thinks to ask George about the folks who were here before the monsters invade, and George confirms that it was Balek and his bully boys, and they had a captive woman with them. The girl got taken first by the invading monsters, and then they made short work with all of the 'sick men' (Valar guesses correctly that George can somehow sense the Taint on the guests who are afflicted with it).   George gives his blessing on their use of the haven, asks them if they could to please take down the severed heads once the other two are gone, and bids Valar good night, then walks off into the darkness to go 'walk the fields' and disappears when he reaches the edge of the haven.

Up at the house, Arien is visited by Martha herself, an older woman with a sharp face and a no-nonsense attitude. Martha tells Arien to get some rest, she'll keep the watch over Vair tonight and see that he comes to no harm.  Arien feels at peace with Martha, who asks her idly if she'd mind blessing the cows in the morning for them, which Arien promises she'll do, but thinks that the cows may be gone. Martha confirms that, sighing at her own empty-headedness "this late in life.  Of course, I'm dead now, but that doesn't seem to have fixed my memory problem."  As Arien turns away, Martha reminds her to bless the cows before she goes.

The party rests that night with a watch, and the evening passes peacefully.  The next morning the pair of unsavory adventurers leaves at first light on their way back to town, and they express dismay that the minotaur didn't get to teach the thief to keep his hands to himself and not on their treasure. The party takes down the spiked skulls and Arien decides that Vair is well enough to convalesce under the watchful presence of Martha, whose presence she feels by the bedside but cannot see.  He's apparently out of the danger of infection thanks to the heal check she made, but he needs his rest.

The party forms up and decides that it's time to investigate this 'abandoned Manorhouse' they've been told of, and off they go to try and rescue Ymanoura before she takes on more of the Taint than is necessary. Odd that Balek would die unexpectedly at the hands of monsters yet still manage to see his plan set in motion.  Ymanoura is most likely already Tainted because she will soon sleep or pass out in the Tainted lands, but the party hopes to be able to rescue her before more damage is done.


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## Eridanis (Feb 22, 2005)

Hooray! Good to this is in B&W pixels.


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## Pacio49 (Feb 22, 2005)

Yah, but I've got a whole lotta 'splainin to do.
Even summing up will be a while to catch up with the party.


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## Pacio49 (Feb 23, 2005)

The next morning, the party heads out with Martha's deceased spirit in the haven left to look over the recovery of Vair.  They head west from the haven through the fields and woods of this hilly country of the Taint, and eventually they break through the overgrowth and emerge into the sight of the ruins of Dorecan Manor. Originally several stories high, the building is still large and, in spots, well preserved. The top stories have not fared so well, and now only the ground floor remains in any kind of functional space.  

Out from the tangled weeds and briar vines comes the sudden reappearance of a wide, paved, and curved road approaching the manor. An old fountain, dried now and choked with weeds, sits before the palatial entranceway to the old manor.  A strange motif of winged female humanoid figures without carved faces can be made out over the portico and at the tops of the pillars. To either side of the entryway is an intricate pattern of stained glass, _still in perfect condition and apparently untouched by the ravages of time_.

Marcus makes an excellent observation, that the ruin and decay seem to only have affected anything above the ground floor. He suspects some kind of powerful enchantment, since there is a clearly visible line below which no rot, breakage, or weathering has set in, 15 or so feet above the landing of the portico.  Oddly enough, the remaining bases of two squat guard towers flanking the entry approach have not been so well preserved, and look as though the only reason that there is anything left of them is because the walls settled and fell inwards, leaning upon each other for support.

The party advances cautiously, and as they approach between the two guard towers several orcs swarm out from the entry and two details of kobolds, one from each tower, also attack.  The party is soon into initiative, and although the kobolds' light crossbow bolts are tipped with something, it isn't long before Yovaire and Laeka make short work of the ambush.  Upon closer investigation of the bodies, Tanin and Skalar notice that the bucklers of the kobolds have been painted with a random pattern of small red dots with trailing tails behind them.  Other than that, there is nothing much of value on them.

While the group is stripping the bodies of salvageable weaponry and armor (not much), the rogue Valar and ranger Skalar investigate the dried up fountain. They quickly find the well in the middle that has also dried up, and Skalar uses his skill with ropes to rig a harness for Valar to sit in and ride down to the bottom of the well. Or at least, the length of rope.  Valar stops every so often to Listen, but hearing nothing and feeling nothing except the cool dampness one expects from a well, he makes it about thirty feet down and finds the water level.  Aside from some crumbling mortar and obvious damage of time and neglect, the well is apparently rather boring. Valar grumbles a bit for a while because of it, thinking that if he were going to go through the trouble of setting up camp in an old set of ruins with a dried-up fountain in the middle of the courtyard, he'd certainly put something interesting at the bottom of it.

The party took a more cautious approach to things at this point and did some reconnaisance around the perimeter of the ruins. They found some back entries and other glass windows and stained glass windows as well, but nothing more. Except Skalar, who at three quarters of the way around the building, came across some telltale worg spoor and tracks, and correctly identified them. 

Gathering their courage, the party ventured forth inside the main entrance, figuring that the guards had already come out and been dealt with.  Inside the main door was a vaulted entry hall with a balcony and balustraded grand staircase of marble. The place was in disarray, and from the rotting rafters hung the tattered remains of different pennants and banners, most moth-eaten and faded to fragile nothingness, their devices unable to be deciphered.  The stone of the walls and floor was severe black basalt, and pillars of winged and faceless caryatids held aloft the staircase. At the top of the balcony the invisible line of ruin and decay was crossed, however, and a pile of rubble and the debris of nature was visible where the upper storied roofs gave way and let in the elements.

Below the balcony two hallways split off, each leading into a different wing of the manor.  The scale of the place was colossal, and Marcus proffered a guess that the trappings of the entryway alone spoke of more than just a country manor-house. This was something more in keeping with a king's palace.  Marcus predicts that when they investigate further, they'll find that this is more like a palace than a simple manor.  (Marcus was right.)

There's little more time for talk and speculation, however, as a host of goblins comes teeming out from both side passageways, and another troop comes out from a smaller doorway to a chamber immediately to the left of the entry hall. The party begins to work together to respond to the threat.   Marcus stretches forth his hands and summons into being a _flaming sphere_, while Arien readies her sling and steps into the middle of the party.  Laeka unhooks her spiked chains and begins to wade into the goblins, leaving corpses as she goes.   Valar positions himself well to be out of the way and begins to look for opportunities to dart into battle and use his sneak attack, while Skalar steps besides Arien and begins to shoot arrows into their foes.  Although a couple of times Tanin gives pause from his destruction of the goblins he faces as one of Skalar's arrows narrowly misses hitting the fighter, the party quickly becomes used to the fact that Skalar is an extremely Precise Shot.  Tanin swings blindly at one of the goblins near him and misses as the green gruntling ducks under his blade. Yovaire is just about to enter into the fray besides Laeka when a roaring voice is heard coming from a chamber whose entry is beneath the grand staircase. 

"Who dat knockin' on Jaduk's door?"  calls out the filthy giant creature which comes out to confront the party.  "Ogre!" calls out Skalar, "Just another filthy giant. Soon to be one less in the world, and good riddance."  "How do we kill them?"  asks Tanin.  "Just stick your sword in him!"  replies Marcus, watching as the mighty creature bears down on Laeka and bashes the cleric with a huge greatclub and doing a sizeable amount of damage, leaving the cleric of Povra shaking her head to clear it, and growling.

Yovaire finally unfreezes, and changes tactics completely, turning to rush at the ogre, but unfortunately the ranks of goblins are in the way.  He quickly executes a double attack on the nearest one, and the little glubgluk goes down.  

(Hate to pause mid-battle, but such is life. To be continued...)


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## Pacio49 (Feb 26, 2005)

(Continuing...)

Marcus uses his _flaming sphere_ to wipe out one of the ranks of the goblins and affords Yovaire a chance to head in to deal with the Ogre.  Marcus then softens the Ogre by letting loose _magic missile_ .  Tanin wades forward into the left flank of the attackers and begins to lay about, dealing deathblows to the gobs one by one.  Meanwhile, Laeka and her spiked chain close in to within 10' and begin to whale on the ogre.  The ogre manages to return a blow or two, but when Yovaire joins the melee the monstrous humanoid goes down.  With Arien casting _cure_ spells she's memorized and Tanin's work at hunting down the little buggers, the room is quickly cleared of the remaining enemies.

The group does some preliminary exploring in the rooms to either side of the entryway, and manages to find a cowering goblin in a crumpled and stained white puffy hat and greasy apron.  He claims to be the chef for his group of goblins.  The party spares his life and interrogates the green cuisine master, and discovers that the ruins of Dorecan Manor are home to all sorts of nasties. They are led by a female named Tammishka Li, and the Chef doesn't know who or what she is, except for the fact that she's always watching them, and you never know what she's going to look like.  He confides that the upstairs are divided among the different goblin and kobold tribes, with each tribe not generally getting along with the other, and claiming various portions of the house.  The Eaters are his tribe, and they guard the front door. The kobold tribe on the guard towers calls themselves the Hailstones because they hide behind the battlements and chuck sling bullets and dump rocks sometimes.

The party ties up the Chef and raids the empty rooms, finding mostly silver and copper in small quantities, a lot of goblin-sized crude weapons and filthy living space.  The party then sets out to do some recon and takes the passageway to the right of the grand staircase, following it down the hall slightly.  Beyond the entryway, the look of the interior changes drastically.  Whereas the entry and outer walls were made of forbidding black basalt and gray granite, the inside have perfectly preserved and generally untouched marble walls, oaken doors, and 15' tall ceilings.  Even inside the couple of abandoned rooms they poke their heads into (and proceed to search through... greedy folks that they be) the walls have well-maintained plaster over them.  Marcus uses _detect magic_  to investigate the walls and finds that  indeed as suspected there is some strong yet latent Abjuration magic within the structure of the place. It seems to be fading, draining in color the closer to the top that he looks before his spell's duration expires.  He communicates this to the party and the group decides to poke their heads into one of the smaller rooms on the right side of the passageway.

Actually, at this point the group decides that rather than poke their own heads into the room, they should poke Valar's head into the room to let the rogue earn his keep by taking the risks that the rest of the (cowardly?) wary party wouldn't like to.  Valar, unfortunately, has the worst of luck at the worst of times and chooses a door that leads to a room whose occupants are still within.  Valar finds the small room to be neatly kept and full of dried herb bunches and small dessicated animal corpses and parts in jars. A cauldron sits over the banked hearthfire and a small curtain divides the room to afford the bed some warmth in the chilly springtime.  There is a goblin waiting for him, however, and at just the opportune moment the goblin (an adept of the Eaters tribe) pops out and lets loose a _scare_ spell. Valar fails his save miserably and runs screaming out of the room, past the surprised party and down the hall, making it all the way down to the entryway before Tanin manages to tackle him until he calms down.   The rest of the party, wondering what could possibly have scared the rogue so badly, charges in to deal with the threat...

...and finds themselves face to face with a goblin who has no useful spells or intimidating combat abilities left for the day, and who promptly dies at the hands of Yovaire.   And the jokes at Valar's expense begin.

(Next... one narrow miss and one lucky find.)


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## Pacio49 (Feb 26, 2005)

*Lucky Miss, Lucky Hit*

While getting comfortable within the somewhat bizarre chambers of the goblin adept whose corpse oozes quietly on the previously-clean-swept floor, Arien reminds the party gently that while finding a base of operations would be nice they are still located within the Blasted Lands, well within the oppressive miasma of the Taint.  Several party facepalms and groans later, the group decides that they need to retreat to allow their spellcasters to power up again and to heal a number of minor injuries.  Loot in tow, they return unmolested to their base of operations at the nearby haven where George and Martha's ghosts from the past are caring for the recovering human, Vair. Vair should be better in another day or two, so the party plans to sleep the night, restock on spells, and go back into the manorhouse the next day.

In the meantime, Laeka is busy settling in the goblin Chef they took with them in his new quarters.  The farmhouse in the haven has a small smokehouse nearby, not currently in use, and it is there that Laeka tells the Chef to set up for his own.  The Chef is quite agreeable to this situation, and she gives him a lecture on the benefits of choosing to be good, in the hopes that he'll slowly begin to abandon his evil ways.  The Chef begins to make the effort, knowing that if he does not, he'll be killed.

The next morning, the Chef tries to feed the party what he's cooked up the night before, a la green cuisine style, with a nice rat & rotting turnip stew with roasted cockroaches sprinkled on top and the floating remains of the weevils that infested the rotting turnip. The party thanks him, but says it prefers to eat the iron rations they have, and they depart, leaving the goblin behind in the smokehouse, locked up.

On their return trip to Dorecan Manor, they are surprised by an ambush of gnolls and a pair of goblins on worgs.  The party quickly closes ranks as best they can, yet despite the hurried advice of Marcus for the group to focus all their strength on one worg and rider at a time, Tanin begins to go after the gnolls. The rest of the group takes light damage from the scuffle, and Marcus uses his _magic missiles_ to great effect in weakening the goblin/worg riders.  Skalar tries to use his precise shots with the longbow to wreak havoc, but only accomplishes minor damage.  Laeka and Yovaire together are the tank of the party and manage to wipe up the worgs and riders, and then focus on the gnolls. Tanin of course doesn't fare so well and is down to about half by the time the rest of the party begins to seriously wipe out the gnolls.   The rest of the battle goes quickly, and betweek Laeka using her cleric spells and Arien with her memorized _cures_ the party is back in fighting shape again, albeit a few more spells short.

They make it out of the undergrowth and between the two ruined guard towers and are subjected to another kobold ambush.  This time the group decides to clean out the towers for good, and thanks to spells like _flaming sphere_, _magic missile_, and _summon nature's ally I_ the kobolds are quickly overrun and dispatched as they begin to pour out of the tower. Valar and Skalar return the slings and stones fire with long and shortbow volleys, quickly dispatching the kobolds on the roof.  Laeka and Yovaire are just about to wade through the tower interiors leaving only death and destruction in their wake when one of the kobolds who has managed to survive a heck of a lot longer than the rest gives a signal to the rest of his troops.  There's a pregnant pause among the party as they look to see what new devilry the kobolds will do, and are quite surprised when the remainder of the Hailstones tribe *surrenders*.

The stronger kobold is their tribal leader, and his name is Pook. Pook offers a deal to the party, who is talking about dispatching them anyway. If they will spare him and the rest of the hailstones, and leave them be in the towers, then Pook will swear not to bother the party coming or going again.  Plus, it they agree not to specifically target kobolds in the rest of the Manorhouse, Pook will vouch that the kobolds in the manor will only give half-hearted resistance to the adventurers, enough to keep up appearances for the other monsters that live there and who would hurt the kobolds if they didn't.

The party discusses it and decides that since they can so easily clean up Pook and his tribe anyway, there's nothing for them to lose by agreeing to it. Pook is relieved, and the party is let pass inside the manorhouse, trailing Pook with them as a hostage to ensure no doublecrossing.   Unfortunately for the party, while Pook knows the general layout of the interior, the Hailstone Kobolds live outside in the guard towers exclusively.  He knows where the other tribes are, and where the stairs are to the lower levels of the Manor, but he doesn't know how each of the other tribes of goblins, kobolds, orcs, or Ogres have split up their own territories. He just knows which doors lead to which tribal areas, and who's feuding with whom among the goblins just now (every tribe, with every other tribe nearby. Proximity among the goblin tribes breeds contempt, apparently). 

So, with a hostage who's little to no help as a guide, the group goes back to the adept's room and checks in to see that the body has been cleaned up and it looks like someone's been rifling through the jars and herbs, plundering off of the goblin adept's components and wares. They know that their foray has not gone unnoticed, so they end up pressing forward anyway, seeking for Ymanoura before the Taint can take permanent hold of her and turn her bestial.  

Since learning from the past takes a little while at lower levels of training and experience, the party decides that the best thing for them to do is hole up in the adept's room (and out of the hallway) while their rogue, Valar, does a little sneaking & poking about on his own.  Valar makes some surprisingly decent rolls for the first time in his gaming career and slinks about the hallways nicely. He also stops and listens at several points, looking around corners and beginning to get a sense of just how large a place the Manorhouse was.  Finally, on his return to where the party is ensconced, he stops at a set of double doors and makes as though to open them, but then changes his mind and listens instead.  He hears the sounds of combat through the doors, and resists the urge to poke his head in, listening instead for another round or two. He realizes that the sounds of combat don't sound like an active battle, and he hears goblin voices yelling out occasionally, answered by the sounds of weapons being drawn, fired, or sparring.  Valar guesses that this must be one of the combat training rooms, or else that at the very least there's a military unit of some kind on the other side. 

Valar pauses for a moment to decide, then takes out a length of his rope and saws it off with his dagger, and proceeds to roll natural 20's on his Rope Use skill (and still maintain a decent Move Silently check) and he ties the handles of the doors (which open out into the hallway/antechamber) together, so that even if the alarm sounds they'll have a hard time opening the doors from the other side. Ingenious.

When the rogue returns to the party he tells them of his scouting, and their hearts sink. The place is so large, they're going to need some kind of help, or else some dumb luck. Pook offers to lead them to one of the other kobold tribes and see if he can get help from them, but the general distrust of the party is such that they won't allow him to go off on his own, nor will they follow him to any specific room, in fear of a trap.  Pook shrugs and goes along for the ride.

The group wanders down the hallway some more until Tanin gets bored and decides that he's had enough of waiting for the group to do something. He opens a door at random and steps inside. . .

. . . only to find that he has been incredibly lucky, for he's in some kind of prison, with several humanoids chained to the walls in places, and instruments of torture located on the tables in the middle of the room.  The party goes from berating him to congratulating him, even as they rush in and quickly dispatch the goblin guards.  They survey the prisoners and find that a few of them have succumbed to the Taint and gone absolutely feral, snarling at the party and snapping wildly, thrashing against their manacles even past the point of self-injury.

Of the group of prisoners not completely overtaken already they find several gnomes and dwarves, ambushed and taken captive from a caravan about to return to the eastern lands, and a human female who obviously looks as though she hasn't worked a day in her life. They question her identity and rejoice at having found Ymanoura. They quickly free the prisoners who can be freed and mercifully kill the ones who are Lost.  Then, captive kobold in tow, they make tracks back the way they came.

True to their word, Pook's folks have not raised any alarm, nor do they make any move to stop the party as they pass back out again.  Pook is returned to the towers, but he asks the group to take two of his kobolds with them, since they are near death from the attack, and will not last long in the manorhouse. The party agrees, accepting them as hostage until they are well, and heads off.

Although several in the party feel that they are somehow getting away with things a bit too easily (suspicious lot, aren't they?), they do manage to get to the haven, where Laeka puts the two kobolds in with the goblin Chef, and tells them that they can practice being Goods with each other.  Chef offers to cook again, but the party tells him that until he learns to be a Good he can't practice any other craft or profession. The Chef sighs and goes back to the smokehouse to continue learning his lessons with Yovaire, Laeka, and Arien taking turns talking to the three.

All is not well in the haven that night, however. Vair, who up until then has been slowly and steadily recovering has a relapse and doesn't look well at all.  Laeka has her sleep interrupted with a very troubling dream with visions of women made of sand, crying tears of water that wash them away as time slowly continues forward.  She knows it's a significant dream, because it feels the same to her as when she prays to her god, and she asks the party for help in interpreting it.  No one has really any clue what it means.

Unfortunately for the party, while Vair needs more time to recover, Ymanoura has a slight breakdown of nerves when she finds out that the party means to stay an extra night. She wants to go home, and she wants to go home *now*.  The group discusses it, and they determine that it's probably safe enough to leave the Chef and Vair to Martha and George's care, and to get Ymanoura home as quickly as possible.  Valar, however, notices something that the others didn't... last night, George wasn't standing out by the pond in the moonlight like he normally does when the party's around, and no one saw Martha in the room with Vair.  Valar remembered George saying that he and Martha only manifest for those they like, or those whose hearts are kind and good, and that they most certainly never reveal themselves when evil hearts are around.  When Valar mentions this to Arien, she discusses it with Marcus and Laeka, who decide that most likely, it was because they had the kobold and goblin with them.  This satisfies Valar for most of the ride back out of the Blasted Lands, but just as he's about to get to Tol Vehara, he manages to remember that George had actually visited him when the goblin Chef was there, and the kobolds they picked up both professed that they didn't care about much besides doing what they wanted without a care in the world (CNs). 

Now the party is beginning to get suspicious. With such a relatively easy departure from the Manor, the fact that George and Martha haven't shown up since Ymanoura arrived, and the fact that Pook had mentioned that no one ever knew what their boss, Tammishka Li, would look like, Valar and Laeka begin to get nervous and doubt Ymanoura being who she says she is.  They begin to question her on various parts of her life, hoping to trip her up.  Ymanoura seems puzzled by the sudden feeling of passive-aggressive behavior, but she answers the questions truthfully.  Luckily for Ymanoura, the aggregate amount of Taint that she acquired she manages to fight off (think of the Taint like negative levels that half-elves automatically will recover from but which other races must struggle against or have permanently. Everyone gets the "negative levels" for exposure to the Taint, but half-elves know that they will eventually recover fully).  She promises the party a great reward if they can return her to her father's estate without it being noised about that she's broken the veil (lost her purity to the Taint).

Without proof against her, the party goes along with the return of Ymanoura.  When they get to the bridge, Laeka, who has taken the two sick kobolds along with her, tries to hand over the kobolds to the bridge guards in South Banks. They look at her like she's crazy, and she explains that she wants them dealt with properly.  The guards nod and say that they'll most likely turn the kobolds over to the Temple of Ferenthal, where they will be put to death.  Laeka changes her mind and decides to keep the kobolds with her, to allow them to continue to learn how to be Goods.

The group makes it to the servants' entrance to the Sapphire Estates, and they are taken in to an audience in the treetop home of Lord Sapphire, who has come home earlier than expected and was about to raise the alarm at his daughter's disappearance. Lord Sapphire and his wife agree to receive the party in thanks for their assistance, but the party does have to follow proper protocol. They are received in a small audience chamber, with the lord and his wife on one side of a banner with a gate in it, both veiled and with veiled half-elf guards with pikes standing before the barrier.  The party is made to well back from the group, and Ymanoura is the only one allowed to cross over and go to see her father.  Lord Sapphire hears the story and mentions his upset at the foolishness of his daughter, but relief that she has been returned to him. 

Valar interrupts for a moment and asks the Lord's indulgence.  He begins to ask Ymanoura about her childhood, and asks the Lord if her story checks out.  It does, and the party decides that they don't have any reason to stop her reunion with her family, although all of the players confess a sinking feeling in their stomachs that they've just done something wrong, somehow.

Lady Sapphire takes Ymanoura off to receive the bathing and scrubbing of her life, and Lord Sapphire then got down to business. He asked the party point blank how much they wanted for his daughter's return, and Laeka supplied "...and our silence, right? I'm surprised you didn't just tell your guards to kill us."  Lord Sapphire gives a guilty start and coughs a bit, then shrugs and tells the group that the thought has, in fact, crossed his mind, but since he's new to the city recently he's not going to start out by making enemies.  He'll do things the honorable way, but warns the party that he expects them to do the same.  They agree, and they negotiate their price and rewards (_I have to apologize here, because this was so long ago in real time that I can't really remember what they wanted and got, but suffice it to say that the party now had a magical item +1 at the very least, and some spending cash_), and return to the Howling Wolf for some well-earned rest. . . kobold "converts" in tow.


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## Pacio49 (Feb 27, 2005)

*Meta: A note of explanation of my GMing style.*

As I reviewed _The Tol Vehara Story Hour_ thus far today, I felt a small start of guilt at the fact that I don't have meticulous records immediately to hand to be able to tell you, for example, what items were doled out as the party's reward from Lord Sapphire.   My brain seems capable of holding vast amounts of impractical data on a 'macro' level but when it comes to details of specific things I find myself jotting down notes prior to the game in question and customizing things to the immediate needs, but unless I'm throwing in a bona fide Plot Item, I let the players worry about those details.

Occasionally I find those jotted notes and reminisce, usually while trying to tidy the pile of game related information that threatens to take over my office unless I make due sacrifice to it of small rodents and burnt offerings. Erm, or not. When I _do_ find those notes at the oddest times I tend to think of tiny ways to bring up something from the Wayback When and weave it into the Here and Now.  Players who pick up on the return of past information are often awed and amazed since it gives the impression that I've somehow planned for the return of that detail's prominence from the beginning.  What can I say?  I allow it because it gives me D&D 'street cred'. 

Essentially, I'm a top-down GM.  I keep track of the larger motivations and events happening, and I find myself making broad sketches of places and areas and relying a great deal upon improvisation.  It wasn't always easy, but I'm experienced enough now to understand how to control pacing and advancement 'on the fly' and contain the scope from expanding beyond a desired level. 

*Party Choices*
Another aspect that makes writing this Story Hour difficult is the fact that I've been running Tol Vehara with one group or another for about 5 years now.  Since the current party was a new gaming group that coalesced after a move to Connecticut, and the world is fleshed out more and more with each new group or adventure, I didn't do too much to force the group's hand one way or the other regarding plot development at first.  I figured that the new group would want to explore the city some, explore the surrounding countryside some, and of course everyone makes a jaunt into the Blasted Lands just to see what the hoopla is about.  From there, I listen to the table chatter and let the group select its own corner of the Tol Vehara stage and then slowly begin to design plot arcs to accomodate that.

The group has only marginally investigated the city of Tol Vehara itself. At this point in the storyline the players sat down and had a lengthy discussion about where they wanted to go.   They could have shopped around for another city adventure, and I would have been happy to provide them with another adventure that allowed more exploration of their surroundings and detailing of the tapestry of life in Tol Vehara.  They could have switched gears from a roll-intensive to a roleplay-intensive and gone off after the political arena, now that they had a minor 'in' with the suspicion of Ymanoura Sapphire and the mixed blessings of her father's gratitude.

Instead, the party decided that they liked the setting of the Blasted Lands.  I reminded them that the deeper they go, the more vicious the land itself gets, with warped denizens and a stronger presence of the Taint.  Marcus' player kept talking about trying to 'fix' the Taint and restore the Blasted Lands.  I told him flat out that maybe after they had 10 or 20 Epic levels under their belt they might be able to begin that serious of an undertaking. Maybe.   Arien's player decided that she really wanted to go back to Dorecan Manor to try and find some loot, and to give her the IC development which would lead to her becoming a prestige class Dust Rider.  The others all voiced similar opinions.  All except Valar's player, who wondered whether or not his rogue abilities would have a chance to develop well in the Blasted Lands.

So, while I expected there to be some kind of on again/off again interest in the Blasted Lands, the group wanted *stuff* and they wanted to play in the Blasted Lands some more.  Out went the plans for the city-based adventure I had queued next in line, and back to Dorecan Manor they decided to go.

What's a GM to do?  I had no preferences either way. Give me a situation and a party motivation and pretty soon the plot that develops from it and around it develops a motivation of its own.  Action and reaction, plot adjustment and player adjustment all lead to a nice give and take for the storyline.

And, just for the record when we actually catch up to the party's current location, until I heard about 'ZPMs' from Marcus's player, I never bothered to watch Stargate: Atlantis.  And until I had plotted out their stuff, I hadn't yet watched Babylon 5. (I have since then, don't fear.)


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## Pacio49 (Mar 1, 2005)

*A week about town...*

Flush with their newfound wealth and tantalized by their success at rescuing the damsel in distress, the party decided to take several days of rest and do the things that they do in town.  Laeka went to the temple of Povra and joined in the festivities and religious celebrations, engaging in sparring and battles when she wasn't walking about town with her kobolds. She found them a home among the warriors of Povra, and to the best of her knowledge they are still offering religious classes to the young followers of the God of War by taking part in the non-lethal scenarios swiftly dubbed "kill the kobolds".  Used to this sort of abuse, the kobolds think that they might actually be able to complete the journey toward goodness if it means they don't die permanently every time they're beaten up.

Marcus busied himself in the marketplace, looking for a set of new spells (_Although Tol Vehara is the so-called Last City of Free Magic, the prohibition against training anyone past 3rd level so as not to invite the wrath or scrutiny of the Knights of the New Order means that wizards do not automatically gain 2 spells each level... they have to buy them_).  Arien accompanied him to a point and visited with several of her own contacts in the marketplace, looking for the possibility of locating and purchasing a weapon with magical abilities that the druid could use.  Her friend Betta who is an herbalist/folk healer told her she'd check around with her merchant friends to see if there were any that could be scrounged up.  While Arien was waiting, she decided to investigate the training that would be necessary to get her ready for being a Dust Rider. 

Skalar and Valar, ranger and rogue, both decided to stake out the Sapphire manor in their own way, with Skalar watching the physical comings and goings of people in and out of the Sapphire manor via the streets, and Valar taking his time to poke around in the underbelly of Tol Veharan society.  Valar manages to get the White Masks interested enough in his suspicion that they say they'll assign one of their spies within the Sapphire household to check out what's happening with the triumphant return of Ymanoura. They also reward his account with the guild for bringing them the political leverage that could possibly be gained by revealing that Ymanoura had broken the veil and actually been directly exposed to the Taint in the Blasted Lands, as well as the socially-sensitive matter that the daughter of one of the three 'noble' houses which maintained residence in Tol Vehara had run off with the farrier's apprentice. 

Skalar finally recalled that part of the wealth of the Sapphire family allowed for them to actually own several of the treetop dwellings in the canopy above their downside manor. He trudges off with a sigh of exasperation at having allowed his quarry to leave... if she did in fact leave.  He returned to the Howling Wolf tavern and decided to stay there for a while.

Yovaire took some time to outfit himself better and practiced his skills patiently, awaiting the rendezvous date so that the party could actually get their shopping done.  Tanin spent the time at the Howling Wolf and visiting the Gardens of Pleasure and the temples of Rathsha, the Love Goddess in her more ... scandalous ... nature.  A few notches on the belt later and a good deal more poor, Tanin spent the rest of his time indulging his dog with bacon and milling and swilling at the Howling Wolf.

Arien and Marcus returned to the Howling Wolf after their days out and about and gathered the party together to go and pay a visit to one of the more prominent Agents in town. They took with them a map that they had recovered off of the body of the goblin adept from Dorecan Manor, to see if any of the Dust Riders could help them decipher where the map depicted and how to get there. (Something about the writing on the map that, when deciphered, spoke of a legendary magical sword being held there). 

Arien and crew wandered blindly into the southeastern district of the city, known for its bustling economy almost totally devoted to equipping and supporting jaunts into the blasted lands. Even the beggars on the streets claimed to have treasure maps aplenty, and small independent entrepreneurs tried to establish themselves as bona fide Agents for the Dust Riders.  Of all the Agents, however, only five had managed to turn their business into lucrative, sustainable wealth, and therefore there are only five Agents who run entire compounds.  From the brilliant but quite insane Mad Madge's Agency, to the more serene Serdigo's Agency whose Dust Rider cadre seemed more interested in lore than wealth.  The party, quite incidentally, ended up wandering into the first of these compounds they came across. . . Brindella's Agency. 

Brindella's Agency is run by none other than the most famous of gnomish agents, Brindella Whipplethorpe Stockwhistle, grand-daughter to Paldinky Besmircher Stockwhistle, the gnome who enlisted with the human armies on the advice of a series of visions sent to him.  Paldinky used his boon from the humans to buy the complex which became the cornerstone of his own wealth, and he was also one of the scandalous gnomes who went into business not in the moving and trading of spices and agrarian products, but in the supply and maintenance of 'those damned fool humans' who wanted to run off into the Blasted Lands and get killed.  It turned out to be a good investment, as for every ten horses, saddles & tack, saddlebags and weeks worth of iron rations he lost, he would gain at the very least a wand or other magical item to sell.  He wandered off after his granddaughter Brindella won the Agency from him by cheating at a card game.  He was proud that the little gnompling he had dandled on his knee had managed to swindle the swindler, and bequeathed all of his wealth to Brindella before retiring into a gnomish kibbutz where, as Paldinky termed it, he would serve out the ignominy of farming to get a head start on the karmic penance he'd have to burn off in the next lifetime for having so much damned fun in this one.

But I digress.  Brindella was a sneaky gnome and a savvy business-gnomwin, but she had a heart of gold and truly believed that good was the all-important motivation and ideal in the world (NG).  Her roguery and skullduggery added to her reputation and soon, Brindella was a name well respected among the latter-day Dust Riders.  Although her compound was built mostly for gnomes and others of normal stature in store, she did make concessions in the past few years to accomodate all the big folk by adding human-sized quarters inside her compound.

It was into Brindella's compound that the party walked, following Arien.  A retired paladin now working as a blacksmith and with a noticeable limp from badly-healed adventures eyed them over and then nodded to the gnomes on the pallisade to stand down.  "No evil here, be welcomed," he said, and then turned back to his work at his forge.

Arien was quickly met by Brindella, and when she began to ask about the map and becoming a Dust Rider, Brindella cut her off impatiently.

"Never seen the place, dearie . . . I hope you didn't pay too much for it."

"Oh no," the druidess replied. "I didn't buy this, I found it out in the Blasted Lands. In a place we think was called 'Dorecan Manor'."

Brindella sniffed and glanced over her spectacles at the woman.  "Dorecan?  Been abandoned for years, after Thornwattle and his boys done near cleaned the place out.  You stayed at the Farmhouse, then? What brought you into the Blasted Lands?  Heroism or wealth?"

"Both," grinned Valar, and was stared at by the others. "What?"

Arien told the story in broad strokes, and Brindella listened attentively, then said, "All right, if even half of your story is true, then I think we'll get along just fine.  Standard contract includes mounts, lodging, organics, food, and fencing at 90 percent to the house. After you come back a couple of times and make it worth my while to invest more into you, we can talk. Whaddya say?  And is it just you, hon, or is the whole lot of you?"

It took Arien a moment to understand what was happening, and then she realized Brindella thought she was applying to become a member of Brindella's Agency.  She asked more about how that all worked, and Brindella, realizing that Arien wasn't applying, took the time to fill her in.  Agents could handle things one of two ways. Either they did direct business with the Dust Riders, buying and selling with cash or credit, or else they signed exclusivity contracts with one Agency house and stayed with them.  In exchange, the Agent housed them in between jaunts, provided fresh mounts and disposal of those mounts too Tainted to be used as food for the South Banks miscreants.  It 'cost' 50,000 gp for the Dust Rider to 'buy into' the Agency, which essentially opened up a credit account.  The Dust Rider brought back items that could be fenced off or sold, and of the 90% that the Agent kept of the money, half was considered to be applied to their back bill.  A Dust Rider could buy out at any time, settling the accounts once and for all, or they could continue to make jaunts and bring back stuff to be cleansed and sold.  Brindella kept the books, and everything was on the up and up, with signatures and witnesses and standard values set by an agreement between the five major Agents and approved by the Trader's Guild. 

When Arien mentioned that she wasn't really a Dust Rider yet, Brindella nodded and said she knew, because those who were _real_ Dust Riders were known by all the major Agents, herself included, by name if not by sight.  Being an exclusive contractee to Brindella's agency meant that when the time came, Brindella would make sure that Arien received proper training and became a 'real Dust Rider'.  She and anyone else in the party who met the exacting requirements to begin the training. 

Arien also balked a bit at the price, not liking the idea of starting 50,000gp in the hole to someone.  She was afraid of reneging on the deal or dying without repaying, and didn't want to saddle her brother with the debt.  Brindella shrugged off her concerns, saying that true death cancelled all debts in cash, but multiplied those in spirit.  "With all the spiritual repayment I've got coming to me, I should be born a saint."  For Brindella's side, the risk was minimal.  Lose a few mounts and supplies against the possibility that someone might not come back, but if you win then a competent Dust Rider who went beyond the Outer Fringe of the Blasted Lands (where the party has been 'playing', as she said), could easily bring back 50K's worth of magical treasure in a single jaunt.

She also mentioned that most of her best Riders don't come out for months at a time, and when they do they drop off mounds of loot that Brindella sells, and they rarely ask for any of it because after a week they're back into the Blasted Lands again. 

"You can tell the real ones because they're hooked.  Not like on the smokeweed or the bottle, but there's something in the very land itself that seems to speak to them.  I wouldn't know.  I'm just their Agent, but I do know that there are those who do it for the glory and gold, and they don't last too long. And then there are those who do it for something else, something personal between them and the Blasted Lands.  You see the same thing with sailing gnomes.  They can only survive if the conditions on the seas are right, yet they aren't happy at home. There's something vital missing from their lives when they're not on the seas.  Same thing with my boys and girls.  They come out with great riches and great relics from the past. Some, they keep, but very rarely do any cash out their account.  Until they retire, and then they retire for good and travel far away from the Blasted Lands altogether.   And when they cash out their accounts, they could live like minor princes every last one of 'em.  After a while, they'd stop counting, and I hate temptation, which is why every credit transation and item appraisal is signed for and witnessed by two gnomes or a paladin.  And besides... once you buy out your initial contract, I only keep 30 percent of the fence.  Which means that there's quite a few of my boys and girls who I know are gone because the priests have told me so, but I can't bring myself to touch their accounts. I keep it in trust if I can't find the family or next of kin, but I always settle my debts."

Arien and the party spend the night with Brindella at her complex, enjoying her hospitality (and loving the fact that she has an _everful keg of beer_.  The next morning, after more discussion, Arien decided that not signing the contract was more folly than doing so, and she signed on to become one of Brindella's Dust Riders (in training).  Brindella taught her how to make claim markers, and instructed her in how to read them when she came across them. Every marker was tied to an Agent, and it was a matter of professional courtesy to respect the claim of another for one month of abandonment.  Now that Arien had signed on with Brindella, she got her own markers and her 'finds' were under the protection of Brindella's Agency.  Some might claim-jump, but when you had the markers which pointed to one of the major agents, most thought twice.

When asked what their plans were, the party used Brindella's dining room as a place to discuss what they were doing next.  At that point, the group decided that they really wanted to return to the Blasted Lands and to revisit the Dorecan Manor to try and find any loot that the new monster occupants might have brought into the formerly 'abandoned' location in the Fringe lands of the Blasted Lands.

The party saddles up the next morning on fresh mounts provided by Brindella (and marked against Arien's account) and set off. As they crossed Hope's Bridge into the South Banks, though, one of the White Masks guildmembers managed to stop by and deliver a message for Valar.   The intermediary didn't know what it meant, but said it was from Valar's handler.  It said simply "The watcher in blue has been found asleep in the streets. Go visit your aunt."  In the cipher of the White Masks, Valar understood that the spy in the Sapphire Manor had been found dead, and that his handler thought it best that he get out of town for a while.  Since that was where the party was heading anyway, it was with a shrug and a grumble at the perfidy of the beings that ran these particular Cosmos that Valar headed out. When he informed the party of the news that his suspicions regarding Ymanoura were most likely correct, he said "The only thing that feels worse about being wrong is the fact that this time I was right."


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## Campbell (Mar 1, 2005)

Pacio49, I'm really digging this story hour so far. You do a really good job of capturing the feel of your setting.


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## Pacio49 (Mar 1, 2005)

Thanks!  I appreciate having an audience, Campbell. Writing this has been good for me as a GM, too, since I'm beginning to realize how much has actually happened in the last year of gaming RL. 

Keep reading, there's more to come.


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## Pacio49 (Mar 7, 2005)

*Back to the Manor*

The party returned safely to the farmhouse Haven and are greeted at nightfall by George's ghost. He tells Valar that he and Martha are much happier now that the party has gotten rid of "that evil young woman" they brought with them the last time.  He mentions that the goblin chef has been doing a good job of keeping the rat population down, and George is rather happy to hear that the kobolds are in the hands of clerics who will, at the very least, keep them gainfully employed and receiving payment and food.  George mentions needing to go milk the cows, and fades away in the darkness.

Laeka, meanwhile, has another disturbing dream.  She dreams of falling down a place of darkness and dissolving away slowly into nothingness in the shape of a woman filled with the starry void.  She awakes in a cold sweat and feels that time is somehow running out. The party discusses what this dream could possibly mean, and they determine that perhaps Ymanoura is still somewhere inside Dorecan Manor.  They count the days and determine that if they don't find her soon, there's little hope for her being able to resist the Taint.  In many ways, the party wonders whether or not saving her would do more good or more harm, to Ymanoura and her family.  They decide that, in all probability, she's being held in the basement somehow, and they also decide that they need to try one of the back entrances to the Manor, to avoid any traps or ambushes.

The party is surprised in their attempts to circle around the back of the manor by several gnolls led by a gnoll ranger, with four worgs mounted by goblins.  For all of the element of surprise, Yovaire and Laeka quickly wade through the gnolls, while Skalar picks off the riders with his longbow.  Arien is able to _entangle_ several of the gnolls, and Marcus wreaks havoc among the entangled monsters with his _flaming sphere_.  Tanin joins the fray with his dog and together the party manages to overcome what they feel must be a patrol or a scouting party. 

Feeling confident from their victory over the gnoll party, our stalwart heroes decide to enter the Manor and continue to press their luck.  They find a servant's entrance near the ruins of the back patio and gardens, an area now overrun and crumbling, with the pristine first floor of the house still standing thanks to the abjuration magic woven into the actual building itself. Valar is easily able to pop the lock on the door made of smoky glass, to bring the party into a short hallway that leads into the western wing of the Manor House on one side, up to a grand set of intricately scrolled double doors to the east side, and with another door leading into a long and narrow garden completely surrounded by the manor itself.  In the garden there is only a moderate amount of overgrowth, and the preservation magic seems to have maintained two large statues, one of a man with wings outstretched pointing a sword to the sky and without recognizeable facial features, and the other a woman with outstretched wings reaching her hands out to the man.  They can see that the eastern wall of the garden is panelled in the same smoky glass that the hallway is constructed out of, a material that apparently allows those on the inside to look out, but maintains privacy for anyone on the outside trying to look in.  The same ornate door dressings are found on the doors that lead through the eastern walls of glass panels, and the flagstones of white marble are still visible in places in the garden, indicating possible tracks or trails from creatures moving through it.

The group decides it is better to examine the Western side of the Manor, and begins going from room to room, looking for treasure, adventure, and to save the damsel possibly still in distress.  They begin to move methodically through the house, and soon surprise a pair of ogres and several goblin guards.  Because of the element of surprise, Laeka and Yovaire are able to move into position relatively quickly on either side of the door, and with Skalar and Valar well back in the hall firing arrows into their visible enemies while Hack and Slash do their slicing and dicing, the ogres and crew are quickly destroyed, without Arien or Marcus needing to cast a spell. Tanin, however, bored with the proceedings, decided to move down the hallway and investigate the next set of rooms with only his hound for backup.

... a most foolhardy decision, as we shall see.


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## Pacio49 (Mar 7, 2005)

*Down the Hall*

As the party continued to deal with the ogres and goblins up the hall, Tanin, the fearless (and some would argue 'brainless' as well) fighter and his trusty dog companion decided that it was the perfect opportunity to go off on their own for a bit and investigate the next set of rooms.  Tanin tried the first door and found it locked, and moved on to the next door, which by chance was open.  He opened the door and came upon a group of goblins who immediately cried the alarm and swarmed out into the hallway, overrunning the fighter and swiping at his dog, which yipped in pain from several attacks that connected.

Tanin held his own in the doorway for a bit, but the door which had been locked was part of the same room, and within a matter of seconds the goblins were out in the hallway, circling around behind the fighter and attempting to flank him. After receiving a few scratches and losing a small quantity of blood, the party up the hall finally realized where he had gone and why the hall was suddenly full of goblins.  Marcus used one of his _flaming spheres_ and Laeka and Yovaire quickly dealt with the goblins.  By the time that the fight was joined by the rest of the party, it was more or less over, and the arguing began.

Although the alarm had been sounded, nothing came down the hall or emerged from the next door facing the gardens.  After some healing cast by Laeka and Arien, the party regrouped with a rather sullen Tanin leading the way.  At the next door, they found their way locked.  Valar was called to the vanguard, and he quickly set about his thievery.  Nothing unusual being spotted or detected after a brisk search, he rolled out his canvas container of thieves' tools and began to pick the lock.  It was with great elation that he finally (after a few aborted attempts and 10 minutes later) managed to pick the lock, quite the tricky little thing.  However, when he turned the handle and pushed to open the door, there was a moment's pause, and then the door slammed back shut and his tools were forced from the keyhole.

Grumbling perplexedly, Valar decided to try one last time, setting his stubborn will against the barrier that should have yielded easily to his expertise.  As he was picking the lock this last time, however, the rest of the party drew back suddenly as an incorporeal woman's face emerged from the center of the door above the crouching rogue.  Valar failed to notice anything, and the rest of the party was rather afraid to move by that point and time (having failed a Will save, the lot of them).  The woman looked old and elegant, dignified even in her ghostly apparition.  She bent down stiffly to observe the thief with a scowl on her face, and by this time Valar felt the air begin to chill around him and looked up.

A moment of stunned silence passed as Valar and the ghostly woman regarded each other, then the woman opened her mouth and yelled loudly just above his head.  Valar was more than just afraid, (of course he failed his save, it's what Valar does best), and he panicked.  He dropped his tools and bolted clear on back to the grand double-doors and the servants' entry that the party had used to gain access to the manor this time.  The party watched the woman for a moment longer as she turned to regard them. With an imperial finger she pointed, still sticking half out of the door, indicating that they should go away, and then she faded back into the locked room.

Relieved at not having to deal with incorporeal apparitions of any sort, evil or otherwise, the party skedaddled back to rejoin 'Valar the Valiant, Rogue to the Rear'.  After ascertaining that apparently no one had heard the alarm raised by those goblins (they had depopulated the western wing of the manor quite nicely and the ghost didn't seem to care whether the goblins lived or died), the party decided to risk one more room, and snuck a peek into the huge double doors. . .


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## Pacio49 (Mar 8, 2005)

*Having a Ball*

Inside the double doors, the party got a glimpse of the majesty and splendor which once was displayed by House Dorecan, now forgotten and long gone, whose only remaining testimony to their existence at all was the ruined palatial manor house which now housed evil and monstrous races amid the desolation of the magical wasteland caused by the advancing miasma of the Blasted Lands.  Faceless statuary lined the walls, the suggestions of human features smoothed over by the hands and tools of master craftsmen ages dead. Winged figures and caryatid columns lined the sides of the exquisite ballroom, a resplendant and decadent ballroom of luxury, filled with the echoes of slippers of finely dressed ladies on the arms of dashing and debonair gentlemen. Overhanging galleries look on over the balustrades to allow for the elite of society to snicker at their supposed inferiors or political rivals dancing below.  The intricacy of the carvings and the molding that remained on the crumbling ceilings (well above the protective dweomer of the bottom story of the manorhouse) let the wind inside in convoluted sighs that suggested to the party the whispers of conspiring lovers and plotting lordlings engaged in intrigue.  House Dorecan's crown jewel opened before them in the ballroom beyond, cluttered from disuse and home to the defilement of ogres at their own parody of a banquet feast.

Slipping in the doors, the party watched as several goblin guards and kobold servants attended to the four ogres sitting behind the only banquet table not yet broken or scarred from misuse or violent behavior.  As the party took stock of their surroundings and noted the elegant glass walls on the western side of the ballroom, the remaining balcony in the southeastern corner borne aloft by winged female statues holding ascending stairs and disappearing into the decrepit ruins of the second floor, one of the ogres and several of the kobolds took notice of the party, standing for a moment in awe at the splendor and faded majesty of the ballroom.

Both groups noticed each other noticing the other, and both acted together.  The ogres bellowed out to sound an alarm and tossed over the last table, pinning several kobolds and scattering their food over the floor.  Valar and Skalar began to pepper the ogres with arrows, and Marcus let loose with another _magic missile_ spell. Arien cast _barkskin_ on Yovaire, who advanced with his double sword flashing in a lazy butterfly pattern that quickly dispatched several of the goblins who rushed him.

Laeka attempted to get to one of the ogres, but unfortunately a small troop of goblins delayed her. They quickly fell prey to her spiked chain, their deaths adding to the glory of Povra, God of War.  One of the ogres bypassed the threat that Tanin posed, and managed to impale Valar with a javelin the size of a small tree trunk that he threw.

Tanin's dog advanced and began to harry some of the goblins at the same time that all of the kobolds, now out from under the watchful eyes of the ogres, turned tail and scurried up the grand staircase to the southeast and disappeared out of sight in the ruined second story.  Tanin himself did credit to his profession by taking out several goblins, and Yovaire managed to close with one of the ogres, nearly decimating him in a single round's attack. 

By this time Laeka managed to finish off the goblins on her, Marcus was busily manipulating his last _flaming sphere_,  and Arien was doing her part to cast _cure_ spells on the greatly-diminished Valar.   Once Yovaire was able to polish off the first of the ogres, and Skalar managed to fell a second with his arrows, Laeka and Tanin each managed to deal with the other two.

Unfortunately for the party, several of the goblins used the deaths of their ogre commanders to take the opportunity to run out the eastern doors from the ballroom, scattering into the Manor.

Spelled out, wounded, and barely victorious, the party prepared to retreat back to their haven when alarm gongs sounded along with the sound of marching feet quickly approaching the ballroom from , north, south, and east entrances.  For a moment, a pallor of fear fell upon them all, since the marching of feet was accompanied by the shouts of several ogres in giantish, which Skalar understood (as his favored enemies were Giants, he could comprehend their language, the better to hunt them and anticipate their moves).  The ranger gave a quick accounting of the numbers of troops he felt were coming, and the fact that the ogres were calling for the mobilization of the outside patrols.

The party gave a sigh and prepared for what could well have been their last stand.  One of the doors to the east burst open and ten goblins rushed in.  The party began to marshall their strength to face this, the first of the onslaught's waves, when from above came the sound of running feet.

Arien turned just in time to see one of the kobolds in a small black tunic take a flying leap off of the second floor balustrade, landing quite adeptly and firing off a spell into the midst of the goblins, summoning forth the shadows to wreath them in _darkness_.  Another kobold, an older kobold, came halfway down the stairs and beckoned to the party for them to follow them up the stairs to safety now that the goblins couldn't see them.

Another kobold came down the stairs with a small troop of kobolds following him. With a wave of his hands and a few arcane words, the small troop of kobolds looked rather like the party did, just with a few details off and slightly smaller in stature.  As the party advanced up the stairs, the party of kobolds let loose with light crossbows into the darkness and struck several of the goblin troops as they were emerging from the cloud of inky darkness that had enveloped them.  Once the _illusion_-clad kobolds had been spotted, they turned tail and ran off into the western hallway, out the doors that the party had come into.

With a few lucky rolls on the part of the party, and several bad spot checks on the part of the goblins, the ruse was pulled off, and the party found themselves being shuffled off into one of the ruined rooms at the top of the stairs, a place rotting and open to the elements, but safe for the moment.  Other kobolds took up positions at the top of the stairs and just out of sight to provide guards, and three more kobolds in small black tunics came forth with a rather wizened-looking kobold between them.

The wizened kobold held up his clawed hand in greeting and said, "I am Tuck, the leader of the kobolds, and the rightful king of Dorecan Manor.  I have been told by the hailstone clanleader, Pook, that you are honorable and keep your word well.  If you will swear to me that you will aid us, I will reveal a place of power to you."

Marcus didn't even wait for Tuck to finish, nodding eagerly and asking, "What power? Can we have it? Any spells?"

Arien shook her head and clucked her teeth, then said, "If you will abide by our agreement with Pook, we will gladly accept any help you may give us in undermining the powers that control Dorecan Manor."

Tuck nodded. "Step this way, and I will show you the mirror of Dorecan Manor. If you can unlock its secrets, you shall earn our allegiance and assistance."


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## Pacio49 (Mar 8, 2005)

*The Mirror of Dorecan Manor*

With the sounds of pursuit quickly fading below, the party breathed a sigh of relief.

"Arien," Skalar said, "I hate to remind you, but we'll need to get back to the haven soon.  We can't rest here in the manorhouse, it lies within the Blasted Lands."

"He has a point," Laeka said, turning to Tuck. "We can't stay here."

Tuck smiled and the other black-clad kobolds nodded to themselves. "That is why we trust you to leave Dorecan Manor to our keeping.  It is death for your kind to remain here, no matter how rich the place may seem.  But it is too dangerous for you now. They will loose the worgs and riders now, and they can track you by scent. Even if you managed to evade the search parties and patrols, you wouldn't be able to avoid an ambush in the night, at the place you call a haven.  Tammishka lost several of her Trolls and Ogres to the minotaur who lived there before, but she knows that you are no longer in his company."

"Great," Valar said. "So now what are we supposed to do?  Make a dash for the border of the Blasted Lands?  Lead them out and back to Tol Vehara? Would they follow?"

"If you can solve the riddle of the Mirror of Dorecan Manor, you will find a place of safety.  Come, it is time to test your wits against your ancestors of old."  Tuck nodded and the four kobolds walked off a ways through the ruined second story, until they came to a room that had all four walls intact, but no roof.  There, on one side of the room, was a full-length mirror of such shine and brilliance that it still shone true.  Marcus used a _detect magic_ spell and determined that the mirror was indeed magical, but Valar quickly discovered that the mirror was actually constructed right into the wall somehow.

The black-tunicked kobolds whispered for a bit with Tuck, then bowed to the party and headed back the way they came.  The old kobold settled down in a squat, out of the way in a corner, watching the party knowingly.

"Maybe if we break it..." Tanin suggested.  His suggestion met with snorts of contempt, and the party continued to stare at the mirror. Finally, hours after they had come into the room, Valar sat down on the floor across from it, as Marcus and Arien continued to poke and prod.  It was from this vantage point that he noticed a glint of gold coming from the mirror itself, and stood up to regard it.

Sure enough, in the fading light of afternoon, he could see the glint of something gold shining in the mirror's reflection. When he looked further, it showed a small hook on the wall he had been leaning on, from which hung suspended a small gold key.  When he turned about to investigate the wall, however, the key was nowhere to be found, nor the hook.  However, while the wizard and the druid continued to try and puzzle out the mirror from a magical point of view, Valar stared at the reflection of the key and backed up, feeling the wall behind him while he watched his reflection in the mirror. 

His efforts were not in vain.  Although there was nothing on the wall to be seen, when he used the reflection to guide his hand, he discovered the hook and key quite easily, and was amazed when he drew the key off of the hook only to see it appear in his hand.  The mirror swirled then and the reflection faded, revealing a door of stone with a heraldic crest of three chevrons superior, crowned with a winged and faceless woman whose hands reached down over the crest and clasped together in just such a way as to present a keyhole.

Marcus and Arien stepped back in amazement and watched as Valar inserted the key into the hole and turned it with a snap.  The stone door faded to nothingness, revealing a secret chamber beyond it.  Tuck stood up and stretched his back, nodding. "I knew you would puzzle it out.  Please, step beyond, before someone sees us. Only you and I know the secret of the mirror. My clanlords suspect, but they do not know for certain."

The party stepped into the room beyond, and found themselves in some kind of extradimensional space, a place outside of their own plane yet attached to it, and therefore quite free of the Taint of the Blasted Lands.  All of the party breathed a sigh of relief... and then they noticed what had lain guarded by the magical mirror of Dorecan Manor.


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## Pacio49 (Mar 8, 2005)

*Beyond the Mirror*

Once the group had stepped into the secret chambers hidden behind the magical mirror-door, the old kobold Tuck stepped through as well, and showed the group how to close off the mirror from the other side, revealing a hazy view of the room they had just left.  They were in a small rectangular space with an archway leading into a room beyond, but there were several chests, sacks, and crude pottery vessels full of coins.  Tuck gestured to the coins expansively.

"This is our treasure. When Tammishka came to us, we moved all of the treasure we had to here, knowing that we could not afford to let our wealth fall into her hands.  We ask that you do not take the coins.  It represents our hope for the future, in being able to buy goods and services to make Dorecan Manor our home."

"Kind of hard to do that when there's ogres and trolls running amok in the place," Skalar pointed out.

Tuck nodded. "Of course, what you say is true. But I have been king kobold here for seven years, twice as long as my predecessor, and I am charged with guarding the treasure against our future hope.  It is enough for us to continue to allow it to grow.  Someday, we will be able to spend it for ourselves when our race is delivered out of slavery to those more powerful than we are, but until then it is my goal to keep it safe and out of anyone else's hands."

"You're taking a risk with us by showing it to us, aren't you?" asked Valar.  "I mean, what's to stop us from taking the treasure and killing you?"

"Your ethics," Tuck replied. "You've already demonstrated that you believe as I do, in the cause of goodness."

"How can you be good?" Tanin asked, disgustedly. "You're just a kobold. Aren't all kobolds evil?"

Tuck sighed. "Normally, yes.  But the divine right of our kings was handed down by Miko the First Kobold King.  It was he who unlocked the secrets of Dorecan Manor, and it changed him.  He grew strong, and wise, and taught us how to advance beyond our humble beginnings, unlocking the powers within us, or training ourselves to fight and scheme. He also brought us the Cups."

"Cups?"

Tuck nodded, and pointed to the archway.  "Beyond there lie the three Cups of Dorecan Manor."

The party moved beyond the smaller antechamber and came into a decent sized room with a large stone table in the center, of seamless construction with the floor. Marcus examined it and, using his knowledge of Spellcraft, he determined that it was most likely constructed with a _stone shape_ spell.  On the table itself were seven white candles, thin pillar candles that Valar thought should last about an hour each.  In the center of the ring of candles was an ornate box about one cubit in length, made of ivory and gold, a small book written in an unknown language, and a sword with the faint shimmer of arcane energy whose crosspiece resembled the now-familiar faceless winged humanoid woman common throughout the manorhouse.  Behind the table on the wall was a masterwork carving in stone, again seamless, of the same coat of arms that had granted access to the secret chamber. On this coat of arms, however, the winged woman superior held her arms out to the sides, palms and face upwards as though in supplication to the gods.  An inscription was deciphered by Valar to read "A House in Order, a Land in Law."  Seven pillars bearing seven torches illuminated by _continual flame_ spells ringed the room.

The centerpiece of the table, however, was a set of three ornate and stylized cups, resting upon separate bases.  Each cup was apparently made from a different material: one of material that resembled diamond, one of material that resembled ruby, and one of material that resembled onyx.  The bottom part of each cup dwindled to a point, meaning that the cup could not be set down unless it was returned to its base or something of similar functional shape.  The bases were even more ornate.  The base to the diamond-like cup resembled a slender woman's hand with feather patterns beginning at her wrist, curling up from the table to wrap around the diamond-like cup.  The ruby-like cup was held by a gloved hand, and the onyx-like cup was held by a black, reptillian claw.  All three hands bore the resemblance of a ring upon their forefinger, and the ring was carved with a device that resembled a stylized set of balanced scales.

"What do they do?"  breathed Arien, taken aback by the beauty of the cups.  Tuck smiled at her.

"They are sought by Tammishka Li, for they are items of great power.  I am not permitted to tell you what they do, for I have been sworn to preserve the secrets of this chamber by my predecessors, all the way back to Miko himself, thirty-five years ago."  Tuck nods sagely at this, impressed by the continuity of a kobold holding for so long.  "I would not have revealed them to you, except that I know now that until the cups are removed from here, Tammishka Li will not leave us.  I would have you take them away.  Perhaps you will be able to puzzle out their power, the way that you puzzled out the Mirror."

At that time, a shimmering note sounded faintly from the other room, and Tuck blinked in surprise.  "Someone is in the chamber with the Mirror."  He bobbed out of the room, followed by Skalar.  They peered through the glass of the mirror and saw the smoky reflection of one of the other kobolds in black tunics, poking about the place.  "I must go.  Upoh wouldn't be here if there weren't problems."

"But if you step out of the mirror now, won't he know the trick of it?"  Skalar asked.

"He would, but there are powers here that will allow me to leave and be someplace else." Tuck moved his hands slightly while Skalar was looking at Upoh, and the mirror's view changed to a different room entirely. 

"Hey, how'd you do that?"  

"Not all of my secrets are to be yours.  You are helping me, not replacing me. Remember that. Go back and rejoin the others in the inner chamber, ranger. I will set the door back to the mirror room for you and return in the morning. Rest now, for you will need all of your strength if you are to make it past the patrols in the morning."

With that, Tuck stepped into the glass itself and into the scene.  The smoky glass remained for a moment more, and then faded back to show Utoh still poking about in the mirror's outer chamber.  Skalar watched until several minutes later Tuck appeared again, and the two kobolds headed off, out of view.

Back in the inner room, a debate was ensuing as to the magic of the cups.  Laeka had investigated the small ornate box with Valar's help, and once opened it revealed what Marcus believed was some kind of magical rod, bejewelled and gilded.  Since Laeka had picked it up and the men in the room noticed that she looked much more attractive and compelling with it in her hands then she had when it was out of her hands, Marcus hesitated a guess that it was a _Rod of Splendor_, drawing on his knowledge of things Arcana. He wasn't certain, though, so the party decided not to field test it until they were safely back in the haven, or perhaps back in Tol Vehara itself where it could be identified.

The candles also radiated magic, and the sword was revealed to be at the very least a +1 sword. Since Laeka preferred the spiked chain and Yovaire fought with Double Sword, the sword was given to Tanin for safekeeping, something that the party would soon rue.

Beneath the box that had contained the rod the party found a neatly folded green cloth that looked as though it could be used as a tablecloth for a banquet table. It too radiated magic, as did two small boxes stacked on the floor next to the archway entrance.  Four words were carved into the plain wooden boxes, words that the rogue was able to decipher. When asked what they were, he said, "Small, --" and abruptly stopped as the box he had been holding unfolded magically and became a small sailboat that now completely filled the one side of the room, pinning Valar beneath it.  After Yovaire and Laeka helped lift the boat up some, Valar croaked out "Box!" and the boat shimmered and folded back up into a box.

Making sure he wasn't near the boxes, Marcus grinned and asked, "Let me guess... the other two words on it were 'Medium' and 'Large'?"  Valar gulped and nodded.  "Two folding boats. Convenient, if no immediate help to us. For all of the magic we found here it doesn't look like we've got anything that can help us out of the Manorhouse, or to get rid of this Tammishka person."

"Of course not," Yovaire pointed out.  "If there was something like that here, the kobolds would already be using it."

"If they knew what it did," Laeka pointed out.

"Speaking of which," Arien said, all too innocently, her canteen in hand, "I wonder what this cup does."  Before anyone could stop her, she picked up the rubyesque cup and sloshed a bit of water into it, then sipped from it.

And nothing happened. On the outside.  Arien herself, however, suddenly felt as though she had been awakened to new possibilities.  She reviewed her past life, honoring good above all else (NG), and suddenly saw her error.  It was not in the pursuit of good beyond all else that the druidess should have been devoting her efforts.  It was in the pursuit of order beyond all else that truly merited her time (LN).  [_Luckily for Arien the druid she picked up the cup that turned her alignment Lawful Neutral, not one of the others. She narrowly missed losing her class abilities because of her rash decision.  Others in the group were not so lucky._].

When she explained her new worldview to her brother, Marcus declared unilaterally that no one was to drink from any of the cups until they were all completely identified and their full effects known.  The party agreed to this, and set about to make camp and rest in the room, allowing themselves to return to full.

In the middle of the night, with Valar and Tanin on watch, however, disaster struck.  Tanin, unable to contain his curiosity in the face of his boredom, waited until Valar was poking around the kobolds' chests, lightening the wealth in the hoard slightly himself, then Tanin, able to move quietly enough to avoid alerting the sleeping party, took up the onyx-looking cup, filled it with water, and drank from it.

Valar failed his spot check, so engrossed in the temptation of plunder and loot as he was, and Tanin managed to cold-clock him hard enough that Valar slipped into unconsciousness (_and down hit points as he was, the CG rogue couldn't withstand the +2d6 of Lawful damage that the Lawful Sword +1 provided on top of the subdual damage Tanin dealt him. I _did_ give Valar a chance to spot Tanin advancing on him with weapon in hand, but Valar failed the crucial roll, since that's what Valar does._)

The next morning, the party awoke, fully rested and refreshed... except Valar, who was still semi-comatose with a nasty burn mark on the back of his head from contact with the sword.  The black cup and its base were missing from the table, and Tanin and his dog were nowhere to be seen. The party had been betrayed.


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## Pacio49 (Mar 8, 2005)

*[META] Tanin's departure*

The scene around the gaming table was priceless. Tanin's player handed me the 'stab-your-buddy sheet' of paper with his intentions on it.  I asked, "Are you sure?", he said yes, so I turned to Valar and asked him to make a spot check, resolved the subdual attack with lawful damage on the poor chaotic rogue, and then asked if I could see Tanin's sheet, same as I had with Arien's player.  

Tanin's player willingly handed it over to me, and stood near my chair waiting for it back like I had done for Arien (after erasing and replacing her Alignment). As the rest of the party watched with a sort of dread fascination on their faces, I calmly said "Thank you for playing Tanin, he's now an NPC.  Valar, take 12 points of burn damage [_lucky roll_] and 9 points of subdual damage.  So, what kind of character do you want to play next?"

Normally I don't make such draconian decisions for my players.  In fact, if Valar had made his spot check then Tanin's player would have gotten his wish to play evil for at least the scene, and there would normally have been the chance that the party could subdue him or destroy him, and Arien would have easily been willing to make him drink from her cup...  however, for those GMs out there who want to know, once you drink from one of the cups, none of the other cups will work for you for a year and a day, and no attempt to shift alignments, willingly or not, would succeed without making a successful DC 35 Will save every day for one lunar month. Clerics and Paladins or other faith-based classes could make an 'extended care' kind of check against their Knowledge, Religion or Perform, Oratory skill, whichever was higher, to help them 'reform their evil ways'.  But they couldn't do anything else during that time. However, I would have bent my own rules if they had managed to subdue Tanin, and allowed the Lawful Good cup to work on him.

The reason that I felt it necessary to remove Tanin was the history of anti-party behavior his player was exhibiting, and the fact that the players around the table all pretty much universally told each other that since the red cup had turned Arien Lawful Neutral, and with the inscription on the family crest on the wall they had translated, the black cup most certainly would turn someone Lawful Evil, and the diamond cup would most certainly turn them Lawful Good.

I'm happy to say that Tybok, Tanin's player's replacement character (A gnome illusionist), has been much more fun for the party to play with, even when he gets bored. Downright useful, too, actually.

And I must admit... the rat bastard side of me found it slightly rewarding to be able to recoup my frustrations with Tanin's behavior and anti-party sentiments by turning him into an NPC. An NPC, by the way, with a cup that forcibly turns the drinker's alignment to Lawful Evil.  Watch for Tanin's someday return to the party. . .

. . . with reinforcements.


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## Black Bard (Mar 8, 2005)

I'm still workin on post #8, but I wished to congratulate you anyway...
It's a really interesting scenario, the way you depict it...
Congratulations, man!!! You have a reader here!


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## Pacio49 (Mar 9, 2005)

Thanks, Black Bard. I'm still trying to catch up and summarize the last calendar year's worth of gaming.  More still to come before we get up to the 'present.'


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## Pacio49 (Mar 9, 2005)

*An Unexpected Happening*

After waking to find that Tanin had fled with the onyx cup, harming a party member in the process, Laeka revealed that she had been sent yet another dream.  The urgency of her past nighttime visions had dwindled, and she watched as a tree in the shape of a woman slowly rotted, shook, and then exploded to release thousands of venemous insects.  She felt a sense of loss and regret, and she knew empathically that the party had somehow failed in their rescue mission of the daughter of Lord Sapphire.  Finally, after many days of pursuit, the girl had succumbed at last to the evil of the Taint from the Blasted Lands, and Laeka found herself secure in the confirmed knowledge that they had unleashed Tammishka Li on the Sapphire Family.

When she brought her observations to the party, Marcus thought for a while and used his knowledge of the Arcana to puzzle out that Tammishka sounded much like an Ogre Mage. If that were indeed the case, then Marcus and Arien both counselled that the party was not ready to pursue her, especially not if she had somehow ingratiated herself into one of the most powerful families in the city of Tol Vehara.  And then, too, with her ability to assume shapes of others, Tammishka could very easily have removed and then taken the place of someone else in the city.  No, at their current level of experience (5th by this time), the party was not yet ready to engage that foe.

Valar decided that he needed to return to Tol Vehara and make a report to his superiors about Tammishka and the Sapphire family, but that meant leaving the Dorecan Manor.  Preferrably without ogres and trolls, goblins and orcs and kobolds swarming on their trail.  The party gathered their gear, took their spoils from the inner chambers (minus the sword that Tanin had made off with and the onyx-like cup) and opened up the door leading back out into the Mirror's ruined chamber.

As they stepped out into the oppressive weight of the Tainted Lands once more, they all became aware of the sound of approaching drums and hunting horns and a ruckus coming from the ballroom they had all vacated the day before. Deciding to investigate, Valar scouted ahead and quickly returned to summon the rest of the party to watch, unobserved, from just outside the balcony's entrance as a strange scene unfolded below.

The room was still in disarray, with the bodies of the goblins and ogres having been removed with trails of bloodstains leading off into the enclosed gardens where they had been dumped and left to rot in the springtime sun.  More ogres and their goblin and kobold servants were gathered, and the sound of the drums and horns continued to approach.  They were joined at the top of the stairs by one of the black-tunicked kobolds, who spoke to them softly.

"The hunters return with their quarry.  They have captured the ant-man like Tammishka had ordered."

"What's an ant-man?" Skalar asked.

The kobold shrugged.  "He has eluded them recently. Tammishka saw his approach and ordered that he be captured, but he has many powers which made it difficult. For almost a month they have tracked him, and by the sounds they make they have succeeded.  I must go. I am known to be a kobold clan leader. If I do not answer the summons to the great room then I will be missed and my clan suspect.  I advise you to be cautious. Do not begin a skirmish unless you think you can win. My people will not be able to support you openly in such a battle."

Skalar nodded, and watched as the kobold scurried down to take his place among the ranks and representatives of several of the tribes and clans of goblins and kobolds.  As the party watched, several gnolls and ogres came in carrying a stout tree they had felled. Tied to the tree and shackled by strange manacles of dark metal whose planes and angles defied the eye's ability to follow them clearly was a large sized humanoid ant man, unconscious. The manacles apparently pierced through the carapace of the ant man's limbs, or else they were somehow magically binding, since he lacked anything that might be considered a wrist or other impediment to keep him from simply slipping his limbs out of them.

As the party watched and Skalar gave rough translations in a hushed voice, the ant man was dumped on the ground still attached to the tree trunk, and the ogres consulted with each other as to what to do with it now.  

"They're trying to decide what to do with him, since Tammishka hasn't been seen in a while. Since the raid on the ghost house," Skalar whispered.  More commotion below was followed by his shushed commentary, "They're going to go and prepare a room below for him. For now, they'll leave him to be guarded here, while the hunting group goes to bathe.  Apparently, Tammishka insists that they bathe before entering her presence."  He shrugs at the odd looks.  "That's what they said."

"Well,"  Yovaire whispered back, "if they're going to go bathe, maybe we can use this opportunity to rescue him."

"_Rescue_ him?  Why in blazes would we want to rescue him?" Laeka asked.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Valar answered. "Now shush before they hear us."


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## Pacio49 (Mar 10, 2005)

*To the rescue!*

The party watched for a moment longer to make sure that only a few of the baddies were left down below.  When they were more or less certain that the main group was not going to be back, they began their assault.  The bards tell of awesome battles and great feats of valor, and this battle was not one. The ogres were unprepared for an attack to come from above, and the fully-rested party was able to unleash several spells to buff and to open the volley upon the group below. Of note was Laeka's first real use of offensive spellcasting in battle, utilizing her _knife spray_ to soften an ogre which she then slashed to pieces with her spiked chain.  Yovaire managed to draw most of the melee attention away from the imprisoned ant man, and Arien used the distraction to deliver some _cure_ energy into the ant man while Valar helped to extricate the ant man, still bound by the strange manacles, from around the treetrunk they had used to carry him in. The battle did not last very long, and it wasn't particularly noteworthy.  The kobolds, true to their word, used their crossbow bolts on the party, but intentionally missed.

Once the fight was done, the ant man had awakened, and the party gathered around to decide what to do next. Yovaire and Arien led the questioning session with the ant man, which was just fine from the ant man's point of view.  He revealed to the party that he was a Formian Myrmarch, and he was quite thankful that such orderly folks as Yovaire (LG) and Arien (now LN) had rescued him from the chaotic monsters.  He had been careless, it seems, focusing so much on his own task that he had allowed the monsters to get the jump on him.  If not for the strange manacles, he would have been able to use his spell-like abilities to _teleport_ himself away.  If the party would be so kind as to remove the manacles, he would now be on his way...

Arien and Yovaire debated with each other for a moment while the rest of the party grumbled, then they decided to ask the Myrmarch for his word.  Not knowing much about him, but liking the fact that he seemed to respect order, Arien thought it would be for the best if they bound him only by his word.  The Myrmarch agreed, and asked the party's names, as well as telling his own (a rather unintelligible sound, but said he could be referred to by the slave races as 'Mikkilik').  While Valar tried to puzzle out how to remove the manacles without damaqing the large formian, Marcus questioned Mikkilik about his people.

"I am from very far away," Mikkilik responded. "My Queen has requested that I investigate the disappearance of an ally she once had on this plane. A powerful mage known as Karral.  She has not seen or heard from him in many ages, and wished to help him.  I had klugkinock --, erm, the slave word for it on this plane would be 'mind-seeing-memory-from-time-ago' of his Colony here, but much has changed since my Queen's okrinntoknikok reported such memory-mind-seeing to her, and the okrinntoknikok has been in error on several details, or else time has been allowed to alter much.  I had just discovered where Karral was, and was on my way back to report to my Queen when I was jumped.  Ahhh... thank you, slave-human-Valar."

"Eh, no problem, Ant-thing Mikkilik."

"Why do you refer to him as a slave?"  Skalar asked.

"The People have always utilized the Lesser Beings as slave labor. It is our Way.  We have no other words for those not of the People.  I am in your debt."

"You can pay us off later," Laeka said.

Mikkilik shook his head and clicked his mandibles.  "It is not the Way. The People cannot remain in debt.  I must repay you and remove the stain upon the honor of my Queen to have one of her Colony in debt to you.  It is enough for my own honor that I do not take you back to the Colony with me to serve in my household, but my Queen's Colony's honor requires further repayment.  Is this your Colony?"

"No, we're from Tol Vehara," Marcus said. "We can't live here."

Mikkilik thought for a moment, then said, "If you wish it, I will bring you to the abandoned Colony of Karral.  It is in disrepair, but for orderly industrious worker-slave-types as yourselves, you may make a domicile fit for your own kind's Queen, and you might make a Colony-place of honor to allow you to be reborn in the next life as one of the People."

"How far away is this 'Colony' of Karral's?"  Arien asked.

"Oh, it is not far.  I can bring you there with my abilities before I go."

"But Mikkilik, as kind as your offer is, you don't seem to understand.  We cannot stay for long in this place because of the Taint. There's something in the Blasted Lands which makes it so that we will sicken and die if we remain outside of a haven for too long,"  Arien said.

"Was this Karral a formian, too?"  Marcus asked on top of his sister's question.  Mikkilik regarded the mage for a moment and shook his head.

"Such disorder.  I understand your problem, slave-being-Arien-female. I can ... smell ... the change upon the air with my antennae. But you misunderstand.  Karral's Colony exists in many places and no places at once. It is joined to this place of being by a gate, but it is not truly here.  As for you, impudent-slave-being-Marcus, Karral was not one of the People, though my Queen's Queen had declared him to have a Soul."  The Myrmarch paused a moment and bowed his head.  "It was a high honor. There have only been seven hundred of the slave races who have been found to have a Soul by my Queen's lineage to the First Egg.  Karral was a champion of Order, and assisted our Colony, and many others.  He was not human-slave-beings like you, but he was human-slave-being-shaped, for the most part.  His powers were very strong, and he specialized in Conjuring beings from other planes of existence to fight on the side of Cosmic Order.  He was a worthy ally and a formiddable opponent, but I believe he has been called back to the Egg once more, for I find no trace of him here, and this was his Colony of choice."

"Do we need to decide immediately?"  Skalar asked.  Mikkilik shook his head.

Marcus and the group began to discuss the prospect of leaving Dorecan Manor to investigate this 'colony' of Karral's. Marcus was strongly in favor of it, especially since followup questions of the Myrmarch Formian revealed that it was essentially a ruined Mage's Tower about a week away from Tol Vehara, down what has been called by the humanoids in the region the 'River of Stars', since the source of the river carries volcanic silt in it of black hue with quartz crystal flecks that sparkle like stars in the black-soil deposits along the banks.  Since they had their folding boats and Karral's Tower was essentially on the river itself, they decided that it would be worth the risks of not finding intermediate havens to sail down the river (which flows northwards) until it joined with the Gold River, bringing them out of the Blasted Lands and into Tol Vehara should they need to make their way home quickly.

Marcus was especially in favor of the enterprise, for he had advanced and was close to not having enough spells to make a decent selection.  He hoped that Karral's Tower still might have some manner of scrolls or grimoires to help him out in that pursuit of arcane knowledge.  Eventually, the party decided that they would indeed take Mikkilik up on his offer.

"We'll do it," Valar said.  The party felt a moment's disorientation and found themselves standing in a cool, vaulted stone chamber with a well of some kind in the center and rough-hewn passageways leading off from the glow of continual light torches in the walls.  Arien and Laeka both felt the change immediately, announcing to the group that whereever they were it was either a haven or no longer in the Blasted Lands.

Mikkilik gave a bow and said, "So, we are repaid, yes?"

"No!" called out Laeka. "We have to retrieve our equipment from the, uh... campsite we were staying at.  We need our basic resources."

"Ah. You know where this is?  Mind share with me."  Mikkilik did something, and Laeka felt suddenly very, very dizzy as she suddenly was looking at herself through faceted eyes with stereoscopic panoramic vision, all while she looked at the Myrmarch through her own eyes.  It was an alien mind, and she narrowly avoided vomiting up her breakfast. (Lucky Fort save).   The Myrmarch was not so upset by it, and plucked the description of the location from her mind, and... _folded_ space around them again, and the party found themselves standing on the edge of the farmhouse haven.

More than that, they were looking at a very perplexed gnome adventurer who had come exploring into the haven. (Enter TYBOK, Tanin's new character.)  The party had the requisite new-member-introduction scene and they decided that they wouldn't mind having Tybok around, Gnome Illusionists being a rather interesting mix, and besides, he offered to share spells with Marcus.

They got their mounts and equipment, told the Chef they might not be back for a while but to hold down the haven (which left a perplexed goblin chef looking for a place to get a good grip on the haven so he could literally hold it down) until they returned. The group prepared themselves, and Mikkilik _teleported_ them once again, back to the room with the well in it.

"Now, we are settled, yes?"  he asked.

Arien nodded as Yovaire said, "Yes, and thank you."

Mikkilik bowed.  "If you are caught by the People, ask for Mikkilik and I will take you as my personal slaves.  Some of you, anyway."  And with a blink and a flash, he was gone.

"Well, _that_ was a cheerful thought,"  Valar said as he looked around the room, eyes fixing on the well of water.  "Anyone for a drink?"


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## Pacio49 (Mar 11, 2005)

*Karral's Tower*

Before the party could really react, Valar reached down into the well and brought up a palmfull of the cool water and took a small sip.  After a moment's consideration of the taste, he reached down with gusto and began to splash the water over his face and gulp down as much as he could.  Luckily for Valar, Laeka was able to stop him from his slaking of thirst by physically restraining him for a moment.  Valar turned to the party to protest, and gave a blank look of unfamiliarity at all of their faces.

"Who are you?" he asked, confused.  He was answered only by groans.

The well was enchanted somehow with a spell of forgetfulness.  Valar had been stopped before he could drink his fill, which would most likely have removed all memories from him entirely.  As it was, all our intrepid rogue lost were the memories of adventuring in Dorecan Manor, easily remedied.  (After a few reminders the party's identities returned to his knowledge... perhaps something about the water splashed on his face and eyes that did it.)  Laeka and Marcus's minor experiments to see about whether the water could be taken out of the area concluded with the pronunciation that it was something about the well itself, not the water taken from it, and that if the water weren't drunk immediately, then there were no effects from it. Even still, the party declined to fill up their canteens from the well.

Instead, they began to explore.  Three passageways led out of the well room, and the first one checked led to a strange iris-closed metal doorway of some kind with knobs to control opening and closing. They opened it, and stepped out into a dusty cave of sorts that was formed by some kind of overhang where a river or stream at one time undercut a hillside.  It also led them back into the Blasted Lands and a return to the Taint.  They explored just enough to be able to see the ruined and tumbled blocks of limestone-dressed granite from what once was a square tower higher up on the hill.  They saw that the tower overlooked a small valley nestled between the arms of two hills that ended in a pool, and a stream trickled down from the pool to the River of Stars about a mile away.  They returned then to the basement of Karral's Tower.

With the iris doorway's hall to their backs, the party found themselves taking the hallway to the left from the well's room.  They passed several faintly-glowing crystal outcroppings about the size of a small couch growing out of the floor, but at a _detect magic_ from Marcus which revealed tendrils of eldritch energy tying the crystals to the tower itself somehow, they decided to leave well enough alone.

Through the door of the first room they found themselves confronted with the smell of salt water, a faint breeze, the sound of gentle waves, and a floor made entirely of sand.  The darkness of the room was odd, but when _light_ spells were cast the mystery deepened even further.  The room looked like a beach.  A small beach, to be certain, but there was a dressing cabana to the left of the doorway (about 20' square) and what looked like small islands out a ways from where the waves lapped the beachfront.   Tybok and Laeka tested the extent of the beach, and came to a point where they stopped, confronted with the feeling of a wall, but with the appearance of continuing onward down the beach.  Arien did some druidic poking around with her knowledge of nature and was surprised to find that the place was large enough to contain a working ecosystem of some kind.  She theorized that perhaps the place opened onto some kind of extraplanar underground sea, but Marcus thought that perhaps there was a conjuration spell of some kind at work to populate the place with wildlife.  

Among the things that were found by Arien and the rest of the explorers, however, was a bed of oysters in a tidal pool just beyond the edge of the beach near the cabana.  Opening the oysters showed that about 1 in 5 had a 100gp pearl inside it.  At first, Valar's eyes lit up until Marcus reminded him that 100gp pearls were considered a spell component and used for the spell _identify_.  After playing in the darkened beach for a bit, and daring to bathe a bit in the waters among the seaweed and crabs, the party headed back to the well room to investigate the other remaining passageway.

This hallway turned a corner and split into two branches.  The one to the right led to a small storage closet and led to an encounter with several animated suits of armor.  Skalar's knowledge of all things dungeoneering led him to pronounce them 'Dreadguards', but with the might of the party they were rather easy to 'kill'. Marcus hesitated a guess after examining the hollow armor and weapon that perhaps the magical power of the crystals in the tower were animating them, and the fact that the place was shrouded in darkness made him think that the Tower was losing power slowly over time.  Yovaire reminded the group that Mikkilik had mentioned not seeing Karral in 'ages', so Marcus agreed that perhaps when the tower was fully powered, the Dreadguards were much more imposing of a threat.

Just beyond the storage closet was a stairwell that led upward to the next level. The party stopped and decided to investigate the left branch of the last passageway first, and found themselves facing yet another encounter with the Dreadguards, again easily dispatched. With a _daylight_ spell from Laeka the party found themselves in a room lush with plants and undergrowth, with a manicured pathway that led to a pool fed by a waterfall from the top of the vaulted ceilings. One set of falls cascaded down directly to the pool while a second flow made its way down several natural-looking rock formations, pool after pool of water that fed into the final pond in a leisurely manner.  Behind the path the lush vegetation seemed to be penning in a set of wetlands, and birds and insects filled the all-too-humid air.  Arien took one look at some of the exotic plant and animal life and declared herself 'home'.  As the _daylight_ spell waned, however, the room went back into dismal darkness once more, but the party could see where cleverly hidden pylons of crystal outcroppings dotted the room's freshwater paradise.  Only Valar noticed that in one of the marshy areas behind the path and against the wall the reeds that grew in abundance suddenly fell as though cut off at the water line, bundled themselves into a stack, and then vanished into thin air.  Marcus investigated the area for a while, but saw nothing unusual except the hacked down reed stems as evidence of anything odd.

The bottom floor more or less explored, the party turned their efforts up to the next floor, following the winding staircase up what Yovaire thought might be the outside wall of the tower's foundation, until they reached a dark hallway with more crystal outcroppings and a hall that went all the way around the perimeter of the tower, with doors interspersed at odd intervals.  They dispatched several more sets of Dreadguards, again quite easily, and found themselves wandering through several rooms that seemed like something from a dream.  Inside each of these odd rooms they found an illusion of some kind at work on the interior, a seal on the outer doors that looked like some kind of abjuration spell (not powered currently), writing in strange and unknown languages, summoning circles inscribed into the floors, and small bookshelves filled with books in the same kinds of languages which were represented on the summoning circles and the door.

[META: _Karral was an Epic Conjurer.  His tower was built in a pocket dimension which enhanced all Conjuration spell effects that he had either built or discovered.  He used the Tower as a study place for himself and a workshop at one point, and the party was exploring the workshop floor.  Each of those rooms were rooms that dealt with a different elemental plane or moral plane, and the languages corresponded.  Thus, there was a room for Fire with books all in Ignan, a demonic one with books in Infernal, a celestial one with books in celestial, etc.  Each keyed specifically to make the room as comfortable as possible for the summoned creature by mimicking via magic the look and feel of the plane they were coming from.  The seals on the doors could be activated by spending a 3rd level or higher spell slot to effectively seal off the room (from the inside) so that should, say, a Devil of some kind get free, they couldn't leave the room except to return via the summoning portal.  Unfortunately for Marcus, he wasn't a specialist wizard or a Conjurer, or he would have been quite orgasmic over the Tower._]​
Also on that floor the party found a couple of crafting workshops, one dedicated to the making of paper and binding of books and the other dedicated to the crafting of inks and vials.   As they watched, they saw the reeds that had been 'harvested' while Valar watched below being magically prepared along the process of becoming papyrus.  Thanks to the use of _detect magic_ and spellcraft knowledge, Marcus was able to determine that the 'automated' processes were being manned by some form of permanently bound _unseen servants_ of some kind.  

As a testimony to the long absence of use, there were about ten spellbooks, perfectly bound and perfectly blank, and a whole cabinet full of glass vials of special inks. (_Essentially, those in the Tower can forego the materials cost of scribing scrolls or spellbooks but not any significant spell components or XP cost for scrolls._)  At this point in time, Marcus declared *himself* as being 'home'.

There was one area on the floor which the party were not able to gain access to... the forges.  The door was magically sealed and warded, and those who attempted to open it received massive amounts of energy damage and got blown backwards across the room.  Eventually, fearing TPK by Door(tm), the characters got confirmation from their deities that there was nothing they could do about the room for now, and they would just have to keep on going as they were.

And with that, the group found themselves moving up to the next level...


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## Pacio49 (Mar 13, 2005)

*Karral's Tower, part 2*

The staircase led upwards into the center of the tower this time, emerging out in a grand hallway, dimly lit, with an open and airy feel to the place. Fifteen foot tall ceilings were bedecked by spidery geometric carvings and pierced stonework screens.  The floors were of polished white marble with inlaid green and black stone tilework in tricolored geometric patterns and borders of gold and silver inlay.  Carpets of many hues and tapestries of varied scenes were all carefully preserved somehow, the crisscrossing energy currents of magical wardings and buidling enchantments almost visible to the naked eye.  False pillars framed doorways of white alabaster and fine wood paneling.  Mobile screens of intricately pierced wood artfully channeled the flow of traffic within the larger lounging areas, creating nooks and small enclosures about couches and divans with matching dark wood tables and now-extinguished lamps, silver candelabras and beaten gold, brass, and copper lanterns and candlelight reflectors.  Small, tasselled pillows of rich silk brocade and velvet cushions were in abundance in the main entry area, and the white of the ceiling plaster looked freshly washed and undisturbed by dust or cobwebs.

Halls and doors abounded, some with wood paneling, others with marble veneers in varied tones and grains, each setting off the distinct areas and doors that led to common areas.  One set of doors that the party explored led into a form of a guest suite, walls curiously blank considering the opulence of the exterior decoration.  Small crystalline outcroppings were cupped in minor inset alcoves just above the door height at regular intervals along the walls.  Rich, mahogany and cherry tables with inlaid wood patterns in birch and cypress marked one room as a small dining room, with halls leading out to smaller, private lounge areas.  Marbled bathing rooms and private bedrooms were found through interior doors off of the common dining area of the suite, and the master bedroom and dressing room were marvellous to behold, with vanity tables and full length mirrors, solid oak and mahogany armoirs on clawed feet gilt with gold in tasteful accents.  Inside the armoirs several sachets of different scents... lavender and rose in one, cedar and sandalwood and lignum aloes in another.  Tiny vials of scented bathing oils and cooling ointments for forehead and feet were found in the bathing room, along a tiled marble tub with curious runes etched into the wall above it, one to fill the tub with water, another to drain it, one to heat it, another to cool it, all reactive to the pass of a hand... well... almost reactive.

The Tower was obviously a marvel of magical construction, with the conjuration of water merely a tiny part of it... and a tiny part of it which no longer functioned exactly as it seemed to be intended.  In the many guest and living suites that the party explored all were found similarly furnished though accomodating different numbers of occupants and in different levels of privacy and shared space, some with bedchambers sharing a communal bath, others with private albeit smaller bathing facilities, others with bedchambers that had private anterooms and sitting areas, others with simply a hall, a lounge, a bath, and several bedrooms off of the hall.   Yet in every instance, there was a feeling of the failing of magic somehow.  The sense of incompleteness that haunted every room.  As though there were something missing, something not quite working to the fullest extent.  A hint of color appearing to dance over a wall in the wake of someone passing, the fleeting feeling of fresh air circulating through the room then fading into the staleness nearly approaching musty air.  The small amount of tepid water summoned into the baths, the lagging delay between activation of the runes over the privvy and the actual removal of wastes to places unknown.  All somehow... incomplete.

Marcus pronounced the whole of the place to be failing, although failing slowly enough that it seemed to still be holding up well enough for now.  The magic that somehow powered the entire Tower was shutting down slowly as it faded. Laeka used her knowledge of the healing craft to wonder whether or not it was like a human exposed to the elements, losing feeling and heat in the extremities first in an attempt to safeguard the heart and head.  Marcus concluded that it must be so, and wondered if there were some way to restore the old Tower to its former glory and full power.

Perhaps indeed.

The party found in each of the guest suites, and indeed in the main lounge area they had emerged into at first that the walls were made of that strange glass, smoky to the view at first from the outside (more on the 'outside' in a moment), and clear when viewed from the inside.  Skalar remarked at how it seemed to be the same material and effect as they had found in Dorecan Manor, and Yovaire posited that perhaps Karral had built or enchanted the Manorhouse in the times gone by. Or perhaps they had a common contractor in things magical.

Off of several of the suites the party encountered doorways fashioned out of the same thick glass-like material that led out onto large, connected balconies, ringing the entire Tower.  They each contained a small copse of trees, a miniature grove with a lawn and marble seats to sit upon and take in the view of the outside.  A view which, at the moment, appeared drab and somewhat confusing.  A dark horizon line not too far off yet appearing somehow also in the distance met a gently glowing blue-gray sky without much in the way of features.  The balconies had a ceiling that extended upwards and above the treetops of the planted and maintained copses, and in that same, lingering sort of effect, a gentle mist released at one time to water the different trees.  Arien declared once again that this was now her new home, and marveled at the magic that was necessary to keep those trees alive, without sunlight, without rain, and in apparently perfect health.

There were nine such balconies all told, and in each of the balconies a different copse of trees lived and thrived.  Oak, Maple, Birch, Almond, Orange, Chestnut, Apple, Hazel, and a rare tree of elvish origin, the legendary Queensfruit trees.  Elvish Queensfruit trees were a closely guarded horticultural secret of the elves.  Giving off faint silvery and golden light by day or night, with leaves that fell gently in season but never stripped the tree bare, with smooth trunks of silvery bark and small clusters of reddish fruit that resembled pomegranates and which ripened in pod clusters that turned to deep burnished gold when fully ripe, with white and golden flowers that yielded the most heavenly of scents and whose perfumes and jellies were said to be aphrodisiac and restorative... Elvish Queensfruit were truly magical trees, and spoke more to Karral's power to keep and preserve them than anything else had done.  It also raised the question as to whether or not Karral were some Elvish nobility, since the only way the trees would blossom and bear fruit was under the careful tending by a member of Elvish royalty.  Folklore held that it was the Queen herself, but the Royal Bloodline of the Elves was sufficient to make the trees blossom, though in a way that was a closely guarded secret.

As the party investigated the trees, Laeka, Valar and Marcus were approached by a diminutive woman of surpassing beauty and highly pointed and notched ears with a decidedly green tinge to her skin and long, chestnut hair.  "Are they yours?"  the dryad asked Laeka, nodding to the men and absently twirling a lock of her hair about her forefinger.

"Are who mine?" Laeka responded.

"The men, silly. Are they yours, or are they up for the taking?"

"Hey now, none of us are up for the taking!"  Marcus said.

"I dunno, Marcus," Valar responded. "She's kinda cute."

Marcus bapped Valar on the back of his head.  "Of course she's cute. Beautiful even. But she's a dryad, and we're needed with the rest of the party, not to take some seven-plus year sabbatical to be her sex slaves."

Valar arched one eyebrow at the mage.  "Are you _sure_ about that?"

Matters were salvaged by the arrival of the druidess, who quickly pointed out to the Dryad that they were *her* men, and it wasn't nice to steal from druids.  The Dryad pouted and sighed, and then remembered that the Queen wanted to meet the new arrivals as soon as they were ready.  At the Queensfruit trees.

The party was assembled, and they met in the appointed place under the faint and pleasing light of the Queensfruit trees (nine trees total, planted in a perfect circle so that each tree's crown mingled perfectly with that of the tree on either side).  There they were met by a whole host of dryads surrounding a single woman of short stature and green skin, old in demeanor yet youthful in appearance, she had a look about her that defied age, yet her eyes were as old as the stars.  The party made their obeisance, and were properly introduced to Zathira, Lady of the Fae Courts from the Place Which Was No Longer, Duchess of the Sidhe Courts of her homeland and Queen in Exile of the Faerie who had accompanied her to abide with Karral, ages ago.

"You see," the wise Zathira said to Arien, "Karral's people tried to warn us of the impending doom that was eventually to take over our plane of existence, creatures so chaotic and horrible that I shudder to think what would have happened to us had we not fled with Karral.  They had been fighting them across the planes, and they had come to us in the early stages of our plane being overrun.  My Queen would not hear of it, loving freedom as she did, but I took pleasure from the company of one of the Envoys of Order, a young Conjurer named Karral.  I took him as my lover, and he took me, and because of that I was able to flee the Sacred Groves when the Queen and the rest of the Court were destroyed by the Rampagers.  I gathered as many of my kind as I could, including the seedlings you see here,"  she said, gesturing to the dryads among her.  "Karral made us comfortable and gave us this place as a home."  Her face was overcome with sadness.  "We long for what we have lost, but we dream a little here, and it has been pleasant... but Karral is now long gone and, I fear, dead to us these many years, and I am the last of the Seneschals of the Tower.  If you be good of heart, then you are welcome guests of the Tower for as long as you wish to stay."

Zathira paused a moment to turn and regard the dryads. "I said, daughters, that they were guests of the Tower. Honor them as guests. . . not as pets.  I claim them for myself, and woe to any of my children who _glamer_ them with the Seeming against my Will, and I do not Will it so.  Hear, and obey."

There was a rustling among the assembled dryads and many sighs of disappointment, but as one they responded, "We hear and obey, Mother."

Zathira nodded and smiled.  "Now, you must be tired.  Take repast in the dining hall and my folk will serve you, to see that you are rested and refreshed.  And, of course, there is still the matter of your exploration of the Tower to contend with.  No place that you can contrive to enter here is closed to you.  I trust your goodness of heart to guide what you do with what you find and how to dispose of yourselves in the meanwhile.  Be welcome, and be blessed."

The party gave their thanks and were (straining to be) on their best behavior.  After the pleasantries and the audience with Zathira were over, the group continued their exploration of the level and found. . .

. . . the library.  Not a magical library, but a library nonetheless, with enough tomes and volumes to contain all of the knowledge that they would need to study up to 8 ranks in any of the regular Knowledge skills, as their class focus allowed. [META: _Essentially, this provides the party with the plausible source for any of their knowledge skills that they wished to take up to 8 ranks, and beyond that the players would need to do their own investigations and RP them out as such to gain such mastery over what there is to know._]

Marcus and Tybok were immediately lost in the stacks, beginning to review what there was to know and at the very least catalogue what the library had to offer.  Each of them immediately claimed one of the many 5-person study rooms as their own, and the party generally decided that the large conference-type room with the glass-like walls looking out onto the rest of the lounge was their new headquarters for meetings and discussions of plans/rendezvous points.

Arien did manage to force her brother, Marcus, to give up the library to at least find out where the dining hall was, and they were not disappointed in this, either.  They found several large kitchens and were amazed to find that there were many fae creatures of different types busying themselves with the tasks of cooking and preparing food.  The boggans greeted the party warmly but firmly and kindly made it known that they were not allowed inside the kitchens, and they could sit and place their order with the Major Domo inside the dining hall proper, would the party please leave now? Please. Thank you.

The Major Domo appeared, a pooka dressed in proper tuxedo and looking positively fox-like when he thought the party wasn't watching.  He refused to give his name, pointing out that fae-folk do not lightly give over their own names, holding firmly to the contract and power inherent in names and giving them to strangers.  Instead, he insisted on being called by his title, and mentioned that should they need of him they had only to call out for the Major Domo and one of the other servants nearby would fetch him shortly.  The banquet table was laid out for them with serving utensils by fae who seemed to disappear when the party wasn't watching them.  When questions of this, the Major Domo gave a sly smile and informed the group that of course the faeries had the ability not to be seen when they weren't wishing to, or needed.  It wasn't intentional, although they certainly could hide, but rather a sort of automatic thing, like an ongoing suggestion to the viewers that they weren't worthy of attention.  Almost as if they could Hide in Plain Sight, and it was something that was always active. [META:_ These are not your D&D description fae.  I've always run with the homebrew fae I encountered from college gaming groups and the way that they handled them.  Since the dimension is extraplanar, it makes sense that certain things are not what the party is used to... for example, the dryads hailed from *all* of the trees on the balconies, not just the oak trees.  These are mostly homebrew, partly White Wolf/Changeling fodder, and partly D&D.  Never be afraid to mix things up to make them your own, so long as you play things consistently. Players will forgive much if you are consistent within your variations... it allows them to anticipate and react as they grow in their knoweldge of your homebrew world._]

There were exclamations of surprise as the Major Domo told them they could have pretty much whatever they wished to eat, providing it was a food with which the boggan chefs were already familiar.  Nothing exotic (well, not by fae standards), but other than that the boggans were fairly quivering with anticipation at being able to serve once more.  The party members each ordered their favorite food, and Arien enamored the boggans to her by asking them to serve whatever they considered their best dish for an informal supper.  All the food was excellent, and the party decided to rest for a while before exploring the rest of the upper portions of the Tower.

By this time, when the party saw that the fires had been lit in their chambers and the beds warmed and sheets turned down, ALL of the party members were beginning to think that this would be a fine place indeed to call home... even if it was in the middle of the Blasted Lands.


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## Pacio49 (Mar 18, 2005)

*META: Map of the City of Tol Vehara*

It's a bit fuzzy, but here's an overview of the original 20" x 30" map of Tol Vehara.  More to come.


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## Black Bard (Mar 20, 2005)

I really enjoyed how you portraited the fey in your campaign... It was great!


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## Pacio49 (Mar 20, 2005)

*Karral's Tower, Part III*

The next morning the party awoke, rested and refreshed. They met in the library's main conference room, and there they decided to strike out and investigate the upper floors. Marcus and Tybok grumblingly conceded that they should continue their investigation, and the party formed ranks and went upstairs from the level of the guest quarters.

They emerged on a rooftop which contained gardens, a stream, a pond, and what appeared to be meadows flecked with wildflowers and a scintillating horde of butterflies. In the center of the garden, three graceful, curving stone ramps and supports vaulted up to create three arches from which was suspended a dome.  In the underside of the dome, the odd dimensional-sky was replaced with illusions of sunlight and clouds, and a gentle breeze was blowing. The illusion was fantastic, complete with warmth from the sun on their faces and the twittering of birdsong. Small crystal pylon outcroppings dotted the landscape, and because they had arrived in the morning the party was delighted to find that at a certain time the air became saturated with a fine mist, emanating from the crystals. It rose up off of the ground in lazy, wispy curls, and then slowly condensed into droplets and cascaded in a brief, yet soaking rain.

On the outer edge of the curving vault supports were staircases that each led up to the top of the outer edge of the dome, upon which rested what Zathira informed them the night before was the Upper Tower.  In general, guests and visitors to Karral's tower would utilize the lower tower, with the gardens and the summoning rooms (Karral had several apprentices and often rented or lent his rooms to other wizards and sorcerers who had need of their special properties).   The Upper Tower was much more restricted access.

The group spent a little while playing in the fields and peering curiously over the edge into the featureless dimension boundaries.  Valar got in trouble with an Undine, a watery fae who had not been present with the dryads when Zathira forbade the taking of the party as pets.  Laeka and Arien were able to hold the Undine off while Marcus fetched Zathira, who arrived and scolded the girl, who reluctantly relinquished her claim on the thief.

The upper deck included a gazebo amid the meadows, a few secluded benches and picnic spots near the streams, and a copse of trees which had been planted and grown to form the perfect druid's grove.  Laeka and Valar, getting bored while the rest of the group were out checking out the grounds, decided to improvise a target on top of one of the small wooden shields that they had taken from Dorecan Manor.  The two spent time playing games of dagger tossing, and Laeka decided to try some trick shots, tossing her dagger over her shoulder... bullseye.

Valar tried it... bullseye.  Laeka tried it again... bullseye.  Each shot taken over the shoulder... bullseye, without fail.  Finally, after a few more tries, the two realized that they were literally surrounded by fae... tiny sidhe-folk no larger than a rose, or a butterfly. Indeed, several of the butterflies were actually fae, and a few of the twiglings, roots, sprouts, and petals were actually riding on butterflies.  A number of them were holding the edges of the shield, and as the tall folk were chucking the daggers over their shoulder at them, they were treating it as a game and moving the shield to catch it in the center.

Laeka was immediately intrigued by the gaggle of small sidhe that had assembled, and she began to play with them quite merrily until the rest of the party appeared and the small sidhe disappeared.

Having exhausted the investigation of the current level, the group decided to ascend up to the Upper Tower, taking one of the curving vaults up to where they saw a white stone door.  Inscribed on the door was a message in common, stating "Only the righteous may pass."  After a few minutes of discussion and debate, Laeka was told to channel the positive energy of her God, Povra, into the door, which she did. The door shuddered and glowed and opened for the party, being replaced with an ordinary wooden door, _sans_ writing.

The party led an exhaustive search of the upper tower. They discovered that there were no stairs or access points between levels aside from a teleport area, for one.  On the lowest level of the tower they found the master living quarters for Karral, his personal lounge and study, and a room where he could entertain others privately. Using the teleport pad they attained the next level, which was Karral's personal laboratory and Conjuring library.  Up one further level brought them to the place that made Tybok and Marcus feel as though they had died and gone to heaven... Karral's collection of spells and grimoires. The next level up was a bit of a puzzle to the group.  They emerged inside a single chamber, with the same glasslike material forming the outer walls, and noticed a sort of an observation deck that circled around the tower, with one long tongue of stone that led out to nothingness.  After hemming and hawing over it, Skalar pointed out that it looked rather like the small nubs on the side resembled moorings on the riverside docks.  Tybok ventured forth a guess that perhaps it was used for some kind of flying ship of some sort, like they mentioned in the gnome bedtime stories.

The other odd sort of thing that the group encountered on that level was a black stone pylon with nine sides and nine doorways, one to each side, enclosing about a fifteen foot square room.  Marcus used his _detect magic_ and was nearly blinded from the strength of the magical energy that was contained within the pylon. He did note that it was a strange blend of magic, but that it seemed self-contained and *not* connected to the tower as a whole.

Looking at it from the outside, the group could see that there was a gray stone block in the center, looking like some kind of a table or altar, but there were no other features to be seen.  Laeka took a step forward, entering the pylon, and Yovaire attempted to step in as well, but curiously enough as soon as Laeka entered there seemed to be some kind of a _wall of force_ preventing anyone else from entering, no matter which doorway they tried.  Nothing evil seemed to befall Laeka, but the light that was coming from the top of the pylon did change slightly to reveal some kind of carved inscription on the tabletop.

Marcus, ever curious, called in to Laeka, "What's it say?"

And Laeka, ever obliging, read aloud the inscription on the stone, saying "Umi sum."  At which point the _wall of force_ surrounding the pylon dropped and everyone else was allowed in. When the group was inside, the pylon sealed, and... _something_ happened.
In the order in which the group crossed the threshold, a different set of words were read out, each ending in 'sum' (soom). Umi, mudo, nictu, etc.  Marcus guessed (correctly) that whatever 'sum' meant, the other numbers were some kind of counting.  Each party member felt a small stabbing pain in their left ring finger, and when they looked down a glowing tattoo of a spider had appeared.  At that point, they all suffered severe disorientation, as they could for the moment see and sense through each others' eyes.   There was a glow that surrounded Laeka, a buzzing that came from her pack. When she fished out the source of the buzzing, she found that an eldritch light was suffusing the Rod of Splendor they had picked up from Dorecan Manor, and before anyone could react the energy from that rod sank into her chest and merged with her aura, leaving a burnt-out rod in her hands, and permanently giving her a Charisma of 18.

There was a moment's hesitation, and then the light at the peak of the pylon began to shimmer and coalesce until it revealed a small image of an old man, human in seeming, but with an aura of some kind of otherworldliness about him.  The image looked about for a moment, smiled kindly, and began to speak.

"Welcome, adventurers, to the Sanctum of Order.  You have passed many gates and tests to stand where you do now, but the real test of your mettle has just begun.  In older days, you would have entered the chamber knowing full well what you had stepped forward into, yet as I leave this Tower behind to pursue things of dire importance, I can sense that no one will enter here until much of the lore and ways I have instituted in all the places the Tower is will have faded.  And so, I will explain.

"My name is Karral, and this Tower you stand in belongs to me.  I do not know when, or if, I shall be able to return to it, as pleasant as the Tower has been.  Yet such a center of power as this Tower has become should not be lost forever.  It is our hope that someone will follow who can prove their worth and conviction, for the cause of Good, if not simply the cause of Order.   To that end, I present you with the choice before you.

"You may accept the rings which now rest upon your fingers.  If you take them, they will bond with your very soul for the duration of the time you wear them.  They operate through a form of magic nearly unknown on your plane, and should not interfere with the trinkets you claim as 'magic rings', allowing you to wear one on each hand as you did before.  They have great power, but only for those who take the time to use them.  If nothing else, they will allow you to communicate mentally with your leader."  At this, Karral's image stopped and nodded at Laeka.  The party started to ask questions, but the image seemed not to be able to hear them, and continued on, so they stopped and listened.

"These rings will prepare you for the task ahead.  You are obviously Good at heart, for none but the Righteous would have been able to gain access here.  Therefore, I name you Guests of the Tower.  If you accept the task ahead of you, you will keep the rings upon your fingers as you leave.  You may stay here, but know that unless you are vouched as Good and worthy by those my Seneschals accept as such, you cannot gain true Residency here.   Find a power of greater good and carry their vouch to my Seneschals, and you shall be offered Residency, and the tasks will be set before you to begin your work in becoming eventual Masters of the Tower yourselves.

"For now, decide whether you depart with the gift of this magical link or if you will set aside this path and depart the Tower."

The party debated, and took much time to be thorough in their deliberations. Finally they decided that there had been no indications to make them believe that Karral was anything other than good, and most likely lawful as well.  Taking the leap of faith (and really really REALLY wanting to own the Tower) they all agreed and the rings became part of them.

[META:  _The rings are psionic artifacts, with level-based and charisma-based bonuses.  The individual members of the team can number up to nine, and with the consent of the Leader, Umi Sum or 'I am the first,' lower team members in the hierarchy can leave the team.  The Leader has the ability to generate an actual ring that can be placed on the hand of a new person who, if willing, joins the team to fill any open slot.  The ring hearkens from Karral's home plane, and the pylon is tied to it.  As the party adventures, more will hopefully become clear to them on what the point is for the rings. For now, they just get the fun of playing with an artifact-level-item which has a number of surprising features._]

The party left the chamber and finished off their exploration of the Upper Tower, ending with the aptly-named Observation Room, a domed top point that contained a _crystal ball_ for use with scrying mounted in the center of the room, and a table which had the ability to create a 3D illusion of a map, and was currently set to demonstrate the region of the River of Stars.  The _crystal ball_ could be used to scry, and for those powerful enough the vision gleaned from the ball could be projected onto the walls and dome of the room.  Truly gifted seers and diviners could make it actually feel like the group was present within the scene being scried.

Thus, with new toys and a new purpose, the group decided to take their evening meal with Zathira, to ask her how they should go about getting a vouch, and who the other Seneschals of the Tower might be.


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## Pacio49 (Mar 21, 2005)

*To Secure a Vouch, part I*

Zathira met them inside the Upper Tower in Karral's old study area, and the Faerie Queen told the party that she was the last of the Seneschals of the Tower left.  This was exacty as Karral had planned it, though, since she had her people to look after and was for all intents and purposes an immortal.  She liked the party, make no mistake about that, but Karral had been fairly specific when it came to the steps it took in order to earn Mastery over his Tower.

The first step being the securing of a vouch of the party's goodness. It had to come from a powerful force for good, which meant that the easiest way to do so was to find a powerful magical being of Good alignment or a powerful Good outsider and perform some service for them, which would thereafter secure the necessary vouch and make the party Residents of the Tower.  When the group questioned her about the location of any such beings, Zathira thought for a moment and then decided that the best place for the party to begin their search was with the Lillends, three sisters of the Lillend kind named Cordellia, Ophellia, and Sarallia, who had taken up residence nearby at the Caldera Gardens, the source of the River of Stars, just over a full day's travel to the west.

After some debate, the party decided that Lillends would be as good a place as any to begin, and set out immediately to secure their vouch, not suspecting the bizarre adventure which lay in wait for them.


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## Black Bard (Mar 29, 2005)

Can't wait to see the Lillends' Quest!


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## Pacio49 (Mar 30, 2005)

*The Lillends' Quest*

The River of Stars flows from the mountains to the far southwest of Tol Vehara through a fertile, forested valley and eventually joins the Gold River, the eastward flowing long river that nearly splits the continent of Brace's northern half.  The source of the river emerges in the midst of an ancient caldera whose northeastern rim has long since fallen away by the settling of the earth in ages past.  The caldera is low, more of a hilly crater now, and the mineral deposits from the underground springs and tributary streams is rich in mica and quartz, as well as black basalt and pumice from long-eroded magma flows from when the caldera was an active volcano.  The result of this is that for the length of the river the stones, sand, and silt are black or dark gray in color, with minute flecks of mica and crystal that sparkle in the slow-moving stretches of the river, and give the river its name.

The Lillends, three sisters and apparently not subject to the effects of the Taint, have taken up residence in the Caldera at the source of the River of Stars.  Their love of beauty and art has led them, over the years, to turn the slopes of the caldera into a series of terraced gardens, rock pools with musical waterfalls and dripping pools, reflecting areas, flower gardens, meditation courtyards, and a small stage and seating against the back of the caldera wall where they stage dramatic performances and invite musical performers and travelers to display their skills against the natural ampitheater.  It is an oasis of beauty wed in near-perfect harmony with the natural surroundings, so the transition from wild to sculpted is gradual, and the sense of relief and wonder build the closer to their home you approach.

The party made their way to the River of Stars and followed it to the source, taking an entire day and into the night hours.  They arrived at the Caldera Gardens and found their path lit by phosphorescent stones and luminary candles in exquisite pottery leading them to the center, the Well of Stars, and a Haven in which the Lillends kept their cottage, built in the gnomish style, with walls that are thick at the base and taper to normal thickness at the top, with troughs and terraces cut into and added onto the buildings in order to allow for gardens and vines, vegetables and grasses to be grown _on_ the buildings themselves, with rooftop gardens accessed by ladders from the inside or the occasional stairway molded into the wall's outer edge itself.

The party was greeted by the eldest of the Lillends, Ophellia. Her sisters, Cordellia and Serallia also came to welcome them, and bid them rest after their long journey.  Over a late supper, Arien and Valar informed the Lillends that they had come to the Caldera Gardens because they wished to earn their trust and their vouch as agents of Goodness in the world so that they could be accepted as Residents in Karral's Tower.  Ophellia nodded and mentioned that goodness was proven in deeds better than words, and told the party that if they wished her vouch they would have to earn it by performing a task.

Someone downriver was using their magic irresponsibly and _awaken_ing all sorts of animals.  Serallia left and returned with a group of animals, some wearing clothing, others not.  A brown bear, several foxes, a few sparrows, an oppossum, a dozen or so mice, and a river otter, all told.  The bear introduced himself as Barnaby, and asked for the party's help.  Apparently, someone came through the woods and cast _awaken_ on him, and then left.  Newly awakened, Barnaby found himself suddenly aware and without a clue in the world as to how or why, and how he was supposed to behave.  Bearish life no longer suited him, but there were few other options.  It caused, in his words, an existential quandry of staggering proportions.  The other animals confessed stories similar to Barnaby's, though without the intellectual snobbery.

Ophellia said that slowly they began to discover these animals and take them in, help them adapt, and allow them the choices for their new lifestyle.  Arien asked if she had issue with the _awaken_ spell, since someday she would be able to use it.  Ophellia responded that so long as it was used responsibly, she didn't much mind since it was a matter of conscience and she would not interfere in the conscience of another unless it caused problems, and this was becoming a problem.  More and more animals were finding their way to the Caldera gardens, and while most decided to stay, it was a burden that the animals had neither asked for nor been helped to deal with.

Ophellia thought that the most likely person to inquire after would be the Druidess Martha, currently living in a bend in the riverbanks 2 days downriver along the river's eastern bank.   Martha, she said, maintained a colony of Shocker Lizards, and she was the only one that Ophellia knew who had the power to use _awaken_.  If they checked with her, they needed to stop the indiscriminate use of the power, by the most peaceful means necessary since Martha professed a belief in goodness, or eliminate her as the most likely candidate and begin their search from there.  Once the party solved the problem of the _awakening_ animals, they would demonstrate their goodness of heart and the vouch would be theirs.  The party rested, content to set out in the morning.


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## Pacio49 (Apr 25, 2005)

*The Lillends' Quest 2*

The next morning dawned bright and clear and the party set out down the banks of the River of Stars and made the Tower by shortly after nightfall. They spent the night there, and in the gray overcast April skies of the next morning, they started off downriver again, heading to where the Lillends indicated the Shocker Lizards lived.

It was around noon by the time that the group found a place where the river diverted off to a smaller side branch that flowed down several granite outcroppings before collecting in a pool that slowly swirled outward to rejoin the main body of the River of Stars again.  They began to poke around the rocks and shallow rapids and managed to find several small underhangs about two feet in diameter which seemed to lead back into the earth. At the bottom of the water's descent at the level of the swirling pool they found a human-sized entry cave and were about to enter when they were met by the smell of ozone, the sound of clicking, and a circle of about twelve or thirteen shocker lizards armed with tiny spears and racing arcs of electricity jumping up and down their spines and between their upraised ears.

"Stop where you are," called out a raspy Shocker Lizard voice from behind where the party was grouped. They all turned to see two of the shocker lizards standing there, one wearing a necklace of bones and a skirt made of dried grasses woven together in a parody of human clothing, and the other wearing what looked to be a crudely-sewn completely soaked tunic with a belt.

"We mean you no harm,"  replied Arien.  "We seek the druidess Martha and were told that she lived here."

"I am she, or what she has become,"  answered the skirted lizard.  "Who are you, to be seeking me in the Blasted Lands?  And more importantly," she asked, drawing herself up to her full two feet in height, "Who told you to seek us out?  Be warned, with my children behind you we can kill a human with a single blow, and if you begin to harm us more of the Lizards will come out from hiding to deal with you all. Wet as you are in the shallows here you won't make it out of a conflict with us alive. That, I promise you."

"We were sent by the Lillends,"  Yovaire said.

"Those three? What do they want with me?" Martha asked.

"Why have you been Awakening the native wildlife?" Skalar asked.  "I expected more from a druid, no matter what form she takes now."

Martha snorted. "You can't mean to tell me that the Lillends object to my use of the Awakening spell to bring my children to full sentience.  The spirits of nature do not refuse them, why should the Lillends? Tell them to go back to composing music and leave the tending of nature to those better equipped to do so."

"But you're using it indiscriminately.  They don't object to your community you've created here. Just to the fact that the wand has been used to awaken other creatures who are then left on their own," Arien said.  "You have to admit that's pretty bad judgment, no matter how bitter your new shape leaves you."

"Bitter?  Enh, I'm not bitter. Why should I be, when I'm closer to nature now?"  Martha asked.

"Yeah, about that," Valar said, "How exactly did you come to be a shocker lizard anyway?"

Martha shrugged. "Long story. Pulverized and mingled remains thanks to Teeb and his group of giants, an inept rogue trying to use a reincarnate scroll. George and I were both brought back, but like this.  Long and short of it, we're married and here we are."  She chuckled.  "As to the Awakened creatures, that was none of my doing.  You can thank George here for that, indirectly."  She poked the tunic-wearing lizard, who gave a start and let loose a small series of sparks.

"Not my fault," the other lizard said.  "I was on guard --"

"Sleeping," Martha interjected.

"On guard," George glared, "when one of those pesky Petals grabbed the wand from me.  I gave chase, but --"

"But that just made it worse."  Martha cuffed George on the top of his head, and continued, "George should have known better than to chase the fae.  He *should* have made the proper exchange-gift offering of bread and blood and been done with it.  As it was, he chased them, and it became for them a jolly game, and they learned of the value of the wand they had stolen.  I can only guess that they figured out how to use it and thought it a jolly good sport to cavort through the woods and Awaken however many of the animals they could find.  Well, George, looks like you've gone and upset the Sisters now."

Martha gave a sigh.  "I tell you what.  You retrieve the wand from the fairies, and I'll return to the Caldera Gardens and help the Lillends counsel the Awakened ones.  But without that wand back, my efforts will just be a waste of time, since the fairies won't understand what they're doing and continue to use it until the charges are all expended. And that was a fairly new wand, so there could be dozens more charges left."

"That sounds fair to us," Yovaire said.  And with that, they received directions to where the fae had a glen near the woods an hour or so to the south of the pool, and off they went to retrieve the wand from the fairies who had stolen it...


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## Pacio49 (May 5, 2005)

*Lillends' Quest III*

Valar questioned George for a bit and found out that the most likely candidate to have stolen the wand would have been Bluebonnet, a sylvan faerie with a penchant for mischief who had been 'jockeying for position among the country squires' lately.  George shrugged off the explanation of what that meant for the fae, but described a little dell where the rapscallion was known to cavort.  And off the party went.

It wasn't long before they found the area, and at the party's general challenge Bluebonnet appeared.  Apparently he had, indeed, stolen the Wand of Awakening from Martha, but he wasn't going to give it back. "Fairy taken, fairly mine."  Arien restrained Marcus from smiting the whole little gang of fae with fireballs, and instead asked Bluebonnet if there were something they could *do* to get the wand from him. Purchase it, perhaps?

Bluebonnet and his gang sergeants gathered together and whispered a bit, but came back and told the group that yes, there was indeed something they could do for them, something which would even up the score.  As the diminutive fae spoke, the party sighed and groaned a bit, as it seemed the wee fellow and his gang had a quest for the group. (Of course.)

"You wish for the Wand, you will need to undertake our fairy quest. Before the sun rises for a new day, you must bring to me three things.  Bread baked from the hands of a virgin female, a fair-fallen thread, and a whisker plucked from the jowl of a cat.  Bring me these things before the sun rises and I will happily return your wand to you. Agreed?"

The party mulled it over, and amid general scoffing at the simplicity of the quest, they finally agreed, only asking for clarification as to what a 'fair-fallen' thread was.  The thread had to have worn free of a garment naturally and fallen of its own accord.  By far the most problematic of the requirements, since Arien professed her virginity and was more than willing to bake bread for the quest, and Marcus was fairly certain he could use his Monster Summoning spell to bring forth a dire cat of some kind.  Valar was more concerned with the thread.  Bluebonnet told the group that if they agreed to the quest, the fairies would aid them as much as they could, knowing of a cottage where an old weaver and his virgin daughter happened to be living, along with their three cats.  The group decided that this was cakewalk, and heartily agreed to the quest.

Bluebonnet and his gang were overjoyed and told the party that they needed to join in their dance in order to seal the solemnity of the mighty quest which they were going to undertake.  The group rolled their eyes, but acquiesced and joined a simple little ring-dance  with the fae gang. . . and shrank to the size of a tulip bud, each and every one of them. All of their iron and steel had been magically transformed, so that their armor of metal was now some kind of hardened wood, and their blades had been transformed into folded blades of grass that held sharp edges, or thorns for piercing.

[_The party was, actually, ready to kill me at this point.  The groans were quite rewarding, though I have to admit this little one-shot adventure is a favorite of mine to break up the pace a bit for any adventure_]

When Skalar complained, he was told that the group had accepted a fairy quest, and there were *rules* for this sort of thing, and being small was one of them. Not Bluebonnet's fault that the group hadn't asked if they could be large during the quest.  Not something he was allowed to offer up freely, either. Rules were rules.  They promised to put the group back to big size when they were done, once the quest was fulfilled.

Marcus cast Fly on a large leaf and the group got on board for a rather bizarre ride through the countryside. It was hard to tell from their new perspective, but it felt like they had somehow left the Tainted lands and gone to someplace else. When they asked, Bluebonnet shrugged and said that they were still in the Woods, though he had no frame of reference when it came to the lands 'around' the Woods. Woods were Woods, rules were rules, and a quest was a quest.

The group was brought to a cottage yard in time to see an older man get on a horse and kiss his pretty daughter good-bye on his way in to market. She waved him off then went back into the house, and came out while the group was approaching to set some pies on the  top of the half-split door with the small counter piece.  It was next to the cooling pies that the party decided to land and make their attempt.

The group decided to split up, something easy enough to do at their size yet still remaining in the same room.  After some hunting,  the group was able to find the fair-fallen thread, and Laeka decided that she would carry it.  However, the thread was rather long, so to make it easier on herself, she wrapped it around her waist like a belt, taking three turns to make it so. [Meta:_  The thread acted as a magic item for her in fae form, and the effect it had on Laeka was to effectively give her spells as though she were 3 levels higher, including caster level based effects, saving throws, and spells known per day.  The extras were chosen by me, and the character simply felt oddly more powerful magically with the thread on._]

Arien was easily able to get the bread, since that was the next thing out of the oven and put on the cooling counter.  She tucked it away in her sack, and climbed down to join the rest of the group with the foray with the cats.  By this time, one of the three housecats had spotted the tiny moving things and reacted the way that cats will... first watching, then pouncing.  A second cat, drawn into the fray by the antics of the many mice-sized creatures who had the audacity to fight back soon complicated matters, but it was the third cat who sat upon the bed and waited for the best moment in which to pounce that *really* made the fight interesting.

The technicality which wrenched the 'simple' task was that the whisker had to be plucked out of the cat's jowls, not merely _cut_ out of the cat.  So it came down to the fact that in order to get the whisker, the party member in question would have to make a grapple attack (provoking normal attacks of opportunity) to get a hold of the whisker, and then a strength check DC 25 to pluck it out.  The party had no trouble getting hold of the whiskers, but as fate seemed to be chuckling that day, no one could muster the 25 strength check in order to pluck them out.

The result of which was that there were three mousers batting about the party members who continued to run at their mouths, hop up to grab whiskers, and after a moment of futile tugging got batted off by the cat or shaken free and slammed against walls and furniture posts by the irate moggies... and then pounced upon by the odd cat out who had dislodged their attackers the round previous.

Finally, with the help of super-Laeka's _divine might_ spell, the party managed to get a whisker. Marcus cast teeny-sized fireballs into the cats's tails and effectively scattered the kitties, allowing the group to make a run for the door, narrowly missing getting trampled by the weaver's daughter who had come to investigate what the ruckus was and then tripped on a running kitty and dropped the second loaf of bread on the ground, narrowly missing crushing Yovaire  (heat damage AND crushing damage... not fun).

The party managed to clear the house and Marcus used up the last of his spells to make another leaf-flier, and the party rejoined Bluebonnet just as the evening was darkening... well ahead of schedule for the quest.  

Back at the dell, Bluebonnet's gang gathered to light faerie bonfires and held a feast with nectar flowing in tiny blossom-cups all around.  The group declined to join the feast or drink the nectar (smart move on both parts), but instead fulfilled their quest by handing over the bread, the thread, and the whisker. They watched as Bluebonnet took hold of the base of the whisker in one hand and drew it through his other hand, as though unsheathing a weapon.  As the whisker passed through his second hand's grip, it became silvery and gleaming, and hardened until it appeared to be a shining sword, glowing with magical energy.  

Bluebonnet took the thread and wrapped it thrice around his own waist, appearing to grow more powerful magically, and then finally ate the chunk of bread... and the whole faerie gang appeared to grow in size and stature, until they were 3 apples tall (Smurf sized, if you must know, but no blue).  Bluebonnet himself stood head and shoulders above the rest of his gang, and the sword seemed to have grown as well.  They thanked the party, gave them the Wand, and then blew some kind of dust over them that made everyone sneeze several times.

When the sneezing fit had passed, the group was back to normal size, standing in an empty field with no sign of the fae at all, holding the Wand of Awakening.

They hurried back to Martha and presented the wand back to her, at which point Martha agreed to accompany them back to the Lillends' home in the Caldera Gardens.  With the ease that sometimes blesses the end of quests, the party encountered no trouble escorting the tiny shocker-lizard Martha to the Caldera Gardens, arriving tired but unharmed in the middle of the next day.

When Martha was present and explained what had happened and how the party had helped relieve the situation, and the party had given its tale of events, the Lillends announced that they would be happy to vouch for the essential goodness of the group.  The party rested, and the next day Cordellia accompanied them on their long trek back to Karal's Tower.

Once there, Cordellia went to the upper levels and into the chamber where Laeka had uttered the fateful words 'Umi Sum', and summoned forth the visage of Karal by speaking his name and an arcane incantation.  Once the image had appeared, she announced her vouch of Laeka's group as worthy and good, and the image proclaimed in a voice that rang throughout the Tower proper that (each of the party's names in order from Umi Sum to the last one in the group) were now officially Residents of the Tower.

At this time, Laeka and the group were told that if they wished to become Wardens of the Tower, owning it in full, they would need to retrieve a gem worth no less than 100,000gp in value, which Zartha the Queen of the Dryads would then show the party how to use in order to restore full power to the Tower.  If the group decided to stay as Residents of the Tower, none would gainsay them, but if another group came within the Tower walls and fulfilled the requirements (vouch for Residency, then 100K gp gemstone for Wardenship) the Tower would become *theirs* instead.

But for now, at least, the party was safe, well rested, and finally had a place they could call Home.


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## skullsmurfer (May 5, 2005)

I have just finished reading your background and introduction.  I am very impressed and I look forward to reading more.


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## Pacio49 (May 6, 2005)

*Appreciated*

Thanks, I'm glad you like it so far.  Hope it remains enjoyable for you and the other readers.  Tomorrow is a new game session, and I'm only about six months of games behind so I guess I need to write more and catch up. 

-Pacio49


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## Eridanis (Jul 14, 2005)

My heavens! Gotta bring this up for some air. Ready for our game tomorrow? 

- Yovaire


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## Pacio49 (Jul 18, 2005)

*To Smash A Giant*

At this stage, the party has rested quite well in the Tower, and during this break from all of the excitement, several of the active members (_those who were able to make the pickup game at Christmastime_) of the party were investigating the upper reaches of Karal's Tower when they were alerted to the fact that strangers were approaching within visual range of the ruined shadow of the Tower back in Tol Vehara.  The party received their first real view of the namesake for the Rangers of the Blasted Lands, the Dust Riders, as they watched a large plume of dust being kicked up as a ragtag group of adventurers raced toward the ruins of the Tower with several giants and ogres on their tails, following at a distance and enjoying the sport of lofting boulders at the fleeing group as they went along. Before anyone could react, a giant scored a direct hit on one of the already-lagging party members and knocked him clear off of his horse where he lay still, his head at an odd angle to the rest of his body.

As the group began to move to go assist, Marcus laid his hand on Arien's arm. "What if they're evil?"

"Even if they are evil, they're no match for those giants, and all are welcomed in a Haven.  I'm going to help them."

Moments later, Arien appeared in the view from the scrying glass as she used the upper tower's Teleport pads to Bamf herself all the way to the back door, followed momentarily by Laeka and a grumbling Marcus. Queen Zartha also appeared with several of the taller fae in tow, ready to receive any wounded which gained entry to the Tower.

As the party members arrived down at the Vale outside the ruined manifestation of Karal's Tower, they watched as another lucky shot from a giant careened into the side of the lead horse and rider, the man who was dressed as a Dust Rider, and caught him full on in a leg which was already bound with bandages and bloodied.  He gave a cry, his horse gave a scream, and down the two went.

Marcus waded into the fray, spewing _fireballs_ to the left and right, confusing the Giant and allowing the remainder of the straggling group to gain the relative safety and shade of the Tower.  A few lightning bolts and a deflected boulder or two later and the giants gave up their sport, just as the party grabbed the group and brought them inside.

(more to come)


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## Pacio49 (Aug 5, 2005)

*Catching Up to Date, pt 1*

_META -- It happens to the best of us, but the game has now lapped my Story Hour by almost a full year.  I can remember the sessions if I strain, but I just don't have the kind of time to sit around scratching my head.  So, instead of letting Tol Vehara's Story Hour die out, I'm going to bring the Story up to date in broader strokes.  Thank you for your patience. Once we're all caught up, all new sessions will be fully detailed and written out once again. -- pacio49 _

The party rescued the group that was being hounded by giants. A few of that party died, but among their number was Hank, a Dust Rider whose legs had been absolutely shattered, Marshaya, an elven cleric of Iola in an advanced stage of disease from the Elven Bane (the Blasted Lands' effects on elves), Jonas, an expert cobbler who had taken a rank in Druid and wanted to see the world with his brother who was killed outright by the giants, and Inge Truelute, a dwarf bard.  They got the surviving group members into the Tower, and Queen Zartha of the Fey hit off a nice friendship with Marshaya the dying Cleric.  Inside Karral's Tower proper, they were in another plane, so the progression of the Bane halted, alleviating Marshaya's death sentence.  Hank couldn't bear to move with the crushed bones in his legs, and with Marshaya's help was settling in for some serious long-term care.  Jonas was upset at the loss of his brother, decided that druidry was for the birds, and asked to stay at the Tower. Being a cobbler, he offered his skills in boot and shoe repair and upkeep as it was needed, but he wasn't able to make the trek back to Tol Vehara a week away through hostile country on his own.  Inge offered to join the party and provide services to them as a Bard, which they accepted.

So Hank is holed up in the Tower with Marshaya, Jonas is settling in there, and Inge's with the party.

The group pumps Inge for information, and she tells them of two legendary gems she knows of in the region which would power up the Tower of Karral.  One is an emerald of such surpassing beauty that it's called the Heart of the Forest, and it's being guarded by a Mature Adult Green Dragoness named Elzarmeksla, who recently attained notoriety in the draconic world because she killed her lifemate during their last mating flight.  She has several of her brood in the region, Green Dragons of different ages and abilities, and the forest she lives in has been 'hers' for longer than the Taint overlay the area.  The party decided that a dragon of that caliber was beyond them, and they were nuts for trying.

The second gem they heard of was supposedly up in the middle of a lost Dwarven Hold, from an exiled set of Dwarves, called the Heart of the Mountain.  After some adventuring, they realized that it was in a place called Pain Mountain, so called because a kingdom of Minotaur had taken up residence there with orcs and other darkling races as their servants and slaves which worked the mines for gold, silver, iron, and adamantium.  Pain Mountain seemed the safer course for the party, and off they went.

They didn't get too far because the giants who had accosted the refugee group were part of a band of giants commanded by one named Teeb, who had gained power in the region by earning the attention of not just one, but two giantesses, and used that renown to loosely organize the other local giants into his band.   During their trek toward Pain Mountain (or where they thought it might be), they were ambushed by the giants, ogres, and orcs.  It would have been a pretty easy fight except for the fact that they ran into an intelligent human arcanist (wizard) named Maurice Kingalo.  Maurice first appeared for the party by Counterspelling Marcus' fireball. (If you want to upset your party, throw an invisible mage with readied counterspell actions into a group of kobolds and ogres in a nice, tight formation.)

Although the ambush was well set up, Arien used the Staff of the Woodlands to best ability with Wall of Thorns ( keep on burning those charges, sweetie!).  Maurice, unfortunately, managed to get away, to Marcus' chagrin.  They had a couple of captured kobolds who offered to take Valar back to their warrens, claiming that Valar was some kind of anticipated hero who would liberate them from slavery (he mentioned his stint in Dorecan Manor helping the other kobolds there to see if they were related).  The kobolds led the party faithfully into the woods, into a trap, and then scampered off as their fellow kobolds ambushed them. Egg on Valar's face.

The party finally got the idea that they needed to take out Teeb before they went much farther. They organized a scouting mission that quickly turned into a raid where they made it as far inside as the caverns where the two Giantesses lived.  One was slain immediately, but the other escaped before the denizens of the encampment mobilized a good defense and forced the party to flee.  The party returned to their Tower, dispatched the followers, licked their wounds and then began plotting again.

Yovaire had been killed, but Marshaya the elven Cleric had a scroll with True Resurrection on it, so Yovaire came back from the dead. HOWEVER... one slight glitch.  There was a weird resonance with such high level divine magic in the Blasted Lands, and Yovaire came back in the body of a female.  (1 in 20 chance, he rolled a 1... sorry Eridanis).

Marshaya further offered to help the party out by arranging for quick transportation back to Teeb's place. The group guessed rightly that Teeb would have buffed up his defenses in the wake of the attack and since he had a lot of kobolds working for him, there would be many traps. Marshaya summoned Phase Spiders and called in some bizarre favor from her past (Laeka began to think that Marshaya was much more than she seemed), so enough Phase Spiders came and provided transport on the Ethereal Plane for the group, popping them in to the room they had left.  

As they began to explore Teeb's place, they ran afoul of not mechanical traps, but Glyphs of Warding which alerted the denizens again. This time the party had an element of preplanned surprise, since they were much deeper into the complex than Teeb's armies assumed, and they were able to use the Wall of Thorns to create a single 5' alleyway by which their foes had to approach them, and utilized tactics to essentially pick them off.  The only major wrench in the works was the fact that Maurice Kingalo got in the room from behind them, cast Improved Invisibility on them, and began to make their lives extremely difficult before he was finally taken down (to 0, amid magical darkness... he used his one action to drink his last Cure Critical potion, but he was still caught by the party when the battle was won and the darkness dispelled.

Tybok wanted to kill Maurice because Maurice had succeeded in besting the little Wizard, and Tybok carries a grudge. Marcus and Maurice had a semi-civil conversation, and Maurice informed the group that he was in the service of the Temple of Shardal, the Lord of Darkness and Evil, a LE God that formed one of the five major gods of the pantheon of Brace.  Shardal wasn't known to actually have temples, preferring on secret rites in temporary places of power so as to prevent extermination by the forces of Ferenthal, his LG twin brother and arch nemesis in the heavens.

Maurice mentioned that the Temple of Shardal in the region was interested in brokering a deal with Teeb and as a token of good faith, Maurice was assigned to assist Teeb magically. Really what he was doing was spying on Teeb and taking note of Teeb's defenses, so that should Teeb prove 'inconvenient', the Temple of Shardal would have inside information on their opponent. He was extremely forthcoming with that information, which made everyone suspicious and Tybok nearly frothing at the mouth.  Marcus decided that Maurice, being in the service of a Lawful Evil God would have some sense of honor, and they brokered a truce, that Maurice wouldn't attack the party again and the party would let Maurice go free.  Maurice agreed.

One of the giants in the large cavern group had decided on a particularly wise course of action and surrendered to the party once the rest of the army of kobolds, orcs, ogres, and a couple other giants had been decimated and Maurice neutralized.  An ogre also surrendered.  The party found several humanoid prisoners in a pit near the edge of the large living cavern where the massive battle had just taken place.  They rescued a few children close to succumbing to the Taint and a halfling fighter who claimed to be a Squire in some religious order of Yondalla's paladins, though not a paladin herself.  Once the rescued folks were out of the pit, the giant negotiated with the party. He would lead them to where Teeb was, and help them in the fight, or just stay out of it, if they would leave him alone to live. The ogre that was with them protested, but the giant silenced the ogre's protests by duping him into looking into the pit and then pushing him to his death below.

The party followed the giant deeper into the complex, and as they passed through an entry hall full of Teeb's gruesome trophies of war, they noticed a Minotaur chained to the wall and obviously starving to death.  The giant led the group into what Teeb had made into a Throne Room, and saw Teeb wearing a large crown, with an Orc cleric of Gruumsh in attendance and several acolytes and adepts.  In the corner of the room was a pavillion tent with an opulent bed set up, and a half-giant woman was chained to the bed by her ankle.  The party had invisibility up and running so they could check to see that the prisoner giant would lure Teeb away from his stronghold like they planned, but when the giant stood before Teeb on his throne, he betrayed the party (just like a Chaotic Evil would do).

Old One-Eye, the cleric of Gruumsh, cast 'Invisibility Purge' because the giant said they were invisible. Unfortunately, that also revealed that Maurice had been flying invisibly behind the party as  well. Nearly spelled out from their major encounter, suddenly betrayed by their prisoner and thrust into a combat situation where the party was spread out and they were facing unknown spellcasters, the appearance of Maurice made everyone groan.

As it turned out, however, Maurice kept true to his word of non-interference, and turned his few remaining spells and items onto the Cleric and Adepts.  Valar managed to make an amazing critical hit with his sneak attack and dropped One Eye in a single blow (after a couple of damaging spells from Maurice to One Eye).  The group took heart from Valar's valiant blow, and they rallied well.  Hack and Slash (Laeka and Yovaire) made short work of Teeb, while Arien freed the half-giant woman near the bed.  The woman immediately shifted into a gaseous form and began to drift up and out through crannies in the cavern walls, abandoning the battle.

The party was victorious, and Valar's greed afterwards set off several trapped chests that exploded (the chest itself was the trap), damaging the fair rogue.  Laeka took Teeb's crown off and, amazed that it shrank in her hands (and not being notably Lawful), Laeka put it on. The crown fused with her skull, and rendered her unable to communicate a lie. However, whenever anyone within earshot spoke an obvious falsehood, their voice sounded high pitched and squeaky to her, and when she read something that was intentionally false, the writing seemed to shiver on the page.

The party grabbed some stuff, decided that killing Teeb was more than enough. They parted ways with Maurice again, and made their way back to the Tower.  Maurice, being no fool, immediately summoned allies from the Temple of Shardal and essentially cleared out the rest of Teebs place for themselves, setting up a relatively hidden stronghold.

The group freed the Minotaur, named Ak-Rashkinna, and asked him to drink from the cup of Lawful Neutral. Unbeknownst to them, Ak succeeded on a Sleight of Hand check and mimed drinking from the cup, while not actually doing so. The party brought him back to the tower, and they also rescued a Dire Lion with a Collar of Animal Mastery on it. Since they had killed his master, the collar 'reset' itself to the first person to touch it, which happened to be Arien.  So now the druid set off with her new Dire Lion in tow, vowing to work with it and make him her animal companion when she got to the right level of experience.  Arien quickly named the lion Fluffy, and issued orders to it that it was not to harm the party or the party's animals.

The group made it back to the tower, took some time off, and counted up their stuff. 

[We're still not all the way caught up, but in the next post we will be.--pacio49]


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## Pacio49 (Aug 16, 2005)

*Finally! Up to date!*

The party spent some much-earned R&R in the Tower, allowing their Minotaur Ak-Rashkinna to heal up from his near starvation.  Marshaya suggested a picnic in the Vale 'like we used to do with Karral', so the party consented and was out picnicking when Hank, the injured Dust Rider, was surprised by a Dust Rider jumping out of a bush and shouting 'Boo!' at him (which caused him to trip and roll down a hillside). The new person was a half-elven Bard/Dust Rider female named Seirithé Flarnil, and she had been sent into the Blasted Lands by Mad Madge, Hank's Dust Rider agent. She also carried a set of scrolls summoning Inge Truelute back to her clanhalls. Seirithé didn't know why, but she did know that all dwarves everywhere had been summoned back to their halls in recent times.

Hank was teleported back to Madge's to make good on back credit debts with his Agent, and Inge accepted the summons which teleported her back to her clan hall. First she severed her connection to the group via the rings with Laeka's consent, and also she asked Seirithé as a fellow Bard to fulfill her duty to the party and accompany them to Pain Mountain. Seirithé agreed.

That night, Marcus was studying and found a hidden set of documents with magical script that moved and swirled under his eyes, even with a Read Magic up and running. The little he did recognize led him to make contact with the mind of Mystra, Goddess of Magic. He decided then to become a Cleric, and found more writings of hers on how to be a Mystic Theurge, joining a special order of Mystra's which was set for her own agenda, which would become clear in time. As he studies the documents new prayers and spells come with the appropriate experience levels (allowing him to multiclass to Mystra's cleric and eventually become a Mystic Theurge of Mystra's). 

In prayer, he asked for guidance from her and rolled extremely well. Mystra showed herself to him in a vision (he had made a godcall and succeeded with a 00 on the percentile roll, made in plain sight. Gotta love players sometimes, since it sped up some background plotting they had missed when they didn't explore Teeb's place fully).   She explained that the Blasted Lands was being caused by the collision of two material planes, and that the Taint was the result of the fabric of reality trying to resolve the colossal impact that was still ripping through the world at the point of contact.  She revealed little more on that, but she did reveal that the Gods were tied to the structure of the planes, and so it was  within the realm of the divine that a cure could be found for the Taint.  It required treating each individual being as though they were a temple, and casting HALLOW on them. One casting of Hallow allowed for the removal of any Taint or Bane in a given individual.  Each casting of Hallow requires 2,000gp in materials, so it's a cure that comes at a price.

Mystra also revealed that this cure was, in fact, already known. The Elvish Queen had come down with the Bane years before, and had been cured with the Hallow spell. The Clergy of the Temple of Iöla themselves knew the cure, at least at some level, but in some weird bid for power withheld that information from the public at large.  Mystra told Marcus to make certain that whenever he revealed the source of the cure of the Taint, that Mystra be the one whose name was praised for revealing the information. 

Marcus and the party discussed this, and realized they had two scrolls with Hallow on them.  There were several rescued folks from Teeb's who could use it, including two children, but the party used one on one of the children and the other on Marshaya, the Elven Cleric of Iöla (after some discussion, they reasoned that she wouldn't be part of the conspiracy since she had the Bane in an advanced stage).  When the spell was cast, her holy symbol flickered for a moment, and revealed to the party that she wasn't actually a cleric of Iöla, but instead a cleric of Jastour, God of Secrets and Knowledge. 

Marshaya was sufficiently advanced in level to be able to cast Hallow herself, as was Arien, so over the course of time and several thousands of gp later, the group had managed to cleanse the Taint on the humans, the halfling squire, and all the rest of the refugees.  They were set free of the Blasted Lands when the party teleported to Tol Vehara, coming into Brindella's agency (Marcus finally got the spell).  They told the healed ones to go free and keep quiet for now, thanking Mystra for helping them. The halfling squire ran off to find her people and help spread the word among the halflings, thanking Marcus and Mystra for their help, and promising to keep it hush-hush and only among halflings for now until Mystra sent a further signal.

The group did some trading, saw some folks, checked up on Ymanoura and the Sapphire family but heard nothing. They found out that there had been more rioting in the streets because a full regiment of the Knights of the New Order were reported at the hostels crossing the White Mountains to the west, all the dwarves were gone or leaving to respond to a Kingdom-wide Clan Summons, and life continued more or less as usual.  They returned to the Tower then, and made ready their assault on Pain Mountain to secure the gem, feeling even more urgency now that they thought the Knights were coming in, and wanting to establish themselves securely before that happened and Tol Vehara was subject to a crackdown.

The party made their preparations, loaded up and took off, follow Ak-Rashkinna toward Gatetown.

Along the way they were ambushed by a Young Adult green dragon who nearly got wiped out, met Dexter, a kobold sorcerer (14th level!) refugee from Pain Mountain who was guarded because of Ak-Rashkinna and lived in a haven, and they got attacked by a Wyvern along the way. Finally they made it to Gatetown, where before crossing the Lake of Tears to get to the actual town at the foot of Pain Mountain, the minotaur they had rescued (the Chaotic Evil minotaur who had successfully used sleight of hand to NOT drink from the cup of Lawful Goodness) turned to the party in front of the guards and demanded 1,000 gp apiece from them to not claim they were his slaves for sale in the Gatetown market.  The party grumbled, but facing the option of being taken as slaves or a massive fight on the ferry docks, they paid up and learned their lesson about trusting Minotaur.

The party helped buy a human out of slavery and met some lizardfolk and psionicists. They found their welcome at Gatetown to be extremely unpleasant, and were a bit unnerved by the number of openly evil folks there were present. Even Tybok realized they were outgunned and outmatched.

The one major problem they encountered was during some shenanigans at the slave auction, which were broken up by a contingent of Black Shield orcs and their Lieutenant, a humanoid in full plate with visor down who had curiously been able to organize the orc hierarchy in town to support Gruntguts, the Mayor, and who seemed to be able to hold on to a vestige of order despite the chaotic surroundings.  Marcus (again with the nasty roll of natural 20 on a Listen check) recognized the voice of the lieutenant as belonging to none other than Tanin, the ex-party member who had drunk from the Lawful Evil cup. Upon realizing that and realizing why the orcs were suddenly obedient to their Mayor (the cup), the party decided wisdom was the better part of valor and high-tailed it out of dodge, half fearing an ambush on the way back.  (No ambush.)

Tybok had gone invisible, however, and managed to successfully spy on Tanin for a moment, overhearing him talking to Gruntguts the Mayor.

MAYOR: Did you dispatch them?
TANIN: Am I still here to serve you? Then they remain. I will return to my own time and my own Master once I finally thwart them. Their plans must not be allowed to continue or else all is lost.

The group discussed what this meant as they travelled, and they pushed on that night (with Londrigan, the slave they rescued) until they made it to the Haven where Dexter waited. Dexter, seeing them without Ak-Rashkinna, was much more open and friendly, and told the party more about Pain Mountain, that there were many ways into and out of it. The party asked him if he knew of the gem called the Heart of the Mountain. He had heard of it, but didn't know where it lay. Dexter mentioned that his scrying abilities would be much stronger if the group could bring him to a place of power in the nearby mountains. They agreed and the next day set out to gain the Place of Power for Dexter and scry to find out where the Heart of the Mountain lay.

The Place was up high along a narrow and steep track, and when they made it up to the ledge they found a cave entrance and, unfortunately, the green dragon they had chased off earlier. They fought the dragon, and Dexter succeeded in a lucky spell (Baleful Polymorph) to turn it into a toad. A very tough toad, but soon a very dead dragon/toad.  Inside the cavern was a small pool welling up from below, which was the place of power that Dexter had spoken of. He said he needed a night to prepare, and they waited.

The next day, Dexter  cast the scrying on the pool, and the party saw a strange scene. A paladin and a Crystal Dragon in the darkness amid the dragon's hoard. The dragon was an ancient wyrm, and he was dying. The paladin assisted him in his Rites of Ascension, and the Wyrm (Excelsior) completed the rites the place was flooded in light, light that turned into crystal and affected the mountain itself as the Ascension Wyrm magic flooded through all of the caverns, crevices, etc.  Marcus thought that might have been the source of the adamantium which the Minotaurs were known to be mining. 

They watched and saw that the paladin had died in the rite, as had the Wyrm, but the bedrocks in the center of the mountain had been converted to crystal.... rose quartz, the 'heartstone', which warded away the Taint but slowly degraded to Blue quartz. (Each 10gp worth of rose quartz carried on a person 'prevents' the Taint from affecting the carrier for one day/night.)  The dragon's actual body had turned into a series of crystal caverns, on an island amid the sunless sea, and where the dragon's heart had been was now a giant crystal aglow with power, the fabled Heart of the Mountain.  The party saw the shade of the paladin, suffused with light, guarding the gem, and then the vision went dark.

The party decided, with Dexter's counsel, to seek entry to the mountain's depths through the abandoned dwarven city, beneath the shadow of the Broken Tower and the Bone Lord, a Death Knight who ruled from his complex of the Broken Tower atop the mountain.  Dexter bound himself as guardian of the node of power on which he sat, accepting the fact that he would no longer be able to leave that mountain but also that he could use his sorcery to aid in the freeing of his friends and clans of kobolds in Pain Mountain.  While the party wasn't too keen on running into the Bone Lord, Dexter thought there had to be a way into the caverns below without climbing up to the heights where the Broken Tower lay.

The party rests now at the haven, awaiting the next stage of their adventure, as they assault the Dwarven City to gain entrance to the Sunless Sea, and there to find the Crystal Caverns, overcome the Guardian Shade, and claim the Heart of the Mountain for their own.


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## Pacio49 (Aug 16, 2005)

*Party changes*

Well, the plot is finally caught up. We game this weekend, so look for a new installment then. Also, Valar and Skalar's players have had to leave for a life in Arizona, so we are down two players, but I think I've found a couple of players who will do well in the group.


Also, I've finally ported over to 3.5 rules.
Lots of changes, but it's good to be up to date on here.


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## Eridanis (Aug 30, 2005)

Just played on Saturday. What an amazing session! Can't wait to see the write-up on it.


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## Pacio49 (Aug 31, 2005)

*Deepsetter Hall and the Sword of Despair*

The heroes began at the earthnode to which Dexter the kobold sorcerer was now bound, and while there overnight in preparation for their adventures in the abandoned Dwarven city they were approached by Narya, a High Sidhe ranger who had been sent from her father's sylvan courts along the east bank of the River of Stars to investigate this strange, nameless party who happened to clear up Teeb the Giant's local menace to the region.  Narya decided to join the party, and accepted the party ring, coming into the link in the 9th slot. Because the link was finally full, a number of minor powers revealed themselves to Laeka, who is leading the link.

Skalar decided to stick around Dexter's and do some hunting to try and build up reserve stores for both the Kobold Sorcerer and the party.  The rest of the group went off to the ruins of the dwarven city, the clan hall-in-exile which had been built (unknowingly) beneath the domain of a powerful Death Knight known throughout Pain Mountain as the Bone Lord.

On the road, the new Ranger thought she saw a possible shortcut to the city different from the route that Dexter had traced out for them.  Unfortunately, she decided not to take it, and a few miles down the track on a climb into the lower foothills the rickety path gave way under several party members.  Yovaire was the only one unable to get clear of the mini landslide, and found himself about 50' down and right smack in the middle of a den of Rust Monsters.  Luckily, the fighter has no metal armor, but the Rust Monsters did go for the blades of his +3 Double Sword. (They missed, luckily).  With the aid of a hastily lowered Rope of Climbing and a well-aimed fireball spell, the Rust Monsters let Yovaire go. It also helped that Marcus tossed down a longsword and shield for them to feast on while the party hoisted Yovaire out of harm's way.

At this time the party also discovered as they suited up again that there had been a mysterious visitor in the night for their last night with Dexter. A note had been pinned to one of the saddlebags on a scrap of parchment.  It outlined simply that should the party face the Bone Lord "I will be powerless to help you", and promised that if they took care of themselves "I will find you again should you survive the Bone Lord's realm."  No one had any clue as to who had penned the note, but Marcus thought that the parchment smelled of embalming fluid.  (The players remembered several different times when at night they were asked to make spot and listen checks and always nothing happened upon resolving the rolls.)

The party continued on over the remainder of the long day, marching up and around to the eastern side of Pain Mountain.  As the sun began to sink low over Pain Mountain to their west, they began to find remnants of dwarven runestones marking the approach to 'Deepsetter Clan Hall-In-Exile'.  The Deepsetter clan's actual construction at the time of the city's abandonment was only in the preliminary stages. Four towers at NE, NW, SW, and SE corners abutting the mountain face itself and a grand arched entrance to the caverns beyond.  The city itself was comprised of the walled aspect of the city with about 20 buildings contained by the walls. All of the buildings apparently had been built with stone foundations and wooden walls which had been replaced as time permitted with the final stone walls.  Communal kitchens, a plaza square with a dwarf-made 'island' surrounded by running water from the central fountains encircling a large statue of Moradin hammering an anvil and the declaration that this was Deepsetter Hall-In-Exile.

After their initial scouting they ended up coming into the city via the eastern gatehouse, refusing to walk in the front door, as it were (the party has grown decidedly paranoid in their old age). They began investigating the ruins of a tavern with the last fading light of day, with the idea of establishing a base of operations for the scouting of the ruins.  Instead they found several zombies and skeletons of the dwarves of old, confirming their suspicions that the city had most likely fallen to the Bone Lord.

During the encounter with the undead, Marcus, newly minted cleric of Mysta, ended up channeling his divine energy to Turn Undead.  During this flush of Mysta's power manifest on the material plane, he heard a voice in his head in dwarvish accented common telling him that they must hurry to the Southeastern Tower's top before the sun set, or all would be lost.  After momentary conferences on this matter, the party decided that the four-story guard towers would be a more logical choice for a base of operations anyway, and hied themselves thither with all due haste.  As they hustled through the city, they saw that there were stirrings from more of the undead, zombies and skeletons mostly. By the time they had gained the third story where the tower was open to the battlements of the three walls and a path cut into the cliff above the mountain entrance to connect the two southern towers, they saw that the city was full of wandering undead.  Either they were on some kind of internal clock linked to when the sun set, or else the powers that allowed them free reign of the city were dependent on some undead which were tied to a nocturnal clock.

They made it up to the top level of the guard tower, saw that it was mostly unused, and set up camp for the night. During the night, at the last watch, the party saw that when Marcus paced back and forth near the wall that that guard tower shared with the mountainside, there were a set of faint sigils that glowed every time he walked by.  Upon later investigation, he was able to find and open a door marked with the symbol of Mysta upon it, revealing a hallway leading up into the mountain itself.

Upon following it up, with Valar complaining about being asked to take the van to find traps, they ended up in the workshop of a dwarf artificer.  A single shaft of light came in through small accessways to deliver a beam that highlighed a small wooden table on which rested a strange scepter with odd markings and an empty setting at the one end, and a small, leather-bound book marked with the eyes of Mysta.  After some deliberation, Marcus picked up the book and began to thumb through it.

_[Journal notes to follow]_


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## Pacio49 (Aug 31, 2005)

*Tiriel Midnight's Journal*

13th Aut, 6289
It is with reluctance that I commit these thoughts to paper.Somehow to utter them makes them more real to me.  Yet I fear that the bleak vision of the future which looms above my dreaming hours is to be closest to the truth, and what transpires must be known.

I am Tiriel Midnight, Elf-friend and High Enchanter of the Deepsetter clan. I chose to honor the ways of clan and endure the ostracism of my people although I did not agree with what Morthrauk and Clan Lord Karradok Deepsetter did and I heartily approved of the fact that they were shorn of beard and hall, birthrunes broken and scepters burnt before the High King’s Council for their failed coup.  I named them friends, and name them so still today, though there are many who will no longer utter their names. 

I am also of the Midnight Order, and Mysta will not forgive me if I deny my dreams, for it is in them that She always spake. This vision shall come to pass, and if it be so then this account shall be in the hands of another of the Midnight Order.  It is to him that I entrust these notes, that they must serve as a guide for him, to unlock the doorway through which he is to pass, by unlocking the past. 

The mood of Deepsetter’s Hall-in-Exile has been growing ever darker, even as the city itself begins to break down. The strange malaise which began a fortnight ago in the spelunker camps seems to have spread now to all parts of the city. The victims lose all ability to fend for themselves. It’s as if they have ceased caring.  Some undoubtedly have died, many corpses lying to rot in their own filth because at first no one noticed or cared if they did, and then no one was willing to go near them.  I begin to suspect there are Undead amok in the city, but those who have died of this disease have not rised to walk again.  Perhaps this is a curse sent to us from Moradin. 

I would ask my old friend Elamite Winharrower, the Bishop of Deepsetter, but once his hand had spilt the blood of the unshorn, he declared himself to be one of the Clanless, and slashed his cheeks and cut his beard braids, one of more than nearly half of the Deepsetter who had done so.  Many would get adopted or taken in by cousins by marriage in the other Clans, but they would always wear the scars as a symbol of their shame, most not marrying and always dressing in mourning.  I fear that the loss of community and lifelong isolation that means might actually be preferrable to watching the very dream and hope of clearing our name after the fifth generation, Deepsetter Hall-in-Exile, be destroyed by a despairing blight that kills from within.

19 Aut, 6289
I have undertaken to investigate the strange malaise myself. I took to the shape of a rock dove and flit about the city.  I found no evidene of Undead, but upon closer examination I found a strange mark upon the left palm of each one. A slight puncture, enough to just break the skin, consisting of four lines radiating from a single pinprick hole.  Nothing more.  I do not know what has come over the city, but the commonality of these holes, even on the victims who only just begin to show signs of the Malaise, makes me suspicious that it may be sabotage from within. A band of Clanslayers, perhaps, utilizing some strange device.  

Oh, I am certain it was a device. The pattern of the wounds looked remarkably like a power-auric connection.  Forgive me the shop talk, but when certain items are used they sometimes breach the skin slightly by pins to complete the connective power flow necessary to activate the item. It causes no pain to the user, does no damage, and is usually unnoticed since its sole purpose is to breach the aura of the user and allow the ... well, I know my brother Midnight would find this fascinating, but the short of it is that I know the markings were caused by a device.  Most likely the same device, or one similarly shaped.

The thing is, even under magical charm and truth zones, no one confessed to having ever come into contact with any sort of device or item, they just felt tired, and often wanted me to leave them alone.

3 Setero, 6289
Things are much worse now. There are strange shadows which flit about the periphery of my vision. I know that the city is doomed, and I confess my dreams do not show any other outcome. There is a battle looming, but it is a battle I don’t know how to fight, let alone win. There is a tangible force which is seeping into my life, and I can’t but wonder whether this is the Malaise come for me.  

No.  It has been hours since I set my pen down last, and a great battle was fought inside of me. I believe I was victorious, but I know that I cannot delay any longer. I choose to resist. I could flee, but I must wait this out, lest I carry this to other places unwittingly.  I have cured myself of disease many times, but still I do not feel whole somehow.  I must pray that Mysta guide me.

4 Setero, 6289
The night was full of bleak dreams for me. There is no one abroad in the city at all. I hear no noise and see no activity. I wonder if all have died, or if all have simply barricaded themselves inside as though to keep out the illness.  Mysta answered my prayers and sent me visions. The dead do indeed walk this place, but it is not from this disease.  I believe it is from the new tunnels which found a worked stone area that led to some kind of ruins.  They will find us easy prey from apathy and despair already. 

I must begin work, and quickly. I saw the plans in my mind, though it has elements which are foreign to me. I must meditate on them even as I set my workroom to readiness.

10 Setero, 6289
I have been working quickly and quietly, although not in my customary laboratory. Long years ago I came across this cavern while swimming through rock. I made a secret tunnel here and took great pains to ward it heavily against detection. I outfitted it myself to function as my secret laboratory, where I could work away from prying eyes.  Soon after I wondered at my motives, for such a thing was not practical. There was never a time for me to be away from my students and assisstants, the other Master Artificers who accompanied me.  My every waking moment was usually accounted for, so to disappear for days at a time would be unthinkable.

I never let the supplies run out, though. I think I delighted more from the secret security of this place than from the functionality of it.  Now, I must concede that the gods have worked well by me in this planning.  It is here I shall leave the journal. It is here I will leave the scepter.  I am completely relocated into this shelter and workshop and it is with guilt that I note the sheer satisfaction I have received from being here and at work, one last time.  For it shall be. I see that, too.

19 Setero, 6289
The Undead walk the streets of the Clan Hall-in-Exile by night. Some scavenge the shadows by day. Is it ever day here anymore?  The attack on the city is indeed an attack by the Undead. It is the work of a sword. A very powerful sword, in the hands of a very powerful creature.  The ruins above are the abode of the one who calls himself the Bone Lord.  He is a Deathknight of strength, and it is the sword he keeps by himself that plagues our city. 

The Deathknight’s sword is forged from the despair of tortured souls made manifest as a blade. It burns with the fire of a dark sun, and it scorches all who behold it or live near its shadow not with fire, but with despair and wretchedness.  The Deathknight does not wield this sword, for not even he can bear to be near it, though for him it is like being near a raging bonfire. It was not his when he was made a Deathknight, but it was found by him and brought by magic to his domain.

I have resisted some of the Sword of Despair’s effects, but yet I have also holed myself up and secluded even myself instead of trying to rouse the spirits of my fellow Dwarves. This has not been a disease, this has been an enchantment. I have broken it now, and see the ruin for what it is.  We have been stupid, for the Gods are truly punishing us for our ex-Lord’s crimes.

I have completed my creations. I have made the scepter and jewel, and the weapon of great power which combats the despair. It is the Sword of the Last Hope.  I go to make further preparations. Even now I feel compelled to remain in this city, to carry out the last instructions of my Goddess.

21 Setero, 6289
With the passing of the Equinox I suddenly perceive the danger. The darkness is spreading more thickly now. I have underestimated the Deathknight’s powers. He is bound to a node of some kind, and draws his power from there.  A gloom has cast over the skies by day in this valley now, a magic which protects the Undead, allows some to move about without hindrance.  All of the garden tiers have wilted and the grain is rotting in the terraced fields.  I spent a day sitting alone in my room. It was only dejected wanderings which brought me back into the presence of the Sword of the Last Hope.  The miasma of evil has grown so oppressive that without the sword in the room I cannot function nor resist the darkness that pulls on my thoughts.

I must hurry.  The dome is nearly complete, but I begin to wonder how much time I have left.


2 Tektero, 6289
The dome at last is finished, but there is horrid news to tell. I have been foolish in the extreme.  As darkness settled over the city, the aura of hope from the sword shone like a beacon.  I have been fending off Undead with increasing frequency.  Today they nearly had me.  There are vampire spawn within the city. I killed two, but I know there are more. 



3 Tektero, 6289
The darkness is so terrible now... help me.... Even holding the sword is not helping anymore. There is nothing left to do. I tried to go out to secure my escape route, now that the pieces were in place for you to follow, but they came too quickly.  I was chased, but they didn’t get me. I dropped the dratted jewel before I could put it in its proper hiding place in the courthouse. One of the vampire spawn was waiting for me just inside the courthouse door and managed to knock it out from my hands and push me back out into the street. 
I... I think I’m going to die here. Why does it have to be?  Have I not been an obedient servant to the Lady? Why? Why?

5 Tektero, 6289
It is nearly midnight all day. The sword’s power has been banked, and needs to be kindled. Have I failed then in all that I have done? I must channel divine energy into it to push the darkness at bay and waken its powers. And I must do so more and more frequently all the time now. The time is coming when the darkness will overtake me, and the Deathknight will be my new Master. And all that I have worked for will be lost.

Except you. Who are you? And why must I place my trust in some future brother of the Midnight Cabal? What secrets of the universe will you have gleaned that we have not?  What mastery over the fabric of reality do you possess which will enable you to survive where I have not?  What failing lies at the core of my essence, what fatal flaw am I burdened with that you have not?  Or have you faced your test and passed, while I could only slowly fall into the pit of despair?  It is the abyss of the soul that I face, and my faith... no longer comforts me.

I hate you. I hate all of the potential that you are.  I cannot abide by you, and when I die I shall go screaming unto death cursing your very name and the bloodline by which you will be born. I see you, but I do not know you.

Why can’t I know? Why are there no easy answers for me?

6 Tektero, 6289
The worst of it is over. I believe a wave of it passed in the night. I look back at my prior scrawlings with horror, that I doubted so much. The sword’s effect to hold back the despair is still abating, but I think I have held on long enough to survive for what remains to be done.  I did not pen this previously, because I did not trust that these notes would not be taken before my plan could be enacted.   I have succeeded in my plan.  I am greatly diminished, but I have been victorious.

The Sword of Despair will never let me leave. Not while the Sword of the Last Hope still exists.  And without the Sword of the Last Hope I will succumb to the despair. It is death by either choice.

So I chose you. You are the Last Hope, and this is your Sword, though I think you shall not wield it yourself, but pass it instead to another.   I had to hide it, not only from the Deathknight but also from the Sword of Despair.   I wonder, who is the Master and who is the Servant, the Sword or the Deathknight? I doubt I shall know.

I have taken the collective wisdom from those souls of Deepsetter who remained true to the Dwarven Kings.   They came willingly, and it is our hope that this jewel will restore to good name the Deepsetter clan.   If it lies within your path, please take it to the Dwarven King so that his sages might see our hearts and intents and judge whether we be worthy of admittance to Moradin’s Halls.  But you must first recover it, and the last place I saw it was in combat with the vampire spawn inside the courthouse.

Before you should lie the scepter. There are two halves, both with markings. There is a code there... decipher the code and you will be able to align the scepter properly.  Set the jewel in the scepter’s end, set it in Moradin’s anvil, and it will show you where lies your sword.  I would have done more for you, by putting the jewel in a safe place as well, but fate decreed otherwise.

I  know not why the Sword is important to you, nor what use it will be.  While the Sword of Despair exists, there will always be its nullifying force as a threat, and this close to the Deathknight’s lair the Sword will sense the Last Hope as soon as you remove it from its hiding place. You will need to press onward on your path with all due haste.

I know that you are destined to seek the shores of the Sunless Sea, and quest for the Heart of the Mountain. The only thing which lives near the Sunless Sea is Excelsior, the Ancient Crystal Wyrm, who slumbers with Merradh, his guardian paladin, keeping vigil.  But Excelsior may know of what you seek, though he has never been awake when I have visited.

The way below is twisted, but it can be done at speed, which may mean the difference for you.  And if you go that route, you must pass by one of the tunnels that leads straight to the Bone Lord’s domain.  The power of the Sword of Despair there is great. Only with the powers of the Sword of the Last Hope kindled afresh by the Last Hope himself could you manage to get past it without succumbing to the despair.

Once you have the Sword, you must enter the galleries of the mountain behind the keep’s southwest tower. It will have wooden stairs spiraling down several flights, then lead you out onto a broad ledge overlooking the iron mines.  Continue to the end of the ledge and climb down the scaffolding until you are at Sublevel 19.  Remain on the catwalk and head underneath the aqueduct.  Take the first left by the cart loading area and travel down until you come to the cave with a large pool of water in it. Cast Light and look for the thin ledge by the side of the pool. There is nothing in the water but water itself, though that’s bad enough. 

When you make your way around to the other side you will see three caves leading off. Two lead down, and one leads up. The one which leads up is the one which leads to the Bone Lord.  Of the two that lead downward, the way I know lies with the one on the right. It will lead you to another iron mining gallery. Go to the end and follow the railcart tracks on the right.  They will lead you down to a place very near where Excelsior sleeps. You will only have to take a quick boat ride across the lake *away* from the sound of rushing water, and you will see a small set of double archways. Pass beyond them and you will find yourself on the Sunless Sea.  The isle where Excelsior and Merradh make their home is found toward your left, and has a number of crystal outcroppings about.
There is but one more thing I must tell you, though.  Mysta came to me in my dream and said that you must call out Merradh’s name before you set sail for Excelsior’s island, or more than just one of you will die.  I confess this confuses me, for I have never needed to do so on the few visits I have made.

May Mysta guide you and may Excelsior be awake to greet you when you come.  You will carry the Last Hope of this city when you go.   May the Lady of Magic, the faith of the Order of the Midnight Cabal, and all the other Gods bless you.  
I am now going to try and blast my way out of this city, though I do not see my survival.  Still, old habits die hard, and I would rather succumb to wounds in glorious battle in the name of Clan Deepsetter and the honor of the Dwarven Kingdom than to give in to the bleakness of despair. 
Remember me, and do so with honor. ​


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## Pacio49 (Aug 31, 2005)

*The Sword of the Last Hope*

Marcus identified himself as the 'future brother of the Midnight Cabal' and the party took to heart the fact that they would need to find the Sword of the Last Hope. They investigated the scepter and determined that they should next go into the courthouse and look for the gem which had been dropped.  Seeing that they still had several daylight hours left, they went into the city below and made their way to the courthouse.

When inside the courthouse, they ran into several ghouls, a few zombies, a magical trap that cast 'darkness' on the skylights, and a few wraiths.  The clerics were turning quite a few of them, dusting some and repelling others.  For the first encounters with Undead, the party did rather well.  Narya managed to spot the missing gem down the hole that the ghouls were coming up into the ruins from, and with some spellfire assistance Valar managed to scamper down, grab the gem, and scamper back up again.

The party then made to the center of town where they put the gem in the scepter, placed the scepter in a slot on the anvil of Moradin, and twisted the scepter so that the month and day were properly aligned to the current date (they tried the dates in the journal first, then gave up and went one by one. Luckily it was April, or they'd have spent much longer trying to get through the days).   One the gemstone of the Deepsetters was hooked up correctly and aligned properly, a ball of golden energy formed, then shot out leaving a faintly glowing trail as it raced its way flying through the city.  The party gave a yelp and then followed in hot pursuit.

The energy guide led straight to a building which had runes on it marking it as the Hall of Weavers.  The ball stopped at the side of the building, then went straight up into the air, and disappeared onto the roof.  Narya climbed up and fixed up the rope of climbing, and the party soon followed. There, on the roof, they found a dove cote, and after some prying they managed to find a secret compartment under the fouled nests. Upon opening it up, they found a seven foot long box by four inches wide by four inches deep, coated with lead in which had been scratched the holy symbol of Mysta.

Marcus opened the box, revealing that the inside of it was lined in gold and in the box was the Sword of the Last Hope. Actually, it was a double-sword with a slot near the middle that looked like it would accomodate the gem of the Deepsetters.  Yovaire took the sword from Marcus, and the n placed the Deepsetter gem in it.  The sword of the Last Hope blazed to life, glowing with power, until finally it sent forth a fiery ball of energy up into the sky that raced up into the clouds of the mountainside, aiming in a straight line for the broken tower, the place of the Bone Lord, and the resting place of the Sword of Despair. 

As the party watched in amazement, they saw storm clouds beginning to amass around the broken tower, and a wave of darkness answered the volley fired off by the Sword of the Last Hope.  The party very quickly headed back to their tower, amazed that the darkness fell upon the city so quickly, and the mists rose up from the ground with the chill of the grave.  They fled to their tower, and then from there along the carved ledge over the mountain entrance until Narya spotted a concealed path leading into the mountain off of the carved rock ledge.  Narya led the way, following the directions in the journals of Tiriel Midnight.

The party was amazed to see that the mines of the dwarves were still being worked by the undead, and as they passed several of the more intelligent undead began to follow along behind them, drawn toward their life energy but repulsed by the Sword of the Last Hope.  At long last the party arrived at the point where three tunnels diverged. One led upward toward the Bone Lord's domain, and two led downward, but the rightmost tunnel was blocked by a cave-in.  The party was accosted there by a few of the wraiths who had been turned back in the courthouse and had finally overcome the turn and located the party.  Although the wraiths scored several hits on the party, no one failed their Fortitude saves and lost any Con. (Most upsetting to the DM). 

The party did some investigation of the cave-in and found that it wasn't actually a cave-in at all, but a cleverly constructed barrier of loose rocks and dirt that had been piled there to stop up the most direct route to the sunless sea. They used spells and the Dire Lion to blast and dig their way through, and they began to slip through one by one when more wraiths attacked.  Arien used another of the Wall of Thorns charges from her Staff of the Woodlands to block those following them, and also to prevent anyone from coming down from the Death Knight's land. 

As half of the party was through the rock pile, Yovaire felt the Sword of the Last Hope begin to throb with anticipation. He saw several figures blasting their way through the thorns as they approached, with the Death Knight wielding a black sword that burned with dark fire flanked by a mummy and a vampire lord.  Yovaire and the others dispatched their foes and scrambled down the tunnel, stopping at the sandy shore of a large underground lake, and followed the instructions in the journal, calling out for Merradh to come get them.

The ghostly boat appeared almost immediately, and the paladin Merradh arrived quickly.  He was human, but his skin seemed to have gone translucent, with light radiating outward from him and ghostly after-trails of energy following his movements. There was one tense moment when the party was half-aboard as the Death Knight and entourage made it down to the shore, but Merradh simply held up his hand and forbade the Bone Lord to come any closer.  "They have agreed to pay the price:  you have no power over them here.  They are mine, now."

The Bone Lord gave a contemptuous shrug and simply drew a line in the sand with the Sword of Despair, then retreated with his entourage back up the way he had come.

The party had made it!  Now they just had to face whatever 'price' Merradh spoke of.


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## Pacio49 (Aug 31, 2005)

*The Heart of the Mountain*

Merradh the ghostly Paladin (corporeal, but something weird happening with his energy) made sure the party was aboard the boat and then navigated them out onto the Sunless Sea.  As they went, they noticed a large column of rock connecting the cavern's ceiling to the sea just ahead. With crystal outcroppings twinkling faintly with an unearthly glow, they saw as they approached that embedded within the pillar of stone was a shape that looked like a Great Wyrm rising up in flight, wings extended up into the ceiling. At different points throughout there were tunnels and paths entering the stone and circling it, ledges that glowed with inner crystal light, strange flickering shadows, and an overall feeling of power that grew as they approached.

Also as they approached, they saw that the water itself was turning silvery, looking like molten quicksilver, and all of the spellcasters felt the physical presence of power emanating from all around them. Merradh cautioned them all, "Don't touch the water here. It is the raw power of the earth which leaches into the sea around this island, condensing into the liquid known as earthblood. Only the most powerful of spellcasters have a hope of taming its power, and what does not control magic is in turn controlled by it.  Don't touch the water."

They made it to the small landing amid the Sunless Sea, and Merradh led them into a cavern that led upward into the crystal-lined caves.  The party came out into a large room high up in the pillar in which was set the fabled gem, the Heart of the Mountain.  About the size of a small pumpkin, it was a clear crystal that pulsed with power and glowed with a light of its own. A multitude of facets sparkled brightly, and it rested upon a stalactite of crystal.  Merradh stepped forward into the chamber and bade the party halt.

"Now the price must be paid. The Heart of the Mountain will indeed accompany you, who are of good intent.  However, do not be fooled. The dragon Excelsior's Heart Gem is not a light burden.  Whomever touches the gem is bound to the gem until the Heart passes to another.  Once it is taken, whoever has taken it must bear the gem, and serve the gem, until the burden is passed on."

The party began to discuss options, and told Merradh that they intended to use the gem to power Karral's Tower.  Merradh smiled and nodded, and said "Then whoever takes the Gem will be bound to the Tower itself for so long as the gem is used."

The party decided to rest up and discuss the matter, to take action the next morning. They returned to one of the lower ledges and slept.  In the morning, they looked for Merradh, but the paladin was gone.

"Well," said Marcus, "It's clear that I need to be the one to take the gem, since being bound to a Tower isn't that bad for a mage."

"No," said Yovaire. "I think that you're going to be needed for something else if Mysta's visions to Tiriel were correct."

"Well it's certainly not you," said Arien. "You've got the Sword of the Last Hope. You can't be tied down to a Tower."

"Why is Merradh missing?" asked Tybok.

Narya looked around, then came to a leap of intuition.  "Because he's dead."

"Whaddya mean he's dead? He can't die.  Not unless..." said Tybok.

"...unless someone has already taken the gem." Narya finished.  The whole party turned as one and looked at Valar.

"What? Why is everyone looking at me?"  he asked.

"Valar, did you take the Heart of the Mountain?" Arien asked crossly.

"I didn't take it," he said.  For a moment, the party was puzzled, until he said, "I just... wanted to see what a gem like that weighed. I picked it up, but I put it right back down again!"

So Valar had unwittingly chosen to bear the gem. (I rolled three will saves for Valar, since his character has an established history of being unable to stop sticky fingers from going for gemstones;  the first two succeeded, but the last one failed with a 1.  Since Valar's player has moved away now, this ties up that aspect of things nicely.)  The party tried to decide how in heck to get out of Pain Mountain, and were trying to figure out a way to use the Rings in order to teleport back to their Tower and *not* leave Fluffy behind.  Yovaire said suddenly, "I can get us back. I can get us all back."

"How?" asked Marcus suspiciously.

Yovaire shrugged. "The sword, I... I guess. It can teleport us all."

After some discussion, they decided to go through with it, and found themselves in a well-lit dwarven-built room, amid a cloud of fine white powder, with a squadron of Dwarven Defenders levelling crossbows at them and demanding to know how outsiders had found the location of the Hall of the High King, where no non-dwarves have ever set foot previously.  The party was placed under arrest, went willingly, and their items subjected to investigation. All except Valar, who curiously refused to put down the Heart of the Mountain, and used some kind of a mental persuasion magic to make the guards leave him alone and forget the gem was there.


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## Pacio49 (Jul 7, 2006)

*Catching Up*

(GM's Note: Wow, I keep forgetting just how far the party has come, and then I check in here from time to time. I'm going to try and paint in the picture in broad strokes, but it will still take a few posts to catch up.)

The party had arrived in the Dwarven King's Stronghold, a place no foreigner had ever been admitted to previously. The sword Yovaire had found was a weapon of power which was needed in the Dwarven King's fight against the renewed assault of the Ogre King, a force of evil unknown to the party.  The King of the Dwarves named the party all Dwarven Friends and because of them the Deepsetter Clan's name was reinstated. The Wavewatchers, those Deepsetters who had splintered off and decided to form a new clan to serve out their penance, were to be alerted that their Name was restored and they were able to journey to Karral's Tower which would be the new 'Deepsetter Hall'.   The Tower now found itself as a regional capital for the Dwarven Kingdom. 

Valar had to remove himself from the party in order to stay with the Gem at the Tower. He is still inextricably linked to the goings on of the Tower and the Gem, and he directs the domestic workforces in their attempts to create a place on the River of Stars in Brace.  Valar also discovered that the Tower works off of a Cubic Gate which links the pocket dimension to Brace, as well as to 4 other planes of existence (one for each facet of the Gate). 

The party was asked to give Yovaire's sword to the Dwarven Troops in trust, to use against the Ogre King. They did. They were then returned to the Tower magically, where they turned everything on and played around for a bit.


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