# Return to the Tomb of Horrors finally gets a Story Hour!



## James McMurray

The party started out as they usually do, recovering from a recent death. Luckily, they had found one of the only two good clerics on the continent willing to perform a True Resurrection. Unluckily, he was not interested in money, and insisted that they quest to destroy the Black Academy that had killed their paladin friend. (insert link to a thread here).

While resting and recuperating for three days, the group wisely decides to stay inside a Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion, whose doorway is obscured within a Mordenkainen's Private Sanctum. This manages to avoid the planned ambush by the Necromancer's Vampire Associates, the Dim Triad, an ancient trio of oriental vampires: Samurai, Shugenja, and Wujen. The ambush would have targeted a single party member (the Cleric of Heironious, and killed him in his sleep, stripping him, mutilating him, and leaving a message along with 3 body bags "The Dim Triad Comes for Thee." But, despite the cleric's protests (he expected an ambush and was itching for a fight) the party slept safe and sound.

During those three days, they also met up with several old friends, and gained new followers themselves, and would be heading back into battle doubled in size:

William Siege, Cleric of Heironious (cleric 14, ranger 1)
Kargur Melasur, Paladin of Heironious (paladin 8, Knight of the Middle Circle 6)
Galrond Glorykin, Sorcerer of Heironious (aasimar Sorcerer 14)
Cristoph Siege, Rogue and Son of William Siege. (Cohort rogue 14)
Side note: Due to a time shift effect William was trapped in, Cristoph is actually two years his father's senior.
Amastacia, Half-elven artist (Bard 7, Sorcerer 1, True Artist 5)
Gundarag, Amastacia's Husband (Cohort Half-orc Barbarian 1 / Fighter 11)
Lanis, Elven Guide (Cohort Ranger 8)
Teflon Billy, Dwarven Fireball expert (Dwarven Wizard 13 with Signature Spell: Fireball)

Finally the time came for the group to renew their assault upon the Academy. Being much larger than they were used to caused come travel difficulties, forcing the party to split up on their trip to the swamp, as 3 members teleported and the remainder wind walked to an area near Skull City. Meeting up outside, the group decided to send a scout ahead, so Cristoph was made invisible and flying, then headed towards the gate. He reached it with no difficulty and watched for an hour or so, and was rewarded by seeing a group of chanting, black robed individuals coming up the mossy path towards the large bone gate. The gate challenged the group, asking “What is the sign?” and the group replied “Acererak.” This let the party know that the password to the gate had been changed. The gate ground itself apart and back together, forming into a huge humanoid figure and then stepping aside. The rogue was satisfied with his trip, and headed back.

Upon reaching the group, it was decided that a couple of party members should try to walk through the gate, using the password. So Cristoph and Amastacia headed towards the gate, walking this time. However, the wraiths which guard the area heard the tell-tale sounds of squishing on the thick surface of the massed vegetable matter that makes up the path, and when it was not accompanied by chanting, they knew that intruders approached. Moving towards the scouts, three wraiths came up and hissed a warning, then the battle was joined.

Amastacia and Cristoph were both quickly sapped of life force from rapid touches to their hearts by the wraiths, and decided that retreat was in order. However, the wraiths can fly faster than the two people could run, so Amastacia was forced to use her magic. Drawing out a paintbrush, she began spreading paint upon her face. It dripped and flowed, covering her and one of the wraiths (who just happened to be in range), and everywhere it touched, the painted being turned translucent. Unable to see them, the wraiths (including the invisible one, who soon reappeared) struck about aimlessly, while Amastacia and Cristoph headed back towards camp.

Back at the camp, the Heironious followers (especially the Cleric and Paladin) were getting antsy, as was the fireball wizard. It was decided that the time for stealth was nearly past, so the group took to the air with a mass fly spell cast by the wizard and several invisibilities cast by the sorcerer and bard, and headed up and over the city. Unable to see it through the trees, they landed atop the hill where they knew the Academy (which they still believe to be a Temple) lay. Heading down, they come out of the trees directly above the entrance the Black Academy. 

Waiting for a few minutes to decide what to do, they spot a group of four black robed individuals come out of the Academy and head towards where they know a huge black tent is. Not wanting these people to get away, Billy lobs his first of many fireballs for the day, slaughtering the low-level necromancy students easily, and also alerting those still inside the Academy that someone was outside.

Gundarag leaps down and charges inside, swinging at the 8 ½ foot tall full-plated figure who seemed to be guarding the door. Although he manages to cut through a slot in the armor, it feels as if he is cutting into stone, and Leon, the Troll Fighter 7 only laughs.

Lanis and Amastacia also come down, and shoot at two black robed figures in the back of the room, mildly injuring one. They also notice swarming masses of snakes writhing around four columns which support the ceiling, and a statue in the corner of a man holding a large tome.

The battle gets fully under way as the entire group piles into the room, the cleric killing one necromancy student before he can react, and the paladin nearly fumbling his sword at the feet of the Troll, who took that opportunity to swipe a nasty gash along Kargur’s arm. Meanwhile, Lanis, Gundarag, and Cristoph all fall victim to the hypnotic swaying patterns of the venom golems, effectively removing them from the battle for a half minute each.

As the fight continues, Leon shouts out in infernal “Entryway!” and concentric rings of illusory black flame sprout from the floor and head towards the entrances of the room, to shoot down the hall in trails of dark fire, alerting all occupants of the academy (The Dim Triad, Instructor Ngise (the Penumbral Lord), Headmistress Nuala (Necromancer 18 and previous foe of the party), and Academician Drake (Cleric / Contemplative follower of Tharizdun)). Those occupants soon begin buffing themselves with magic, and will head toward the battle shortly. 

The surviving graduate student casts mirror image on himself, and steps away from the cleric, trying to survive the onslaught. The golems move forward, hissing and biting, scoring several hits on people. Only the daily hero’s feast saves them from the deadly venom. Galrond, knowing that their only hope is to close off avenues of assault, places a wall of force across the western twoo entrance, and rapidly follows it up with another a few seconds later, this one covering the eastern entrances, and leaving only a pair of double doors to the south as entrances to the remainder of the Academy.

The battle rages on, with one golem slamming fruitlessly into a wall of force, and the graduate student heading around to try to get into the room from the other direction. Leon’s natural armor, coupled with his ensorcelled full plate, hold off many blows, and his regenerative capabilities handle the rest. He is weakened a bit, but not enough to worry him. This continues for 30 seconds or so, when a quick shot from the cleric, an acid arrow from Billy, and a tandem attack from the paladin fell the troll, who begins to immediately heal. Billy, seeing what is happening, and realizing that fire has yet to hurt the thing, moves over to remove its gauntlets and, seeing two rings, also remove those before starting to remove its leggings. A couple of coup de graces later, the beast is finally dead.

But the leaders of the academy have not been sleeping, and Amastacia, seeing the battle is nearly over, opens the double doors. She is greeted by the sight of the student, who casts a magic missile at her, before he is dropped by a shot from Amastacia’s hand crossbow (frost and holy). Moments after he falls though, Academician Drake rounds one corner and instructor Ngise enters the opposite side of the room. Drake points to Galrond and tells him “Hextor will destroy you utterly” (he likes to taunt his foes, he is not actually a follower of Hextor himself). Galrond, aided by the magic of William, survives the initial assault, but sees his life flash before his eyes as fire chews its way out of his belly to be vomited on the floor at his feet. The group attempts to charge Drake and bring him down with sheer weight of numbers, but an invisible force holds back all but William, preventing them from stepping towards him. Billy casts a greater Dispel, but fails to drop the repulsion. He does succeed in dropping several other spells though, including invisibility purge, would have actually helped the group. Galrond also casts a sacrifice spell, maximized, in an attempt to blast Drake from the face of Oerth, but it washes harmlessly away, stopped cold by Drake’s Spell Immunity (Sacrifice Spell, Sun Spear, Flame Strike, and Lightning Bolt).

(Out of game, a large confusion happened here, which saw Galrond fail a save against he second destruction spell. However a miscalculation of movement showed that Drake had already double moved, and only had his haste action remaining. So that fate was held back a round. The next round, a debate had interrupted Amastacia’s action, and her Hold Monster had failed to be dealt with, so Drake got to cast again. When reminded, we rolled back the clock one action, and she cast her spell. He rolled a 3 or 4 on his save, and was screwed! Thus Galrond is now believed to have only 6 lives remaining.  )

Meanwhile, Ngise has animated Amastacia’s Shadow twice, attacking her with it in an attempt to drain her strength and leave her defenseless. Her defensive magics hold them off though, an they soon falls to her crossbow.

With Drake dead (William charged his held form and brutally annihilated him) and Instructor Ngise seemingly dead (a  shadow image had been destroyed by a fireball) the party seemed to be doing good. However, they did not foresee the arrival of two members of the Dim Triad and Nuala. With her Flame Skull guardian.

Nuala and the guardian teleported in, with Nuala under Improved Invisbility. The Flame Gaurdian Magic Missiled William, and a bolt of flame from its eyes also scorched him, while Nuala dropped a cast a spell, summoning tortured souls to assault Galrond, Amastacia, Gundarag, Cristoph, and Lanis, stealing portions of their life force and delivering it to her. (Leech field, upped her hit points 115). Galrond and Amastacia were both dropped unconscious by the blow, but Kargur rapidly revived Galrond, and Lanis also revived Amastacia a few moments later.

The party knew something was up, but only truly realized how bad it was when an ornately armored figure wielding a katana appeared in front of William, and cut him down rapidly with 4 swings and four hits. The Samurai Vampire’s arrival was coupled with a flame strike from the Shugenja, which hurt a large portion of the group, although it killed no one.

Nuala hits people with black bolts, draining their strength considerably (enervation, maximized) and her Flame Skull continues its assault. The group assails the samurai, as they cannot find the improved invisible Shugenja, and although they hurt him, he is nowhere near out. A couple more flame strikes hit, and Kargur falls to the Samurai’s onslaught, leaving Gundarag as the group’s only true warrior.

Gundarag fall a moment later, and it seems that the assault will not be stopped. Galrond throws up another wall of force, to block off the final entryway into the foyer, leaving the group alone with the samurai, who turns gaseous after a few shots from Lanis and Amastacia, coupled with a maximized Sacrifice spell from Galrond. However, Nuala and her skull teleport into the area, and continue their assault. An energy drain aimed at Billy reflects several times off of each person’s Spell Turning effect, fizzling them out and leaving Nuala free to be targeted, if she can be found.

Billy begins blasting the corner of the room where she is believed to be with fireballs, 2 per round, and a few of them are made of acid (via a rod). He does drop the flame skull, and manages to also drop Nuala low enough that she is forced to flee. He doesn’t see her go, and pumps two more fireballs into that corner, then Galrond and Billy teleport out with Amastacia, Gundarag, and the bodies of Kargur, Lanis, and Cristoph. Galrond teleports back immediately and grabs William’s body, but the fleeing Nuala had already stripped it of the easily removable magical gear.

The next day, the group decided that they needed to rescue Whitefire, the elven rogue who had been turned to stone the last time they attacked, so Billy and Galrond teleported in. Billy casts flesh to stone and Galrond teleports them out before anyone seemingly notices. However, they are as yet unaware that Whitefire has been transformed into a Vampire and then returned to stone, to act as a trap should they decide to rescue him. He will assassinate whoever he can before being found out.


----------



## James McMurray

Our weary band returned from the Black Academy beaten but not broken. Although some had fallen in battle, they were confident that they could soon be returned to the land of the living. Also, William Siege had yet to realize it, but many of his most potent items, including the Holy symbol he himself had created and consecrated to Heironious had been stolen by Nuala, Headmistress and old foe.

In a daring hit and run raid, Teflon Billy and Galrond take time the next morning to teleport into the foyer of the Academy, free Whitefire from his prison of stone, and return to the Temple of Pelor in Greyhawk. Whitefire, seemingly shocked and confused, and looking somehow “gray” and “frayed along his edges” flles the templs to the street, and begins digging into the ground, crying for freedom. A few moments later, he stops and looks about partially calmed. “Where are we? How did we get here? I don’t feel safe, can we get to the Mansion soon?” He was referring of course, to Galrond’s Magical Mansion, which he creates nightly for the party to sleep in, safe from prying eyes and teleporting foes. “Of course, Galrdon replies, and beckons to the planes, who deliver the mansion’s doorway to him.

The party enters and talks a bit, filling Whitefire in on what has occurred, and Teflon Billy leaves for some shopping (for both himself and others).

That evening, watches are set, as our paranoid party fears reprisals, especially while many of their friends still lie dead. William had been Raised, but Cristoph and Kargur still needed tending to. Unfortunately, their preparations and defenses were seemingly smoke, as the next morning, William failed to come down for breakfast, which he normally provided as a Heroic Feast from Heironious.

Investigating his room, Amastacia and Gundarag enter to find gore strewn all about, with a message written in blood on the wall: THE DIM TRIAD COMES FOR THEE. Atop the bed were three large burlap body bags, one of which, marked ‘William’ in blood, contained the corpse of their friend, his mouth sewn shut. The other two were marked Galrond and Kargur, but were thankfully empty.

Pulling their friend from the bag, Amastacia and Gundarag alert the rest of the party, who try to figure out how the assassins entered the mansion, and discuss the only clue, a human sized boot-print in the blood, scraped clean before seemingly leaving the room. Wary, they give a full search of the mansion, but find no one, so they return to the temple with William’s body and pick up their friend Cristoph, who had perished in the previous fight. 

The priest agrees to raise William, but only if all other members of the party who had not previously agreed to the Geas would do so. They do, and the party returns to a new mansion, this one designed to allow the group to all sleep together in a common room.

That night, as Whitefire, Amastacia, and Gundarag stand watch, Whitefire makes his move. Sauntering nonchalantly over to Galrond’s sleeping form, he lifts his arm high and throws it down again. The sound of breaking glass is the last noise heard, as magical silence engulfs the room. Moving with inhuman speed, he snaps his fingers and a flaming Rapier appears in his hand, to be instantly driven through Galrond’s throat. One short gurgle, and Galrond is no more. Turning to the rest, he prepares to defend himself, as Gundarag and Amastacia look on in shock.

Whitefire tumbles out of Gundarag’s reach, and heads towards another body, intent on taking someone else’s life before they can be awoken. But Gundarg charges, kicking Teflon Billy as he passes, and strikes twice, hitting hard with his bastard sword, and driving Whitefire back. Amastacia also attacks, calling her hand crossbow from her magical glove, and shooting a holy bolt into Whitefire’s side. Whitefire, seeing the odds turn against him, attempts to dominate Gundarag, but his fledgling Vampiric powers are no match for the veteran warrior, and Whitefire turns to flee. Gundarag follws, and hits a solid blow again, while Amastacia fires another holy bolt. Whitefire seems to be standing perfectly still, then a flicker of speed and he is out of the way of the bolt. Billy meanwhile, is waking up, still clouded with sleep.

Whitefire disappears from sight, but Amastacia, who had ensorcelled her eyes to be able to see the unseen during her watch, sees him head towards the hallway, while Gundarag swipes at the air where Whitefire once stood. Billy moves out of the area of silence, and prepares himself with spells for the battle he has been awoken to.

Whitefire hides in the kitchen area, while Lanis and Cristoph are awakened. Lanis moves to search Galrond’s body, intent on protecting his gear in the hopes that they can revive him later. Cristoph also gives chase. Whitefire remains hidden though, until he sees a clear shot on Amastacia, and puts two arrows deep into her belly form behind. Staggered, Amastacia moves to try to cure herself, while Gundarag heads to the kitchen to kill the thing that harmed his wife.

Cristoph follows Gundarag, and readies his net to strike if Whitefire moves towards him. Again outnumbered, Whitefire turns invisible, while Billy moves down the hallway to join the fray. However, Cristoph’s Magical Blade “Vigilance” grants him the ability to see invisible beings, and Whitefire is not as safe as he hopes. Meanwhile, Gundarag and Billy move into the kitchen, searching for Whitefire, who is soon found as he reappears and shoots Teflon Billy twice, nearly killing him.

Gundarag charges, and drives his sword through Whitefire’s neck. As the vampire’s head rolls from his body, he turns to mist, and flees for the door to the outside world and the sunlit street beyond. The party follows, and Lanis and Cristoph head to the Temple to alert the priests. The high priest hears the warnings and cries of “Vampire!” and although puzzled, as it is 5:45 in the morning, he heads outside to investigate.

Teflon Billy dispels the forces that allows Whitefire to remain gaseous, dropping him to the ground, where Gundarag swings at him wildly before Whitefire shifts form to that of a massive bat and turns to fly away.

“Pelor, destroy this foul beast of the night with your Holy Power!” rings out, and the morning clouds part. A ray of sunlight falls from the sky, and although the magics which have protected him so far try to save him, Whitefire falls to the ground before the unstoppable power of the Sun god.

Many thanks are made, and explanations given. The group finds a salve which, when identified, turns out to be a way for vampires to avoid the light of the sun for a time, and the priest seems very concerned. The party, knowing they must prepare, has Amastacia, their most people-friendly person, try to sway the priest into allowing an extension on their quest, that they might better prepare. After a moment of Starflower’s beautiful eyes and pleasing voice, he concedes, allowing for another week to prepare.

The group gets set, Amastacia begins ensorcelling weapons to make them sharper, and storing them in everyone’s magical gloves so that the spell will not wear off. Other do research to look into how to kil vampires. Billy takes the time to scribe a see invisible spell into his books, while everyone else has potions of the same made.

The group, all raised and ready for battle, decides that a diversionary assault is I order. They have been slaughtered every time they went due to massive preparations on the enemy’s part, and feel if they attack once, those spells will get cast. They can then flee, and return a few hours later, when the most potent defenses have been wasted.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the group, Nuala has taken the stolen goods from William and sold many of them, while taking a powerful circlet to use herself. She has ordered several items from mages in Greyhawk City, Lopolla, and the Lands of Iuz, and many will be prepared by the time the party attacks. Additionally, she has enlisted the aid of a dark priest to erect a forbiddance upon the entryway to the Academy, to refuse admittance to all non-evil people and teleportation. The day of the group’s planned assault, she will be traveling from city to city picking up many of the items.

The day before the planned assault, Galrond and Billy teleport the group the swampy outskirts or the Skull City, and they take shelter in a mansion, where William casts many spells, extended and made to last at least 24 hours. The next morning, the group flies to the hilltop above the Academy’s doors, and Lanis shoots and kills a black-robed figure seen leave the Academy to the macabre circus tent outside.

The group charges in, only to find the area filled with billowing fog, and Amastacia unable to enter due to the Forbiddance. In a quick and mostly blind scuffle, they kill a couple of students, while Harrow, the Vampire Shugenja, engages the group. Clouding many minds with Confusion magic, he also turns himself invisible and awaits an opportunity to strike. Amastacia, confused, begins to wander away, while Lanis shoots Galrond at point blank range with his bow.

Seeing the situation, and knowing the alarm has already gone up, William gives the order to retreat, and moves to drag Amastacia back to the group. Meanwhile, Galrond continuously attempts to dispel the fog, and finally succeeds, teleporting away with Cristoph, Gundarag, and Kargur shortly after. William returns with Amastacia, and Billy teleports them out as a gout of unholy fire engulfs the party. Thanks to quick reflexes and Energy Immunity spells, they take very little damage, and return to camp wounded but unhurt. William drains a wand to ensure everyone is at full strength, and the group debates what to do, as the forbiddance destroyed their plan for a secondary assault ia teleportation.

They finally decide that Billy, Galrond, and Amastacia will teleport in and try to Dispel the Forbiddance, then teleport back out. They do so, and Billy manages to destroy the ward, then Galrond teleports them back to camp as the alarm is raised yet again.

Now all that remains is for the party to begin their final assault, hopefully strengthened by the fact that they have used considerably fewer magical resources than their foes have.


----------



## James McMurray

Preparations are made, and spells are cast. The group decides to teleport into the amphitheatre. Teflon Billy and Galrond cast their spells, when disaster strikes! Due to the unfamiliarity of the target area William, Billy, Cristoph and Kargur find themselves standing in a similar, yet different Temple-like area. The room is smaller, yet pews still line a central isle up to a stage. Atop the stage stands a red-robed figure, speaking in guttural tones to several Orcs who line the chairs. It takes but a moment for Kargur and William to recognize the sign of Erythnul, God of Slaughter behind the priest. William rightly decides to Word of Recall himself and his friends back to the Temple of Heironious in Lopolla, leaving Galrond, Amastacia, Lanis, and Gundarag to assault the Temple on their own.

Appearing in the central area of the amphitheatre, the remaining band immediately notices a single robed figure standing guard with the Samurai vampire. A moment later, and battle has begun, with Lanis shooting and killing the novice necromancer before he can make a sound, and the rest of the group attacking the vampire. With ferocity and sheer destructive power, the samurai is quickly forced to shift to gaseous form and flee, but not before the two other vampires standing guard outside the amphitheatre hear the commotion and move into the room as well.

Even so, the preparedness of the party combined with the distractive assaults earlier in the day show the vampires to be woefully under prepared. The fact that their Headmistress Nuala has chosen this day to not be present (as she is out picking up magic items she had commissioned) does not aid their cause. Soon, these vampires too are forced to flee in mist form, leading the band of heroes to the secret trapdoor whose underground passage soon emerges into Headmistress Nuala’s private quarters.

The band searches quickly, finding Nuala’s library and taking several books and scrolls. They also find her sleeping quarters, but a trap set off when her wardrobe is disturbed fills the room with fiery gas. All furnishings are destroyed in the conflagration, but the party remains unscathed, due the protective magics placed upon them by William Siege, rendering them immune to fire (originally intended to allow Billy to Fireball at will without having to worry about collateral damage to his teammates).

However, amidst all of the searching, there is no sign of the vampires they follwed here. Finding no hidden passageways, the band returns to the amphitheatre and attempts to decide where to head next. Meanwhile, Blaeseg, Harrow, and Absalom, the Dim Triad, are recuperating in their Coffins. Harrow is the first to revive himself, and he heads out to find the party again. This time, he is prepared with Improved Invisibility and casts confusion when he reaches them. Both Amastacia and Gundarag succumb to the spell, and Gundarag attacks Galrond, nearly killing him instantly. Galrond, beaten and battered, decides it is time to flee, and teleports the group back to the Temple to Heironious, where he, Cristoph, and others quickly subdue Amastacia and Gundarag.

The group decides to prepare again, and return in three days for another assault. They decide to teleport into a small side chamber and fan out from there, hoping to avoid the main guards in the entryway and Amphitheatre. Appearing where they wished this time, they see a large group of robed figures standing in the main entryway. These unsuspecting necromancers die to a surprise arrow and fireball from Cristoph and Billy respectively. Then the party moves in to join battle with the mass of snakes which guards the front door. The serpent golem takes but amoment to destroy, but it is long enough for Blaesig, the Samurai, to come out of the amphitheatre, hasted by Harrow, and ready for battle. He attacks Lanis, wounding him severely, then releases his sword, which continues to attack. Drawing another, he prepares to kill Lanis, who moves away quickly. The group is well prepared however, and the vampires are quickly forced to flee in gaseous form. Galrond’s spells, Lanis and Amastacia’s arrows, and the rests swords make short work of the vampires. They flee again, secure in the knowledge that they will heal and return. The group follows, and this time they stumble upon Nuala in her chambers. She has had a bit of time to prepare however, and Billy’s Greater Dispelling rebounds upon him, taking out many of his protective magics. Kargur moves in as well, and Billy uses his haste action to cast anti-magic field, presumable sealing Nuala’s fate.

Cornered by the burly paladin and the spindly dwarf, Nuala does the only thing she can do and attempts to shove her way past Teflon Billy. Seeing an opening when Nuala turns her attention from him, Kargur leaps to grapple her and pull her to the ground, where she will be trapped within the field and easily killed. Unfortunately he missteps and accidentally grabs Billy, giving Nuala the chance she needs to stand and flee to her chambers, slamming the door shut behind herself.

Meanwhile, the group has bottlenecked at the entrance to her chambers, as the small area does not allow more than one person to climb up at a time. Billy, William, and Kargur reach the door to Nuala’s chambers, and William and Kargur begin slamming into it to try to force it down. A moment later, Billy moves up and turns the doorknob, afterwhich the door opens easily, revealing a room with bare furnishings (Nuala had to replace her destroyed goods), but no Headmistress.

Angry at not having found her, but determined to press on, the party begins to search for secret passageways. They do find one, but only because Blaesig opens it just wide enough for two Flame Strikes to slam into the group. Cristoph nimbly dodges aside, but Galrond, Gundarag, Amastacia are hurt. William’s Shield other also leaves him mildly wounded.

As the party strives to open the doorway, Blaesig continues his assault. An arrow from Lanis sends him back to gaseous form though, just in time for Absalom to appear and hit the band with a cone of cold, before he too is forced to flee again. This time, the vampires decide to rest until fully healed, and let their traps do some of the dirty work for them.

The party moves through the doorway and into a sarcophagus. As they step out of it, they find themselves in a dark hallway, lined with several alcoves, each of which holds a sarcophagus, except for two of them, which hold Iron statues of the Death-like creatures which previously assaulted the group. The party begins to search, looking for secret passages. Cristoph climbs into a large sarcophagus and finds a switch. When he presses it, the lid slams shut. Moments later, Kargur opens the lid, but the sarcophagus is empty. Cristoph, having been teleported to another sarcophagus does not even realize he has moved. However, he does realize that he is in trouble after spike protrude from the base of the sarcophagus and enter his back, where they begin to rapidly drain all the blood out of his body. After screaming and clawing at the lid for a bit, he realizes he cannot escape and will soon die, so he breaks the small rod given to him by William, which teleports him to Lopolla, safe, but no longer able to aid the party in their assault.

Searching near where they heard Cristoph’s screams, the group finds a secret door behind one of the Scythe wielding statues. William casts Righteous Wrath of the Faithful, expecting the statue to come to life when the door is opened. He slams his mace into, putting a small dent in it. Gundarag hits it as well, putting several large dents into it. At this point, Kargur and Lanis realize that it is only a statue and they move away, while William and Gundarag open the door.

Inside the small chamber are three sarcophagi. Two are unadorned, but the third has a lid carved in the shape of a screaming Cristoph. Inside it is empty though, and only a few tiny fresh blood marks attest to the fact that Cristoph was here. Worried, but unable to do anything about it, the party presses onward.

Lanis, tinkering with a stone sarcophagus shaped like a dwarf, manages to trigger a gas trap, which seems to have no effect, until the group looks around to see Amastacia’s face frozen in agony, having been turned to stone. Gundarag, her loving husband screams and rails, and it takes Galrond wuite some time before he can convince Gundarag that they can fix her, but that the group must press onward still.

Kargur, at the urgings of William, detects evil near all of the sarcophagi, and finds that none of them seem to contain vampires, so the group decides that they will have to search for secret passageways again. They soon find one, behind the second Scythe wielding statue. When it is opened, William is assaulted by the statue’s scythe. It hits his several times, but even though the group is fatigued from the aftereffects of the Righteous Wrath, the Iron Golem is no match for them. Even its highly poisonous gas is stopped by the heroes’ feast the party ate the day before.

As the group moves forward, it is decided that Billy, with his anti-magic field still up, should lead the way, as he is proof against any magical traps. Unfortunately, as he moves to pass Kargur and William, the field momentarily negates the Heroes’ Feast’s effects, allowing the poison to weaken Kargur, and kill William. 

Determined to press onward, and knowing that they cannot get him True Resurrected without something to show the High Priest, the party applies a Resurrection Salve to William, who awakens missing several spells and a level, but otherwise unhurt. He quickly casts heal on himself and Kargur, and the party moves onward again. 

At the end of the hall is an unlocked doorway. However, the door turns out to be false, and only hides three spears of light, which slam into Galrond and Lanis.

Feeling that there is no reason to have a trap hidden behind a secret door, William urges the group the search the walls. doing so finds a passageway to the south, which leads deeper into the hillside, to a hallway lined with candles, from which three passageways diverge. Kargur convinces the group that to press onward would be foolhardy. Although they have yet to kill any true enemies, many protective magics will soon be fading, and the vampires are likely fully healed and prepared for them by now. 

The group decides to place Walls of Force between them and the rest of the are, dragging Amastacia into a corner so that they can retreat to a Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion. However, although the wall goes up, the Mansion’s door fails to materialize, and the group realizes that the area is protected by a permanent Zone of Respite, blocking all inter-dimensional access. They instead decide to stay up all night, behind successively cast Walls of Force, and the next morning, shielded from prying eyes by a Private Sanctum spell, Billy returns Amastacia to flesh, and the group dispels the Zone so that they can teleport back to Lopolla. A brief discussion and they decide that they were most definitely on the losing end of this exchange, although they gained great insight into where the vampires may be.

Now they prep and plan for their return, and of course, so do the necromancers...


----------



## Schmoe

Hehe, this is very cool.  I love to see an intelligent high-level challenge played to it's fullest, and it seems that this academy is just that.  Hmm, do you think the adventurers are beginning to feel like Weeble-wobbles?  

Anyway, I've heard that the 3rd time's the charm.  Or was it the 4th?  The 5th?  Um, maybe it was the 6th ...


----------



## James McMurray

Well, the odds are fairly good that they'll actually make some headway this time, since they are very close to the vampires' lair. If they can knock them out and get to them in their cofins, they're set. Also, the anti-magic field was pretty nasty, the Headmistress just got lucky. She has changed her chain contingency though: now it is: When she sees Teflon Billy (the dwarven wizard with the field) he gets hit with two chain lightnings and a greater dispelling. (I could be wrong about that loadout, I've got it written down though). Odds are he'll die as soon as she sees him (unless his ring of evasion couples with some luck rolls to let him survive). Unfortunately, she's never seen the ring in action, so doesn't know to avoid reflex save spells.


----------



## Krellic

This sounds hellish to keep track of everything but an awful lot of fun.  I take it your group really like combat 'cos they're getting plenty!

These vampires have really got their backs to the wall, they're going to have to start fighting dirty...


----------



## James McMurray

Yeah, keeping track of things is a nightmare. I have steadfastly refused to remember that anyone dying in the area has a 20% chance of returning as a zombie. I also never remember that  certain doors are trapped. The party avoided two blade barriers already, but I won't forget them this time! 

James


----------



## James McMurray

The group headed back into the Black Academy three days later, feeling confident with their spells recast and their swords thirsty for the "witch's" throat. This time, calculations were correct, and the group appeared dead center of the amphitheatre, but it was pitch black. Moments later, Gundarag's sword was lit, and daylight spells filled the room with light, showing that all was dark and apparently abandoned. Galrond sealed off two entrances to the room with walls of force, and the group moved into the Black Academy, Cristoph scouting the way.

The first area he entered was apparently a lab. However, the shelves had mostly been cleared, and the cabinets were empty. Whoever used this room wasn't here anymore, so they continued. Around the corner they found a room tiled in black obsidian, whose only feature was a statue of a skeleton against the far wall. As the group lined up (expecting an attack) and entered, the statue's eyes lit with fire and it spoke: "Enter supplicants, and be judged." The group prepared for battle, and moved into the room. As soon as they stepped in, the statue spoke again, "To gain full access to the Black Academy, place your hands in mine." Talking it over, the group decided to see what would happen, and Kargur, the insanely courageous paladin moved forward. 

He placed his hands in those of the statue, and the statue's grip tightened around them, "Hold still." The fire in the statue's eyes narrowed into a tightly focused beam that played over the paladin's head and shoulders. Moments later, the beams turned to black flames, and the paladin fell backwards, scorched and burnt, and having just barely managed to keep his soul from being torn from his body. "You have been judged unworthy. Next." No one else volunteered. They did search a bit more though, and a secret door was found behind the statue. It only hid and empty room however.

Moving onward, Cristoph listened to a door and heard a faint mewling as if a sick cat. He returned tot he group, "I thin I've found a cat in heat," he told them. Suitably confused, the group moved forward, and the paladin detected for evil through the door, which was successful. They prepared a bit, then kicked the door down, to find a laboratory seemingly in use, but empty. On one table was a cat, partially dissected, yet still living. "Mwrar, mwaaar." 

Trying to put the cat out of its misery, the paladin drove his sword clean through it, and the mewling ceased, but only for a moment, as the cat's wounds healed back up, except for those parts which were kept from joining by pins in the dissection tray. "mwawr, raaar." Detection of magic showed that the cat was definitely magical, but no evil could be detected, from either the cat or anywhere in the room. The two adjoining laboratories were likewise clear. The group left the cat behind, and moved onwards.

Around the next corner, they entered what appeared to be an anatomy classroom. Pictures of bodies, and a few actual bodies hung from the walls. Chairs and desks were lined up to face a central podium, atop which lay a partially dissected human form. As the group looked around, an imp appeared next to Lanis, and struck out, only to hit his armor. Moments later, the imp was unconscious, as several arrows plowed into his body. Billy tells the group that it will regenerate though, and he had already used his Melf's Acid Arrow in a doomed attempt to kill the cat. Gundarag moves up and begins repeatedly hacking at the imp with his bastard sword, ensuring it will not be getting up for quite some time. Meanwhile, Cristoph opens a door in the back of the room, and a shadow reaches up from the floor to touch his shadow. Cristoph's shadow leaps up and dives for his throat, only barely being dodged.

Cristoph turns to flee back through the group, and William takes a swipe at the passing shadow, but his sword goes right through it. Lanis's arrow hits the mark though, and as the shadow is pierced in the belly, it falls into quiescence. However, a mirror wound appears in Cristoph's stomach, and Amastacia moves to heal him.

Kargur heads into the back room, and this time 6 shadows leap up to touch his, and set it on him as well. The group manages to make short work of the shadows though, and killing one seems to dissipate the remainder. The one dead shadow transforms into a dark robed man, whose left hand is made of shadow. Galrond tells the group that the man's dagger and robes are magical, and as Kargur moves to collect them, the robes leap off the floor and flow around him, sapping his health as they try to force themselves onto him. 

William recognizes the robes as being a wraith, and attempts to turn it. The attempt is successful, but before it can flee, Kargur slashes it to ribbons. Collected the tattered remains, he uses them to pick up the dagger and place it into his haversack. The group moves into the next room, which is filled with small stacks of books surrounding a cot. They find a small sack of gems hidden in the iron stove, but nothing else of value apart from the books, which seem to mostly focus upon anatomy and necromancy.

Satisfied that this side of the area is clear, they move to the East side of the building, still unopposed by the inhabitants of the Academy, except for the one instructor. Reaching the room where a large Tome summoned deaths when touched, they find it empty. The doors marked Necrohazard are still shut, and the group decides to investigate. As the first door is opened, the inside of it is seen to be filled with shadows. Cold seeps from the room like a physical presence, and moments later, a heartbeat is heard. Lub--dub, lub--dub.

The cold intensifies, as does the heartbeat. da-dum-da-dum-da-dum. 

The group disperses and prepares for whatever is coming, but nothing ever comes. The paladin moves forward and detects for evil, finding a presence. His daylight enhanced flaming sword allows him to see a bit into the room, so he moves in slowly to investigate, using his senses to pinpoint the evil, which turns out to be a small beating heart on the floor. He cuts it in half with his sword, but moments later, the cloying cold increases, and the heart is yet again beating slowly.

The paladin spears the heart with his sword and moves to carry it outside, noticing in passing that the inside of the door is covered in a gray metal, which Billy tells him is Lead. By this point, both he and the cleric (who has a shield other protecting the paladin) have taken quite a bit of damage from the heart. The paladin drops the heart outside, and the plant life around it rapidly wilts away. da-dum-da-dum-da-dum. Galrond dispels the darkness in the room, and the group finds that the room is mostly empty. Only a bare pedestal stands in the center, with a desiccated black-robed corpse next to it. Two of the inner walls (those facing areas where people would be) are lined with lead as well.

Leaving the heart as a mystery for later, the group moves to the next door marked Necrohazard, this one barred from the outside. The bar is removed, and the door is opened. Several small piles of black ash litter the floor of the room, and a shelf on the back wall holds a skull, wreathed in an eerie corona of black flames. Cristoph moves forward to investigate, and as he gets close, the flames leap out, and he too is wreathed in blackfire. As it slowly begins to burn his soul, he runs into the hallway. As he passes Kargur, the flames leap at the paladin, who manages to avoid them.

Cristoph, writhing in agony, begins to roll on the ground in an attempt to put the flames out, as the group stares on helplessly, afraid to approach the malevolent flames, and they seem to try to leap onto whoever gets near them. Billy, thinking he may be able to put the flames out, creates an anti-magic field around himself, and moves towards Cristoph. The flames are snuffed out by the field. Unfortunately, so too is the Endurance spell, which was the only thing keeping Cristoph alive, and he falls to the ground dead.

While protected, Billy goes back to the cat, and it does stop moving when the anti-magic field nears it. However, as soon as Billy moves away, it returns to life and begins mewling piteously. The heart outside is completely unaffected by the field however.

Knowing that they'll need to make more headway if they are to get him resurrected, the group moves on. Billy, still protected by his anti-magic field, moves up to open the next door, with the group arrayed just outside the boundaries of the field. As he opens the door, spinning and whirling blades fill the entire chamber, except for the area around the Dwarven Wizard. Everyone in the group is wounded by the blades, but William is wounded worst of all. In preparation for battle, he had cast Shield Other on Kargur and Gundarag. Kargur had then cast Shield other on Lanis. Thus, William took damage from the blades hitting him, Kargur, Gundarag and Lanis (54 (him) + 27 (Kargur) + 27 (Gundarag) +13(Lanis) = 121 points). He falls to the ground, cut to ribbons by the whirling blades. Billy, thinking fast, moves to where the group is all within his field. This act nearly kill Amastacia, and her endurance drops and she begins to feel the full weight of the tears in her flesh (she is left with 2 hp).

The group moves carefully into the next room, where they heal up a bit via Amastacia's wands. This room and the room behind it turn out to be the Cleric of Tharizdun quarters. Having previously killed him, they are unmolested as they destroy his altar.

Returning to Greyhawk City, the group meets with the High Priest of Pelor, who tells them that their task is still unfinished. Communing has shown him that the Vampires are still in residence at the Black Academy. They also manage to allow the apparently immortal cat to escape, after the priest suggests they remove it from the tray. It is apparently not undead, nor is it evil, so the priest is at a loss for what to do with it. He would rather see it free than tortured like it is though, so he lets it flee after his attempt at Hold Monster and Halt Undead fails. This worries Amastacia, as she has visions of generations of immortal cats overrunning cities, but the group doesn't try to hunt the cat down. The priest, felling that the group has made definite headway with the death of an instructor and the apparent abandonment of the city decides to perform True Resurrections on the two casualties. That will take two days, leaving the party time to plan.


----------



## James McMurray

Yet again they have prepped, and return into the heart of the crypts. Teleporting in again in two groups, it is odd that the Zone of Respite no longer exists, but no one comments, and exploration begins in earnest. Rapidly searching the area, Cristoph finds the mechanism for the trap which sprayed iron spikes at Kargur previously, but informs the group that he cannot dismantle it. He also finds two secret doors and a concealed iron door with a barred window. From behind the door pitiful moaning can be heard, and the party moves to investigate.

Opening the locked door, they find 20 emaciated people chained to the walls. As they free the people from their chains (after a quick negative scan for evil by Kargur), most of them slump to the floor in utter defeat or even catatonia. The 9th leaps to his feet and quickly runs for the exit, only to be grabbed by Kargur at the door. "If you flee, this place will kill you." That doesn't seem to have much affect, as these people are no longer scared of death. It is prefereable to the slow torture that is being a sadistic vampire trio's food source.

William, seeing an opportunity to calm the people, stands and gives a sermon on the glories of Heironious, and how the God of Honor will protect them in this place, if they do as requested. During this, he manages to calm people down enough to get some questions answered. These people are being fed upon by three vampires, who some singly or in groups, and at no particular time. While this is being explained, Cristoph, Galrond, and William catch the faint sounds of spellcasting from the Southwestern corner of the room, where a prisoner explains that there is a secret door.

Cristoph rapidly searches for, and finds, the door, and opens it up as others prepare for the battle, including a Mass Haste from Galrond. Behind the door he sees three Vampires, but noone else can see them well, as they are back a bit from the entryway. William fills the hole with a Blade Barrier, and Cristoph shuts the door back, while billy moves to watch the other entryway.

Right at that moment, the Samurai vampire heads around the corner and nearly slices Billy's Arm off with his blade. Billy leaps back and attempts to Dispel whatever buffing spells the vampire may have up, before fleeing to the far corner of the room through a Dimension Door. Kargur hangs back, hoping that the Vampire will move into the room and give more people an opportunity to attack him. Gundarag however, not being the tactical genius, moves in to start wailing on the vampire with his Flaming Bastard Sword. The Vampire's ornate full plate armor stops what few strikes were not dodged with preternatural speed and grace. It does not protect against a Maximized Bolt of mana from Galrond however, nor from Lanis' arrows, and the vampire is soon forced to retreat in mist form.

His compatriots have finished preparing however, and soon move to continue the assault on the party. The Shugenja unleashes multiple Flame Strikes, while the Wujen peppers the group with a Cone of Cold. This almost kills William, who is again caught unprepared at the end of a Shield Other chain. He has just enough strength ni him before he slumps to the ground to pray to Heironious for healing, and a second later is back at full health.

The fight is about equal at this point, as Repulsion is keeping some combatants out of the fray (except for missile weaponry). Kargur manages to charge however, and swings all out, giving up every ounce of finesse to aim for maximum damage to the Wujen. This turns out to be a serious mistake on his part, as every attack is tauntingly dodged. Meanwhile, the Shugenja decides it is time to stir things up a bit, and casts 2 Confusion spells, getting Lanis, Amastacia, and Cristoph in the process.

Lanis shoots at Galrdon, and is soon tackled by Gundarag. Amastacia gets caught up in the workmanship of a nearby Sarcophagous lid, while Cristoph could swear he hears his mother calling from the back of the prison, and moves to help her get the hot apple pie from the oven.

The group rapidly forces the vampires into mist form with magical and physical force, and they race to catch the sleepers in tehir coffins around the corner. As they get close, Billy raises an Antimagic Field, this time to prevent the spellcasting vampires from escaping via magic before the group manages to pry the lids off of the Sarcophagi. That will be harder than it seems however, as the lids are solid stone, and apparently locked from the inside. It takes five people nearly a minute to wrench top off of the first, where they find the still sleeping form of the samurai, not yet recovered from William's earlier spear thrust, nor the Searing Light which had been stored in the Spear.

Cristoph studies him for a moment, then strikes with a stake. As it pierces the vampire's heart, his flesh withers and he becomes no more than an emaciated heart. Research and study have shown them that this is not enough, so William prepares the holy wafers and then decapitates the beast. As he does so, the head's eyes and mouth fly wide as the creature screams its way into hell before turning to dust.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the group have been working on the next sarcophagus. It requires quite a bit of work, with two people using crowbars to remove the lid. As it comes off, the Shugenja inside leaps for the cieling and begins to scamper off, before being grabbed by both Gundarag and Kargur and slammed back down into the coffin. Kargur quickly moves to pin him so that he may be staked. As they wrestle, the Wujen hears his opportunity and flings his coffin wide, leaping for the cieling in an attempt to escape the anti-magic field. Gundarag, acting quickly, grabs the vampire and slams him to the ground. Even the strength of the grave is no match for Gundarag's massive sinews.

Meanwhile, the shugenja has put up a terrible fight, but Amastacia's third strike is the charm, and moments later William is stuffing holy wafers into the mouth of the meaciated corpse, before sending it to Hell screaming as well. As the group pins and stakes the last vampire, Billy leaves to check on the prisoners. Rounding the corner, he is shocked as a cold blue ray and 2 lightning bolts splash against his field. He turns and spots "The Hag" as they call her. Nuala, Necromancer and Headmistress of the Black Academy. She sees him too, and as he cries out a warning, she prepares to assault the first free target she can, hoping that someone will be foolish enough to leave the antimagic field. Nobody does though, and soon Billy is charging her. As the edge of his field nears, she disappears in a flash of light. The group fans out to find her, but has no luck, and decides to begin the long process of teleporting the prisoners to safety.

The group rearrives in Greyhawk, with the prisoners in tow. The priests of Pelor are more than happy to help these poor souls, and the High Priest is greatly relieved when he is shown the vampire dust and told the story. The next day the group makes a rapid hit and run raid on the courtyard, grabbing up the heart, which lays quiescent on the ground until someone nears it. Locking it into a lead box, they return to the Temple of Pelor with it, to be locked away, hopefully forever. They also ask that the Samurai's katana be destroyed, as it is an unholy weapon.

As they head out into the street that evening, they look across the street to see a rapidly panting dog. Following his eyes, they see a familiar yellow cat, sitting unconcerned about five feet from the exhausted dog's face. Its hard to tell, but it almost looks like it is mockingly smiling at the dog.


----------



## James McMurray

*The party divided*

Kargur suggests that he and William prepare Detect Undead for the next day. Galrond heads back into the mansion to take some time out to scry for the cat as suggested. An hour later, he finds it. The cat is running around a construction site being chased by 3 burly men. It scampers up a fence, across a drainpipe, and in the process manages to drop a large bucket of paint onto one of the men's heads. The others redouble their efforts to catch the cat, but he is always a few steps ahead of them. He nimbly climbs up a nearby pile of debris in the site and sits atop it looking down at the men and licking his paws and rubbing his face. A couple of them toss rocks, but their aim is incredibly poor. 

One of the rocks misses and hits a large chunk of debris on the pile. The cat leaps clear just as the stacked refuse from the construction site begins to collapse. As the cat saunters away, the men start cursing and cleaning up the mess.

It takes a couple of days to get the prisoners up and about. Kargur does not notice any of them being suspiciously healthy, nor does the cat show up again. The physical damage is fairly easy to fix just with William alone (although it will require three days of Heal spells to fix the mental damage on some of them). Its the malnutrition and psychological scarring that are the hardest parts. Heal will fix deep rooted insanities, but it can't let them look back at the past few months without risking a recurrence. The temple of Pelor is happy to tend to them while they recuperate. As they become ready to travel, the priests will inform the group and they can be teleported back to their homes. Of course, only those who lived in Shiboleth will be transportable via teleport, as neither Galrond or Billy have been to the cities North or West of the Swamp. 

However, during this time Amastacia and William begin to debate taking these unfortunate souls on as followers. They are chilled by the thought of the prisoners' accounts of their captivity: Alone in the dark. The only light comes infrequently, in the form of two glowing orbs with a hissing voice, "You smell delicious. I will savor you." Then the sharp stab of pain as the skin is ripped from the neck. Weakness overcoming everything as lifeblood is drained. Moments before you drift into a blissful eternal sleep, another voice chants prayers to dark spirits and the energy flows back. Along with it the terror of knowing that this will never end.

Even less frequently, the light flares to a blinding level, and as your eyes become adjusted to it, you see a beautiful dark-robed lady. "Don't worry little ones, I'll free you from your fleshy prison." Behind her is another robed person, fully hidden from view. As your chains are loosened, you breathe a sigh of relief. Staggering towards the door, the unknown robed one moves to steady you, as it does, a black tentacle curls out from a sleeve and firmly holds you on your feet. The hood falls back, and staring back at you is a scarred a brutalized face, dripping a black blood from its pores. A scream wells up inside you and breaks free. You think you could not scream louder, then you realize that the creature before you has at least one human looking feature, and they are the eyes of Jacques, your husband."

Amastacia continues to pour through the old tomes. So far all she has managed to learn is that the Devourer is believed to be roaming far planes. The fact that that tidbit was scribbled in the margin of a book on weaponry indicates that it may take a bit of time for her to sort through the books more thoroughly. They do find a map however, which shows two previously unseen hidden rooms. 

The group decides they should take a couple of weeks and pour through the tomes. They teleport back to the Black Academy, and enter the library. Although they do notice a few books are missing, they are curiously unmolested as they take several trips to gather all of the books. Back at the Mansion, the research begins in earnest. They find out the following things:

 Acererak the Devourer roams far planes, and is setting in motion a great change.
 Nuala rose to power in the Academy by staking the previous Headmistress, and plans to become a Lich herself once she has plumbed all of the Devourer's secrets.
 The Tomb of Acererak is only the first, and the least of his holdings.
 He has prepared a path to his stronghold, and he himself is somehow the key.

Armed with this meager knowledge, and the tidbits they have gleaned from the journal of Galen, they head into the tomb. Sending Cristoph ahead into the first of three entryways, he finds a large pair of double doors at the end of the hallway. When he opens them, a loud grumbling sound is heard, and he turns to run, only barely diving past the massive block of stone sliding into place to seal him into the cave. Having seen the bare stone wall behind the doors, the group moves to the next entryway.

Moments into the place, their protective magics begin to wither and fade under the oppressive pallor of the place. They find themselves in a highly decorated hall filled with Mosaics of Torture chambers, Wizardly workrooms, and human-like slaves building vast fortresses. To their immediate left is a mural of two large Jackal-headed men holding a box, but the box itself is real, and protrudes from the wall. Experimentation with it finds an invisible lever inside. Pulling it causes the floor around the box to open up into another pit, and then rapidly close again. Cristoph's quick thinking had him pull the level while suspended form the wall via his Boot of Spider Climbing, and thus he avoided another plummet.

A 2' wide red tile path winds its way down the hall, and Cristoph elects to follow it, searching for traps every step of the way. Only 15' or so into the place though, he misses the first pit trap, and falls 30' onto two sharp spikes. Where the first spike pierces his leg, he skin begins to turn gray and flake away. Activating his magical boots, Cristoph quickly clambers out and receives healing from his father, which seems to fix his leg. 

Even more careful now, he decides to move in again, this time staying off the path. He spots three more pits along the way, and Billy follows him, while the remainder of the party follows at a "safe" distance. About 40' in, he suddenly notices words engraved into the path, and moves back to read them:

Go back to the tormentor or through the arch,
And the second great hall you’ll discover.
Shun green if you can, but night’s good color 
is for those of great valor.
If shades of red stand for blood the wise
Will not need sacrifice aught but a loop of 
magical metal – you’re well along your march.

Two pits along the way will be found to lead
To a fortuitous fall, so check the wall.
These keys and those are most important of all,
And beware of trembling hands and what will maul.
If you find the false you find the true
And into the columned hall you’ll come,
And there the throne that’s key and keyed.

The iron men of visage grim do more than 
Meets the viewers eye.
You’ve left and left and found my Tomb
And now your soul will die.

Remembering the torture chamber motif earlier in the chamber, the group heads back. A few minutes later, they have pried the plaster away from a painting of a door, only to find a real door underneath. It is directly behind a pit however, and Cristoph's boots are all that allow him to go through. He moves ahead and opens the door, entering the hallway behind it. As he opens another door, he sees 4 6' tall vaguely humanoid figures made of crackling energy ahead. They are secured to the floor via chains of pure force, which fasten to collars around their necks. As he watches, the chains begin to melt away, and Billy, who had stayed in the main entryway but at a place where he could see, lets loose a fireball. As it bursts around the creatures, the flames are dimmed, while the creatures inside seem to grow larger. Cristoph slams the door shut on the now 6 1/2' tall beings. From behind it, he hears the faint sound of metal clasps slamming shut.

Billy recognizes the creatures as Mana Elementals, beings made of the stuff of magic. Although not truly elementals, they are called that for lack of a better term. They are masters of the magical flow, and if captured in a device known as a Mana Prism, can be used by unscrupulous mages to power spells. Billy warns the group not to use magic on them, as they feed on it. Kargur leaps across the pit and prepares to enter the fray, whilst the remainder of the group debate what to do. Cristoph reopens the door and the once-again chained elementals are freed. As battle commences, Kargur slams one of the beats with his sword. The creature does seem phased by the blow, but the sword's electrical emanations die out as the thing feeds on its enchantment, then strikes back. As it feeds on the mana from which life flows, Kargur feels sharp pain in his neck and throat. 

William prays to Heironious out in the hallway, and cast a Formation spell, rearranging the group into a more combat worthy setup. Kargur remains on the far side of the pit, while Gundarag and Lanis are also transported there. Cristoph is placed back in the hallway, where he won't be able to fight, but he doesn't mind as it was the warriors who were moved forward. 

Billy remembers that Mana Elementals feed on all magics which are near them, but that Dispel Magic can harm them, and he unleashes an area Greater Dispelling. The first of the four beasts is completely disrupted, and the remaining three seem hurt badly. A rapid follow-up Greater Dispel from Galrond finishes them off, and Amastacia leaps towards the now clear room. She misses by a hair, and the beautiful bard plummets into the pit. At the bottom, the spikes slam into her chest, and her entire body rapidly turns gray and dead. She is left looking like a mummy without wrapping. Gundarag and Cristoph pull her to the surface, and place a Resurrection salve on her, which restore her to life, and cleanses the poison from her body. William recognizes it as Negative Planar Essence, an incredibly deadly poison made from liquefied matter from the Negative Material Plane. As the group begins to jump across, Billy decides not to risk it and touches William and Galrond while opening a Dimension Door for them to step through.

They enter the door, but do not come back out in the Tomb where Billy had intended, instead finding themselves stranded in the Astral Plane. Looking around to get their bearings, they see a hulking 4 armed demonic figure. "So, foolish mortals, you dared to explore Acererak's Tomb?"

Acting quickly, the three spellcaster enter battle. Finding themselves on the plane of magic, they are astounded at the power they feel coursing through them. Billy lashes out with a Quickened (via the plane) Disintegrate, followed by a flurry of magic missiles. William unleashes Destruction spells, but the wash harmlessly over the beast, foiled by its spell resistance. Galrond however finishes it off with a flurry of Magic Missiles and a Maximized bolt of pure magical energy. The taunting beast failed to even act before it was destroyed, and the now confident group decides what to do. Knowing they must get back, they know they have to find a way to rest so that William may pray for a Plane Shift spell. 

Pooling their knowledge of the plane (no pun intended) they determine that travel is generally done via color pools, and that of the four planar destinations they can remember, Opal pools lead to the Blessed Fields of Elysium, a very nice place to rest. Propelling themselves forward by sheer force of will, they begin to search for one, a process which will take them approximately one week. Due to the nature of time on the plane though, they will not even notice how long it takes.

Back on the prime, the group has done a bit of exploring. Cristoph has found a complex of small interconnected rooms with secret doors. However, every step he takes in the rooms sends a blue bolt hurtling from the walls or ceiling to slam into him. As he reached what appears to be the last room, he finds no more exits and returns to the group, burnt by the many magic missiles. Kargur lays hands upon him and the wounds are healed. It is at this point that the group realizes the Cleric, Wizard, and Sorcerer are nowhere to be found. Realizing they are now without magical transportation or true Healing capabilities( Amastacia can heal, but nowhere near as effectively as William) the group decides its time to hide. They do not want to continue travelling through this trapped place, and fear leaving the area because Nuala would likely attack them.

They decide to hide out in the Academy proper, staying in the darkness until their friends return. With only Gundarag's eyes and Kargur's Goggles of Darkvision to guide them, they hunker down. They've only got 5 days worth of food for the group before Lanis will be forced to venture into the swamp to forage for food, but even when that happens, they still do not want to travel. They know that the only thing they have which will stop the Necromancer from scrying on them to pinpoint their location is the shelter of Darkness. Amastacia's Detect Scrying reveals at least once per day when the group is scried upon, but other than going stir crazy from being grouped together in the dark for a week, nothing untoward occurs.

Meanwhile, back on the Astral, the spell casters travel onward.  12 hours into the trek, they come across a group of 4 large blue-skinned beings flying rapidly in another direction. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, they avoid the Djinnis (and thus miss out on an opportunity to leave the Plane sooner). They also attempt to avoid all other encounters, which include:

 A Bebilith that they are unable to avoid. They kill it, but not before it manages to shred William's Chain Shirt of protection from negative energy.
 The group of Djinnis returning from whence they came, this time carrying a large covered chair on their shoulders.
 A group of 5 Githyanki standing guard outside a Fortress (another, slightly more dangerous) method of travelling back to the Prime)
 A Priest of Tharizdun. This time, it is the encountered creature which avoids them.
 A Robed figure, with Stars Embroidered on his robes.

Finally reaching an Opal color pool, they step through it and their hunger and exhaustion catch up to them. Galrond and Billy pass out immediately, and William only manages to stagger to an idyllic stream before he too passes out. 

Awakening some 12-15 hours later, the group quenches their hunger with a Heroes' Feast, then Plane Shifts back to the prime and teleports to Lopolla, where they find out it has been almost a week since they left. They scry upon their friends and find that they are in the dark, whereupon they guess that they are still in the Academy, and travel there, using Locate Object to track down Kargur's shield. The group is rejoined, and they once again reenter the tomb of Acererak.

Back at the complex of doors, and more thorough (and painful) search find two more doors, which deposit the group in a second mosaiced hall. This one is decorated with many human and human-like figures, each one holding a large colored sphere. Following the message in the path, they find an entryway through the red and black orbs, which are illusions covering small crawlspaces. After much debate, they elect to go through the red one, as the "great valor" part leads them to believe that it would be more dangerous.

Cristoph crawls ahead, with Billy yet again following (albeit at a safer distance this time). At the end of the crawlspace, Cristoph finds a small hidden door. When he opens it, the floor tilts and dumps him, tumbling and unharmed, into a small chamber with three chests made of Gold, Silver, and Wood. Checking diligently for traps, he opens the Gold chest. Looking in, he sees a swarm of 1' long Cockroaches, whose feet and mouths drip with green slime. As the creatures swarm out and over him , he slams the chest's lid back. Unfortunately, Cockroach demons can compress themselves to fit through any crack, and they swarm out at the hapless Rogue. Several fly and crawl on to him, biting and scratching. Where their mouths hit, the green slime begins to erode away his flesh. Another group charges into the tunnel after Billy, and begins to swarm over him.

William reacts quickly, and shouts a magical battle cry down the passageway, stunning many of the Cockroach demons on Billy, while Amastacia's attempt at a Color Spray is ignored by the vermin. Meanwhile, Cristoph manages to kill one roach, but the others drag him to the floor, nearly dead.

As Billy flees the crawlspace, William decides his only chance to save his son is to crawl in with him. He risks a Flame Strike, knowing his son to be adept at avoiding spells, but miscalculates. Although he does torch every roach, he also kills his son with the blast. After using the next-to-last salve, the group decides to retreat and recuperate, that they might reenter the tomb later, more properly prepared.


----------



## Schmoe

Good stuff!  It's amazing to me just how many mis-adventures high level characters can get into.  All in all, though, it looks like your players work pretty well together.  

Tomb - 2
Heroes - 0

All is well.


----------



## James McMurray

9 times out of 10 they make a great team. Its that tenth one that's always a doozy...


----------



## Piratecat

Tell me about it.  

This is great!


----------



## James McMurray

That evening, William steps out of the Mansion and into the alley behind the Temple to Pelor in Greyhawk City. After the vampire incident, they were asked to be more discrete in their placements of the Mansion, so as not to alarm the populace. To his surprise, there in the alley beside him is an altar boy, wearing the garb of a Child of Glory: the Paladins in training for Heironious. He recognizes the boy from services in the Temple to Heironious in Lopolla, over 1,000 miles away.

"Sir, I was told to bring you this." The boy holds out a small iron box, wrapped with a pink bow. "The lady pointed to this spot and said you'd be here. Wow! I'd heard about the heroes who live in the sky, but I got to meet them! Wait'll the guys hear about this. Ooh! Is Kargur the Brave inside? Is it true he tore his way out of the belly of a Tendriculous with his bear hands? What's a tendriculous? Are you going to whisk me through the air back home? The lady said you would." William reaches for the box and the boy keeps gushing forth questions.

"Didn't you kill an evil dragon all by yourself? Wow! I hope I can be as brave in the service of Heironious one day. What about Galrond? Is it true that Heironious put lightning in his eyes to smite the unworthy?" The boy seems to realize he has been carrying on, and calms for a moment. "Forgive me sir, I have forgotten myself in my boyish exuberance. Master Dorth would be displeased at my lack of decorum." He bows deeply at the waist and his voice switches from that of a carefree child to a respectful noble tone, "I am Initiate Arthur, although it will only be one week before I take the Rite of Passage, and when I enter the Order I will get to choose my new name."

"Well, Arthur. It's a pleasure to meet you and to answer your questions. Yes Kargur is inside... Yes, he was swallowed whole and he was forced to rip his way out of the beast... It's a giant rock eating monster but to be honest with you I hardly remember the thing because we have fought creatures far more deadly in our travels for the Valiant."

"Maybe, if you gain my trust. I have sent nine dragons screaming to their deaths, (tapping sword on scabbard) one of them was in a mono-e-mono fight. Yes, Galrond was blessed by the Valiant and it is present in his eyes. "

"But if it's battles you want to here about, I and the others can tell you some stories. Combat with vampires while in their layer and freeing their hostages, Going to another plane to slay demons and devils, and overthrowing the evil rule of a demon possessed monarch. I guess we've killed everything evil that has walked or crawled at one time or another."

"I am very proud to meet a future champion of justice and Valor. (hand the box back to the boy). I think you have earned the right to open the box. After all, you have traveled a long way. "

"Thank you sir." The boy reverently takes the box back, the pride on his face plain to see. Moments later his face drops, as he lifts the latch and pulls on the lid. Tugging harder, he grunts under the effort of opening the small chest. Although it does not even have a latch for the lid, it does not budge. A moment later he stops and looks back at William, "I guess its stuck." He hands it to William, giving one last half-hearted tug. As William touches it, the lid flies open under the boy's hand, and the suddenness of it sends the box flying to the ground, where a small flesh-colored thing and a scrap of parchment falls out.

Looking down, William and Arthur see a human hand. Arthur seems taken back for a moment, then he mutters under his breath, "A paladin does not fear" and he somewhat calmly reaches down to pick up the hand. Just then, a gust of wind moves through the alley and sends the parchment scurrying towards the street. "Oh no! I'm sorry sir!" cries Arthur as he rockets down the alley after it. His youthful legs let him easily catch up with it, and he comes walking back, brushing dirt from the letter he holds. "Forgive me, sir. It was my clumsiness that dropped this. What does it mean?"

William looks down at the hand on the ground and his heart skips a beat. Across the back of the hand is a long, familiar scar. His brother Jacob had a scar exactly like that, gained in swordplay with William. Coming from a military family, the youths spent many of their free hours playing with wooden swords and target practicing with blunted arrows. 

------------
One Summer afternoon, they snuck into the Siege residence while their father was on duty and took down the dueling daggers from their place of honor on the mantle. 

Sneaking towards the back of their home, they carefully pulled the daggers from their mounting. "En guard, Lil' Willie!" cried Jacob, as he dropped back into a fencing stance. Soon the boys were dueling rapidly, neither one coming near the other, until William tripped and fell. Leaping to catch him, Jacob managed instead to catch the back of his hand on William's blade. As the crimson sprayed from his hand, William stood in shock for a moment. Not knowing what else to do, he rushed his brother to the Temple of Heironious, only a half-block away.

"Sir David, Sir David, come quick! Jacob's hurt." Sir David, the protector stepped out of the back room. 

"What'r ye interruptin' me meditation fer boy?" Seeing Jacob’s hand, he moves forward. "Bah, ye'll get worsen that in yer family's line o' work. C'mere, lemme see it." Jacob moved forward, and Sir David grasped his hand as the boy gasped in pain. "Heironious, these boys seek your name Glory. Please repair the damage dealt in their youthful exuberance and haste to please you." As he finishes the prayer, Jacob's wound heals, leaving behind a long pink scar. "Well boys, looks like The Valorous left ya a keepsake. Per'aps ye'll be lookin' at it the next time ye decide ta play with yer father's blades? William me lad, ya done a good thing bringin' 'im 'ere."

As David looked down at the young lad, something in his demeanor changed. "Let me get a closer look at you lad. Yep, as I thought, you've got the mark of Heironious about you, a wonder I never noticed it before. Take this." Sir David reached into his tunic and pulled forth a small wooden holy symbol, Lightning in a Clenched Fist. "I'll have to speak with your parents about this."

-------------
Arthur runs up with the letter and holds it forth:

"  Greetings bastards,

As you have probably already realized, I grow tired of our constant warring. You have constantly assaulted me in my homes, long after our association was through. You have killed my friends and allies. You have even gone so far as to kill my replacement self. This will stop.

As you can see, I have William's brother Jacob at my mercy. I also have Garth, captain of Kargur's brigade from the March, but the box could only fit one hand.

If you value the lives of kith and kin, you will meet me in Lopolla tomorrow. I will be in the Battle district, where my good friend the Sultan of Za-dran has arranged for us to meet in the Arena. Tell the gate guard your names and he will escort you to your places. 

These hit and run raids you cowards constantly make have grown old. I regret the need to involve your families in this matter, but if it is the only way I can bring you to me, then so be it.

Know that if you fail to arrive tomorrow morning, both your honor and your people will be forfeit.

Nuala,
Mistress of Lorge Hall
Headmistress of the Black Academy"
 
"Well Arthur, this should be a good lesson for you: Never leave an enemy behind. Once you start something, finish it at all costs. William puts the hand back in the box, and says a small payer before continuing, "Arthur, my party members and I have been in a running battle with a terrible and evil foe that threatens the very existence of life, and the souls of innocent people. This evil has even put your young life in terrible danger. It must be stopped at all cost, because the longer it's around, the more people will suffer. If we let it go now, then thousands of good people will be doomed."

"I will escort you to the church. I want you to wait there while I get the others. After everyone has talked with you and asked their questions, we will take you back to your home if you wish. I know you are a brave man, but there is great danger here and the longer you are with us the more danger becomes you."

Arthur looks both proud to be called a man and angered at the hint that he is not ready for danger. "I will wait for you as you ask sir, and I will return to Lopolla with you, for I must report these things to the Masters at the Temple. However, if I may be so bold as to ask a boon of your mighty band of heroes, even though I am not deserving of it? I ask that you allow me to avenge my honor. I was swayed by the woman's beauty and failed to see the darkness in her heart. She used that in order to perpetrate a most foul deed upon you, and by doing so has tainted my own honor. I would like to stand beside you on the field of battle if I may. Although I am small of stature, my blade strikes swiftly and surely."

Before William can reply, the portal to the mansion flickers into existence again, and the remainder of the group step out, with Galrond muttering about durations soon expiring. Looking up, Galrond notices the boy and says with a smile, "Well now, who is this young lad here William?" I hope he knows that we're in the heoring business, and don't take kindly to door-to-door salesfolk?"

Arthur looks up at the group and stands in awe, silenced by the presence of all of his heroes in one place.


----------



## James McMurray

Arthur speaks up, "If you need a guide in Lopolla, I'm your man. Although, I've never heard of a Black Academy either, I have been in the Arena district quite a bit, and can at least tell you about the battles there." It sounds odd coming from a boy who can barely be 12 years of age, but for some odd reason you believe that he really does know his way around the city.

At that moment, from outside the mansion you hear the familiar strains of "Mwarw. . . raawr. . . raaaawr." The mewling of the cat get ever more insistent as the conversation progresses.

Amastacia will try to see what she can do with that cat.  She concludes that, since Arthur is one of "The Big H's" guys, she'll leave him to those like him.  

Amastacia has always felt horrible for what happened to the small, red dragon (which later turned out to be Derrik), and she decides that she is going to make sure no one in this party harms the cat without DAMN good reason.

She goes outside, with a protective Gundarag hot on her heels and sits down. Crinkling some leaves on the ground to see if the cat might be interested in the noise, she waits patiently. It does not take long for the cat to come over to her and begin rubbing against her leg and purring loudly. Thinking back, she remembers that an old friend of her, a gnomish druid by the Name of Mossknickers could speak with animals. Its been at least two years since Amastacia and MossKnickers have spoken, but presumably she remains at her grove near Oakhurst. It would certainly be more than the work of an evening to contact her though.

Amastacia hears the conversation through the cracked-open door.  She and Gundarag begin to talk about the situation.  

"I wonder if she has managed to get another clone of herself?"  Amastacia asks Gundarag.  "That's creepy, if you ask me."

"Gundarag like clone of Amastacia."  he says with a smile.  "But only one you."  

She holds his hand while she pets the cat with her other hand.  "I wonder if the gods could tell us if we could even win a battle against her with her current stats and our current stats.  That might be too broad a question, though."  The cat’s purring picks up as Amastacia continues to talk and pet it, and it begins to bump its head against her leg and thigh, almost knocking her short sword out of its sheathe in its insistance on getting more attention.

"Gundarag no understand questions.  We go fight.  Ask questions later."  

"Spoken like a true warrior, my dear."  She continues to play with the cat.  "I wonder if she is at that city under Lopolla, like it mentioned in that book.  I don't know about you, dear, but I'm about ready to retire again.  This is getting ridiculous!  Never a moment's peace--NEVER!  I might like to have a family some day, but that would never happen while I have to die and come back to life every month.  And nothing good ever comes our way anymore.  It's just fight, fight, fight.  I can't stand it much longer."  She starts to cry.  "Is there any good left in the world?"  She puts her head on Gundarag's shoulder and weeps.

Gundarag puts his massive arm around her and comforts her as best he can, then says, “Mean hag lady make Amastacia cry. Gundarag no like.” He grabs Amastastacia by her shoulders and squares her up so she is looking into his face. “We stop this now.” He then turns to head back into the mansion, nudging Amastacia along as well. Walking into the dining hall where the group is assembled, he draws his Bastard Sword from out of his glove and slams it down on the table. Pointing to Amastacia, he states emphatically, “Gundarag fight!” Moments later the corner of one of the books laid out on th table begins to smolder, as his the fire licking up from the blade catches it. He quickly grabs his sword up, and returns it to his glove before giving Galrond a sheepish apology for the new scorch marks in the fine table.

William says, "I agree with what you have said. On one hand we can not allow our friends to be bait for a trap like this. Once we give in to it, evil will do it again because the tactic works! However, knowing what must be done is a lot easier than doing it. I simply cannot let my brother suffer at the hands of that Hag!” He slams his hand on the table next to the scorch mark to emphasize his point. I've never left anyone behind, and I'm not about to do it now. I know why the hag sent us the hand. She wants us to see the horrible things she is doing to our family and friends in the hopes that we will make mistakes out of rage."

"When you scry on my brother I'll be next door with the priest. I don't want to see my brother suffer. Can anyone think of questions for the divination spells?"

"Well," Galrond says, I can think of a couple right off the top of my head, but we'd better hurry if we want to get answers tonight. I don't know, but something tells me we've bothered the Priest here quite a bit lately and if we have to wake him up he won't be too happy."

"One, we should probably ask if your Brother and Friend are still alive. We might also want to ask if they will be released if we meet Nuala in the Arena. Well, that's about it for me, anyone else? I'm off to start scrying for your brother, william. You can stay here though, Heironious' guest house has tons of rooms to choose from, I'll be in the east wing."

William Says, "Billy, can you teleport me to the church of Heronious in Lapola or some other major city like that. If anyone wants to go with me I can use the comfort." William grabs a quill and parchment, "let me write down some questions to ask for the Divination and Commune spells".

1). Will Nuala release our family and friends if we meet her in the arena?

2). Is our friends and family held by Nuala still alive?

3). Does Nuala have a clone of herself ready?

4).  Does the Arena have any anti-teleport spell on it that would prevent us from teleporting out of it?

5). Will Nuala have any Undead allies there at the arena?

6). Will Nuala have any outer planner allies there at the arena?

7). Is Arthur trustworthy? (Sorry Arthur, just being careful).

8). On a scale from 1 -to- 10, 10 being a lich and 1 not knowing what a lich is. How close is Nuala to becoming a lich? (I know the commune spells are for yes/no questions, but I thought this was pretty specific and you may let it slide.)

9). Is the owner of the Arena, allied with Nuala or a neutral third party?

Kargur adds to the list, “Will she fight "fair", i.e. by the rules and regulations we agree upon?”

William mulls that question over for a moment and replies, “That's a good point Kurgar. Arthur, are there rules to an arena fight? What Spells are active on an arena?”

Teflon, previously silent decides it's time to do something.  First he begins casting a quick spell of magic detection on both Arthur and the box, which confirms Galrond’s negative finds.

"Sure William, I can teleport ya" "as for the hag, I believe she has figured out how to deal with my antimagic shell.  I knew it would just take some time, as I know how to deal with it myself." Teflon smirks.  "As for fighting her in the arena, I don't like it. Every time we've fought her on her terms, she's been nearly unstopable.  Not saying we can't take her, just saying it'll be hard, and we will have casualties, be abushed by other fiends, ect.."

As Billy trails off, Arthur takes the opportunity to respond to William’s question. “I’ve gone to the arena since I was a boy, everybody in Lopolla does. I’m surprised that you didn’t see it during your stays here. Anyway, its where gladiators fight, chariot races occur, and high profile duels are fought. There are games every Sunday.”

“It’s free to enter the arens and watch the games, but all of the adults who go must bet on at least one game. I guess that’s part of how they keep the place running.”

“Whenever there are fights, the crowd chooses a favorite. Of course, they choose a different favorite every minute or so, but that’s ok, its all fun. Anyway, the crowd chooses their favorite and they throw silver coins at that person. If the guy can manage to catch three silver coins, he is granted his freedom, and gets tons of glory and honor and fame. Its very rare, but you can see the statues of all who have succeeded in the Hall of Heroes. There’s only one person that I know of in the Hall that caught three and wasn’t a slave. I guess he didn’t get his freedom, since he already had it. He did get a cool statue though, it’s a little bigger than all the others.”

“The crowd also chooses a loser, and they shower him with copper coins. I’ve seen fighters get an unlucky hit in the head from one of those and drop in the middle of a battle. Or if the crowd really dislikes them, the footing gets kinda rough if they stay in one place and they can trip on the coins.” Arthur laughs, “One time, this guy was the favorite of the crowd and he messed up and caught a copper coin by mistake. When the crowd saw that they immediately switched favorites and pelted him but good. He lost that fight hard!”

“Usually the fights are team battles, but sometimes they have monsters fight too. One time they even opened up the pits below the arena floor and loosed some huge lions into the arena while two teams were fighting. That got the crowd roaring. Ooh! And one time they even flooded the entire arena floor and staged a battle on the backs of boats. And another time they had two small forts built on the ends of the arena and the two teams had to try to capture each other’s forts. Oooh! Another time they built several catwalks and bridges over a large mound of hot coals and had a team of gladiators fight big four winged bird thingies from the bridges.”

His self-conciousness gets the best of him and he continues in a more subdued tone, “Anyway, Achmed Alzar Sharet Mosafta (or soething like that) is the current Sultan of Za-dan. That’s the name of the Arena district. He makes sure that the battles are entertaining for the crowds, since he gets to keep the coins that are thrown. Unless you catch three, did I forget to mention that? You get to keep the crowd’s offerings. I guess its supposed to help ya since you don’t have a slave job anymore and haveta find some other way to eat.”

“Anyway, where was I. Oh yeah, sometimes they even have magical battles there. Those are great. The Sultan’s Magisters work together and create a huge dome over the arena floor. Somehow they make it so that things from the fight can’t go out and hurt the crowd, but coins can still come in. I’ve only seen one of those duels before, but it was awesome. One guy kept summoning creatures to attack the other guy, but that guy just kept blasting them to bits with fire and lightning. I guess the one guy ran out of friends to call, ‘cuz he got blasted in the end.”

“I don’t know what spells may be on the arena, but in the one magical duel I saw, one of the wizards did go from one end of the stadium to the other in the blink of an eye. Outside help isn’t allowed though. Its against the law to interfere with the battle except for throwing coins. One time my uncle saw a guy toss a dagger into the arena when it was supposed to be an unarmed duel. The Sultan’s crossbowmen killed the duelist when he tried to use the dagger, and then they found the guy who threw it in and he lost his hands.”

Billy and William leave for Lopolla, after agreeing to meet at the Temple to Heironious next to the Scimitars High, where the band has stayed many nights. Galrond looks around, “Well if there are no more questions perhaps we should get started? Would someone care to take that list to the Priests next door and see what they can find out? I’ll start the scrying.”

Arthur speaks up, “Can I take it sir? I’d be most happy to help you guys out.” 

Just before teleporting out William says, "I was going to take the list with me, that's the whole reason for me teleporting to the church of Heronious. I didn't want to bother the Sun Priest. But if you want to come with me?"

Amastacia steps towards William.  "You've been a cherished friend all these years to Gundarag and myself.  Let us come with you.  Thinking your brother could be tortured can make for hasty decisions.  Let us come and help you."  She takes his hand in both of hers and gives him a sweet smile.  Gundarag puts one of his hands on William's shoulders.

William, Billy, Gundarag, Amastacia, and Arthur head off to Lopolla, while Galrond moves off to his chambers to begin the lengthy scrying rituals. During the casting, the cat busies itself with a few leaves then begins rubbing against Amastacia’s leg. A moment later Billy if finished and the cat lets out a surprised yelp as it appears with the group in Lopolla. It looks around, hisses, and then darts away, flying out the temple door and into the street beyond.

It takes the travelers about an hour to get in touch with the high priest of Heironious, during which time there is no sign of the cat. Once the priest hears of the heroes looking for him, he takes the time to meet them at the Temple.

“What can I do for you fine people? Oh, and by the way, you’ll be happy to know that the matter of Orcus stealing souls from the dead was cleared up. Apparently there was a Derro Necromancer in his service in the foothills of the Lortmils erecting a Death Gate. Well, even though you folks missed your appointment, the replacements worked out just fine.” Although his words sound annoyed, it is plain to see that he has moved on and is no longer truly upset with the group.

They show him the list and enquire about communing. He looks it over for a moment. Certainly that can be arranged. However, the rituals involved are no easy task, and we have heard about how often (and generously) you visit the Temple to Pelor (both here and in other cities). Perhaps it would behoove the group’s (and Heironious’) public image if some small portion of that largess were to fall upon your patron’s doors?”

“Now then, these two questions here,” he says, pointing to numbers eight and nine, “are not yes or no questions. I can look into them as well, but it will require two more rituals, and thus more time.”

He takes the list and moves towards the back of the church. “I’ll be back in about an hour or so. Please make yourselves comfortable.”

The group busies themselves for a bit and the Priest returns in only a half an hour. “Well, folks, it looks as if Nuala is protected from divination, as all of the questions that pertained directly to her came up blank. I did get a few answers though.”

“It seems that Nuala will indeed release your friend and brother if you meet her in the arena, and that they are still alive.”

“The arena itself does not have an anti-teleport spell on it. I hope you don’t mind though, I reworded the question to ask if it would have one during a battle, as that seems to be when you would be interested in it. If you truly did want to know if it currently has one, I will ask again tomorrow.”

“There will be more than just your group and her in the arena. It seems she will have undead backup of some sort.”

“Arthur is indeed trustworthy. Isn’t that right Arthur? Of course, I hear Master Forth has been looking for you. You may wish to let him know where you’ve been all this time.”

“The ‘owner’ of the Arena is actually the city itself. However, I took your question to mean the Sultan of Za-dan, who currently oversees the Arena. He is indeed allied with Nuala, although with only  a yes or no question, it was impossible to determine the extent or nature of that alliance.”

“Finally, I regret to state that the divination involving Nuala’s apparent quest for lichdom dealt too closely with her and was therefore negated by whatever protections she may have up.” 

At that moment, Galrond, Kargur, and Lanis move up from the back of the room. “We arrived a few minutes ago and did not want to interrupt. The scrying came back positive. Your brother and another man, long dark hair and a goatee, are being held captive in a stone cell. I was unable to determine where that might be, and the area was really not distinct enough to get a good teleportational bead on. If we tried to teleport to ‘a blank stone cell with two men in it’ there is no telling where we might wind up. I am certainly willing to risk it if needbe though. They appeared to be alive and well, and you brother’s arm is heavily bandaged. It did not seem gangrenous, but I’m not much of a medical man.”

“I guess we now need to decide if we will be taking her up on her ‘offer’. Its about 10 o’clock now, and I’m not sure when we’re supposed to meet. What time do the games usually begin, we should probably be there well before hat point, if we do decide to meet her on an open field of combat.”

“Eight in the morning!” cries an obviously happy Arthur, coming back from his discussions with the Temple’s Master of Diplomacy. “I told Master Dorth all about tonight and that you would still need my help. He said that if it was ok with you then I could go to the arena with you. Please sirs, let me help you. Lopolla is a huge city and a guide would be very useful to you. Plus, I know my way around the arena and can show you where to go.”

"Excuse me for a moment gentlemen and lady". William walks over to the alter and says a prayer and then puts in 2,000 gold as a donation (all that he has at the moment). Then walks back to the group.

"Galrond, is it possible that you could have seen an illusion of some kind? Or is the scry specific because of the blood tie (DNA)?" 

"Normally I would say yes to the rescue mission, but this is our chance to rid the world of that bitch once and for all. By Heironious, I will gladly show her the kind of steel that I am made of".

William takes off his right glove and tosses it to Arthur. "If your going to fight with us you are going to need a strong weapon. The sword inside I have had with me at every battle and it has carried its mark home every time. Just snap your fingers to awake it from its slumber and the blade within will appear. Be careful when you draw the weapon, the magic on it is finite and isn't meant for boyish practice. (William puts hand on Arthur's shoulder) Now, prepare your house young Arthur. We may not survive tomorrow's battle".

"Once we're back in a safe place, lets talk spell load out, and battle tactics".


----------



## Schmoe

Poor Amastacia.    A hero's life is never easy, and that is why they are heroes.

This is great stuff, James.  Keep it coming!


----------



## James McMurray

Traci (my wife and Amastacia's player) says, and I quote, "cool, so my drama paid off." 

I'm really looking forward to this weekend. There is definitely going to be some carnage occuring on both sides. I expect the party to be able to win, but they will take heavy casualties.

P.S. Two pages, woohoo!!! I only wish I'd had the forethought to place all of the older incarnations of my stories intoo a single thread. With the search function disabled its too danged difficult to find the older ones, and most of them got lost in the shift in boards.


----------



## James McMurray

*Meet with the Sultan and the battle nears*

Well, this week's emails have seen quite a bit. Tomorrow the entry to the arena goes out, then Sunday is the big brawl!

---

Tactics discussed, and finalized as much as they can be before going into an unknown situation, the group settles in for the night. Although everyone tries to get as much sleep as they can, it is rough. William and Kargur worry for their friends and families, while everyone else finds themselves going over and over the next day in their minds, trying to find the one idea that will ensure victory. 

Oddly enough, Gundarag manages a nearly uninterrupted night of sleep. Apparently there is truth to the old saying that ignorance is bliss. The only marring of his otherwise perfect sleep is when he mumbles, "'tacia, dun go der." His eyes crack open and meet with Amastacia's, staring into his face while she can't sleep. A happy smile creeps across his face and he dozes back off almost immediately.

The next morning, Arthur leads the weary party through crowded Lopollian streets to the Arena entrance. At about the midway point on their journey Billy, Galrond, and Amastacia all detect the telltale feeling of scrying. “She knows we are coming,” says Galrond, his voice booming out of his massive giant’s frame.

The group continues, and after an hour they enter into the arena and the Hall of Heroes. "This is where the people who caught the coins are shown." Arthur says. The large corridor is flanked with literally hundreds of alcoves, each one holding a life-sized statue of a warrior or wizard in various clothing. Amazonian goddesses stare across the hall at seemingly bookish wizards. A hundred or so feet in Arthur points to a larger statue than the rest. "There's the guy who caught them even though he wasn't a slave." he says with adulation in his voice. As the group looks up, Kargur lets out a small gasp. The 15 foot tall statue is a spitting image of his father! Up until now he never even knew that the man had traveled, much less had been a gladiator.

With very little time allotted to them, the group moves onward and the vast hallway takes them through the common area and up to a massive set of oak doors framed by two hairless eunuch guards who watch stoically as the party approaches. When the group identifies themselves, the eunuch on the left slams his massive club into the door three times in steady succession. The sound of gears grinding fills the air as the doors slowly pull open, revealing a sumptuous torch lit corridor leading off. The floor is covered in a thick red carpet, and the walls are painted with many fantastic murals, almost reminiscent of the Tomb of Acererak. The subject matter is much more mundane however, depicting hundreds of famous arena battles as opposed to the alien landscapes and inhuman figures that were drawn in the Tomb.

The group, seeing no other way to go, heads down the hallway. Every so often they pass a branching corridor or side passage, but it every case a large, well-muscled eunuch waves them silently onward. Finally, after what seems like a quarter of a mile of walking the group begins to walk past another corridor when the eunuch before it steps aside and waves them in. Up two flights of stairs and the party comes out in a large foyer, replete with crystal chandeliers, large stuffed creatures, the most mundane of which is a 20 foot tall bear, and whose only exit are two solid gold doors at the far end of the hallway.

As the adventurers watch, the two doors slide silently open. Behind them is an even more wealthily furnished room. At the far end sit what can only be Achmed Alzar Sharet Mosafta, the Sultan of Za-dran. Flanking him on either side are 3 more silent, muscled eunuchs. At his feet, and slightly to the left, sits Nuala in a large oak chair. The chair looks like it has been brought here, as it does not match the remainder of the furniture. No other seats are available anywhere in the room, and the party is forced to stand as the Sultan waves his hand, causing the massive doors behind them to swing silently shut again.

"You have been requested to appear in my arena today, is this true?" Before anyone can answer the apparently rhetorical question, the Sultan continues. "Of course it is. Now then, we are here to discuss the terms for this duel. The battle will take place in the noontime slot. Both groups will enter the arena separately. When they are done playing to the crowd the signal will be given and the Gong of Battle will be rung. At that point, a battle to the death will commence." The Sultan again waves his hands, seemingly in dismissal, and the doors behind the heroes begin to open yet again.

Kargur lowers his eyes and bows towards the Sultan in a most diplomatic way and speaks. "And the terms of the duel, your highness? It is nice to know when and where, but are there any terms as to how it shall, or perhaps more importantly," Kargur glances over at Nuala, "how it shan't, be fought?"

The Sultan looks down at Kargur and says with a sneer in his voice, "The rules will be as they always are in the arena. Outside help once the battle has commenced is punishable by death. What other conditions would you like? Should I have her tie her hands behind her back? Or perhaps you would like that for yourself? As it stands, your group will have her quite outnumbered, what other shackles would you like placed upon her."

Nuala speaks up at this point, "Great One, these people will be dead in less than five hours, perhaps it would suit your magnanimous self to hear their requests. Of course, in your great wisdom, you have already stated the situation in the most compact and descriptive of terms possible. Perhaps these lesser beings require more time before fully understanding the logic of the situation." The Sultan nods to Nuala, who continues, "So, what other terms would you like to try for? I have an excellent idea, why don't we, instead of having two groups fight this battle, make it more fair for me. I propose that your side enter the arena one at a time and face me in single combat. If the current champion from your side falls, one of you may step forward and replace them. If I fall (chuckle) then your side will be determined the victor. Is this acceptable? If not, please tell us what else you need or go prepare yourselves. The Sultanate is a busy place, and our small concerns detract from His more important affairs."

Still humbled in front of the Sultan, Kargur replies, "I most truly apologize to both the Sultan and His position.  I had merely wished to verify that indeed the standard rules of the Arena would be in place, for she whom sits here is not known for always following the rules of order.  That Nuala has taken it upon her self to place innocents such as Your Magnificence in a position in the middle of our, eh, feud, pains me.  As does the taking of outside prisoners of our friends and family.  But we wish to not trouble Sultanate any further with such minor issues as compared to the affairs of state which I know must be pressing."  Again with a bow, he finishes, "By your leave."

The Sultan waves his hand again and the massive golden doors begin their slow crawl back to a closed position. He then looks Kargur squarely in the eyes. “What do you mean by these accusations? The illustrious Nuala has found herself assaulted by you and your friends in not one, but two separate homes. Do you deny that you broke into her home in Lorge Hall, and once you had been caught in the trap there, you took it upon yourselves to attempt to slay Mistress Nuala? Do you further deny that, after having failed to kill her in her home in the Ffenargh, minions were sent to drive her out of her position of power and deep into the swamps South? Finally, do you deny that you yet again assaulted her in her home in the Black Academy, where she both studied and taught? I find it amazing that you would now seek to fall upon the ‘rules of order’ when faced with a chance to end you feud with her.”

While he is speaking, Kargur takes a moment to attempt to assess the man’s moral stature, but is unable. Although the source is indiscernible, there is definitely something stopping magical abilities from being used in the area. Kargur is not surprised though, as it is quite common for aristocracy to protect their inner chambers from the magics of their rivals.

Mosafta Continues, “You apologize for having me brought into this. There is no need. It is a husband’s duty to protect his bride. As for your friends and family, Nuala has expressed her deepest regrets that she was forced to these straits, but I would ask you one final question: how many of her friends at the Black Academy did you take prisoner, as opposed to the number of her friends you slaughtered on your many raids? Hmmm?”

Teflon stands silent and attentive. His thoughts however, seethe with righteous anger. He would like nothing better then to say, "yeah, we killed the evil minions of the bitch queen there. Her attempt to take over a city and turn everyone there into undead was ed up too, by HHH. In fact her evil has been crushed at every attempt we had. Second, I don't remember taking hostages and prisoners. Doesn't sound like me. The innocent are innocent, and the evil are dead or dying." But he stands there quietly letting the negotiators speak. 
William bows deeply, and in a calm voice speaks in Kettish, which he learned in their previous travels to this area. "Yes, I do deny all of that. What my party did was in the name of goodness. Your wife may have left out a few details like her Vampire servants, inhuman experiments, the Devourer and being in league with the devils and demons of other realms. The destruction of two towns. But I did not come here to correct her lies. I came here to get my brother back. Once I know he is safe, I will fight at noon. I will meet her in the arena with her undead henchmen." 
Kargur is taken aback at the news of the wedding and the bombast from the Sultan. Making a quick look around, he sees what appear to be similar thoughts in the eyes and posture of all of his fellow team, including Teflon Billy. 
Holding his Shield tightly to his front, he responds, "I spoke of innocents, not merely friends and family. We are followers of the teaching of the Arch Paladin Himself, Heironious. As such, we fight to avenge those whose lives are destroyed in the corruption of evil. That our paths and that of that of this... woman... have crossed many times is not due to the fact that we have always purposefully sought her out to destroy who she is. It is due to the fact that where she goes, death and worse afflict many people, entire villages and towns. It is to their aid we come to assist, only to find that she is once more connected to the beginnings and continuation of much suffering over entire areas of land. It is like a plague, not that we start, but which we must follow to try to clean up so that the suffering may stop. 
"It is true that there have only been people taken out of the vile academy alive, prisoners themselves each and everyone, used as food and fun for those with whom Nuala associates. Crimes beyond what any civilized state could ever abide by. I pray that today her destructive ways may be finally stopped before her influence is cast upon this Great City like a dark cloud, consuming and twisting and devouring all in its wake. I am here for that sole purpose, even more than for the release of my long time friend and protector of those I hold dear far away, Garth. 
"Do we deny that we have battled Nuala and her associates? Battled even unto death? No. Will we battle today, both her and the undead abominations she will command to be beside her? Yes. And we shall dispatch her and her vile lackeys, not with a cheer of happiness for what we must do, but with a nod of sorrow for the lives that once were and are no more. Even after her death today, we shall still continue the fight of Right, going where we are called to go to assist the innocents that have been assaulted by the vile aspects of evil. And I pray, may that fight no longer have to be fought here, in this supreme city." 
With but the briefest nod of respect, he concludes, "Prepare for a day of sorrow on the morrow, my Sultan. For by the setting of the sun this day, you will either have lost your bride, or if we fail and you do marry this woman, a worse fate by far, begun the journey of losing your soul. So again I most truly apologize. Not for what we have or must do, but for what Nuala has and does, and that she has attempted to include you into it."
"Pretty words dear 'Soldiers of Right', but though some of them may even be true, it is plain to see that neither side in this battle has been completely in the light. Were you such friends of life and liberty as you claim, perhaps you would have waited before slaughtering helpless students at the University of Magic. Perhaps you would not have begun this 'feud' with your breaking and entering into her dwelling in Lorge. Perhaps you would have taken prisoners as you claim you did, rather than killing all whom you came across in those halls of learning. And perhaps countless deaths would have been avoided.
"However, these points are moot. You and she will face off in the arena today, and the blood of the loser will determine who is right and who is wrong here. Indeed, were it not for the fact that she has asked that I stay my hand and let her have you, I would arrest you now for speaking in that vein towards My future bride. But as I said, these words matter not, it is actions which will prove themselves this day. The past is what was, and things occur as things occur. May they occur in the light." With that shocking last statement, reflecting Mosafta's connection to the Knights of the Middle Circle, he waves his hand again and the doors swing silently open once more. Mosafta and his eunuchs stand to leave, and it is quite plain for all to see that the meeting has been completed.
William speaks up, “What about my brother, Jacob?”
The Sultan replies as he walks out, “You have my word that they are alive. They will be released after the battle.”
Kargur nods again at the Sultan.  "By the light of Heironious, my liege", then turns to lead the way out of the room, with a confidence in his stride that seems to be full of not just pride, but of an almost relaxed purpose.  To those that look closely enough, a small smile seems to slip itself in under his mustache.
Teflon Billy shrugs and walks out of the room with the rest, addressing the group but in no way trying to keep his words unheard, "I wonder how close she is to becoming a Lich? Oh well, won't matter after today anyway"


----------



## James McMurray

Well, we're all set. Gundarag's player still hasn't responded with his arena entry, but it'll get added when it gets here. 

---------

In the catacombs below the coliseum, the party prepares for what they hope will be their final battle with Nuala, Headmistress of the Black Academy, Necromancer, Youth-thief, and overall pain in the ass. Although at first a bit worried that perhaps Galrond's transformation would make him too large for the area, it is plain to see from the sheer size of the corridors that this place was designed to house all manner of beats. The darkness in the corridors below is cloying, and howls, squeals, and screams from various caged beasts somewhere further in the dark play on your nerves.

Assad Yosef, the guard and guide that brought you hear, responding to his own internal clock or some unheard signal tells the group, "Thirty Minutes. When you enter the arena, you are to turn to the Sultan and Bow, acknowledging his sovereignty here. It is then suggested that you give the crowd some form of show, albeit a brief one. About a minute after that your opponents will enter the arena, and they too will acknowledge the Sultan and give a show for the crowd. In all it should take about two minutes between entry of the arena and the Sultan's signal to begin."

"He will rise from his throne and nod to the eunuchs behind him, who will ring the gong. At that point the battle will commence. Any offensive activity performed before the signal will be deemed cheating. The other side will be declared the victor, and the cheating individuals will be forcibly removed from the arena, to be punished as the Sultan sees fit. I would suggest not angering him, as he is a very strict ruler."

At this signal, William and Kargur begin casting their first round of preparatory spells on people. When this is complete, Galrond’s giant voice booms out from his massive frame, "Oh great Heironious, grant us the pleasure of your Celestial Chorus, to rejuvenate our Hearts, Minds, and Spirits." As he completes his casting of Limited Wish, the roof of the waiting chamber seems to fade away, leaving an open sky above. Softly at first, then more rapidly, a martial tune can be heard. It builds until a crescendo of heavenly voices are gathered in musical praise of Heironious and Glory. 

Minutes later the chorus begins to fade, and the sky darkens and disappears. The group is left to stand in silence, feeling greatly rejuvenated, in the dark pits of the arena. As the shock wears off, the spellcasters begin their final rounds of preparation.

With only a few short duration spells remaining to be cast, the group awaits their summons to the arena floor.

"Now, " says the guard, and he leads the group towards the massive double doors which denote the entrance to the arena. "A battle is still underway, but it should be finished shortly."

Looking through the slots in the doors, the party sees a sandy expanse. Large portions of sand are matted in blood, while other areas hold small, and sometimes large, piles of silver or copper coins, testament to the triumphs and follies of the days earlier bouts. But what truly grabs their attention is the battle being fought.

On the sands, a man clad only in a loincloth and sandals, carrying only a massive greatsword, faces off against a monstrous beast. The creature is at least 15' long, and seems to be armored over its entire body in three inch thick gray plates, almost like a giant armadillo. This thing is no herbivore though, as shown by the 3 layers of teeth within its massive maw. The beast dives for the man, who narrowly dodges and slashes out at the creature, connecting only with armor. The watching crowd roars.

Moments later the beast turns and runs to the far side of the arena, where it leaps into the air and dices headfirst into the sands, rapidly disappearing. Tufts of sand fly up in a line towards the gladiator, then disappear as the creature burrows deeper.

The gladiator meanwhile, appears nonplussed, as if he expected this to happen. He jumps up 5 feet in the air from a standing start, and as he comes back down, he rebounds off the ground to a height of at least 20 feet, where he hovers aloft, held up by the newly sprouted wings on the heels of his sandals. The crowd roars approvingly again, and several silver pieces fly towards him. Taking the opportunity to send the crowd into a frenzy by catching one, he also fails to react in time to assault the beast as it resurfaces some 20 feet away. As he catches the coin, the crowd falls silent, and nearly simultaneously the voice of at least ten men, magically amplified, ring across the stadium, "SILVER!" The crowd flies even deeper into loud cries, and the beast looks around and to see the man high above, and charges his direction.

At the last moment, the beast leaps into the air, grabbing the gladiator in its maw and dragging him to the ground to shake him like a terrier with a rat. The steady stream of silver continues, but the roar of the crowd seems to indicate that it may be directed at the beast this time.

Meanwhile, the man manages to free himself from the creature's maw, and skips aside, battered and bruised, but not dead yet. Rolling aside to pick up his sword before again taking to the air, he flies at least a hundred feet up, and takes a moment to catch his breath before hurtling down at the creature below. As he comes in, the tip of his sword slams into the beast's side and penetrates, unleashing a blast of light and sending the beast reeling! The man stabs several more times, and greenish blue blood splatters his face and arms while the crowd goes wild, hurling silver at him and copper at the beast.

Moments later, the man slams the beast a final time in the belly, and it crumples to the ground at his feet. He climbs atop it and stands triumphant as coins shower down. He manages to catch one more before leaping off and diving to the side warily. He stands looking at the creature with a puzzled expression. As the party watches on, the beast's belly begins to distend in a tiny spot. An armor plate falls aside, and a tiny chunk of dripping black and white fur claws its way out of the belly of the monster. The entire crowd falls silent, and the man steps back a few feet. Meanwhile, the chunk of fur stops and begins folding in on itself, slowly coming cleaner until the party recognizes the cat, which calmly saunters towards the doors on the far side of the arena, where it wriggles through a slot and disappears.

The crowd still stands in stunned silence, and the Sultan waves his hands to his eunuchs, who ring the gong signaling that the fight is over. The man gives one final bow to the Sultan and the people, then turns and heads towards the doors where the party awaits, looking back over his shoulder towards the doors where the cat disappeared. 

The doors across from the heroes open and several men run out onto the field, one bleeding from several scratch marks. They fasten massive ropes to the felled beast and sections of the arena floor rise up, revealing covered doorways. They fasten the ropes to massive pulleys and a group of three ogres move out from the recesses of the arena floor and begin pulling the beast towards the pit, where it falls with a loud thud. The door fall shut and the sand slips back over them, making it near impossible to tell where the door was just seconds before.

As the gladiator passes the group, he gives them a nod and a smile, and walks off, tossing his two silver in the air with a thoughtful look on his face.

Trumpets blare and the voice of the Sultan can be heard booming out. "Darkon Deathspear has retained his undefeated title yet again." The crowd roars. "But still he has failed to catch the third coin. Our loves goes out to him, and our hopes for his continued success in the future." The crowd roars again, but silences almost immediately as the sultan raises his hand from the throne.

"Today we have a very special event for you. Magisters?" Chanting picks up from around the walls of the arena floor, and a pearly white dome slithers and crawls its way into existence. As it reaches into the sky, the crowd's roaring becomes almost deafening, and as the sides of the dome meet in the air almost 400 feet above the arena floor, the whiteness fades and the wall becomes clear as glass. The Sultan continues, "A magical duel to the death has been arranged. Those heroes you have heard much about these past months are here. The slayers of Argala, Dragon of the West..." The crowd divides into boos and cheers, with the cheers only partially out living the boos. "They are... 

The guard speaks up, "As he call your name, please move into the arena and enter the red square." Looking out, the group sees a square of red, perhaps 20 feet on a side, drawn in the sand. It was not there moments before. Across the field a similarly sized square of blue can be seen near the other gates.

"Amastacia Starflower, Beautiful Bard and Magical Artist"

Amastacia enters the arena, singing a beautiful song. As she walks into the center of the red square, her every footstep brings life to the sand at her feet. Where her feet touch, the greenest of grass and the most vibrant of flowers burst into life, spreading out from her footsteps to a good 20 feet into the sand and blood covered arena.

Her slow walk leads her into the square, and behind her remains a lush tapestry, with a lilting brook  passing through a meadow. As she enters her starting spot, the field behind her begins to fade into mist, which then coalesces into hundreds of white doves. The doves fly up, and turn again into mist before disappearing into the noon sky.

"Teflon Billy, Dwarven Wizard Extraordinaire"

Teflon Billy, looking like a young Arthur, upon entering the arena, draws an arena provided long sword and kneels in the damp sand. He says a quick prayer for Heironious to bring victory in this battle so that he may see further battles with evil. Then Billy stands, cuts his left forearm with the long sword and sheaths his sword, using his blood to make marks on his face. The crowd gives a cheer of approval.

"Galrond Glorykin, Gods-touched Sorcerer"

Galrond walks out into the field and the crowd gasps. Plainly this is the first they have seen a giant in the field. His coal black skin gleams under the noon sky, and his golden eyes flash from behind the fiery shield floating in the air before him. He turns to bow to the Sultan, then spins full circle, surveying the crowd. "Dastaraka Heironious Markatal!" He shouts, and the familiar bursts of his Golden magic missiles fly into the sky. He then draws a seemingly tiny glowing golden lightning bolt upon his forehead before bellowing at the tops of his lungs a fearsome sounding war cry towards the stands as a gigantic long sword appears in his hand. The crowd gasps, and many faces turn quizzically towards the translucent barrier between Galrond and them, as if assessing its strength. Seconds later though, he loses his self-control and starts to laugh, a booming chuckle of amusement at his display and how far it is from his true self. The gasps from the crowd at the war cry turn rapidly to amusement and cheers.

"Gundarag, Ferocious Warrior and Protector of Amastacia's Honor"

"Kargur Melasur, Strong-armed Paladin of Heironious"

Kargur strides purposefully into the arena, his sword and shield flashing in the noon-day sun. As he reaches the center of the square, he turns to wait patiently for Lanis to join him. After a moment, the crowd begins to boo, believing he has decided not to favor them with a display.

The Sultan waits a moment, and when it becomes obvious that Kargur is waiting for something, he continues, "Lanis, Master Bowman"

Lanis strides out into the arena beside Kargur, and stands. Kargur then raises his hands, holding his gleaming shield aloft so that the lightning bolt emblazoned on its front catches the light. He shouts out in Kettish, “God of Law and Good and Righteouness, grant us power through the light!” 

As he does so, Lanis reaches over to touch the shield, and Kargur begins to shift and change. His hair lengthens, muscles and face grow, and moments later he is transformed fully. Lanis’s face tightens into a mask of concentration, and moments later he too undergoes the change. The crowd roars in approval at the were-lions standing before them. A few detractors cry out curses towards the “infidels” who would follow Heironious rather than Al-Akbar, but in the metropolis of Lopolla, true fanatics are few, and tehir voices are drowned rapidly out.

"Christopher Siege, Master of the Closed Eye" 

Cristoph mutters under his breath, "Well, there goes that secret." He then strides onto the field in his leather pants and frilled shirt, looking at first like some foolish danady. Then, leaping high into the air and coming down into an acrobatic display of great skill, he shows the crowd that he is not the dandy he first appears. He then moves to stand in the center of the circle, looking back towards the entrance awaiting his father’s arrival. The crowd murmurs approval, but (except for a few ladies impressed by his looks) it is plain to see that they were hoping for more after the show so far.

"William Siege, Christopher’s younger father, and priest of Heironious."

At the sounds of 'younger father', the crowd quiets down and many quizzical voices can be heard. 

William steps out onto the arena, in hybrid were-lion form carrying a wash basin and wearing a simple linen robe. The crowd quiets as his mane catches the wind. In a loud voice he speaks to the crowd in their native tongue with his arms held high, "Fellow seekers of light, please give a moment of your life and join me in payer." William waits a moment to allow the crowd to calm down, then lays the wash basin on the ground and kneels in front of it.

"Lord God, hear our plees so that we may be protected by your strength and valor. May your grace deliver us from the venom of the cobra, the bite of the jackle, and paint the moon red with the blood of our enemies. Then in your grace wash our bodies clean and protect us in your holy light." William then casts create water and Entropic Shield and begins to ceremoniously wash his hands with the water he created. When he is done, the majority of the crowd cheers him on, appreciative of both his words and his candor in refraining from using specifics. A few less tactful individuals shout epithets and curses, giving the idea that they don’t agree with “infidels” praying in their city. It is by far the lesser of the two responses though, and overall the crowd seems impressed by William’s piety.

The Sultan waits a moment, raising his hand to calm the crowd, "Their foe for this fateful battle is Mistress Nuala, Head of the Black Academy, Keeper of the Life Bane, and My Bride To Be." 

The crowd falls silent at this stunning news, as until now the Sultan has chosen to never take a wife, even though he has had many opportunities.

A hush falls over the crowd as high above the blue square on the arena floor, a glowing fiery gateway appears. Its massive doors swing silently open, and two 15 foot tall skeletal figures step forth from within. Their eyes are empty holes filled with flames, and looking into the beast’s chests the heroes see two humanoid figures. William and Kargur recognize immediately their brother and master at arms, trapped within the beasts themselves. In turn the beasts reach their huge claws into their own chests, passing seamlessly through the ribcage. As they grab onto their captives, the trapped humans struggle and squirm, before screaming in agony. The creatures reach into their captives as well, pulling out a small amount of diaphanous material, which flows down their arm. A moment later, an exact duplicate of their clawed hand materializes in the air beside them, hovering hungrily.

The gaunt skeletal figures glare at the crowd, and one of them moves towards it, but a female voice cries out, “Hold my children, those are not for you to feast upon. There, at the end of the field, those are your new playthings.” Moments later, Nuala steps through the gate, but she does not look anything like you have ever seen before.

She is clothed only in her long jet black hair. Massive bat wings unfurl from her back and hold her aloft, easily 50 feet above the arena floor. A crown of black fire adorns her hair, and her beauty seems almost painful to behold. Draped across her shoulders and barely covering her naked form is what appears to be a cape made out of pure darkness. It twists and writhes before her like a thing alive. Her skin is an alabaster pearly white, almost reptilian looking. It gives sharp contrast to the fiery shield which dances in her left hand.

Behind her, several exact replicas step forth from the gate. Even though you have seen her use this before, and know that they are only illusory doubles, it is still impossible to discern which is the real Nuala. All of the Nualas turn towards  the Sultan and give him a small bow.

She then turns to the group, and a baleful wale issues forth from the air around them, sounding like the moans and cries of multitudes of tortured souls. "Martaka Dar Shibost." she cries out, and replicas of the group appear in the air between the two squares, in the dead center of the arena. They stand fully 15' tall each (40' for the Galrond copy). From within the figures, small flames begin to lick their skin, turning it charred and blackened. As the fires grow, the bodies begin to decay rapidly, before falling to dust less than half a minute later. As the heroes' visage slowly fades, the crowd goes wild, and some even throw a few silver coins towards her, one of which she catches, much to the crowd's pleasure. As the crowd is distracted by this spectacle, Galrond takes the opportunity to cast a few more spells upon himself, including Limited Wishes for Righteous Might and an extended Divine Power.

The Sultan raises his hand again, and the crowd quickly quiets down. As he stands from his chair, Galrond mutters, "here we go," and casts Mass Haste for the party followed by a Righteous Might upon himself. The crowd gasps in unison as the 15' tall Galrond doubles in size to a towering 30 feet, simultaneously floating 5 feet up off the ground, so that his new 30,000 pound bulk does not send him crashing through the arena floor to the catacombs below. William reaches over and touches him, casting Curse of the brute as he does, and enhancing Galrond’s already astounding strength to godlike proportions (50!). 

The eunuchs draw back their mallets to strike the gong, the squares in the sand fade away, and the battle commences!


----------



## Zarthon

Great job James, Keep it up.

Im looking forward to the upcoming fight. ( I already have my silver pieces ready  )


----------



## James McMurray

Forgot to add Amastacia's crowd response... DOH!

--------

As she moves into the arena, the crowd begins to murmur. Then, as the field and stream grow around and behind her, the murmur turns to a roar. When the first of the doves begins to fade into mist, the crowd begins a truly tumultuous outcry, as silver coins begin to fall around her. Almost effortlessly she reaches out and snags one from the air, holding it high as the roars mount.


----------



## James McMurray

*Arena Battle part one*

First, Gundarag's entry:

Galrond walks out into the field and the crowd gasps. Plainly this is the first they have seen a giant in the field. His coal black skin gleams under the noon sky, and his golden eyes flash from behind the fiery shield floating in the air before him. He turns to bow to the Sultan, then spins full circle, surveying the crowd. "Dastaraka Heironious Markatal!" He shouts, and the familiar bursts of his Golden magic missiles fly into the sky. He then draws a seemingly tiny glowing golden lightning bolt upon his forehead before bellowing at the tops of his lungs a fearsome sounding war cry towards the stands as a gigantic long sword appears in his hand. The crowd gasps, and many faces turn quizzically towards the translucent barrier between Galrond and them, as if assessing its strength. Seconds later though, he loses his self-control and starts to laugh, a booming chuckle of amusement at his display and how far it is from his true self. The gasps from the crowd at the war cry turn rapidly to amusement and cheers.


----------



## James McMurray

Gundarag, acting with preternatural lion-like reflexes, charges out at his foes. As he nears the first of the massive skeletal figures, it reaches out to grab him, but he easily wriggles out of its grasp before slashing it with his massive sword. Galrond also charges up, destroying a replica of Nuala with a single swipe of his massive long sword. Lanis fires three arrows, destroying one image with two hits, and wounding another, which Kargur takes to be the real Nuala and finishes off.

Amastacia moves forward and readies a shot, hoping to interrupt Nuala’s spellcasting, as she knows it is coming. Meanwhile, the real Nuala moves back a bit and her and the four remaining images begin casting spells. Amastacia fires, and strikes an image, wounding it severely but failing to destroy it or interrupt the spell. The first Mordenkainen’s Disjunction goes off. Galrond, whose contingency was designed for just such an occasion, fails to recognize the spell being cast due to the influence of William’s Curse of the Brute, raising his strength to godlike proportions, but lowering his intellect in the process.

Gundarag, Kargur, Galrond, Cristoph, and Amastacia all get caught in the blast, as do all but one of the images of Nuala, and one of her Devourer allies. The images are destroyed utterly, while the Devourer and party members begin to sink to the arena floor, their flying magics dispelled. All of their other enhancement spells are destroyed as well. Galrond is assaulted with copper as he goes from fearsome giant to crotchety old man in a heartbeat. 

The remaining victims lose their were-lion status, as well as several boosts and protections. Many items’ dweomers are also unraveled by the spell’s effects. This earns great approval from the crowd for Nuala, who drives them wild by catching her second Silver of the day. With her haste action, she casts repulsion on herself, keeping several people at bay.

Raising her hand and pointing at the group, she says “Perish at my feet” and 2 massive blasts of chain lightning hurtle through the group. Although they fizzle for a few peoples’ Spell Resistance or elemental protection spells, many people are badly charred.

Cristoph charges the creature that is on the ground with him now, and gets slashed in the throat for his trouble. As the beast’s grip tightens, his skin turns gray and pasty, the life force being drained from him by the Devourer.

Lanis, who is over 100’ out and cannot get closer fires four arrows at Nuala, but they all ricochet off of her fiery shield, or the mage armor protecting her. 

The still-flying Devourer grabs Kargur and shakes him, while Cristoph tumbles around behind it, sticking it with his (now non-magical) sword. Although it does seems affected, the nick doesn’t slow it down. Galrond, now very weakened, moves back and renews the mass haste on people, then waits, knowing Nuala will have a Spell turning prepared, and wanting to be able to Dispel at her when it gets used up.

Amastacia casts Keen Edge on her quiver of arrows and then fires a shot at Nuala, but it whisks through the air as she nimbly side-steps it. Nuala responds, calling out to the dark forces, who answer her. From the ground and air around Kargur, Cristoph, and Galrond come hundreds of screaming tortured souls. They dive through the chests of the heroes and pull away, carrying with them a bit of each person’s life force. They fly screaming to Nuala, and disappear into her, leaving her looking invigorated. Some few of them also dive from Nuala to the Devourer those three were near, and although she seems a bit weakened, it is fully healed by the life force granted to it by Nuala.

Kargur, weakened by the magic and the loss of his boosting spells and items, cries out in pain then goes silent as the beast hurls him to the ground. As he lays there still, it is easy to see he will not be moving any time soon, as he is bent over too far backwards, and the back of his head is unnaturally pressed against his calf.

Billy casts a spell, but there are no apparent affects, he then follows it up with a Greater Dispel Magic, which does not seem to have any affect, but is William’s cue that the Spell Turning will have been weakened. William fires a ray of black death at the Necromanceress, but although it does manage to strike her, it does not destroy her utterly. Black flames leap through her skin and char the flesh, but moments later she is fully healed, her confederates on the sidelines using their Holy Channel to great effect.

Galrond takes the opportunity to hit Nuala with another greater dispelling, and although her skin loses its scaly white tone, there is very little other apparent effect. He has managed to destroy several spells, but the party is unaware of that.

Nuala’s display drives the crowd wild, and she catches her third silver coin, sending them into a true frenzy as the spotters’ voices ring out “THREE SILVER!!!” Meanwhile, the body of Kargur receives the brunt of the crowd’s disdain, as they react to his death after his earlier prayer to Heironious for victory with a torrent of copper coinage.

Gundarag attacks the Devourer on the ground beside him, and hits it three solid blows, destroying its right arm completely. It strikes back, and claws Gundarag fiercely across the chest, as his now unarmored form is no match for its massive strength. Although the cuts are not deep, Gundarag weakens as he feels his life force being pulled out and feeding the devourer. The other Devourer strikes out at William, but rebounds off of his defensive magics.

Lanis finds himself again able to move forward, as apparently one of the dispellings took care of the Repulsion affect. He moves up to his good friend Kargur and pulls a resurrection salve out of his backpack, preparing to return his friend to combat.

Cristoph meanwhile turns into a sword wielding machine as he systematically slashes and cuts the Devourer on the ground to ribbons with his tiny sword. As it crashes at his feet, he leaps atop it and plays to the crowd

A jet black beam of nothingness streams out of Nuala’s hand and splashes over Galrond. His skin turns darkly gray and he wobbles on his feet. Nuala also calls forth a cold blue beam of energy, which lashes hungrily out at William. It slides harmlessly over the anti-magic protections granted by Heironious, and leaves him smiling grimly at her.

Teflon Billy, in a daring move, flies to 10 feet over her head and casts a spell. Both she and he plummet to the ground as the anti-magic shell forms up. They both land hard, and are shaken.

William cries out, “I have had enough!” and a single swipe form his mace turns the Devourer before him into  dust and shards of bone shrapnel. He then charges at Nuala and strikes her with his mace, cracking a rib with a satisfying “crack!” 

Gundarag also charges Nuala, and gets her in a grapple. He has to slam past some invisible force to reach her though, and as it strikes him, William recognizes the distinct air wave slams of an Invisible Stalker. Two of them had been set to guard Nuala, and as she becomes a target, they reveal themselves.

William catches a silver coin, and Galrond gets pelted with copper, having apparently done nothing this round. The crowd could not see the effects of his dispelling, and do not realize that had it not occurred, Lanis and others would still be held off by the Repulsion.

Lanis meanwhile is busy applying salve to Kargur, whose eyes open as his body reknits itself. He stands just in time to see Lanis fire an arrow at Nuala. The wriggling of the grapple causes him to miss and the arrow slams into Gundarag’s back. Kargur stumbles over to join and gets rebuffed by a Stalker, which he manages to strike once using his superior blind fighting skills.

Cristoph moves over and deals a cruel cut to the back of her leg, flaying the muscles and tendons there. He has ensured that if she does manage to escape Gundarag’s grasp, she will not be able to travel far.

Amastacia fires blindly into the air, hoping to hit an Invisible Stalker, but failing. Billy stands up off the ground and draws his dagger, the crest of Heironious shining brightly on its hilt as he move forward towards Nuala. William smacks her with his mace again, hearing bones break. Meanwhile, the invisible bodyguards slam William repeatedly, sending him reeling from the blows. The crowd throws silver at William and copper at Nuala.

Gundarag maintains his grapple on the Headmistress, and also pummels her repeatedly, raising large welts on her face and neck. 

From around the arena, sand flies into the air and four large double doors open. From within, horrifically loud screeches can be heard, and Amastacia looks down into one to see a massive winged beast. Its green scaly skin covers a supremely muscled body. 10’ long wings unfurl to reveal two huge claw-tipped legs, and a single large horn on its eyeless head. Amastacia shouts out “They’ve got wings!” as the things begins to hurtle out of the darkness to enter the fray.

Lanis turns and readies to shoot the closest one when it breaks into the daylight.

Cristoph, standing over Nuala, begins to use his roguish skill with a blade to systematically slice and dice Nuala. He punches through both ribcages, and her lungs deflate with a whoosh. He also manages to cut a massive gash across the left side of her neck, revealing bone. As Nuala continues to struggle, her maniacal laughter gives the group pause. Billy strike her with his dagger, turning the laugh to a gurgle for a moment, before it resumes even more energetically.

Amastacia moves up to touch Galrond. As she does so, a soothing song breaks from her lips, and his wounds begin to heal. Galrond, revitalized by her touch, casts two walls of force, sealing shut the closest of the two pits and trapping the angry beasts inside.

William steps away from the battle and casts a Heal spell, fully rejuvenating himself. 

Tow of the massive creatures fly out. One rockets towards the sky and rebounds off of the shell put in place by the Sultan’s Magisters. The other heads towards the group and sends waves of keening energy blasting forth. As they hit the ground at Galrond and Amastacia’s feet, sand and debris flies, rocking them but not dropping them.

The crowd yet again hurls copper at Nuala, but this time their appreciation of Cristoph’s surgical precision shows itself as they shower him with silver. He is too caught up in his assault upon the hag to even notice, much less attempt to catch any.


----------



## James McMurray

Gundarag reaches down into the bloody mass of flesh that Nuala has become and pulls up a string of intestines. He wraps them tightly around her neck and pulls. Nuala gurgles past them, “Was it fun when you killed the bitch that birthed you?” Cristoph silences her momentarily with more precision strikes. The left side of her head is totally stripped away, as is her abdomen. From within the morass of shredded organs the spinal column can be seen, and Billy takes a swipe at it with his dagger, hoping to at least paralyze her, but missing. Still Nuala struggle on as the silver rains down on Cristoph and he ignores it.

Gundarag gets slammed by the stalkers and is staggered from the blows. Kargur strikes back at the invisible beasts, but as his blade slips through the spot he thought one would be, he is thrown off balance and manages to slam into William, sending him reeling. This display of clumsiness sees Kargur showered with copper.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the arena, Lanis fires a barrage of four arrows at the creature strafing the group. One strikes its left wing, another its right, and the final two pierces its head where eyes would be. As it crashes into the ground at full speed the crowd goes insane, and showers him with silver, one of which he catches.

The other beast realizes it cannot flee and turns to fight. William cries out to the crowd, “Do you want to see a drunken beast?” and unleashes a power word stun on the thing, sending its flight out of control and it hurtles towards the ground.

Nuala’s words and her seeming inability to die, coupled with the slams he continually takes from the invisible guardians sends him flying into a rage, and he continues to punch and kick Nuala, who laughs repeatedly. Kargur joins in the grapple and tells Gundarag (who he can see is much more wounded than he realizes) to retreat to William to be healed.  Cristoph continues his assault, yelling “Don’t you ever freaking die?!” This time he completely destroys the left side of her ribcage and slashes the muscles and tendons on her leg again.

The stalkers change their target to the paladin who now holds their mistress, and he rocks under the blows, but maintains his hold upon the evil wizardess.

As the second large beast hurtles towards the ground, Lanis unleashes another barrage of arrows and it dies before it hits the ground. This gets a great response from the crowd, who hurls silver at both Lanis and William. As William snatches one out of the air, the spotters cry yet again “THREE SILVER!” and the crowd goes into a frenzy. This is only the second time in history that two combatants have caught three silver in a single bout. Meanwhile Galrond gets showered yet again with copper as he has apparently been standing around watching. He knows he cannot affect Nuala in the field, and the beasts seem well in hand.

Gundarag heeds Kargur’s advice and backs out of the fray, where William heals him completely with a prayer to Heironious. Kargur pins Nuala as Cristoph sighs, “My arms are getting tired!” He again slices and dices, this time destroying her right chest. Through it all Nuala continues to laugh and struggle, knowing that she will be free at some point. The crowd’s amazement at Nuala’s continued existence sends a few silver her way. Although one does lodge itself in her exposed liver, the silence from the spotters indicates that it does not count as a catch. The crowd begins to turn unruly towards Cristoph, who has disdained their favor for quite a while now, and they begin to shower him with copper. They also pummel the fallen Kargur again.

Billy remembers tales of the first stage of Lichdom, where a necromancer would hide their life force in a body part. He knows that they must remain in a certain range of it and cannot remember what it is. He cries out, “Galrond! Search for a body part! It should be magical.” Galrond cast detect magic and begins to scan the arena floor. But it is a big place.

The stalkers continue their assault on Kargur, and he drops to the ground, bleeding and bruised. Gundarag returns to take his place, and is pummeled by the stalkers for his trouble. But he does manage to grab Nuala before she can slither out of the field. 

Lanis moves up and pulls Kargur out of the anti-magic zone, and also gets pummeled by the elementals for his trouble. Billy shouts out to the group that this isn’t working, and steps back, hoping that perhaps magical weaponry will be useful. As the field moves away from her, her contingency is activated, instantaneously teleporting her mangled flesh 100 feet straight up into the air. Moments later, the torn tissues repair themselves. Another heal spell from her companion outside the arena has totally undone all of Cristoph’s hard work (he took her to –452 hit points!) Nuala is yet again showered with Silver.

Galrond stops his searching and moves over to cast fly on Cristoph and Gundarag, so that they can take the fight back to her. Cristoph flies that way, nimbly avoiding the copper still being tossed at him by the crowd.

William fires at where he believes an invisible stalker to be, but his searing light strike only air. 

Gundarag hurtles up towards Nuala, and gets pummeled by Invisible Stalkers. Amastacia sees the blasts of air and Gundarag getting hit and begins to paint the air around her. Small tendrils of glittery sparkles waft up towards Gundarag. As they reach him, they burst into multicolored streamers and coat the area. The stalkers are now outlined in Glitterdust, as is Gundarag. Where the dust hits Nuala though, it disappears. Gundarag dives around the stalkers and grapples Nuala yet again! Amastacia’s act pleases the crowd, as they too can now see the Stalkers, and she catches one of the silvers thrown to her.

Lanis, now with a clear target, shoots a blinded Visible Stalker and sends it screaming back to the plane of Air. He then shoots the other one and wounds it severely. 

Nuala disappears from Gundarag’s grasp and reappears on the far side of the arena. She casts another Mordenkainen’s Disjunction, but this time Galrond’s senses are not muddles and his Contingency springs into action, placing a 30 foot tall and 50 foot wide Wall of Force between her and the group. Nuala’s escape and seeming creation of a wall sends more silver at her. Galrond, whose contingency saves the party get pelted with copper, as the crowd has no idea what he did.


----------



## James McMurray

Amastacia shoots at a Stalker, while William heals both Kargur and Cristoph. Gundarag flies over and finishes the last Stalker off, then hurtles through the air towards Nuala. Galrond also heads that way, but much slower as he is not flying.

Lanis shifts form back into a man-lion, and charges Nuala, intent on shooting her down. Cristoph also charges her, but a few words from her freeze him in place, and she moves up to slice across his throat.

Billy, at a loss for anything else to do, moons Nuala, and gets a few silver for the amusement factor. He catches one of them. Cristoph gets pelted with yet more copper.

Amastacia moves up to fire at Nuala, and misses. William charges across the arena, hurtling at breakneck speed through the air to grab her. Gundarag follows close behind and grabs a leg as well. Kargur also charges, but is much slower and must run across the field.

Nuala yet again teleports out of peoples’ grasp and then casts another leech field on the group. This display again get her silvered, while the frozen Cristoph receives more copper. 

As the tortured spirits scream through the party, Lanis’ lycanthropic rage build up inside him and he throws his bow to the ground and charges, teeth and claws gleaming in the sun. 

Galrond, having seen her cast another Spell Turning earlier, casts a shield spell on himself, then bounces Magic Missiles off of her Spell Turning and into his shield, in an attempt to wither it away so that his better spells may take affect.

William, seeing the missiles rebound, realizes that another Spell Turning affect is up, and hurls a Sun Spear at Nuala. As it rebounds and hits him, his wounds begin to heal. He then charges her and grapples her yet again.

Gundarag stabs the held Nuala, while Lanis claws his way around William into her. Kargur picks up Lanis’ fallen bow and moves that way, wishing he had thought to bring a bow (or at least some arrows) of his own.

Nuala yet again teleports out of William’s grasp, this time appearing on the far side of the arena. She then casts another Repulsion, holding all but William and Billy at bay. Her continued escaping gets her silvered yet again, and Cristoph’s trapped form receives even more copper pelting.

William is the only one able to get close enough to affect Nuala, and he grapples her yet again. She struggles to break free, but fails. William and Nuala both get silver thrown at them, whilst poor Cristoph gets hit with a few more Coppers.

Gundarag fires into the fray, but from this distance he accidentally hits William. William pins Nuala, but she quickly breaks free of that, and is only grappled. Amastacia heals several people, and Galrond and Billy both pelt Nuala with Magic Missiles, all of which continue to rebound.


----------



## James McMurray

William starts to drag Nuala towards the group, and pins her yet again. Her struggles break her free though, and she manages to cast a spell. It has no apparent affect though. Galrond shoots a magic missile and it breaks through! Billy follows it up with a cold blue ray of Disintegration, which takes  a large chunk out of her left side, but fails to destroy her utterly.

The crowd begins to pelt William with copper, amazed that the large man-lion could let a small slip of a woman escape like that.

Nuala slips by William and casts a Power Word Stun, which again drips off of his Spell Resistance. She also summons a massive, spectral, clawed, undead fist which slams into William, stunning him. Galrond casts a feeblemind at Nuala, but her will is much too strong for it to affect her. Nuala again gets silvered while William gets coppered.

Billy hits Nuala with two silent greater Dispellings, and manages to take out quite a few spells, one of which is the Holy Channel which has prevented any damage dealt to her from taking affect for more than a moment or two. With the Repulsion also gone, Gundarag and Lanis begin to head that way.

Amastacia moves up and casts Hold Monster at Nuala, but Spell Resistance renders it ineffective.

Gundarag fires his mighty bow at her and hits! Lanis charges and bites her fiercely, while William is stunned by the fist again. Nuala casts Power Word Stun on Lanis, then moves back out of his reach, raising a Wall of Force for cover. Billy moves up and waits for an opening, while William gets pelted with copper again. His Stoneskin has so far prevented him from actually being harmed by it though.

Amastacia moves up and begins to sing a song of greatness for William. Gundarag charges and tries to grab at Nuala again, but she turns him aside with a fierce slash across his arm with her dagger. She then freezes him in place like she did Cristoph, and leaps back to cast a domed Wall of Force around Kargur and Amastacia. Amastacia manages to escape it, but Kargur finds himself trapped and begins to dig his way out.

As the giant fist slams into William, Galrond casts another Feeblemind, and this time Nuala’s face contorts into one of rage, as drool begins to work its way out of the side of her mouth. Billy tosses a fireball at her, but it bounces off of her Spell resistance. His second one fares better though, and leaves her scorched and burnt. His display earns him a silver shower, and he catches one. Gundarag’s and Lanis, both disabled by the hag, receive a shower of copper.

Amastacia continues singing and fires at Nuala, missing by a small margin. William hits her with a Dimensional Anchor, but it splashes against her spell resistance uselessly. He then gets hit and stunned again by the fist.

Nuala flies over and attempts a Coup De Grace on Gundarag. 

Billy fires an acid arrow at Nuala, but he spell resistance stops it again. He follows it up with a Ray of frost, which misses completely. Galrond sacrifices spells to create a bolt of pure arcane energy, which slams into Nuala and knocks her back.

William, Lanis, and Gundarag all receive the crowd’s disdain this round.

Nuala again slashes Gundarag across his neck. He stops struggling and his eyes glaze over, as his blood begins to empty onto the arena floor. Galrond sees this and tries to blast Nuala with more magic missiles, but they fail to penetrate her Resistance. Nuala returns favor, blasting William with Missile, but his resistance also proves too strong for her wand.

Billy attempts to trap Nuala in an Otiluke’s resilient sphere, but she nimbly side steps it while William, Lanis, and Gundarag again get coppered.

Amastacia, having moved closer and cast True Strike, shoots her hand crossbow at Nuala, slamming a bolt into her thigh. Lanis breaks free from the stun and charges Nuala. Shaken by the blows, she moves away and holds out her fist. The party recognizes William’s stolen Ring of Spell Storing, and Nuala unleashes her third Mordenkainen’s Disjunction for the day.

Lanis and William drift towards the ground, now in human form. Gundarag also begins to plummet slowly to the earth below. Nuala again get silvered, while Gundarag receives yet more copper.

-------------

Current Standings (in initiative order):

Round Number: 23
Amastacia: 47 Hit points remaining
William: 22 Hit points remaining, with 1 pint of subdual and two 
negative levels
Gundarag: -3 Hit points and bleeding to death. 2 Negative Levels. Also 
poisoned twice, with saves coming up in 6 and 7 rounds
Lanis: 23 Hit points remaining, with 9 subdual
Kargur: 121 Hit points remaining, one round left of digging out of the 
bubble of force.
Cristoph: 17 hit points remaining, and still Held
Nuala: 213 Hit Points remaining, with 42 Temporary hit points also 
Remaining. Two rounds of Haste left. 41 Charges remaining on her 
wand. Also plenty of spells, but she is feebleminded.
Galrond: 59 hit points remaining, with 4 subdual and 4 negative levels.
Teflon Billy: 78 Hit points remaining, and very few (if any) spells.
The crowd: Tons of hit points remaining, and very entertained
Sharif Parfa, 15th level cleric duplicate and loyal lackey of Nuala: All hit points remaining. As his channel was destroyed, he moved to head towards the pit entrances to the arena. He will arrive in two rounds, and be within Mass Heal range, whereupon he will completely heal Nuala, also removing her Feeblemind.


----------



## James McMurray

Amastacia moves to heal her fallen husband, and gets him back from the brink of death. He does not run back out though, as he in still incredibly weak and awaiting more healing. 
Galrond casts Fly on William, who then charges the hag. She deftly turns his grapple attempt aside with a burning slash across his right arm though. Gundarag and Lanis both shoot their bows at Nuala, but only Lanis hits.

Nuala peppers William again with Magic Missiles, and the stings of the ten bolts make him light-headed. Billy also fires a volley at her, but they bounce harmlessly off of her Shield, so Billy casts fly on Gundarag.

At this point, a robed man bearing the symbol of Al-Akbar climbs up out of the pit where one of the massive Yrthaks had previously entered. He runs toward Nuala with his symbol outstretched.

William Readies a bow shot at the Cleric who has entered the arena, while Kargur Lays Hands on Gundarag. After Amastacia heals him again, he charges into the fray.

Lanis shoots at the cleric and hits him three out of four times. The wounds are rapidly closing though, and the man seems to ignore the pain, his single-minded determination to help Nuala overriding such pitiful concerns as his won health. His aid is made harder to deliver though, as Nuala blasts William with ten more missiles, then flees in the opposite direction from the cleric of Al-Akbar. Billy Centers an acid-altered Fireball on the Cleric, then readies a shot for when he attempts to cast a spell.

The cleric moves towards Nuala, and then casts. Although Billy’s magic missiles slam into them, many wash off of his spell resistance, and William’s shot misses. Casting through the pain, his Mass Heal goes off, and Nuala’s wounds heal completely, as do his own. As the spell takes effect, the glaze in her Feebleminded eyes fades and she regains her senses.

The Sultan’s Magisters react, and the dome flickers as several of the wizards maintaining the structure momentarily break away from the ritual. A swarm of magic missiles blasts out of the sidelines, but most of them slide harmlessly off of the Cleric’s Spell Resistance.

William Charges Nuala again, but although he notices that her wounds have healed, he does not notice the spark of intelligence has returned to her eyes, and so he slams his sword into her wand, shattering it. Gundarag also charges the Necromanceress and tackles her. Amastacia moves up and shoots Nuala.
Lanis readies a shot to hit the Cleric when he casts another spell, while Kargur moves up and Calls upon the power of Heironious to grant him Divine Might. William sees this and says too low for anyone else to hear, “Quit wasting time!” 

Nuala manages a lucky squirm and breaks Gundarag’s grapple. She then calls forth a Power Word, Stun, and sends him reeling. Billy takes the opportunity to slap the dagger out of Nuala’s hand, and he then dives towards the arena floor to grab it.
The crowd has meanwhile begun booing both the cleric and Nuala, as they do not appreciate cheating. From this point onward, copper pelts the two. Additionally, the guards continue their crossbow assault, and several of them manage to hit the cleric. His wounds are still rapidly healing, and he moves with preternatural speed to protect his mistress.

Kargur Charges and also grabs Nuala. Lanis readies another shot at the cleric for when he casts, but it misses. Nuala’s Leech Field again goes off, and the tortured spirits drain more life force from Gundarag, Kargur, and William.

Galrond turns his Golden eyes upon the cleric and shouts, “By the Power of Heironious, I command you to fix your wrongdoing and heal our team members!” As the arcane energies of his suggestion wash over the cleric, a slight nod shows that perhaps the spell has worked.

Amastacia fires at the Cleric, and drops him to the ground with a single shot. However, moments later he stands back up on wobbly knees and moves towards Lanis.

The Sultan’s Magisters again pelt the cleric, as do Lanis and the Guards. The first spell he attempts to cast is horribly ruined. He then moves over to Lanis and reaches out to touch him. Lanis’s worry turns to relief as the touch begins to cure his wounds, rather than cause some horrible fate.

William casts Divine Power, while Lanis fires several arrows at Nuala. 

Nuala throws her head back and screams, and the sound of a thousand tortured souls issues forth from her lungs. The sheer power of her scream Paralyzes Gundarag (who is still stunned) Galrond, Kargur, and William. Kargur is also deafened, as his ears begin to bleed from the cries.

The guards’ arrows slam into the Cleric, and this time he dies. However, when he does not fall to the ground and instead dissolves into mist, several party members recognize the effect. Apparently he was a Life Bane duplicate created by Nuala. This means that somewhere there is an older version of him getting younger. It also makes several people think that perhaps the Sultan may also be a duplicate.

Lanis continues firing at the Necromancer, and hits her four out of four times. She returns fire, sending two black rays lashing out at him. One misses wildly, but the second slams into his chest and through. It then arcs back to her, and her wounds begin to heal.

Billy drags Cristoph behind Galrond’s Wall of Force, while the crowd continues to pelt Nuala.

Amastacia has meanwhile fired a few shots, several hitting. But without the backup of her magic crossbow, the damage is minimal. She decides to ready a shot to attempt to interrupt a spell. Moments later Nuala casts and Amastacia’s shot goes wild. The Chain Lightning slams into several people, and Cristoph dodges nimbly out of the way. Unfortunately, a moment later she reaches towards him with a hand dripping with negative energy, and he fails to dodge it, falling unconscious and floating in midair, his blood dripping to the ground below him, while the life-force she sucked out of him heals her wounds more.

Amastacia and Lanis fire again, and both hit. Nuala responds by casting Slow at Lanis, severely dampening his offensive capabilities. She also hits him with an enervation ray, effectively removing him from combat as his loss of skill will make it incredibly hard for him to hit her. 

Lanis shoots and misses, while Nuala fires a ray and also misses. Her second Ray of Enfeeblement does slam into Lanis, but is not enough to drop him to the ground. Billy flies up and stabs at Nuala with her own dagger, but misses.

Amastacia and Lanis shoot and miss. Nuala’s return fire hits Lanis with a bolt of mana, and he falls to the ground, sheathed in a crackling cocoon of energy. Another mana blast slams into Billy, and he too drops, sheathed in the cocoon.

Amastacia shoots and nicks the hag, who sneeringly ignores her and takes her dagger back from Billy, then drags it across his throat, killing him.

Amastacia shoots again, and the hag renews her Haste spell, then stabs Kargur. Gundarag, seeing his wife fighting alone, breaks free of the paralysis brought on by the hag’s earlier screams and charges. His blade slams into the hag. She returns fire at him, slamming a ray of enfeeblement into him, and dropping his strength to human average. She then slams several magic missiles into him.

Amastacia shoots and hits, while Gundarag’s weakened arms miss with a barrage of blows. The Mistress peppers him with missiles again, killing him.

Amastacia fires again and hits. Nuala’s return volley of Magic Missiles rebound off of Amastacia’s Shield spell. Nuala changes tactics and flies down towards Amastacia, as she is nearly out of spells. Amastacia’s tear ducts begin to drip acid that both burns and blinds. 

Amastacia’s next shot is blind and goes wild, while the Hag slams a bolt of pure shadow energy into her and then charges into melee with her dagger. 

Amastacia’s eyes clear and she readies a punch dagger and then attempts to grab Nuala but misses.

Nuala flies up a bit and drinks two potions, which heal many of her wounds. Amastacia leaps up and grabs Nuala’s feet, but Nuala quickly wriggles free. A ray of enfeeblement fires out of her ring of spell storing and drops Amastacia to the ground.

Nuala moves over to Galrond and draws her wicked blade across his neck, killing him. William breaks free of the paralysis as well, and when he turns to face the battle he is shocked at the carnage. He charges Nuala and hits her hard, but she manages to slide the dagger past his guard and into his belly. He doubles over and falls to the ground.

Nuala moves around the arena, killing helpless foes while the paralyzed Kargur is forced to watch. Both Amastacia and Lanis fall as her blade slides across their necks.

Kargur screams and breaks free from the paralysis and charges. Nuala was ready for that though, and although he manages to hit her fairly solidly, she uses the exact same move she used on William and slips the dagger into Kargur’s ribs, where he falls lifeless to the ground. As the last of the party falls to the ground, the Headmistress of the Black Academy, Keeper of the Lifebane moves towers where her husband-to-be sits, and begins to receive the accolades of the Sultancy, amidst the harangues of the crowd.

The group finds themselves sitting in an opulent chamber surrounded by luxury. Across the room from them sits a handsome goateed man, and in his laps sits a familiar yellow cat. “Hello there, having a bad day are we?”

William replies a bit confused, “You could say that.”

“Well, allow me to introduce myself. I am Raffi, and this is Azrael. It is a pleasure to meet you again.” The names are unfamiliar to the group. 

Amastacia speaks up, “Is the cat yours?”

“In a manner of speaking. The cat is me. He is an avatar. However, to the business at hand. The dark forces have interfered already on behalf of Nuala, and this opens us up for an opportunity to interfere. It only remains to ensure that you will fight for the right side when the time comes. I’m assuming that won’t be much of a problem, as I can plainly see the lightning bolts everywhere.”

Billy remains silent, remembering his jokes about restaurants that serve cat. William and Kargur quickly acquiesce, sensing a chance to get vengeance upon Nuala. “If we could be back in that arena with our spells restored, that would be great. We’ll still need to find her life force though.”

Raffi reaches down beside him and under the cushion of the chair he sits in, and pulls out a well-chewed finger. The hair stuck to it and teeth marks show that it has been a cat toy for at least a little while. “I assume you mean this?” Raffi says with a smile, as he tosses the finger to Billy.

“I hope you’ll forgive me for being so forward Raffi,” Amastacia says politely, “but we’ve had some bad experiences in the past with deal making.”

Raffi chuckles and says, “I’ve seen.”

“What exactly do you want from us?” Amastacia asks.

“Simply fight for the right side when the time comes.”

“And which side is that?”

“Why, the side you are currently fighting for of course.”

“So we should just continue what we’ve been doing?” Amastacia asks, a bit confused, as she is unused to dealings that do not involve ulterior motives.

“Basically, yes.” Raffi responds. “Well then, do we have a deal?”

The whole group rapidly agrees, and moments later the arena crowd is shocked into silence as all eight members stand up from the sand. The group charges Nuala and several people drag her down and begin to stab her. William moves to Billy and tries to get the finger so that he can destroy it, but Billy insists they should break it together. The time they spend debating rather than simply destroying it allows Nuala’s wicked blade to yet again slip into Cristoph’s ribs several times. Although the cuts are not deep, the poison that oozes into him sends him plummeting to the ground dead.

Kargur grabs Nuala, who breaks free. William and Billy then break the finger in unison, and Nuala’s head flies back in a horrible scream as her body withers and dies. In seconds it looks as if she has been dead for 100 years.

The Sultan, his entourage of eunuch guards, and several of the Magisters around the arena also scream. They rapidly turn to mist, with the connection to Lifebane destroyed at Nuala’s death.

The crowd goes wild and everyone but Cristoph catches silver.


That night, the party goes over Nuala’s corpse, while the real Sultan and his men are found in the dungeons below the Arena. The party is rewarded for their efforts, and they head to Greyhawk City to get Cristoph raised.

They decide to take a month off and rest ad relax, do some shopping, and some research. Amastacia looks into the names Raffi and Azrael at the Lopollan Metropolitan Library, but does not turn anything up. She has not come near exhausting its resources though, and will continue looking later.

The group’s newfound fame in Lopolla sends many people flocking to the doors of the party, and William, Kargur, and Amastacia gain many followers. Amongst the people attracted by the fame are Oskar, a Dwarven Defender, and Milo ThornBlade, self-styled hunter of evil. 

The party returns to the Tomb of Acererak with two new members. They again fight the cockroach demons in their explorations, but also fight a Soul Ravager. Although it merges partially with Cristoph and tears his soul, it soon falls to the combined might of the party, and a Mass Heal from William fixes the damage dealt by it and the Cockroaches.


----------



## James McMurray

Just out of curiosity, anybody still reading these? Its just that the responses have dropped way off, and I'm wondering if its worth the time to paste it here?

I know they've been long as crap these past few times, but a whole heck of a lot has been happening. Odds are they'll shrink down now that the group has reentered the Tomb.

I'm sure my productivity levels at wor will appreciate that fact.


----------



## Dougal DeKree

*yep*

am reading. err lurking. hmm, both .-)

Dougal


----------



## Largomad

Well, i am a frequent lurker and your story so far has been nice to read, and pretty informative as i plan to run tomb of horros as a big conclussion of my actual campaign.

I appreciate your efforts and i hope to see more about your adventure so far.



My best regards


----------



## Immort

I gotta say that this is one of my new type favorites.  Yer tore those poor dice jockeys of yers a few new ones.  I really like the tactics used by the beasties, I also enjoy the counter punches yer dice jockeys throw.  Ever' since I jumped onto this read, I been watchin' fer it like a hawk.

The area battle in particular had me runnin' back here.  I understand if yer doesn't wanna go through the hassles of writin' when nobody is readin' (my dice jockeys were the only ones who ever posted ta my story) but I gotta tell ya I been lovin' it.

-Immort


----------



## Schmoe

Still here.  I'm normally pretty much a lurker, so I don't comment much, but I definitely enjoy your story.  I've gotta say, that arena battle was quite a piece.  Man, Nuala was a tough cookie.  I wish I had the module so that I could look over her stats.  Did you use her as presented, or did you add some modifications?  Also, did you expect the party to die?  It seems that they never had a chance to find Nuala's life force, as Raffi had it all along, so the outcome was pretty well expected.

Anyway, good stuff.  Even if you don't get many comments, remember that there are a lot of lurkers enjoying this.


----------



## James McMurray

Glad to hear people are reading it!  Even if you weren't though, I'd still post it here, since I already write it out for my own use, and its pretty easy to cut and paste. 

Schmoe: Nuala isn't the main villainess of the Black Academy. That would be a vampire Necromancer. However, the party had some history with Nuala, so I gave her the position. Plus, her ability to create Life Bane duplicates is at least as deadly as vampirism. 

I hadn't planned on the entire party dying, but I knew it was a possiblity. Until Raffi (actually the God of Trickery) reached down into his couch, the finger was in a corner of the arena, waiting to have magic detected for. In fact, the Sorcerer had already started looking for it (at the Wizard's suggestion). Unfortunately he got distracted and didn't go back to that.

They also could have held her down and chopped her into tiny bits. They talked abot that, but never got her grappled long enough again.

Raffi was definitely a backup plan, as its no fun to kill an entire party because a DM makes a nemesis too powerful. It'll be a good plot hook for later, and he acn be used to help get the party back on track if they start to slip. For instance, they are talking about becoming arena fighters. Although that's fine, it won't help stop Acererak from becoming one with the Negative Plane, and it would mean that no heroes were there to stop it when Orcus decided to come out into the Prime from the Mines of Bloodstone.  8)


----------



## Dougal DeKree

*still reading?*

Hi James,

 as stated before, yes! sorry that the last answer to this important question was so short, but i am pretty low on time at the mom. The arena was thrilling! Now a little question: wil you do a thread like "defense of the black academy" again? i really enjoyed thinking on mean stuff some other DM can throw on his players (and the blackfire worked nice - though i didn't see the shelves above the doors .-). So, will you give us all a chance to take part in beating the party a little? 

Dougal DeKree, resort: illusionary light and magic


----------



## James McMurray

Definitely. Int eh player vs. DM game, the players have the advantage of more minds to focus on a problem. I have to even the odds by getting the assistance of the evil bastards on these boards! 

Note that I don't really feel that D&D is a player vs. DM game, but there are times when the DM is the players' adversary, and I want all the help I can get.


----------



## James McMurray

The party studies up on their foe, meets with the ruler of the Gran March, and heads back into the tomb. Only two deaths so far, one in the arena, one in the tomb, both to the same player's characters (one cohort, one PC).

Deciding that preparation and discretion are the better part of valor, the group leaves to study more on the tomb, and also fight in the arena in the hopes of gaining more glory and wealth. A bit of shopping is also done, mostly by Oskar. Meanwhile, Billy continues scribing, as he feels the three month deadline breathing down his neck. He does spend an afternoon with the Sultan, ensuring that he will be able to use the books later, when the Sultan’s Magisters are finished with it.

Milo has his first battle in the arena, and being as he is an unknown, and does not bring his own weaponry into the battle, he is placed against a fairly inexperienced warrior, and trounces him severely. The next day Oskar repeats the performance, for pretty much the same reasons. Milo then faces an ogre in the arena, as he has shown great skill. The creature’s reach, hurled huge longspears, and ability to knock him down at will ruin Milo’s day, and he also loses quite a bit on a bet.

That same afternoon, William fights in the arena. Feeling confident, he elects to enter with only his sword, his Symbol of Heironious, and simple clerical robes. As he will be using his spells, they pit him against what is deemed to be a fair fight: 4 Girallons. Round one he casts repulsion, but to his dismay, 3 of them resist the spell and charge, and he is forced to encase himself in a wall of stone fort, with arrow slits from which to cast Destruction spells.

The beasts continue their advance, and begins to batter the walls down around him, one of them takes the full brunt of a Destruction, but although it howls in pain and anger, it does not fall. The holy flames breaking through its skin only serve to spur it on. Two Girallons pound on the walls, while the third climbs atop the stone fort William built and begins to batter the ceiling.

Before they can break through, William gets off another Destruction, this one does manage to completely destroy another of the beats, but the remaining two tear their way through the wall and also manage to severely beat William, one of them scoring a critical hit.

William casts heal on himself, then attempts to flee. Unfortunately he has boxed himself in and as he tries to shoulder past the beast in front of him, it slams him back into the cage he has created for himself. Moments later, he dies in that cage, and the beasts are hauled away, managing to only eat parts of him before the Magisters’ chains of force wrap around them and the ogres come forth from the underground area to drag the creatures away.

The next morning, Galrond teleports William’s corpse to Greyhawk city, where he is resurrected, and quested to prevent Acererak’s Apotheosis.

A few days later, while the majority of the group meet with His Illustrious Majesty Magnus Vrianian, ruler of the Gran March, Milo enters the arena again, undaunted by his friend’s defeat. Having learned from his previous battle, he decides to bring several more kukris into the battle with him, so that he will be able to wage a ranged war if need be. On the far side of the arena, another halfling enters, and the crowd cheers. Moments after the gong sounds, Alfred Hairfoot disappears, and Milo begins to worry.

Milo activates his boots of speed, and begins to run around the arena, trying to prevent Alfred from catching up to him and administering a surprise attack. Milo shouts out, “Show yourself chicken!” to which Alfred replies “Stop running away bitch!”. The crowd laughs. As the chase continues, the crowd begins to boo, wanting action. Milo sticks himself in a corner and waits.

He does not have to wait long, as Alfred appears some 25’ out, and 3 fiery bolts spring from his hands, slamming into Milo’s chest and neck. Milo is staggered, but charges and connects, only to have Alfred disappear and move away again moments later.

Another barrage of fiery bolts slams into Milo as Alfred reappears, and Milo charges, his boots active this time. He catches Alfred a couple of times with his kukris, while an invisible shield rebuffs several other swings. Alfred steps back and fires one last barrage at Milo, but it is not enough to stave off the assault, and he drops to the sand moments later. Milo steps back and enjoys the accolades of the crowd.

The group’s meeting with Magnus is very telling. They learnt that although the Academy has been destroyed, and Nuala has perished, the seemingly spontaneous generation of undead in the area has not ceased. In fact, while the party has been resting and recuperating (as well as preparing) in Lopolla for the past month, Shiboleth itself has been overtaken by undead. Those residents who have not been killed and risen as undead have fled the area. 

Vrianian’s troops have managed to contain the threat, but the Orcs to the East are breaking their truce, and troops are being called to defend those borders, leaving not enough manpower and magic to stop the undead thoroughly. Clerical support has been hired and is on its way, but it will take them at least three weeks to arrive, if nothing goes wrong in their travels. Magnus feels they can keep the undead contained for a month or so, after which they will be fighting a two front war.

He recommends the party speak with his advisor, an ancient looking wizard, whose eyes still sparkle with clarity. Deloren suggests that the group perform magical research as rapidly as possible, then head to the Tomb to try to stop the source. He fears that an assault on Shiboleth will only buy time, when what is needed is to staunch the flow of negative energy that is raising these creatures.

The next day, the group performs several divinations. The questions they ask, and the answers they receive are:

Where is Acererak?
Look to your Astrologer for the answers you seek.

How do we save Shiboleth?
Stop the Dark Intrusion.

Who is Raffi?
Unknown.

Does the Great Heironious approve of Raffi?
He does not disapprove.

How do we prevent Acererak from becoming a god?
The light of the sun can destroy his phylactery.

Why was the ring of protection in the chest?
A snare requires a lure.

Where is the other piece of the amulet?
With a shard of its master.

Have we shut down the Black Academy?
Yes.

Galrond, using his Limited Wish, mimics and Legend Lore spell and spends a day trying to learn about Acererak. He finds out that the Lich has found the key to true Immortality and Godhood. He has been alive for well over 1,000 years and most of that time has been spent researching his Apotheosis, his ascension and joining with the negative material plane. His fortress lies beyond the dead city of Moil and his tomb is both a trap and a doorway, where the foolish perish and the wise reap the reward on the other side. Finally, they also learn that none have ever returned from his fortress, although many have reached it over the millennium.

Teflon Billy recognizes the name of the city of Moil as having been tied to Orcus somehow, but he is unsure as to what the connection may be. The group feels that there will be a doorway in the tomb that will lead them to the city of Moil, and that somewhere within that city they will find a passageway to Acererak’s Fortress.

Additionally, Amastacia scries for the second half of the amulet that was found on Nuala, which the group takes to be the Amulet of the Void, which Galen’s journal pointed to being a key to Acererak’s door. The Amulet is seen to be in a room filled with treasure, gems and jewelry, swords and spears. Sitting on a raised pedestal in the room is a skull atop a pile of bones and powder. On a cord draped around the skull, looking as if it is being worn, is the other half of the amulet.

Oskar, having requested a Dwarven Waraxe from the arena officials, again enters the arena to fight. This time he is pitted again the ogre which beat his friend. Although he takes a few solid blows, he brought missile weapons with him, and manages to whittle the ogre down. When melee is finally engaged, the ogre gets the worst of it in every exchange, until it finally conceded when it fails to trip the dwarven defender.

The next day, Kargur goes to an astrologer, thinking perhaps that is what the cryptic answer was referring to. For a modest fee, the grizzled old woman casts the bones. She tells him she sees blood and glory both behind and before him, and that the path he takes is fraught with peril and that he should tread wisely. Although certainly good advice, it doesn’t point towards any obvious answers, and Kargur leaves to try to meet with fellow Stargazers, thinking perhaps his order is what was being referred to.

It takes a couple of days to arrange a meeting with a higher up in the Order, and when he explains the situation, and relays the divination’s response, Joseph Steelblade, Paladin of the First Rank tells him, “These divination replies are usually very vague, and yet very specific. If the answer was to speak to your astrologer, and William cast the spell, it would appear that you may be the one to whom it refers. Perhaps you know more than you have revealed? If you share the prophecy with them, they may be able to help unravel its meaning.” Kargur thanks the man for his time, and leaves.

As the group prepares and researches, Oskar takes the time to enter the arena one more time. This time he finds himself squaring off against a Hill Giant, and he feels secure, as his Dwarven Heritage has taught him how to fight these creatures. The gong sounds and he rushes straight in. The giant hurls a couple of huge boulders at him, and then moves away. Oskar chases while the giant hurls, and every boulder goes wide of its mark, then Oskar is near and the giant readies its massive tree trunk club.

Oskar moves in and gets slammed with the club, but he manages to spear the beast. The giant and Oskar go back and forth, with the giant disarming Oskar and Oskar drawing a new weapon or grabbing the old one and taking a swipe. Finally, Oskar manages an awe inspiring maneuver and with a deft twist send the giant’s club flying. The giant, dismayed but not beaten, snatches Oskar’s spear out of his hand and snaps it in one hand.

Oskar draws his Waraxe and moves in, only to have it disarmed and stood on. Oskar moves back and begins throwing javelins, so the giant rushes up and grabs him. Although Oskar manages to escape a few times, when the giant grabs his spear and his quiver of javelins away from him, he concedes.

When he returns to the group, he tells them that the meeting was unsuccessful, and suggests they go to meet with Old Gerdie, another Stargazer whom they have had dealings with in the past. She has been in the Tomb before with Galen’s ill-fated trip, and although she was very forthcoming with information in the past, and said she had told them all she knows, the group heads to her home. She quite angrily rebuffs them, having tried for years to forget that journey into the Tomb of Acererak, only to have these people dredge those memories up again twice within 6 months. She angrily tells them she has already told all she knows, and would prefer to leave those days behind her. The group leaves, and without any further information, elects to head into the Tomb.

The first thing they notice when they reenter is that the plaster over the hidden door has been replaced. They tear it back down and ready area Greater Dispellings for the Mana Elementals they suspect are behind the next door. Their suspicions are correct, and although Cristoph gets slammed fairly hard by one of the things’ fists and the other three’s mana bolts, the group makes quick work of them, with Billy and Galrond’s dispels destroying them. 

The group presses on, past the complex of chambers where magic missiles slam into them, and crawl into the space behind the illusory black sphere. The passage twists and winds, and they come out into a medium sized chapel. The walls are painted with scenes of daily life, but the people depicted therein are all rotting and decayed. The mural is interspersed with symbols of good religions though, which confuses the group greatly. On the far side of the room, a corpse has fallen to the ground next to a faintly glowing blue altar, and his finger points to an altar of swirling mist. The group feels that is a  warning, and although Oskar’s experiments with the mist do not indicate any danger (the things he pushes through come back unscathed) the group elects to avoid that for now.

Cristoph begins to search, and as he checks out the altar, a bolt of lightning blasts up the aisle, slamming into Galrond while Cristoph nimbly dodges. The altar begins to glow a dark red. The party dives for cover, but less than a minute later, the glow drops to blue again, and the party breathes a sigh of relief.

Cristoph then begins to search the pews, as their seats have hinged lids and could contain something of use. The first one he opens sends gas billowing out into the room, and Galrond drops, his strength sapped by the gas. Moments later, William also falls to the strength-draining gas, while Kargur staggers but does not drop. William heals the victims while the gas disperses, and Cristoph stops searching the pews, having found only moldering old books in that one.

They spread out and search the walls, and in one corner find a tiny O shaped hole, just right for a ring. Remembering the rhyme, they place the ring in the slot, and the wall begins to slide into the floor, revealing a passageway with stairs behind. The group rounds the corner and finds a doorway. Cristoph reaches for the handle to see if it is locked, and the door sticks to his fingers and flies open, nearly hurling him through. He leaps back and then searches the floor, and sure enough, he finds a pit waiting for him to plummet into it, the bottom lined with spikes, dripping with negative planar essence. A short way past the pit is another door.

Cristoph uses his slippers of spider climbing to walk along the walls to the next door, and when it flings open at his touch, he is ready for it and does not fly through. Again he finds a pit on the floor, and a door slightly further down the hall.

At this door, he decides to use his slippers to affix himself to the doorway, hoping that it will prevent him from flying through. It turns out to be a bad plan though, as when the door flies open, he loses his grip and drops into the pit behind it. Several spikes pierce his armor, and moments later he is completely mummified.

Milo drinks a potion of Spider Climbing and scampers down into the pit. Avoiding the spikes, he takes Cristoph’s boots of climbing off and uses them to leave the pit. He also takes Cristoph’s Circlet of Seeing, so that he can search now that the other scout is dead. Kargur, using Cristoph’s boots, walks down and grabs Cristoph. He returns to the surface with their fallen friend, and the group debates leaving. Milo assures them that he is a great searcher, and to prove it (spurred by the group’s recounting of the rhyme) he goes into the pit. He finds a secret door on the wall of the pit, leading into another corridor.

The party decides to press on, and as they round the next corner, they come to a door. Milo searches the door for traps, and inadvertently sets one off. As gas fills the chamber, it also fills Milo, Lanis, Galrond, and Billy’s minds with fear, and they turn to flee. Oskar manages to grab Milo, but Galrond, Billy, and Lanis run headlong into the spiked pit. As they scramble to get out, spikes tear at their flesh and clothing. Galrond and Billy’s fear soaked brains do not even notice that their legs are rapidly mummifying. Lanis’s armor stops most of the spikes though.

William casts remove Fear, and the entire group’s fear fades. He then sees the mummification, and casts Mass Heal, his last one for the day. Everyone files back into the corridor, and the group again begins to debate leaving.

James


----------



## James McMurray

The next morning, Lo’ser (an associate of Cristoph from the Closed Eye) comes to meet with Cristoph. When he learns that their leader is dead (but will not be dead forever) he talks with the party and decides that he would like to travel with them. He has heard legends of the Tomb, and is interested in the treasure to be had there. Milo, having been shaken by his experiences there, decides that perhaps travelling there is not something he wants to do, and he bids the party farewell.

Lo’ser, William, Galrond, Kargur, Teflon Billy, and Oskar return to the Tomb of Acererak. Working their way around the many traps and back to the passageway in the pit, they send Lo’ser ahead to scout (using William’s Circlet to aid his vision and Cristoph’s boots of spider climbing to help him negotiate the pits. As he moves up to the doorway, a quick search reveals the mechanism that released the fear gas, and a few moments later, he has it successfully disarmed. Opening the door, he sees a richly furnished room (the couch in it is solid gold). Lying upon the couch is a skeletal figure, which stands up as the door opens. “WHO DARES DISTURB THE REST OF ACERERAK? IT IS YOUR DEATH YOU HAVE FOUND!” booms forth from the ancient figure’s mouth. Lo’ser, feeling brave, charges in and nicks the creature with his dagger. Moments later he is sent flying and staggered from two slams of the thing’s unearthly strong fists.

The party flies into action. Oskar charges and takes his stance, while Lo’ser flees to get healed. As William is healing him, both Billy and Galrond target the beast with spells, Billy attempting to Disitigrate it, and Galrond attempting to turn the thing into a paper mache pinata. Both spells hit, but wash harmlessly off the thing. The Lich responds by slamming Oskar repeatedly, and even the stout Dwarven Defender is reeling from the blows. Kargur charges forward and bashes the thing, while Lanis plugs it with arrows.

Moments later, Galrond’s second attempt at transformation succeeds, and the thing is transformed into a mahogany end table for the couch. The group moves forward and shatters the divan into several pieces, which then change back into an ancient corpse, broken and battered. As the thing dies, the walls begin to shake and crumble, but Lo’ser realizes (with the help of William’s Circlet of True Seeing) that it is merely an illusion, and the party waits for it to pass. They then begin to gather up the items in the Crypt: an arcane scroll, several potions in a jade coffer, a bejeweled crown, and the couch. At first, they wonder how they will manage to carry the massive golden couch, but when Galrond turns it into a gold coin and places it in his pouch, the dilemma is solved. 

Knowing that they must find the Lich’s phylactery to prevent it from returning, they begin to search again. Not far outside the door to this crypt, they find a hidden passageway, which leads to an alchemical chamber. It is cluttered with alchemy tools and supplies, as well as mummy preperation tables and accouterments. In the center are three huge stone vats. One contains 3’ deep dirty water, a second holds a blue-green murky liquid, which has a golden glinting object at its bottom, and the third contains a greyish oily substance. Lo’ser casts detect magic and sees that both the golden object, and another object hidden in the greyish liquid are magical. Using Mage Hand, he grabs the golden object, and finds it is half of a key. A bit of experimentation with the grey liquid shows it to be powerful acid, which destroys one of Oskar’s Javelins, and several items they attempt to scoop liquid with. As this is happening, the remainder of the group is searching the room, and another secret passageway is found. Deciding to leave the liquid for now, the party moves on.

Around the corner they find a 20’ wide open pit, spiked. Fashioning a makeshift rope out of mummy wrappings, they use it to pass the boots of spider climbing back and forth, and bypass the pit, to find a secret door on the far side. Beyond, the passageway turns and comes to a fourway intersection, where Lo’ser finds a pit which he disables (despite the party’s telling him not to, as they believe it may be the second “fortuitous fall”.) Lo’ser then moves North to investigate another doorway. Although he finds no traps, when he opens it, gravity suddenly reorients itself, sending him, Galrond, and Oskar plummeting down the corridor to slam into a door down the southern passageway. Shaken but not seriously injured, the group again uses the boots to climb out, and Lo’ser opens the door below them, which has only a solid stone wall behind it (the Northern door also covered a wall).

Crossing the corridor / pit ,they continue West, to where a female voice calls out from a mist filled room. “Hello? Is somebody out there? Why don’t you come visit me?” Suspicious, the party discusses what to do, and Lo’ser decides to enter. As he breathes in the mists, he feels his mental capacity slipping away, and is feebleminded. He stands sheepishly, and when the beautiful figure moves forward, he stares at her. She attempts to talk to him, but his lack of response leaves her upset. “Why won’t any of you come visit me?” She asks. “I suppose you aren’t brave enough.” This last statement upsets Kargur, who feels himself to be totally lacking fear, and he steps in. The mists seem to have no effect on him, and he talks for a short while with Lucilla. He learns that she is a nymph, that she is unsure how long she has been here, and that she knows practicall nothing about the Tomb itself.

As Kargur talks, he moves around and searches the room. He finds two sacks in the corners, but does not disturb them. Wanting to talk more, but hoping the rest of the party will join the discussion, he invites Lucilla out into the hall, and she happily accepts. Lo’ser follows, and after he ignores her requests to stop staring at her (“it is rather rude”) she asks the group to look away. They do, and she reveals a portion of her true beauty to Lo’ser, blinding him.

The group continues to talk, and William casts Heal on Lo’ser, which restores his mind and eyesight. After learning that the Nymph knows nothing of the Tomb, Acererak, or why she is here, the group goes to talk amongst themselves.

Kargur moves back into the mist, having asked Lucilla if she minds if they take the sacks. She has never opened them, and does not care. He goes to pick up the smaller sack, but cannot find the larger sack. Lo’ser, for some odd reason, decides to go search for the sack, and is again feebleminded by the mists. This time, William extracts a promise to revere Heironious before he Heals the foolish Sorcerer / Rogue.

Lucilla, deciding to explore the world, steps through a dimension door before anyone tries to stop her, and is gone. Teflon Billy mentions the Astral travel problems, and the group feels that Lucilla is probably dead now, but they do not attempt to investigate.

Kargur goes back into the mists and completely explores, but finds nothing, so the group returns to search the corridors. They find a hidden doorway behind the false Southern door, and move through it. Down the corridor and through another door they find two large double doors. As Lo’ser opens them, gas spills out, and both Lo’ser and Teflon Billy fall unconcious. Oskar, William, and Kargur are also in the gas, but they do not succumb. Oskar drags Billy back, and a massive metal elephant on rollers comes trundling out of the far doorway. As the group retreats (leaving Lo’ser behind) he finds himself standing in a vast empty space.


----------



## James McMurray

Before him is a 9’ tall man with Iron Wings and a halo glowing fiercely over his head. “So, it appears the Tomb is about to claim you, eh?” says the Solar. Lo’ser replies with a succint and to the point “huh?”.

The Solar points down and Lo’ser sees himself about to be squashed beneath the massive juggernaut. The scene is frozen, with his foot mere inches from being pulped. Looking around, he also sees about 50’ away, a large snake woman with six arms, frozen still. “What’s that” he asks.

“She is one of Acererak’s Guardians. Although she means nothing to me, I would suggest refraining from astral travel within the tomb, as she could most certainly prove troublesome for you. However, let us discuss business. Your friends have a great destiny before them, and your skills could be of great use to them. If we are correct, they are destined to face and destroy Acererak, and then to go against his dark master Orcus. I would like to ensure that you will be on the right side when the time comes.”

Lo’ser thinks for only a moment, then looks at his body. “Ok.”

“Good,” Replies the Solar, and Lo’ser finds himself back asleep. His body disappears and reappears at William’s feet, safe from the juggernaut’s trampling. It continues towards the party, and they all move away. After coming a short distance into the hallway, it returns to its starting position out of sight of the group.

As Lo’ser snoozes, the Solar’s form shifts and bends. Conrad Adar, premiere member of the Baatorian Legal Association turns to leave, chuckiling at his newfound tool, to be used to retrieve the powerful wand of Orcus in the future. As he is about to leave, he notices the group deciding to return down that passageway, and he again takes the form of the Solar, hoping to gain more converts to his cause if they continue to face the juggernaut.

William, Billy, and Oskar feel that they can overcome the gas and slip past the juggernaut while it is in the hallway. They move out, and as it follows them, they turn right where it had turned left. It again turns left, and the three head in. It only takes a moment for Billy to succumb to the gas, and the exploration turns into a frantic attaempt to drag him to safety as the juggernaut returns. They rush forward, and find that the door the juggernaut came from holds only an empty room. As the massive metal figure trundles towards them, they too find themselves standing in the Astral Plane before the form of Michael Ironwings.

William and Billy recognize Michael from galrond’s descriptions of his Celestial Ancester, and when the offer of aid is proposed to them, they too rapidly accept. Conrad, feeling that too many interventions may tip his hand to the celestials, tells them that he can no longer intervene, for Nuala’s treachery has been balanced. He chides them into ignoring the passageway, and points them to a previously unseen hidden doorway.

The three find themselves back in the passageway, and after a bit of discussion, where William tells Galrond they met Michael Ironwings, Billy and Lo’ser awaken. William stops Galrond from rushing down the corridor so that he too may meet Michael Ironwings, and informs the group that the forces of Light will not be able to intercede any longer. With the party back up and ready, the group heads down the secret passageway, to find a solid adamantium door in an anti-magic field.

Conrad turns to leave for good now, and waves to the Marilith as he leaves. She breaks free of his enchantment, but the bindings of Acererak force her to remain here guarding rather than track the devilish lawyer down to exact revenge.


----------



## Schmoe

James McMurray said:
			
		

> * I would like to ensure that you will be on the right side when the time comes.”*






> *
> As Lo’ser snoozes, the Solar’s form shifts and bends. Conrad Adar, premiere member of the Baatorian Legal Association turns to leave, chuckiling at his newfound tool, to be used to retrieve the powerful wand of Orcus in the future. *





Hehe, now THAT's rich!   

I can't wait until the group finds out just who their "savior" really was.


----------



## James McMurray

The door has no handle, but three blade-sized slots lead the group to place swords (non-magical) into them. After some experimentation, the door slides down into the floor, revealing a large chamber beyond it.

Massive 1.5’ thick pillars line the room, and in the North is a Silver and Ivory throne on a raised ebony dais. To the South they see three closed alcoves, and a large green face with a black mouth, not unlike the one in the main entry hallway. In the center of the large chamber is a large red gem, glowing with  torches’ light. Scattered around it on the floor are several shattered and scorched corpses. 

Lo’ser moves forward to investigate, but as he brushes against a pillar, he finds himself floating upwards towards the cieling. When he reaches the roof 30’ above him, he flips over and uses the boots to walk along the ceiling towards the throne. He detects magic, and it stays up for just long enough for him to determine that the gem, pillars, and mouth are all magical, before the oppressive tomb dispels it. He also sees a second green face acroos the hall from the first. 

Walking over the gem, he drops a copper coin on it, and the gem skitters an inch or two across the floor, while the coin rolls away. Whatever trap may be there, that has failed to set it off. He then turns his attention to the throne. Walking up to it (and no longer trying to float away) he sees a golden crown atop it with a sceptre beside it. The sceptre is electrum, with a silver knob on one end, and a golden one on the other. A quick search shows that the throne can slide downward into the floor, but no apparent mechanism is found.

Moving south, he heads to the center alcove. As he searches the door for traps, it begins to glow violet, with streams of sickly green. After a few moments of nothing happening, he opens it, and sees another door 5’ beyond. He moves forward to open that door, and finds a short tunnel leading to a medium sized non descript room. The wall of the room are lined with swords crossed over shields. As he moves in to investigate, the door behind him slams shut, and a set of two swords and one shield fly towards him to attack.

He ducks and dodges them, while the party outside hears the door slam shut. They move forward to help him, but must travel slowly, as they have been warned not to touch the pillars. Oskar, William, Kargur, and Galrond move along the outer walls, while Lanis heads into the room and Billy moves along the walls north to get a better view from outside of melee range.

Oskar is the first to reach the door, but not before Lo’ser is slashed by one of the swords, and sees several Magic Missiles wash off of them harmlessly. He also attempts to raise a magical shield, but it sputters and flickers a few moments later, as the Tomb’s dispelling destroys it.

Oskar draws his spear and tells Lo’ser to open the door. Lo’ser does so, but that apparently angers the tomb, as the remainer of the weapons and shields on the walls fly towards him to attack. He quickly tumbles back (and bumps a pillar on his way out). As he begins to float up, he lobs a bead from his necklace of fireballs into the room, turning the majority of the weapons to slag. He floats to the ceiling again, and latches on with his boots.

As Oskar takes his defensive stance, the group continues to head that way. Galrond blasts a sword with Missiles, but they wash harnlessly off of its hardness. William, bringing up the rear, is the only one to move to close to the green face. As he gets near it, the mouth opens wide and sucks him in. A brief scream, and he is gone.

The group makes short work of the swords, with Oskar suffering only slight wounds. They then turn to realize that their cleric is gone. William meanwhile, finds himself being spat nude out of the mouth of the face in the main entryway. The only light is a dim glow from a mist shrouded archway beside him, and the tunnels leads off into the darkness in front of him. Ahead he can see the distant glow of the candle-lit outer hallway, but the light is nowhere near bright enough for him to be assured of avoiding all of the pits that he knows are there.


----------



## James McMurray

The group, having heard William’s scream, begins to search around for him. Galrond, while checking the corner where William was last seen, is also pulled into the mouth and spat out beside William, naked. After a moment’s discussion, they decide that they cannot avoid all of the traps, and should wait for the party’s return. Galrond does use Limited Wish to create a small wooden holy symbol for William, in case they are attacked.

The party debates things, and agrees to leave to attempt to scry for their missing companions. Using Mage Hand and the Boots of Spider Climbing, they manage to get out with no one bouncing off the ceiling (then plummeting to the floor as the pillars’ magic is dispelled by the Tomb). When they reach the main hallway, they see their friends, and everyone returns to Lopolla to regroup and resupply.

William, with the sale of the jeweled crown, manages to get himself a chain shirt, a Long Sword, a new holy symbol, and a few other items. They also take the next two days to create another pair of Boots of Spider Climbing, which Oskar takes (lending Kargur his Boots of Striding and Springing).

Returning to the room with the Pillars, the group begins to investigate the Throne, as they have previously determined that there is a passageway behind it. Thinking that perhaps the crown and scepters are keys, Oskar places the crown upon his head, whereupon he begins to see as if the room were lit by daylight. He also knows somehow that the only way to remove the crown from his head will be to touch it with the scepter. After a few experiments fail to move the throne, he touches the golden end of the scepter to his head and the crown comes off.

Further discussion leads the party to Mage Hand the glowing gem into the Antimagic aura near the door (to ensure it does not explode or something) and Lo’ser moves into the field to experiment further with the Crown and Scepter. When he attempts to remove it, he instead touches the silver end, and is immediately turned to a pile of dust upon the floor, while the crown and scepter drop to floor with a clang. William gathers his remains (keeping his distance from the items) and Casts Resurrection, returning Lo’ser to life, albeit down a level, and shaken from his experience.

Further experimentation with the scepter (leaving the crown alone for now) manages to lower the throne by touching the scepter to an engraving of the crown upon it. Behind the throne is a small passageway leading up a flight of stairs to two large mithral doors. Upon the steps is a silver key, which the party collects. 

A bit of experimentation with the door (resulting in shocked hands for Oskar) manages to open them (the scepter being the key, not either of the keys found earlier). Behind the doors is a room. In each corner of the room stands a large iron statue, which detect as both magical and evil. In the center of the room are a large sarcophagus, two triple-locked (and poison trapped) chests, and a bronze urn with a gold and silver stopper.

William creates walls of stone, blocking off the East and West walls (and therefore also the statues). This will give the group some warning should the things animate and begin to attack. Lo’ser moves forward and investigates the urn. As he steps near it, smoke begins to rise from its top, and he moves forward to open it. A massive efreet billows forth, “You have freed me, what is it you desire?”

Billy warns Lo’ser that efreet are known to be evil, at which the Efreet angrily replies “you would judge me by the actions of my kind!?” Billy rapidly backs down, stating that he respects power. The efreet is slightly mollified, and turns back to Lo’ser. “I do not have much time, you much make your requests. A small hourglass appears in the air beside him, and the sands begin to pour.

“I want to know the path to Acererak” say Lo’ser.

Pointing to the West wall, the efreet replies, “Through that doorway. What else?”

Lo’ser requests a weapon which he may smite Acererak with, and a glowing Dwarven War axe appears at his feet. He then asks for the statues to be gone, whereupon the efreet leaves. As the group batters down the wall pointed to, they see that the statue behind it is gone, and a bit of searching shows a secret door.

Passing through, they find a small passageway, and Lo’ser’s careful progress reveals another secret door. The party turns to go through it, and finds (after a bit of searching) a small room. A keyhole in the floor is the only feature within the room, and when Lo’ser places the golden key into it, he is blown to the ceiling. Moving back (unscathed due to his cat-like reflexes), he tries the silver key, and the floor beneath him moves upwards. As he leaves the room, Acererak’s true crypt is revealed. Within it are the skull and treasure seen via scrying before, as well as Galrond, Lo’ser, and William’s missing equipment.

Billy talks to the skull, but it does not reply. Lo’ser moves cautiously in and retrieves his items. When the skull does not react, the group moves in to retrieve everyone else’s items, and then prepares to grab the Amulet. When it is touched, the air in the room swirls, and a man-sized ghostly figure appears, moving towards Oskar (the one who touched the amulet). Oskar hits it, while it tries to hit Oskar and misses. The party attacks, and it soon falls back, only to reform larger. William turns it, and as it flees through the pedestal containing the skull, Kargur takes a swing at it. His blade passes through the Wraith’s form, and hits the pedestal, sending the skull and Amulet to the floor. 

As the skull drops, it rebounds and floats up to chest level. Looking around the room, it lets out a horrendous howl. The party attacks it, but spells and weapons all seem to rebound off of it with no effect. It moves out into the center of the room and turns towards Billy. Opening its mouth, the thing sucks in air, and Billy collapses to the floor, rapidly turning to dust. The gem in the skull’s left eye-socket begins to glitter from the inside, as Billy’s Soul prepares to become food for the demi-lich.

Kargur assails the thing, and manages to hurt it. Lo’ser charges with his new War axe, and as he strike it, the axe shatters into pieces, and a small crack appears upon the skull. The skull turns and swallows Galrond’s soul as well.

The remainder of the party’s attacks are futile, and Oskar grabs the amulet, telling the group to retreat.

The skull turns to Kargur, who has yet again hammered it repeatedly with his Holy Avenger, and draws his soul in. now both eyes and a tooth gleam, evidence that there may be hope for the victims.

William utters a Holy Word, and the power of Heironious works its way into the crack caused by Lo’ser’s axe, shattering the skull into many fragments. The group begins to gather the fallen, when the turned wraith returns, reaching through a wall to drain William’s life force. As William collapses, Lanis, Oskar, and Lo’ser prepare for battle yet again.

They manage to defeat the thing, but not before Lanis’s life force is also snuffed out. Moments later, William rises as a wraith, but Oskar and Lo’ser quickly destroy the thing. They also destroy Lanis’ wraith form the moment it appears.

Lost and unable to return, the two decide to return to the entrance, where Lo’ser will attempt to activate Kargur’s belt.

They gather the dust of their fallen friends, as well as some of the gear, and Lo’ser activates the amulet. Unfortunately, he messes something up, and the two find themselves trapped upon the astral plane, with an angry Glabrezu bearing down upon them. Just as it is about to reach them, Acererak’s bindings drag it back into the area it is forced to guard, and it relies upon its magic to Blight the two, and stun Lo’ser.

Oskar grabs Lo’ser, and they retreat. Although it attempts to call them back with magic, Oskar resists and the two fly to freedom. They travel for quite a while, with Oskar trying to call out to the Solar they met previously (but with no answer). Finally, they meet up with 2 traveling clerics, who direct them to a Silver Pool, and also heal them in exchange for a large diamond and Lo’ser’s Necklace of Fireballs.

Traveling onward, the two skirt around a Githyanki fortress, and turn invisible to avoid a Githzerai raiding party. They finally make it to the color pool and step through, to collapse from exhaustion as the days of travel catch up to them.

Oskar awakens to an owlbear chewing on his stomach, and they manage to kill the beast before passing back out. They spend three days wandering in the forest, and trying to activate the Amulet (frequently causing it to backlash and slam Lo’ser with magical force. They finally succeed and meet up with Amastacia, who remembers the Amulet’s command word and takes them back to retrieve their fallen comrades and treasure.

The group heads to Greyhawk City, where the high priest of Pelor communes and uses divination. Feeling that the group has made definite progress, he takes a few days to Resurrect the fallen party members, who then return to Lopolla to study the Amulet and decide what to do.

Kargur, on his first night back among the living, awakens to see a Glabrezu standing over him. In its small arms it holds the Crown and Scepter it was sent to retrieve. He tries to stand, but the beast gates in 4 Hezrou, whose stench sends him reeling. As he retches and gags, the Glabrezu gathers his gear and the Hezrous tear him apart.

The group finds his mangled corpse the next day, and take him to Greyhawk city again, where he is resurrected.


----------



## Schmoe

Man, it's tough to be an adventurer!  Do they get frequent-corpse discounts at the temple?


----------



## James McMurray

They kind of get discounts. The Priest doesn't charge them for the casting, as he prefers services. He does of course make them provide the 5,000gp gem though.


----------



## James McMurray

While waiting for the priest, the group decides to resupply Kargur, as he was found naked in a ransacked room, with only his glove on his hand. They purchase a Breastplate and a Masterwork Shield for him, as well a Handy Haversack and a few more accouterments. The next day, the High Priest of Pelor brings him back from the dead, and the group begins to discuss what they shall do.

The group argues over where to go next. Oskar suggests they perform experiments with the mouths to determine where items go when they enter them. Others wish to attempt to retrieve Kargur’s gear, as they believe it will have been taken to the Demi-Lich’s tomb. Kargur is the one most behind this idea, as he feels ineffectual without his Shield of Command. 

To ratify the situation, the group decides to use Oskar’s new spear of Luck to wish for a Shield of Command. They do so, but magic being what it is they do not get the effects they had hoped for. Instead they receive a Shield +1 that is capable of casting Command once per day. Kargur yet again presses to head back to the demi-lich’s tomb, but others disagree, feeling there is no time for the casualties such an act could bring on. In the end, they decide to commune in the hopes of determining their best course of action. And another day slips by as the undead of Shiboleth grow stronger.

The next day’s communing involves the following questions:

1) Is Lo’ser Lawful?
a. No
2) Is Lo’ser Chaotic?
a. Yes
3) Is Lo’ser Evil?
a. No
4) Is Lo’ser Good?
a. Yes
5) Does Heironious approve of us traveling with Lo’ser?
a. Yes
6) Is the first mouth we encountered the gate to the City of Moil?
a. Yes
7) Is the second mouth we encountered the gate to the City of Moil?
a. No
8) Is the third mouth we encountered the gate to the City of Moil?
a. No
9) Will our equipment journey with us through the gate?
a. Yes
10) Can we retrieve Kargur’s Gear without fighting the demi-lich?
a. No
11) Is the Amulet that was found more than simply a clue?
b. No
12) Will William’s magic work in the City of Moil?
c. Partially
13) Should we continue exploring the tomb?
a. No
14) Has the demi-lich returned?
a. Yes
15) 
16) Can Galrond have a pony? (This last was asked at Galrond’s insistence, and as nobody could think of a better question, William obliged)?
a. Yes
b. 
Armed with their new knowledge, the group returns to the Tomb of Acererak and step into the mouth in the entry hallway, each holding a shard of Acererak’s skull. They appear on the far side moments later, beneath a roiling sky limned with flashes of massive lightning. Before them stretch three bridges, hanging over a sea of black mist. Rising from the mists are several towers, connected by more bridges. Ahead there is a three-way fork on their bridge, and a large rusty iron obelisk covered in writing. The air is bitingly cold, and frost lines everything as their breaths turn to steam in the frigid air.

Galrond looks at Oskar and says “You’ve got magic on you.” A few moments later he says, “I can still see it.” When Oskar’s face stays puzzled, Galrond explains, “Our spells are not being dispelled.” Although it comes as good news, William and Billy are a bit irked that they did not think to ask that question, as they are armed with only instantaneous spells and are thus not at peak effectiveness.

Lo’ser moves forward to check out the obelisk, and finds the following engraved upon it:

The City that Waits was the City of Moil
Where dreams truly died, but bodies yet toil.
In slumber unrelenting, they lie yet in wait.
Biding their time to seal your fate.


Discovery of the Void and my fortress within
Demands exploration of peril again.
Find amid towers degenerate the single key
And resolve the dilemma of problems three.


Beard the Forceful dragon in its windswept lair;
Remove the key from the solid air.
Beneath webs of glowing emerald,
Hangs a riddle-box, ripe to be solved.


The Darkweaver endures the cold in her lair;
Grasp your fate with consummate care.
The lifeless dream that marks the crime
Is The Vestige that guards the sands of time.


Each resolution removes one obstacle
For those who peruse this written oracle.
The Phantom released flies you in fashion
To my inevitable Fortress of Conclusion.


The group debates which way to head, and decides they will move towards the leftmost tower. Lo’ser scouts ahead, and he sees a mural of a sunrise over the entry arch. It is covered in the ever-present frost. Turning right in the entry hall he finds a rubble filled room with a throne in the back. The rear of the throne is embossed with an ice covered sunset scene, and Lo’ser moves on. A little way past this area, he finds an ice-filled hallway that leads to a Wand held clamped atop a pedestal. The pedestal has invisible runes upon it, which he deciphers: “The choice of days empowers the wand, but the choice cannot be made from here.” Taking up the wand, he returns to the group, who decide that perhaps the runes refer to a different tower, so they head down the central pathway.

The runes above the door are not deciphered, and the group moves in. The interior of the Tower is made up of floorless space, dropping down into the black mists below. A slender catwalk moves out to the central spire and then circles it, with three paths leading off. The first leads to a silver archway filled with mists. Atop the archway are three symbols, engraved in Blue, Red, and Black tile. To the left of the arch are three similarly colored handprints, also inlaid in tile. The second path leads to a similar archway, with only a single yellow handprint, while the third archway found has a single blue handprint.

Lo’ser deciphers the runes on the first arch partially, and can tell they read _____ of Health. Kargur says they may mean destroyer of health, so the party avoids that color. Lo’ser touches the red handprint, and the mists in the arch turn to red. He steps through to find himself falling towards the black mists, in midair a couple of hundred feet from the nearest bridge. Reacting quickly and casting Fly, he heads towards the bridge. 

He hears screeching coming from below, sounding like fingernails on a chalkboard, and looks down to see a swarm of Black dots hurtling towards him. He redoubles his efforts to reach the bridge.

The party, seeing he has not returned, also steps through and begins to fall. William activates his Hero’s Cloak, and as the Massive feathery wings unfold from his back, he swoops to catch Oskar. Billy touches Kargur and Lanis and Dimension Doors to the bridge, while Galrond casts Fly.

A second group of Black dots appear, but fireballs and Chained Sacrifice spells make very short work of the creatures. Lo’ser scouts again, and finds that they are on the bridge he first went down, near the tower with the Sunset mural. The main body of the group returns to the Tower of Portals and waits in the warmth, while Lo’ser returns to scout the Tower of Morning. 

They take a couple of hours to warm up (aided by a Mass Heal from William) and also to identify the Wand of Days. They find that it can call forth the light of the sun, but that it is currently without any charges.

Returning to the first tower they examined, Lanis takes out his bastard sword and activates its flame. As the ice coating melts away from the mural above the archway, everyone watches on. They get the impression that it actually depicts a sunset, but are unsure why. Lanis, Oskar, and Billy slump to the ground asleep, pulled into Orcus’ curse upon the city. William attempts to awaken Billy and although the group determines that it is a curse, they are unable to affect it with a simple remove curse spell. The sleeping bodies are gathered and Lo’ser moves in to investigate the tower.

Before Lo’ser leaves, Galrond touches the circlet upon his head and says, “Heironious, please grant this supplicant your glory.” A crown of arcing lightning bolts shimmers and swirls atop Lo’ser’s head, and he moves out into the ancient city.

Entering the tower, he finds several rubble filled rooms, and thorough searching reveals nothing of interest. He then finds a large library with empty shelves. Moving to explore, he steps around a corner and feels a bone-numbing cold. A corpse on the floor at his feet cracks its way free of a thin layer of ice that covers it, then stands and casts two spells. Lo’ser recognizes the second as Blink.

Lo’ser Magic Missiles the creature, then turns to leave, but the hallway he is in fills with webbing. He forces his way through it, then changes his mind as a Massive Dire Wolf is summoned behind him. Dimension Dooring to another room, he is rapidly found by the wolf and the undead sorcerer, who attack him. He then Dimension Doors even farther to another room and heads for the exit, fleeing back towards the party, chased by the wolf and zombie.

As he reaches the party, they prepare for battle. The wolf fades into mist as it charges, and the Zombie stops to cast two spells. The archway to the tower fills with web, after the zombie’s first spell of haste takes effect.

Galrond casts Mass Haste then tries to break through the webbing and fails, while Kargur takes the fallen Lanis’s sword and begins to burn his way through them. William moves out onto the bridge, but is glued in place by the creature’s magic. Lo’ser, having forgotten the shield spell, casts magic missiles which slide harmlessly off of it. 

The creature summons two more wolves, and William places a layered wall of stone between them. The zombie’s blink lets him step right through though, and he begins to drain William’s life force (as well as that of his two summoned wolves. Kargur charges forward, and the group’s combined assaults manage to drop the thing twice, but it keeps standing back up as it drains energy from those around it. Finally Galrond breaks free of the webbing and moves up to cast Polymorph, which turns the thing into a large dirt clod. Lo’ser moves up and kicks the dirt off of the bridge, and it plummets into the mists below.

The party regroups, and Lo’ser decides to scout a different tower this time. He moves back to the fork and heads right, which takes him to a tower whose archway is topped with a jumble of symbols. He cannot decipher them, and moves in. Searching through several rubble-filled rooms he finds absolutely nothing of interest, until he opens a door and comes foot-to-face with a fallen zombie. As his life-force is drained by the proximity to the thing, he blasts it with magic missiles and flees back to the group. This time the thing does not follow, and the party decides to send Kargur and Galrond back with Lo’ser to dispatch the thing.

As the group moves up to where it lays on the ground quiescent, Galrond casts another polymorph, and the thing shifts form into a wood and copper dessert tray. Kargur slams the thing with William’s mace of disruption, knocking off a wheel. After Galrond tells him “I’m not fixing that” he rolls the thing out to the bridge and it too plummets into the depths of the black mists. The party yet again regroups, and Lo’ser decides to investigate the bridge that exited from the Tower of Portals.

It takes him to a tower, but this one is formed of solid steel. Looking in he sees a floor some 120’ below him, with a ladder beside the entryway leading down. On the floor below is a glowing blue pillar of force, with something on it that cannot be made out from this distance. Lo’ser mounts the ladder and heads down, but stops when a booming deep voice greets him. “Hello, how are you doing? I don’t get many visitors here.”

Lo’ser climbs back up the ladder and when the voice asks, “Leaving so soon?” he answers back. “Ummm… Hello. Who are you?”

“I am Al’raktal. And you are?”

“Lo’ser”

“What brings you here?”

“I’m an explorer. What are you doing here?”

The voice laughs, “It seems we’ve gotten a few explorers here lately. I live here temporarily, and I am the Keeper of the Key.”

As the conversation continues, Lo’ser learns that whoever it is he is speaking with works for Acererak to guard a key. He has been here for 50 years. Lo’ser leaves to inform the group.

The party gathers in Heironious’s Guest House and discusses the situation. Galrond, in an attempt to free his friends from the curse, asks Heironious for guidance. As his limited wish takes hold, his eyes fade to black, then flare a brighter gold, and he mouths the words, “The source of all life shall free the sleepers.” As Galrond’s eyes return to their ‘normal’ gold, he sighs deeply. “That’s it. Unless there is dire emergency need, I will not be calling upon Heironious to do things that we could do through other means anymore. It’s just too damned draining.”

The party agrees that this divination probably means the sun, but can not figure out how to bring the sun here, since they are unsure as to how to recharge the wand they found earlier. With little else to do, Kargur, Galrond, and Lo’ser head back to the tower with the voice, leaving William in the Mansion to watch over Billy, Lanis, and Oskar.

As they reach the entryway the voice calls up, “Hello again Lo’ser. I see you brought some friends with you. I certainly hope this does not mean that you are going to attack me? But then again, that seems to be what happens when you hire on as a guard.”

Kargur yells out "No, we have not come here to attack you, but instead to talk. Alas, with this cold, we may not be able to stay long." He calls upon this Holy Order's training to sense out around him for the taint of evil. 

Al'raktal replies, "No need to shout youngling, I can hear you just fine. It is a pity you will not be staying long, it tends to get a bit lonely here in the City. I am glad you have not elected to throw your lives away for a key. Although battle tends to alleviate the boredom, it is rarely a long affair, and certainly less entertaining than enlightened conversation amongst intellectuals."

Galrond interjects, "I agree. I am Galrond Glorykin. Pleasure to meet you."

"Los'er tells us that you have been here many years, and know of the curse Orcus has placed upon this city. We feel afraid that some of our fellow, uh, explorers may have accidentally fallen under this curse. Would there be any information you might share as to the curse and how to help our friends? Also, we have encountered certain inhabitants of the city whom wake from blocks of ice when approached and attack us with spells and force. Are these the original city dwellers, or are they newer creatures to this sleeping place

"I'm afraid I told him almost all of my knowledge regarding the curse. Orcus' followers in this city turned their backs on him and were cursed. When a sect of sun worshippers rose up and began to vie with the Demon Lord's clergy for power in the city, he stripped away their sunlight and decreed that if they believed the sun to be their savior, it should be truth. He put them all to sleep and dragged the city here, to where the sun will never shine."

"Those poor fools you have encountered are indeed this city's cursed souls. Or at least, they are the few who have managed to avoid becoming trapped within the Vestige, where most of the souls survive tot his day. I would offer you a bit of advice, should you come upon that thing, flee or it will most assuredly make you a part of it."

"Now then, I have offered up to you some small modicum of my knowledge, what have you to trade for it? Perhaps the tale of what brings you to this accursed place. I highly doubt you stumbled upon these spires and spans by sheer luck, especially given your friend's recognition of my employer's name."

Kargur replies, "Yes, it is actually your employer that we eventually seek.  I am Kargur Melasur, and I have been, and shall be, quested upon a long arduous trail.  The band I travel with has done and seen much over the years, from demons bursting forth from Temples of Pelor, to mighty chromatic Wyrms in secret lairs of power, to the undead flowing from Temples of St. Cuthbert.  We have all see more death than a normal person could imagine in a dozen lives, and now that which employs you has made most of that but memories of better times.  And currently, the bastard has my shield..." As he is talking, he sends forth his paladin's senses, but does not detect a source of evil. He also does not see anything within range of his detect evil capabilities.

Al'raktal grunts, a guttural thing most assuredly not from a human throat. It seems more a sign of amusement than of annoyance however. "Well, I can tell you that he whom you seek lies beyond the black spire. Unfortunately you will have to find another route, as I have been tasked with guarding the key."

"It is apparent you have seen many things in your travels," he continues. Indeed some would say that you have seen much more than is usually allotted to one of such a fleeting race. I congratulate you on that." Although it goes unsaid, there is an undertone of danger in the words, which only Kargur's Innuendo detects. The meaning is unclear, but it is certainly a threatening tone. Al'raktal continues much more jovially, "I can see you are upset at Acererak. Whatever has he done to engender such annoyance in you?"

Galrond has spent the time listening and casting about for magical auras. He turns to Kargur and whispers, "There is most definitely several auras out there. Evocation effects layered. I can't tell what they are, but I can't see them and thus I assume they are made of force."

Al'raktal interrupts, "Yes, they are made of force, very astute of you to figure that out. They are the floors of the previous tower, made permanent by Acererak's magics. Now then, where were we? Oh yes, you were about to chronicle your dealings with Acererak.


----------



## James McMurray

Kargur’s (a.k.a. he of the one track mind ) only response is, “He stole my shield.”

Al’raktal says, “And this is your only problem with him?”

Kargur tells him that he has also caused troubles for the group and other people, but that the shield is his primary concern at the moment. After a few more pleasantries, Kargur, Galrond, and Lo’ser bid farewell to Al’raktal. When they return to the party, the group decides that without more information, they would prefer to search more towers and come back later to attack the guardian of the key.

After resting for a night and preparing spells to protect against the cold, the party decides to first search out the tower where the party turned a zombie into a dessert cart. With the group staying a room or two behind Lo’ser, the search begins. Many rubble-filled rooms are searched and found empty. Then, Lo’ser enters a room and does not return. He has found the room of final games, where Moilians from ages past would play the highest stakes card games. The master of the game sat in the chair at the head of the tables, and the loser of the game was forced into the ceiling’s Mirror of Life Trapping. They were generally freed shortly thereafter, with a service pledged to the winner. Unfortunately for Lo’ser, there is no one to free him.

After he fails to return, the party investigates. Entering the seemingly empty room, Kargur looks up and is pulled into the Mirror himself. The rest of the party manages to avoid its snare, and Galrond casts Greater Dispelling, momentarily deactivating it. As the mirror shuts off, Lo’ser and Kargur drop from their cells back into the room, along with two Moilian zombies and a Human female.

“Darash? Latark na’tal?” says the woman, and then moves back tot he corner of the room to draw a shortsword and stand confused. Meanwhile, as the zombies' life draining auras begin to take effect, the party springs into action. They quickly pummel the two into submission with spells and blades. One of the two is disintigrated by Billy, whil the other is turned to dust by William’s Mace of Diruption. The party is a bit weakened, nut no one is seriously hurt.

“Sati. Dal’tok?” says the woman.

Kargur, drawing upon his skills learned in the Middle Circle, activates his tongues ability and asks, “Who are you?” while simultaneously detecting evil. The woman turns up positive for the taint, with a moderate strength aura.

“I am Tsaerext. Who are you?” she replies.

“We are explorers. Do you work for Acererak?”

“Who?”

“Do you work for Orcus?”

“No. I work for myself. May I leave now?”

“Why should we let an evil witch such as yourself go free?”

“Pardon me? I am neither evil nor a witch. Is it your peoples’ custom to accuse others without grounds? How rude.”

Further discussion leads them to believe that she is from the city before the curse. When Kargur tells her that the city is extremely cold because they are in an extremely cold place (the Negative Material plane) she laughs at his obvious logic.

The party decides to take her to her home so that she may get warmer clothing. When they take her outside, they learnt hat a large portion of the city is no longer here. The group discusses amongst them what to do with her, and decide to take her back to the tower of Portals, where it is warmer, and will grant her freedom if she tells them what the portals lead to. 

She takes them around the ring of portals and explains that one leads to the outer edge of the city, another to the Tower of Health, still another to the Periphery, and one to the Tower of Discipline, where criminals were held and punished. As they come up to the last of the gates, Tsaerext says, “Ah ha. Moil may have fallen, but surely Kainrath stil stands. Goodbye fools.” With that she activates the portal and the mists which fill it are immediately sucked away. With Moil’s move and the time passed, the gate now points to a spot deep in the heart of the plane of vacuum. Tsaerext, Kargur, Oskar, and Lanis manage to grab the sides, but the remainder of the group are sucked into the gate, and the air leaps from their lungs.

Billy, who had previously cast fly upon himself manages to get back out, and he places a wall of force behind the group to prevent them from travelling deeper into the plane. Oskar attempts to strike Tsaerext’s hands off of the portal to revenge the group against her mistake. His attempt sends him hurtling into the gate. Moments later, Billy puts off saving his friends for a moment to blast her with a silent stilled disintegrate. His lapse causes the death of Lo’ser by suffocation.

With a combination of walls of force for bridges and flying, the party manages to get out and deactivate the gate. William has passed out and Lo’ser is dead, but Kargur revives William, who then Resurrects Lo’ser. However, as Lo'ser has not previously acquired a large enough gemstone, a True Resurection by William is not possible.


----------



## Krellic

Fun!  Gotta love your take on this module!


----------



## James McMurray

Thanks! For the most part it has been a straight on conversion. I did change the headmistress to make her someone the party knows, as a recurring villain is more personal than a nameless vampire.

I changed the tomb a bit because I wanted to use my cockroach demons and soul ravger demon instead of snakes and a giant skeleton. I felt they fit in better with Acererak's demonic ties.

Finally, I changed the tower where the key is (the voice they've been talking to) because I didn't want to convert the Brine Dragon when I had a decent alternative from the ELH playtest document available.

The first demilich they faced was a straight-up conversion. The next one or two (haven't decided yet) will be using the template.

Any ideas on what else I could change / augment to make it more enjoyable for my group?


----------



## James McMurray

After spending a few minutes recuperating and discussing what to do, the party elects to return to the tower where Tsaerext was found, and finish exploring it. A few rooms are found to be filled with useless rubble, but the group does find a large bar looking area. All of the tables and chairs have been broken and ruioned except for a single table and chair, which have been pulled up to a large window. Atop the table lies a half gone bottle of absinthe, a mute statement of the person who did this' actions here. Carved into the table are the words "Galen was here." A few members ofthe party recognize Galen's name as the wizard from Brindenford they had previously dealt with, including the sale of Arthax the red dragon. The party realizes with this information where he disappeared to over 20 years ago.

The only other things of interest in the room are humanoid shaped breaks in the frost-covered ground, showing where some 30-odd people had apparently frozen and then left. Under the bar in a hidden compartment a magical chalice is found. It is later identified and has the power to cast neutralise poison on anyt liquids placed in it.

Leaving the room and heading deeper intot eh spire, Lo’ser scouts ahead again. He passes through the shattered central room and into a large chamber against the Southern wall. The only thing in the room besides a few bits of rubble is a humanoid skeleton, encased in a pillar of ice, with only its skull free from frost.

Cautiously examining the room, Lo’ser gives the thing wide berth. However, after his searches turn up nothing he starts to make his way past the thing to the door behind it. As he approaches, the undead beast’s ice shroud shifts and flows as the creature looks up. Its head bursts into black fire. This causes simultaneous "Oh crap"s from Kargur and Billy, who see the flames and remember the skull which caught Cristoph’s soul on fire in the Black Academy.

"Come to feel my cold embrace my precious?" the thing asks in a rasping shrill voice before it charges. Lo’ser, who is generally considered to be one of the fastest men alive, is caught off guard by the thing’s speed and power. Two claw swipes later Lo’ser falls to the ground, dead yet still slowly burning from the black fire of the beast.

The remainder of the party springs into action as a large sleet storm fills the area, cutting visibility to nil. The warrior types move into the sleet storm carefully to avoid slipping on the ice that immediately forms, and Billy and Galrond both attempt dispells, one of which is successful.

As the battle is joined, the party rapidly learns that their weapons, although somewhat effective, seem to barely scratch the thing’s icy coating, which immediately flows to close any breaches near the skeleton within. The spellcasters also learn that their spells are apparently inefective, as one after another bounces off of the beast. William’s attempt at turning fails as well, hampered as it is by their location (the Negative Material Plane is not a good place to attempt to channel positive energy).

Galrond throws up a wall of force, hoping to give the group time to prepare, as he has seen the black fire before too and is unsure what to do about it. The thing dimension doors past it with ease however.

The warriors fare somewhat better, with Kargur, Lanis, and Oskar managing to nick the thing every so often. However, its return assault is fiercely destructive. Although a few good hits are achieved by the party, it is not long before the majority of the group is nearly fallen, despite a Time Stop by Billy and several applications of Heironious’ Crown of Might on the warriors.

As Billy sees William and Kargur drop nearly simultaneously from the creatures icicle claws, he realizes that discretion is the better part of valor and touches Oskar, Galrond’s body, and William’s bodies and teleports back to the Tower of Portals, leaving Lanis behind (as he was out of reach). His parting words were, "We’ll come back for your body," which did not fill Lanis with confidence.

Lanis takes the moment of distraction to attempt to escape, but when he stops to grab Kargur’s fallen sword, he is struck by the thing. As his soul bursts into flames he flees to the sound of the rasping voice crying after him, "I’ll be waiting for you my pretties." Lanis manages to reach the bridge outside of the Spire before the flames claim him.

Meanwhile, Billy has Plane Shifted back to the outskirts of Lopolla, and he and Oskar begin to track down Amastacia in the hopes that she will be able to purchase diamonds for the party.


----------



## James McMurray

They find Amastacia in her quarters above the Lucky Merchant Inn, one of the finer inns on the edge of the Gladiator and Merchant sectors. After explaining what happened, they talk Amastacia into heading off to the jeweler’s district to find some more (and larger) diamonds. She returns the next day, having found just barely enough. She informs the group that the diamond market here has been nearly depleted by them, and that 5,000gp diamonds are completely unavailable. She had to go to 5 different gem cutters to get these. She can get more though, but it will cost 7,500 each, as she will have to enlist the aid of a friend in creating them.

Also, a new mining company opened up somewhere in the city, but the location of its offices is a closely guarded secret, and they are rumored to be having trouble producing. How they expected to produce in a mine in the center of a vast metropolis is anyone’s guess.

The group teleports William’s body to Greyhawk city, where Billy and Oskar meet with Jacob Sunspear, the High Priest of Pelor. Although he is currently not in need of any work, he understands that the business with Acererak is of great importance, so he does call upon Pelor’s power to True Resurrect William Siege. Billy and Oskar’s excellent negotiation skills get them a “rock bottom” price of one Spear +1 of Spell Storing, one Belt of Counterspelling, and a Lawful Keen Dwarven Waraxe +3.

Over the course of the next few days, William revives his fallen comrades. They then begin to prepare for a return assault. With extended spells and polymorphs (into trolls for some of the combatants), the party prepares as well as they can. Their last preparation is in the form of calling to Heironious for an Ally. As William finishes the spell, a 9’ tall winged woman with emerald skin and a sword taller then the dwarves steps through a shimmering portal. “I have heard the call, what is your request.”

“We need your help in fighting a great evil.”

“May I have a few minutes?” When William nods agreement, Shyla the Planetar moves to the far end of the room and drops to the floor in prayer. 15 minutes later she returns. “Heironious has deigned for me to accompany you, but there is the matter of payment. In exchange for my help, you are to return the Gem of Arlig to its rightful owners.”

“What and where is this gem?” William asks.

“It is in the pommel of your friend’s sword.”

Kargur is greatly disheartened at this news, and responds to the group’s questioning looks, “We liberated it a while back from an evil sorcerer. It is what makes my sword a Holy Avenger.”

Seeing the look on his face, Shyla tells him, “We understand your trepidation. There will be no hard feelings if you do not wish to do this.” Kargur’s only reply is “I can’t refuse.”

Shyla, seeing his doubt, tells him “Heironious teaches that True Strength comes from within.”

Kargur’s reply is a bitter sounding, “Then you’ll be going into the fight without your sword?” The Planetar looks saddened, but does not respond.

They agree to return the gem after the battle with the frosty undead, and Gate back to the City of Moil to the antechamber outside the beast’s lair. Almost as soon as they arrive, another large sleet storm appears in the entrance to the thing’s room, blocking all sight. The Planetar summons an Elder Fire elemental to fight this frozen fiend, as does William. William also summons an Astral Deva, knowing that its mace of disruption might be able to get a lucky blow in on the thing.

The Deva, being immune to cold, charges ahead, but stops short of entering the room. The elementals are also sent ahead, while Galrond casts Mass Haste and Greater dispelling at the storm.

This time the battle starts in favor of the party, as their sheer numbers give them the advantage. Billy raises an anti-magic field just in case, but drops it after a few rounds when it no longer seems necessary.

Kargur manages to deal the lion’s share of the damage during this battle, as his sword cries out for revenge. Lanis’ arrows also scream into the thing. Although they hit consistently, do not seem to harm the beast much, bouncing off his icy shell. Oskar too is in the fray, his axe hitting every so often. The summoned creatures attack as well, using their reach to great advantage. None of them seems capable of piercing the thing’s icy shell however.

In less than a minute, the cold aura of the beast and a couple of cones of cold from it destroy one of the summoned creature, but William and the Planetar keep everyone else standing with Mass Heal spells. Although the Winter Wight manages to hit a few of its foes, the protective spells placed upon them prevent all but the Deva from catching on fire. Kargur’s assault is redoubled as he begins to sacrifice his own life force to power his blows.

Galrond, for want of anything better to do, begins to blast the thing with maximized sacrifice spells, but it shrugs them off. Billy also tries spells, which also fail to harm it, until the end.

As the battle rages, Galrond gets a lucky shot with a spell and sends the beast reeling. It redoubles its efforts to set people on fire, as their burning souls feed it, but is still unable. Moments later, blows from Kargur, Oskar, and Lanis send the beast to its knees. Billy sends a massive barrage of ten magic missiles hurtling into the thing, and Heironious shines upon them as they all hit and shatter the creature into a hundred pieces. The party breathes a sigh of relief, and leans against walls to rest.

Shyla steps up to Kargur and holds out her hand. As he places his sword in it, she grabs the gem and twists, popping it free. The grief on Kargur’s face is plain, as he feels Heironious has taken everything from him, first his shield, then his sword. As the Planetar leaves she says again, “True strength comes from within. Although I did not leave my blade behind, you will notice that I did not use it during that battle. You are a warrior, your sword arm is your strength. Not your sword.”


----------



## Greybar

Love it!  Only posted so I could throw the "Email Notification" switch so I can read the new ones as soon as they're written!
-john


----------



## James McMurray

After resting a few short moments, the group decides to press on. They know that this opportunity (fully prepared and healed) will not come again soon, and begin to explore the tower in earnest. Lo’ser moves ahead and begins to scout. Past the room of the Winter Wight is a staircase, which leads down a level. As the group waits atop the stairs for Lo’ser’s report, they hear a familiar voice from down below, “Our deal is complete now. Come with me.” 

When they hear Lo’ser reply “ok,” William cries out for his circlet while the party runs to see what is happening. Across the hall from the bottom of the stairs, the group finds yet another rubble-filled room. This one is different in that there is a white line painted down the center of it. In the far right corner the group sees Conrad Adar, devilish attorney, and their friend Lo’ser about to step through a Gate. On the other side of the Gate is a hallway, which no one recognizes.

The group springs into action, with several people asking what is happening. Conrad tells them “Do not interfere, my deal is with Lo’ser,” and Lo’ser steps through the gate, moments before William had planned to block it with a Wall of Stone. Conrad opens his book, and, seemingly impossibly, a massive dragon easily 50 times the size of the tome leaps out. Hanging from its tail is another robed figure, dressed like Conrad. The party recognizes Shasalah, the green great wyrm they have dealt with previously, and prudently decides not to attack. Kargur asks Shasalah what she is doing here, and the wyrm replies, “You are lucky my quarrel is with him for now. I will return for you later, especially you, who escaped me previously.” This last is directed at Billy, and his paranoid mind wonders if this dragon is truly Arthax in disguise. 

The second devilish figure reaches into his robe and pulls out a tome of his own. He opens it and an elf is flung out. He commands the elf to kill Conrad. The elf rushes through the gate moments before Shasalah sits her massive frame in front of it, blocking access.

Billy speeds himself up such that everyone appears to be standing still, and repeatedly tries to squeeze his way past the dragon, but cannot get his stout frame through the small opening. As he slows back down though, Shasalah shouts out, “I am free.” and disappears. The group rushes through the gate, which closes behind them.

In the halls of the Baatorian Legal Association, the party prepares to do battle with Conrad, who begins to raise an alarm and sucks Lo’ser into his book. They hurt him, and more devil-lawyers appear, calling forth servants from their tomes. 

Mist, freed from the book, tries to fight Conrad, but the devil’s gaze holds him fast. Moments later he breaks free of the tome’s hold upon him, but still cannot move. When Conrad turns to run though, he is freed. He scurries up a wall and shouts, “I’m not with them!” while sheathing his sword. Both devils and party members wonder which “them” it is he isn’t with.

William raises two walls of stone after a couple of the lawyers and their servants are destroyed. Billy’s magic forces Conrad to dance, and the party pounds upon him and a seemingly unkillable snake called forth by one of the attorneys. As Kargur fights the snake, Mist moves around to stab it, but stumbles and falls, injuring Kargur. Lanis sees this and begins to divide his fire between the snake and Mist, until the elf yet again sheathes his blade.

The snake finally dies, just as massive bangs are heard on the walls of stone. Something wants in. Kargur turns to mist and opens his paladin senses wide to try to ascertain if Mist is evil or not. Unfortunately, he does not realize that he is deep in the Nine Hells, and the malevolent nature of the plane itself slams into him, numbing his mind and leaving him stunned and breathless.

The battle rages on, with Oskar and Billy trying to kill a dancing Conrad. As Oskar impales Conrad on his blade, the attorney screams. His robes crumble to dust and his body breaks into a thousand worms, which squirm and burrow into the stark black floor of the hallway. Moments later they are gone, with no sign of their passing. The tome still lies on the ground though, and William scoops it into his haversack. As he grabs it, the figures on the cover also grab him, but he manages to shake them loose. The group starts to circle up to plane shift home.

Before they can reach William’s side of the hallway, several massive devils teleport in, at least one of which is recognizable as a Pit Fiend. Fire erupts in the hallway from a Meteor Swarm and two fireballs, and everyone is scorched, but no one is killed. Galrond teleports away from the beast in front of him, and grabs Oskar and Kargur, teleporting them and himself to the far side of the hall where William waits to Plane shift out.

Oskar hits the Pit Fiend and angers it, but the group then manages to circle up and plane shift back to the outskirts of Lopolla, where they teleport back to the city and shuffle rapidly into Heironious’ guest house.


----------



## Malik Doom

Absolutely wonderful stuff.

Do you have the stuff you converted to 3e???

I would love the file, send it to me please.

Thanks

bblaney001@yahoo.com


----------



## James McMurray

Sorry. It has mostly been done on post its for DCs and on the fly. Quite a few of the creatures made it into the ELH though (blackball, winter wight, and demi-lich).


----------



## James McMurray

Back in the guest house, the group begins to discuss what to do. William is highly concerned about getting his circlet out of the book, and finding out what happened with Lo’ser. The party decides to rest that night and then head far from the city and experiment with the book. That evening, they page through the tome. They find that it is filled with contracts in hundreds of different languages. Twelve are written in celestial, several in draconic, hundreds in common, at least 50 in different dialects of fiendish, and many others in languages no one recognizes.

The next morning, William Communes with Heironious:

 Is Mist Lawful?
No

 Is Mist Chaotic?
Yes

 Is Mist Evil?
No

 Is Mist good?
Yes

 Does Heironious approve of Mist?
Maybe

 Does Heironious Mind Mist traveling with us?
No

 Should we free the creatures from the book?
Yes and No

 Should we destroy the book?
Yes and No

 Can we recharge the wand found in the city in the same tower it was found in?
Yes

 Does Heironious approve of our progress?
Yes and No

 Should we send all of our followers to fight the undead in the Gran March.
No

 Has Heironious forsaken Kargur?
No.


In the wild fifty miles outside of Lopolla, the group begins to experiment with the book. They try holding it up and commanding creatures out of it, they also try to tear it. However, once Billy sees that the figures on it still move when placed in an anti-magic field, he realizes it must be of artifact power. He tells everyone to stand back, and casts Mordenkainen’s Disjunction. Gritting his teeth in fear of the backlash he knows will come if this works, he is momentarily relieved when nothing happens. The group puts the book back in William’s haversack and gates back to the city of Moil, intent on completing their quest, and knowing that Billy can try again twice tomorrow.

In the tower, the group searches around. This time Mist does the scouting, with a Lesser Telepathic Bond to keep him in communication with William. His original searches turn up very little, although he does find 141 Moilian platinum pieces in a rubble filled room. They are stamped with the visage of Orcus on one side and the city of Spires on the other.

In another room, he finds a huge roulette wheel. He tells the party about it, and then moves on. He finds a stark white robe sitting pristine in an ancient cloak room, pristine amongst the aged and decayed cloaks and robes. He keeps it for future study and returns to the group. It is indeed magical. The group decides to see about the roulette wheel, and everyone moves into the room.

There is a plaque beside it and Mist deciphers the ancient Moilian script, reading aloud, “In games of Chance there are risks to be taken, the winner is blessed, the loser forsaken.” As he says the word “to” the roulette wheel springs to life. The black ball spins and the wheel turns. As the wheel slows, the ball skitters to a halt, and Mist feels himself speeding up slightly. He feels more dexterous (+2 inherent bonus to dex). The party is a bit confused at this, but they believe that saying a number is what activated it. When Mist deciphers the glyphs in the slots and sees they are the numbers one through six, and that the ball landed in two, they are positive that their assessment was correct.

Mist grabs the black ball and the group discusses what to do. As they talk, Kargur unwittingly uses the word “one” in a sentence. The ball leaps from Mist’s hand and the wheel spins again, this time landing on one! Kargur glows briefly, and feels a bit of his old confidence returning (+2 charisma). The discussion continues, and Galrond has a slip of the tongue, but miraculously he too wins the game (+2 charisma)! (Out of game: those lucky rolls were really annoying the evil GM in me  ).

As the discussion continues, people begin to carefully choose their words, but even so, Billy manages to slip up. Unfortunately he does not win, and the party gasps as his eyes, ears, and nose are simply erased, leaving his head blank except for a mouth. He starts to ask what is going on, but when he cannot hear himself, thinks he must have been sent to a dark and empty prison plane of some sort. His fears are confirmed when a massive claw reaches to hold him. Of course, the claw is only Oskar in his polymorphed Troll form, but Billy doesn’t know and he dimension doors away to a random corner of the room.

William creates a telepathic bond with Billy as well, explains to him what happened. Galrond leaves the room, as does everyone else, so that they may speak freely. William leads Billy to the hallway, and a Limited Wish, Greater Dispelling, Remove Curse, and Heal all fail to fix Billy. As a last effort, William calls upon Heironious to grant a miracle, and it works. Billy’s face is restored.


----------



## Immort

Every time I git inta the flow of this story, ya suddenly goes on a writin' break.  Then, I finally pick up and start readin' agin, and whammo, another break.  So yesterday, I finally git caught up agin, and now, a whole day, and no update.  Yer killin' me here.

-Immort


----------



## James McMurray

*Here ya go. *

The group continues their exploration, and finds a massive vault door. As Mist begins to search it for traps, a glowing symbol appears upon it, and its power strikes him dead. The party cautiously investigates, and Galrond detects necromantic and enchantment magic upon the door. Both auras get dispelled, and the party debates what to do with Mist. Oskar offers up his resurrection gem, telling William to use it if Oskar does not need it, and the group decides they will resurrect him tomorrow.

They continue examining the door, and Galrond Gates Cristoph in to pick the lock. A confused Cristoph is pulled through the gate and after he picks the lock returned to his home. The party does manage a brief explanation of what happened to him, but there is little time for father and son to catch up.

As the door swings open, Oskar sees a humanoid figure stand up from a chair and sheathe itself in metal. The party feels the familiar drain of the Moilian undead, and battle is joined.

Lanis fires several arrows into the creature, and it reels back, but then it slams its fists together and a shimmering column of blue force assails those in the doorway, knocking Lanis down and injuring Oskar and Billy. The party charges in and rapidly knocks it down. Billy steps up and an antimagic field stops its drain while they decide how to remove its gear while it is sheathed in metal. They finally decide that William’s mace would be best, and the field is dropped with everyone but Alzaran (Galrond’s lantern archon familiar), Oskar, and William near the thing. Oskar pounds on it to ensure it stays down, while Alzaran touches the metal wrap and teleports it away. Moments later the creature turns to dust, and the group collects its gear.

---------

The party decides to return to Lopolla to revive Mist and identify the items. The next day, they again head out of the city and Billy casts Disjunction at the Tome. The second time he does it, he feels a gut wrenching tear at his insides, and fear fills him as all of his knowledge of the workings of magic is stripped from his mind. He also feels a sibilant and ancient anger deep in the back of his mind, but it fades seconds later. However, there is little time to deal with that, as all hell breaks loose. The creatures trapped in the tome begin to pour forth, crushing Billy and each other in a tidal wave of scales and flesh.

The rest of the party, standing back a hundred feet or so is soon swept up in the wave as well. Tossed and turned as voices cry freedom and vengeance. A foot manages to find its way into Lanis’s belly, while Galrond is crushed to the floor under the weight of a 12’ tall demonic looking figure with six stalks on either side in place of its arms. Oskar instinctively takes his stance and it is that alone which allows him to hold his ground as humans, elves, dwarves, and indescribable beasts hurtle through his field of vision. Everyone is swept back and separated by the crush of beings being freed.

And then the big things start to come out.


----------



## Krellic

Ouch!  Suddenly the Negative Material Plane got crowded!


----------



## James McMurray

They went back to the prime before doing that. Sorry about the confusion. Obviously everyone in my game knows tha Lopolla is a city on the Prime, and it didn't even cross my mind to explain that here. DOH!

Oh well, on to the next update, which is basically a catalog of the big nasties, and who is fighting who. My wife and I did one of the fights today, and the rest of the gaming group meet tomorrow. We'll be taking different combatants and running the seven or so other battles.


----------



## James McMurray

Several of the hapless people still near the tome are crushed as a massive wall of golden scales burst forth and shoot skyward. The dragon shouts a cry of freedom in draconic and continues upwards, where it watches the unfolding scene below. Even its many years have not seen a sight such as this.

People run screaming still, and those who look back release gut wrenching cries of terror and stare as a mummified corpse steps calmly from the book. It is slammed into by a demonic figure rushing to escape, and its fist slams out. The demon screams in terror and pain, and rapidly crumbles to dust. The mummy then begins to lay about itself with abandon, working out from the book, but slamming into every creature foolish or unlucky enough to get near it. The lucky ones crumble to dust moments after it strikes, while the unlucky drop to the ground, only to rise again moments later, desiccated corpses following the will of their new master.

Almost simultaneously, a slithering, many-armed snake-woman wielding 6 different swords and another massive dragon (this one white) burst forth from the book. The Marilith is knocked off balance by the dragon’s bulk, giving it time to flee upwards. Then it sees the golden dragon. The smaller white turns to flee and the gold gives chase.

Like pages turning in the wind, the slow progression of things coming from the book speeds up until people and other things are flying forth at breakneck speed.

Several devils escape the tome, and they join together into a formation, where they defend themselves and begin a steady march away from the Tome. The humanoids they encounter quickly flee or die, but then they are slammed into by a trio of demons, intent on bringing the Blood Wars to the Prime.

The Gold dragon barely dodges the assault of two other dragons who have escaped the tome, a black and a red. Seeing that it is not alone, the white also turns, and a massive battle begins to rage in the skies above.

On the ground, creatures still pour forth. A tall froglike being covered entirely in white scales bursts forth and heads towards the party. With every few steps it unleashes a loud croak. Every time it does so, people near it die violently. Eyes leaps from their sockets, chest turn into writhing masses of tentacles, and blood vessels hemorrhage and burst. As it reaches the area near the group and sees that it has survived its croak, it shakes its arms and its hands fall off. The stumps rapidly grow new hands, while those on the ground turn cold and gray before rising up into smaller versions of itself, which also move towards the party.

In another corner of the plain, a second group of devils has formed up. High above them, a large group of celestials, 12 total, begins to converge. The Planetar leading them shouts out orders and two of the celestials, an Avoral and a Trumpet Archon fade away, plane shifting for reinforcements. The rest divide into two strike teams and assault the second devil formation and a small group of demons that had been randomly slaughtering the humanoids around it.

The flow of creatures begins to slow finally, and amidst the group of humans and demi-humans four overpowering voices can be heard calling out in a harsh and indecipherable language. These four figures see each other and hurtle into battle, their ancient Gith enmity overwhelming all thought of escape.

As the flow slows to a trickle, a massive Balor demon flies out of the tome and into the sky, where it begins to scout the scene below it, intent on finding someone that can return it to its home. 

The last creature to come out sends the Balor demon flying to a far corner of the chaotic battlefield. A humanoid figure, well over 25’ tall stands above the tome, arms crossed, a massive war hammer at its side. Its full plate armor gleams in the morning sun and its voice cries out. “Artopak! I know you are here. Come meet your final death! The time of your divinity has passed, and there will be no escape!”

At the sound of the voice, the mummified creature ceases its assault upon those creatures around it whose fear prevents them from fleeing and turns to the voice. It cries out in a voice older than the gods themselves. “I will have my soul back from you!” Unbelievably, the thing that had moved faster than any human could believe possible speeds up even more and orders the walking dead around it to attack. As it does, the entire group flings themselves towards the Titan.

The Titan moves to meet them, and the last of the creatures in the tome breaks free. Another angelic figure flies skyward and hurtles towards a group of demons, followed quickly be an eight-headed hydra with the wings of a hawk and pure silver scales.

Everywhere the sounds of terror and battle ring out, and the ground shakes from the force of the combatants’ magic.

The furor stops moments later though, when the tome itself explodes into a thousand flaming shards. The last things to exit it are 7 man-sized balls of flame. The fireballs skitter and bounce through the ranks of people and fiends. Everyone and everything they touch bursts into flames, even the earth itself.

A formation of devils, creatures normally immune to even the fires of Hell, is the target of one of these balls. It scatters as even these fiends catch fire and scream at their touch. Those few creatures who are not immediately destroyed by the flames collapse to the ground and writhe in agony for a while before they too fall still and burn to ash.

The 7 orbs of fire shoot skyward, and hover hundreds of feet over the plain for a moment. In unison they fly even higher, until they are almost out of sight. A new constellation appears in the sky above Oerth, visible even during the bright morning sun.


----------



## Immort

Now THAT is entertainment!

-Immort


----------



## Krellic

How not to make yourself popular in the neighbourhood.  Sounds like a lot of work for the old DM!  Good luck, it'll be something that your players will talk about for a time...


----------



## James McMurray

It wasn't too much work. I used PCGen to generate character sheets for all of the combatants. Only the ones with memorized spells required much thought.

I also had the great minds here and at webrpg's message boards to draw on for creatures to come out. (plus a few ideas from my wife, who is responsible for the brewer gnomes that will be setting up shop to sell refreshments to survivors.)


----------



## Schmoe

It's PARTY TIME!!!


----------



## James McMurray

Having faced Meourgetok Natalia in battle before, Lorelei was aware of his potency. For 2000 years she had chased the dead god across the planes, hoping to reunite him with his essence, albeit not in a manner he wished. Meourgetok, a Hunefer, the mummified remains of a dead deity, cursed to search for his essence eternally in a vain attempt at regaining his divine spark, saw Lorelei, and the ancient rivalry flared anew.

Over 3,000 years ago, the cycle of gods before this one ended. Meourgetok, then the god of strength and decay, was torn kicking and screaming from his ancient throne in the Abyss. But he would not stay down. His spirit was interred in the depths of Mount Celestia, but his body roamed free. Lorelei, an enforcer for the newly appointed sun god Pelor, was sent to retrieve or destroy this most heinous of undead, lest he unsettle the balance of power in the divine courts by somehow regaining his essence and re-ascending.

A millennia ago, Conrad Adar had stumbled across the Hunefer in a rage, rampaging through a devilish city deep in the fourth layer of hell. He wisely fled the scene, but research and magics told him Meourgetok’s story, and he concocted a plan that would gain him the most powerful soul ever trapped by a contractor devil. Approaching the Hunefer carefully (after the rage had died down) he proposed to show the creature where its essence was, if it would only agree to not harm Conrad. 

Driven mad in his quest for rebirth, Natalia agreed near instantly, and Conrad plane shifted the two of them to the base of Mount Celestia. As the waters of the ocean of holy water burned their feet like acid, Conrad knew he had to work fast. “Your soul lies within that mountain, which is made of the same stuff as these shores. You will never be able to regain it. It’s a pity a fool such as you must be cursed to forever roam, soulless and empty. Damnation! I’m glad I’m not you.”

Hearing the truth in Conrad’s words, Meourgetok realized his quest for his being was fruitless, and the rage returned. As his fist slammed into the devil, the penalty clause was invoked. Not even the might of a half-dead god can withstand the power of a contractor’s tome. Conrad immediately plane shifted out, and although the hit from Meourgetok and the burns from the ocean took a year to heal, it was well worth it.

Five years later, as Conrad roamed the streets of Union in search of new souls to add to his tome, he came across Lorelei. Not knowing that her quarry was safely trapped away, she too had undertaken a fruitless quest. When Conrad learned of that, he leapt into action to gain yet another soul of great power. Two such souls of this magnitude would most certainly entitle him to a full partnership in the Baatorian Legal Association.

“My dearest Lorelei, what if I were to tell you I knew where your prey lie?”

“What do you want from me devil, I’ll not sign your papers.” Lorelei responded.

“Tut-tut dear, you and I both know the destruction that thing is capable of while it roams free. It has even rampaged through hell in its quest for rebirth. You and I both know that having it free is not a situation anyone but the maddest of men would desire. There are no papers to sign, no contracts. I will take you to where he is so that you may assure yourself that he is no longer a threat to the cosmos.”

“Very well fiend, but be forewarned, I will brook no treachery from you. Though I may fall in a devil’s snare, know that you will fall before me.”

Lorelei reached down her mighty hand and touched Conrad, in preparation for the plane shifting. As she did so, the litigator reached into his robe and drew forth his tome. “Put that away fiend!” Lorelei warned, but before she could make due on the threat in her voice, Conrad pulled open the tome.

“He is right here, go to him and our deal is complete.” As Lorelei’s body and soul were ripped into the book, she realized too late her foolishness for dealing with a devil.

But now, after a thousands years of torment in the Tome, she suddenly finds herself free. All around her humans and demi-humans cry in fear, but from those voices she picks out a familiar sound: the wails of the Hunefer victims. Looking around, she sees him! Finally her quarry can be destroyed!

-------

Meourgetok spies his tormentor almost immediately as well, her 25’ frame towering above the screaming crowd and her full plate gleaming in the morning sun. He screams a cry of rage and a command to the mummies his touch has created in the crowd, hastes and displaces himself and charges her. Before he can reach, she  steps sideways into the ethereal plane and begins to prepare herself for battle (starting with a haste of her own).

As his mummies continue charging blindly towards where she was, Meourgetok activates his True Seeing and his being flares brightly, surrounding him in an unholy aura. He moves to where she is and begins to slam the people around him that are paralyzed with fear, creating more mummy minions. Meanwhile Lorelei is rapidly preparing for battle, with quickened spells and abilities to increase her titanic battle prowess to epic proportions. She then moves away and returns to the Prime.

Seeing her reappear, Meourgetok and his mummies charge. They have moved towards another battle, and the combatants there scream in mindless terror at the sight of the dead god. Lorelei attempts a greater dispelling, but none of the Hunefer’s effects are ended, and she raises a magic circle against evil which does manage to keep him at bay, until he dispels it moments later. Lorelei summons an Astral Deva to help her combat the minions, and when it appears the sight of Meourgetok sends it into a panicked catatonia. Meanwhile the mummies charge, and one of them reaches her but fails to strike. Her return attack does not miss however, and the beast is sent reeling from her massive war hammer’s blow, made even worse by the fact that her Righteous might has increased her size to a towering 50’ tall.

Meourgetok leaps onto Lorelei, but her magics return the force of his blow back upon himself. He is barely nicked by the blow, but is forced to reassess the situation and he again casts greater dispelling. Many of her spells are dropped, including the Fast Reflection (an epic spell which rebounds melee attacks upon their instigator).

Lorelei raises another fast reflection, another magic circle vs. evil, and unleashes a fire storm. After the fiery blast Meourgetok is unscathed, but his minions fare poorly. All but two are destroyed outright. The titan has also managed to stretch the spell’s effect to include a few demons in a battle raging between demons and celestials not too far from their position.

The two remaining mummies attack the Deva, crashing their fists into its catatonic form, and shaking it free of the fear. The Hunefer also charges, and again hits himself. Lorelei’s war hammer slams home and the flare from its fiery blast sends the beast reeling. His wounds begin to close almost as quickly as they are formed though. It will take more than a single shot from a war hammer to drop this thing, even if it is fiery, gargantuan, and undead dread.

The Deva leaps up just as a mummy is swinging at her, and the beast falls! It never rises again though, as her mace rings true and the beast crumbles instantly to dust, destroyed by its holy power.

Meourgetok breaks through the circle and dispels the renewed reflection. Two slams hit home on Lorelei, and her skin rapidly begins to decay. The pain is intense as his supernatural rot sets in, and she know she does not have long before she too becomes a mummified servant of the dead god. Acting quickly, she moves away and casts a Mass Heal. Her movement has taken her into range of the two half-celestials, so she targets them as well. She also manages to affect the Deva, who is barely scratched by the mummies, but thankful nonetheless.

Her strength renewed, the Deva assaults the last remaining mummy, but does not manage to destroy it. She gets hit again for her efforts, but knows that if they continue to trade blows like that, the abominable undead will crumble long before she does. 

To be continued. . .


----------



## James McMurray

Meanwhile, the skies above tremble from dragon rage. Glorianna, a proud golden dragon is best from all sides by a trio of chromatics bent on bringing her down. Flame Tongue the Red, Bile the Black, and Dancing Death the Blue circle her, looking for an opening.

Flame Tongue casts haste, then her form wavers and shifts under the effects of a blur spell, while Bile and Dancing Death meet 50 yards away. Bile summons forth mirror images of himself, while Dancing Death erects a shield. Intent on teaching these young upstarts a lesson in respecting their betters, Glorianna does not yet leave. Instead she too hastes herself, and erects a shield of force.

Flame Tongue moves towards the two other chromatics and hastes Dancing Death as well. Dancer shoots forward towards Glorianna and unleashes a crackling column of electrical breath, but it falls short of the mark. Bile summons magics to raise his strength, while Glorianna hovers and cast mage armor and protection from evil, greatly increasing her odds of survival in melee combat.

Flame Tongue answers with a protection from good, and his attempt to blind Glorianna fails. Dancing death climbs and flies under Glorianna’s soft underbelly where he unleashes another blast of his breath. This one strikes home and static plays across the great gold’s scales. Bile prepares himself for a devastating attack by casting a True Strike spell, but realizes too late that Glorianna is too far to make it effective, so he opts to instead vomit forth the acid breath that gave him his name. Glorianna replies with a breath attack of her own, and the cone of gas engulfs Dancing Death. The mighty blue feels his strength ebb quickly as the gas takes effect.

Flame Tongue again tries to blind Glorianna and fails, while Dancing Death circles for yet another blast of his shocking breath. Glorianna responds with a cone of fire and then flies away, healing herself.

Flame Tongue rockets by and snaps with his mighty jaws, but they rebound off of the gold’s protective magics, and Glorianna dimension doors away and casts endurance before turning back to face her foes again. Dancing Death casts Ghoul Touch, hoping its stench will slow her down, but it fails to harm her. Bile, realizing the gold owns the skies currently, casts expeditious retreat and hurtles after her. He is now confident that she cannot escape him.

Glorianna flies up out of the reach of the chromatics and casts bull’s strength. Dancing Death breathes upon her again, but between the healing and the endurance the damage is slight. Bile continues to chase and enlarges himself in preparation for an all out assault.

Flame Tongue flies up and his vampiric touch misses, while Dancing Death also misses, his weakened body unable to penetrate the gold drake’s scales. Glorianna hovers over Flame Tongue and her strikes rebound off of him. She then casts blink, increasing her odds of survival even farther. Bile tries to grab Glorianna to send them both hurtling to the ground, but he shakes loose.

Flame Tongue, seeing that dragging her to earth may be the only way, also takes a swipe at her. He does connect, but she shakes loose from his grip as well. Glorianna’s return frenzy tears into the black, tattering his scales and tattering his wings. Fearing he may be about to fall anyway, Bile stops his forward flight and takes several swipes at the old gold drake. The first two rebound off and fail to grapple her, while the remainder miss as he plummets to the ground out of reach. Without his forward momentum he could not stay flying. He slams into the ground 500’ below, but almost immediately shakes his head and moves to stand up. He does give Dancing Death enough of an opportunity to get a claw swipe in.

Flame Tongue tries to grapple Glorianna as well, but his only reward is a front row view of the claws that explode in his face with draconic fury, and the fire that engulfs Dancing Death. Dancing death ignores the flames and reaches through them to grab Glorianna around her neck. As the two plummet towards the ground Flame Tongue takes a passing swipe and connects. Below, Bile is shaking himself from his long fall and looks up as his keen senses detect something incoming. He is not fast enough though, and a massive mound of blue and gold scales slam into him. Unfortunately for Dancing Death, Glorianna managed top twist and turn, landing with a claw on his chest. Although both are hurt by the fall, only Glorianna stands again, pulling her claw from the shatter chest of the Blue.

Bile, nearly dead from having two dragon missiles hit him from 500’ up turns to flee. As Glorianna goes to stand, Flame Tongue sees his opportunity. He hurtles from the sky and slams into her. Both are badly damaged, and Glorianna barely manages to shake herself free before dimension Dooring straight up and flying away. Flame Tongue heads off in a different direction, leaving the outcome of the battle undecided as the three dragons head for far corners of the area to lick their wounds.


----------



## Immort

Heh.  Dragon combat.  Godkilling titans.  I think this may be more fun than watchin' PCs die.  BTW thanks fer the bump ta my story hour, ya really perked me up!

-Immort


----------



## James McMurray

Hey, ya gotta give a little to get a little.


----------



## James McMurray

*Bakground on a couple of captured combatants*

Kirenalo’ Juhalsonarost was a proud fiend. She had ridden her beauty and strength to the top of Orcus’ chain of command. A Marilith with nearly 3,000 years of experience in the Blood wars behind her, she was no fool, except when it came to her desire for power. She and her massive bodyguard Drach (one of the bullish Goristro demons) were never far from the power struggles surrounding Orcus’ rulership. She preferred to work from behind the scenes and try to bring him down without a fight, as she knew she could not overpower him while he held the Rod.

All that changed when, as she luxuriated in her palatial rooms, she looked up from her bed to see a figure standing before her. Conrad Adar wore fully covering robes, and the eyes which shone forth from within his hood were a fiery red. He knew she would wonder who it was and not attack immediately. Drach, never far from her side, leapt into action, but a wave of Conrad’s hand froze him in place. “There is no need for that,” Conrad hissed. “I am here to offer you power.”

Kir was never one to hurl herself into battle, preferring instead to watch and learn before dragging her foes down. Conrad had judged her correctly. “Who are you that you would wish to help me?”

“My name is unimportant. I know of your desires to topple Orcus, and I have no great love of him myself. I want to help you drag him down. And to do so, it will become necessary to wrest his wand from him. I can help you to be instrumental in that.”

The two spoke for a bit, and when Drach’s paralysis wore off, Kir told him to leave. She and Conrad spoke for quite some time. Conrad revealed to her the prophecy of the final battle, and how he believed that it would lead to an assault on Orcus’ palace in approximately 35 years. He also promised her that he could ensure she would be there to see that happen, and could be the one to wrest to wand from Orcus’ grasp.

That possibility was too much to ignore, and Kir foolishly agreed. “Very well then Adar. I will join you in this endeavor. However, I will brook no treachery!” Conrad laughed, as he had heard those exact words a thousand times before.

“Excellent. Then our bargain is complete. I will call you when the time comes.” Conrad reached into his robes and pulled forth his tome. Kir was dragged, screaming and cursing, into the book where she would await Conrad’s call. Drach, every the loyal bodyguard (odd for a demon, but perhaps he had his motives as well) grabbed onto her scintillating tail as it passed. He too was ripped into the tome. Although it was quite accidental, Conrad was happy to add to his tally of souls. The more souls he trapped, the closer he was to his true goals, of which the Wand of Orcus was only a tiny, almost secondary, part.

Conrad turned and strolled casually out of the Marilith’s palace, without even a trace of fear. His years of triumph had made him cocky and brash, and he did not even worry that he was deep in the heart of a Tanar’ri stronghold. That was almost his undoing, as he passed around a corner and almost bumped into Carnolathingaraniteioqwafiti. The Cerebelith was there on business, but immediately sensed within Conrad the stench of Baator. He flew into action, first attempting to wrest control of the devil’s mind, but Conrad’s will was too strong. Realizing that his foe was stronger than he at first thought, he shouted out a warning and called out to his brother in an attempt to summon him. There was no answer from the treacherous sibling.

Conrad reached into his tome and pulled it forth. He called upon his newly acquired servant Kirenalo’ and when she came forth he ordered her to grab the Cerebelith that assaulted him. Although she tried to resist, the power of the Tome is near insurmountable in such a short time, and she found her tail snaking around the Cerebelith of its own accord. When he was fully wrapped, Conrad called out again, dragging the two Tanar’ri back into the tome.

He allowed himself a long loud laugh, and then immediately took the more prudent action and plane shifted away from the Abyss and back to the halls of Baator, to record his newest dealings.

Now, almost 40 years later, the tome was destroyed. And Kir was out for revenge. But first she needs to stretch her arms a bit. It has been too long since she felt the calming warmth of blood flowing over and around her.

---------

It was a rare day indeed! For reasons unknown, a large pack of demons had begun an assault upon a small coastal town at the base of Mount Celestia. The raiders sizzled and burned in the surf of the vast holy Ocean, but they soon pressed up to the shore.

Petitioners were their main targets, and they grabbed them one, two, or even more at a time. Having grabbed them, they immediately began to plane shift and teleport away with their captives.

The town’s alarm went up, and Striker Michaelson answered the call with his troops. The Planetar and his strike team of three hound archons, an Astral Deva, and 5 flights of Lantern Archons teleported to the village and joined its Leonal Guardinal in defense of the shores.

Although they quickly made short work of the demons, without even having to use their memorized spells, they were unable to trace the fleeing demons to where they could free the captives.

In the calm after the battle, a single glowing Avoral rocketed out of the sky to land before Striker. “I know how we can free the captives, sir.”

Striker’s reply was laced with hate and threat, “Drop the shroud, fiend. And speak quickly. You have 5 seconds to convince me that I should not destroy you where you stand.”

Conrad’s Avoral skin fell away, and as it hit the shores, it turned to worms that burrowed and fled deep into the soil of Mount Celestia. “Very well then, we shall dispense with the pleasantries and get straight to business. In the past few hours, here and at several other coastal towns raids have been conducted. These raids have gathered approximately 250 petitioner souls. These souls are currently being held captive on the Abyss. I know where, and will be happy to take you there. In exchange, I will request one service from you.”

“What would that be, fiend?”

“It is a relatively simple matter, but its nature requires that I not reveal the details until I can be sure you are on board. If word of my endeavors were to reach the Baatorian Legal Association, they would most likely disbar me for malpractice. I can assure you however, that neither you nor any other good creature will be damaged by my request. Nor will the battles between your people and mine be affected by this request. Finally, the request need not be answered immediately, you will be given time to rescue the captives before it comes into effect.”

Striker was loathe to even consider dealing with the devil, but also knew that it may be his only way of rescuing captives. His celestial sight proved to him that everything the fiend said was true.

Conrad spoke up again. “I do not intend to pressure you. Please take all the time you need to contemplate this deal. Remember though, your petitioners are certainly not in pleasant company. Every minute that passes could be another good soul ground to its essence to feed the Tanar’ri birthing pits.”

Strike knew it was foolish to agree, but could not bear the thought of those good souls, pure enough to reach Celestia, being fed to embryonic demons. “I will not agree to your request devil, without first knowing what it is.”

Conrad sighed. “Very well then, but before I tell you I must have your assurance that no one will hear of this deal from you. Were it to be known I even made this request, the guild would have me destroyed or worse.”

“Don’t try to play upon my conscience beast. I have none where your kind are concerned. I will tell no one of your request.”

Conrad seemed visibly relieved. “I would like for you and your team to travel with me for a short time. In my company you can observe the inner workings of the Baatorian Legal Association. You will learn firsthand how their members engage in treacherous acts to trick souls into their servitude. I am sure you would agree with me were I to say that the laws must be followed and that deals must be kept. However, you would also agree that the spirit of the bargains is more important than the letter, and that a deal entered into under false pretenses should not be binding. Would you not?”

Exactly to plan, Striker was getting impatient with the devil’s condescending tone. “Of course I would. Get on with the explanation.” 

The impatience, Conrad hoped, would translate into a lessened scrutiny of the words he used. Should Striker be too busy waiting for the end of the bargain to occur, he would miss the tiny clues as to the true nature of the deal. Conrad had never actually said how he would travel. Nor had he said that he agreed with the ideas espoused, or disagreed with the guild, only that if he were to say these things, the Planetar’s nature would force him to agree.

Conrad continued spinning his web. “Certainly you would. Any individual capable of reaching your lofty position would certainly agree. But to the point, as you say.” By the look on Striker’s face, Conrad could tell that it had worked. All thought of the previous intricacies of the deal had passed, and Striker was now fully focused on the final section of the deal.

“With the knowledge you gain from traveling incognito with me, your people could be able to better understand our methods. And thus better combat them. Together you and I could become a force for reform in the Baatorian Legal Association. Your learning our ways could lead to a better understanding, and through that understanding, better means of combating those methods.” Conrad’s voice swelled with the (empty) promise of a better world and a more ethical BLA.

Striker, his celestial senses again assuring him that every word the devil spoke was true, stood at ease to think. “The petitioners.” Conrad quietly said, interrupting the Planetar’s chain of thought and driving him to make his rash and foolish decision. 

“I’ll do it. But I will keep an eye on you as well as your brethren, fiend. And I will brook no treachery!”

“Excellent! You could be the agent of reform for the BLA! But first, we must rescue the petitioners. Gather your troops and we will head out.”

Striker gathered his men and prepared for the plane shift. Moments later they were on the fire scorched and blackened fields of the abyss. Over a rise they could just make out the tops of a spire. But whether the screams that filled the air came from there or from the very ground itself was impossible to determine. “Wait here fiend. We shall return shortly.”

Striker led his squad over the rise, and in a fierce assault they quickly rescued the captives. Some few were taken hostage by the demons and destroyed, but the vast majority of them survived. All lantern archons were dispersed in the raid, but such is the life of a shock trooper. Striker knew their essence would escape this foul plane and return to Celestia to be reforged into a fighting vessel.

Conrad himself opened the gate which would return the petitioners to the shores of Mount Celestia. As the last one stepped through, he turned to Striker. “And now to complete the deal. You and your men will travel with me.” He reached into his robes and pulled out the Tome. “In here!”

Moments later, the entire squad had been sucked kicking and screaming into the devil’s tome. Conrad’s watched them squirm and writhe across the cover before getting dragged in completely. As a small smile formed on his lips, he surveyed the scene of the destroyed Tanar’ri outpost. The smile turned to an ear to ear grin and then a boisterous laugh as he contemplated the response his superiors would give when they heard how he had tricked an entire team of celestials into destroying a Tanar’ri outpost, planted several Baatorian spies into a group of petitioners, and finally captured the Celestial troops.

Two days later he was declared a full partner in the BLA.


----------



## Immort

I am really likin' yer backstory on how these poor slobs ended up in the book.  I can't say fer sure yet, but I may like it even better than the sluggin' that goes on after they gits out.

-Immort


----------



## James McMurray

Thanks! I've had a lot of fun creating them. Now I just have to figure out how the Half-Celestial Elven wizard was captured, and the Half-Celestial Laernian Cryo-hydra.


----------



## James McMurray

Kirenalo’ Juhalsonarost was free again. The call for blood screamed through her veins and demanded attention. Her six arms reached around and behind her to her sheathes, and she drew forth 5 blades: a great sword, a rapier, a scimitar, a long sword, and a short sword. It was this last one which thrilled her the most, and terrified those around her. The Tanar’ri Death Blade had been gifted to her by Orcus himself in part for appreciation of her service. Of course, she did not think that it was also because he wanted a weapon capable of utterly destroying her to always be within reach if she were to turn upon him.

The Tanar’ri death blades had been forged millennia ago as ultimate weapons in the Blood Wars. They were nearly sentient swords, each with a thirst for life and souls that even outstripped that of their creators. The means of their creation has been lost or hidden by all except a few demonic lords, of which Orcus was the most powerful.

As the blade was removed from its sheathe, all those around her could feel its scream in their minds. A lucky few of the humanoids freed around Kir fled instinctually when their minds registered the presence of two of the multi-verse’s ultimate predators (both blade and mistress). A less lucky group of those who fled managed to flee directly into the gargantuan legs of Drach, the Goristro, where they were smashed almost unthinkingly. The least lucky of the humanoids freed around her were those whose minds could not bear the presence at all and shut down. These terrified people soon had their souls drank by the blade, and their blood by the Marilith.

“Guide us home mistress.”

Kir felt the voice in her mind and immediately recognized Carnolathingaraniteioqwafiti, Orcus Cerebelith “diplomat”. Of course, his diplomatic skills were limited to forcing others to his will with his powerful mind, but even with those “limitations” he was still found to be useful. Calling Carn and Drach to herself, the group began to move outward, searching for someone or something they could force to return them to the Abyss, where she could begin the enjoyable process of hunting Conrad Adar.

The three had not gone far when the dispersing throng of humanity parted to reveal several celestials. Striker’s team has been freed as well. He immediately orders his Hound Archons in to delay the fiends, knowing that reinforcements will arrive shortly.

They charge forward and surround Carn, but cannot hurt him, even in the form of legendary wolves. Their teeth bounce off his rocky hide. Mar-ket, Striker’s Astral Deva lieutenant erects a blade barrier between Kir and the celestials, hoping Striker will be able to anchor her in place. As a bonus to his tactic, he also manages to catch Drach within the swirling blades, and the massive bull-demon cries out in pain.

Striker calls upon Pelor’s blinding light, and a green ray coalesces in his hands. He point to the Marilith and the ray shoots forth, splashing and washing over her, encasing the Tanar’ri in a dimly glowing emerald field, and preventing her from leaving this plane. Seeing that stratagem 114 from the Lower Planar Field Manual has managed to work, Mar-Ket and Striker fly upwards out of reach of Kir’s return assault.

Kir slithers her way forward and intensifies her unholy aura, but the Leonal’s wall of force rebuffs her. Carn reaches out with his mind to ensnare the hearts of the hound archons around him, and although the dogs are too weak to resist his call, the inner strength of Pelor holds him back for now. Drach charges forward out of the spinning blades and jumps high into the air. As he lands, the ground beneath them ripples and shakes. The Leonal and two hound archons fall to the ground.

“Excuse me missus. That sure does look like hard work. You could probably use a drink.” A diminutive figure, apparently without fear, calls up to the towering Marilith. Looking down she sees three gnomes. One of them holds a massive keg (larger than himself) on his back, while a second fills a mug from a spigot on the keg’s side. The third takes the mug from him and holds it out to Kir. “First one is free!” he says cheerfully.

Kir recognizes the brewer gnomes and grabs the mug. Tossing it back she begins to feel a pleasant tingling sensation in her nether regions as the Passion berry tonic takes hold. She promises herself that she will find these gnomes again once the hated celestials have been destroyed.

As the ground shakes, the hounds and the Leonal are left to bounce up and down on the ground like jumping beans. The flying Deva and Marilith are not as helpless. Mar-Ket slams the Cerebelith with a holy smite, but it washes off of the beast’s scales. Striker flies over the group and calls again upon Pelor’s might. Carn feels himself being pulled inward, but his powerful mind reaches out and snaps the magical connection before he implodes. He responds with a mental barrage that sends the Planetar reeling, but does not bypass Striker’s formidable mental barriers.

Kir maneuvers her way around the spinning disk of blades, and as the last of the shakes from Drach’s jump die out, he lashes outwards. One of the hound archons is crushed to a pulp beneath his massive arm, while another is sent running.

The hound archons, knowing that with time their shape changing abilities can fully heal them, turn to flee. Mar-Ket unleashes another smite, and this time it works. Drach’s eyes are blinded by the might of Pelor. Striker turns his attention to the Goristro as well, trying to implode him, but again he fails. Carn’s mental assaults keep up, but both the Planetar and the Deva are too strong willed. Drach fumbles his way around the wall of force, heading towards where he last heard the Leonal.

Lorelei and Meourgetok’s battle has moved across the plain, and they come within sight of this battle. The celestials’ joy at seeing such a powerful force for good on the field is replaced with terror moments later when they see what she is fighting. The very essence of the mummified god seems to reach out and grip the hearts of demon and celestial alike, and all who see him are paralyzed with fear. Striker and Mar-Ket fall from the sky, unable to even maintain the flapping of their wings.

Unable to see what is happening past the whirling blade barrier, Kir projects her image into the midst of the demons and celestials. Moments later when her consciousness shifts, her eyes follow those of the petrified Cerebelith, and she too falls to the ground in terror.

The brave Leonal is the first to regain his senses. He rapidly moves forward and prepares to deliver a killing blow to the Cerebelith.

As he does so, the sky cracks open. A huge gate appears in the air above the battlefield, and on the far side can be seen the towering Spires of Krichton, city of splendors on the shores of Mount Celestia. Flying through the gate come the celestial reinforcements. 

Five squads of five lantern archons each lead the way, followed by two Ghaele celestials, their massive swords gleaming in the sun. Behind them comes Soren Kerguard, Solar in charge of Krichton’s security. Having been told of the need for reinforcements by a Trumpet Archon who fled the battle, he looks around the battlefield. Quickly assessing the situation, he dispatches 15 lantern archons to the far side of the field, with a Ghaele to lead them. He himself, along with ten archons and another Ghaele drop low over the battle, and target Kir.

Unable to teleport away due to the dimensional anchor, Kir at first decides to fight back. She tries to keep her distance, and both her and Soren exchange shots. Soren fires his mighty bow, and several times manages to pierce the demon’s skin with his arrows. She returns fire via telekinesis, hurling her blades at him. Although a strike from the Death Blade hits, Soren does not fall, he is too strong for the  weapon to affect.

Severely outnumbered, Kir changes form to that of a massive dragon and tries to fly away. The Ghaele, Planetar, and Solar give chase, but cannot keep up with her, and she disappears over the horizon.

Carn and Drach do not fare as well. They are utterly annihilated by the celestial forces.


----------



## James McMurray

It was 1487 according to the human calendar, and Gregory Seraph moved through the streets of Greyhawk city. Two weeks ago a mysterious note had appeared outside the door to his home in Dianartia, deep in the heart of Bytopia. “Come to Greyhawk City on Oerth for the answers that you seek.” Having searched for years to learn the true identity of his father, Gregory wondered if this was perhaps a clue.

He spent the next two weeks in his arcane library and labs, learning everything he could about Oerth in general and Greyhawk specifically. The next week he spent in divinations. When his magic told him to beware a trap, he almost changed his mind completely and elected to forego the trip. But the next divination told him that if he went he would finally learn his father’s name, and maybe even get to meet him. The next day he began to pack.

His wings folded under a cloak and hidden within a hollow backpack, he strode through the streets of the garment district. His magics had told him to “seek where the sewn and shorn are sold.” 

“I am here.” Gregory looked around for the source of the voice, which somehow carried itself over the noise of the throngs of people. “Up above.” Looking up, Gregory saw a robed man standing in a balcony two stories up. The man spoke again, and his voice carried through the crowds, “Come up and learn your father’s name.”

Instantly alert to any sings of a trap, Gregory scanned the crowds. Everything seemed normal and he cautiously worked his way towards the building, which seemed to be a manufacturer. As he entered the first floor, he was greeted with the sight of almost 40 children and young adults, all working to sew clothing. Past the rows of stitching were two more rows of at least 20 more children. These last were dipping finished clothes into large vats of dye, their arms stained rainbow colors by the oils.

Gregory moved cautiously deeper into the room, to the stairs on the far side. A few of the children looked up and smiled to him, but most of them worked without noticing. 

Up the stairs Gregory came to a hallway. Only one of the five doorways was open, and when he moved into the room he saw the speaker sitting behind a large mahogany desk. “Welcome Mr. Seraph. It has come to my attention that I may be aware of a name you have searched for.”

The words made Gregory’s heart skip. Finally he would learn his father’s name. But the divinations also gave warning. “Bearers of truth are not all good.” The warning echoed in his head and he reached out with his celestial heritage. His eyes shifted from blue to gold, and the aura he saw about the man was most assuredly too evil to be human.

Conrad spoke again. “I can see by your expression that your eyes have given you a glimpse into my soul. Yes, I am indeed a devil. It is my heritage which you see.

“I too never met my father.” Conrad stood slowly and without menace. As he did so, he shrugged his shoulders and his robe fell back to reveal a large pair of bat-like wings. “You and I are alike in so many ways. And yet so different.

“You see, all across the cosmos there are fathers abandoning their children. To most, those. . . ‘men’ . . . are but hollow voids in the hearts of their children.” The anger in his voice flared at the word men, but he calmed again momentarily. “In your case, the father is much more than a void.” 

Conrad raised his hand and made an unclasping motion. Gregory’s backpack fell away, and his cloak moved aside. The golden feathered eagle’s wings which have for years been the only tie between the half-celestial and his father stretched and furled, instinctively loosening themselves after the captivity of the disguise.

“There is no reason for you to hide your gift. Although the man who gave those to you has been lost to you, it is a proud legacy you come from.” Conrad’s own bat wings flex and curl. “You are the luckiest of the orphans. Some of us forsaken children have only the curse of their paternity to drag them down.”

Gregory interrupted Conrad, “Very pretty speech, but my divinations have warned me against you. What kind of a creature would run a business like this and then expect me to deal with them?”

“No good sir. You are mistaken,” Conrad continued. “I just recently ‘acquired’ this establishment. I can assure you that the man who once ran the place is receiving his just rewards. These children will be given a new home as soon as our business is concluded.”

“Business?” Gregory replied.

“Yes. You see. I have long since given up hope of being able to turn my back on my heritage. Every good act I have attempted has been misconstrued. Every grace extended has been thought a lie because of these damnable wings and the devil who gave them to me. But now, with you, I have a chance to redeem myself.

“If I were to convince you of my goodness, you could take me with you back to Bytopia. Perhaps with time I could convince people that the sins of the father do not always repeat themselves in the child.” Conrad trailed off into thought. “You say your divinations warned you of me. Isn’t it possible that they were incorrect? As you know, the future is not a tale already told, it is a tapestry being constantly woven. Perhaps the blood in my veins misguided your magics.”

Gregory thought a moment. “That is possible, but I hope you won’t mind if I wait before passing judgment on that.”

Conrad laughed a bitter laugh. “Good sir, it is my fondest wish that people wait before passing judgment. But I digress.”

“I would like to take you to meet your father. When I found mine he was already dead, and there was no way for me to ask him why he had cursed me so. But perhaps I can make up for that by giving you the chance to ask your questions.”

“Forty years ago, just shortly after your birth, your father was defending a village I Celestia. As a result of that raid, he was captured. My heritage may generally be a curse, but it does let me go places and see things others would not be privy to. I know where your father is held, and can take you there.”

Gregory’s heart soared again, partially outstripping his caution. “Where is this place? Who has captured him?”

“It is not far, in this very city. The fiend that controls him is very powerful, and very intelligent, but the two of us would surely be a match for him. Together you and I could free Striker Michaelson from his prison.”

Gregory thought for a moment. “I will take you at your word for now. But be forewarned, I am not without resources of my own, and I will keep my eye on you. Take me there.”

“I have the location right here.” Conrad reached into his robes and pulled forth the Tome. Opening to a page as if thumbing for an address, he opened it to show Gregory. “Ah yes, here he is.” As the book turned towards the wizard, he saw figures writhing and moaning across its surface. One of them caught his eye. It was a tiny man, twisting and crying out in pain. The man’s wings were held down by the pages, which flowed like tar around him. “Your father awaits you.”

Much like his father before him, Gregory was drawn into the tome. Whistling a cheery tune, Conrad closed the book and patted it. “Like father like son I always say, isn’t that right dad?” Asmodeus, being several planes away, did not hear the statement, but would have laughed in appreciation if he had. “Just one more small bit of business to attend to.” Conrad strode downstairs, drawing his wings close and back under his robes.

“Kids?” He called out. The work around him stopped. “As I promised you, Mr. Kirkpatrick is no longer running this business. You may all come with me now, and see your new home. As promised, there will be no beatings, and you will be given all the food you need.” Conrad reopened the book, and the youths around him were drawn in one by one. All except for one child in the back.

“Well now little George, are you sure you won’t reconsider?” 

The lanky little brown haired boy looked up at the fiend in horror. “N-n-no.”

“Good thinking, lad. You are much wiser than you look. In appreciation for you avoiding my snare today, I’ll tell you the first three rules of business. . .”

“Always do your dealings in writing, the terms are much clearer that way.”


----------



## GreyShadow

Wow!  Just finished reading everything up till now.  I'm enjoying the story. 

I do have a couple of questions thou...

Where are our heroes during this skirmish?

Do you have a list of what came out of the book?  I've lost track. 

GreyShadow


----------



## James McMurray

The heroes are busy with a fight of their own. A massive, stark white slaad came out of the book as well. It managed to head straight towards the party, summoning backup and craking people to death around it (Power Word Kill at will). When the party failed to keel over immediately at the sound of it, the three slaads decided it was time for a bit of fun.

We had to stop halfway through the battle, so that update will take a while (we finish it Sunday).


----------



## James McMurray

Several devils (2 Spinagons, 2 Hamatulas, a Narzugon and his steed, a Barbazu, and a Gelugon) spy Gregory from afar, while he is still disoriented by the thronging crowds and the new environement. Seeing his golden feathered wings, they head his way for a little fun. Their gleeful charge is brought short moments later though, as the book belches forth another captive. A massive eight-headed beast with silver scales, the hydra takes to the air on its wings of gossamer light. The devils rethink their assault, and decide to continue on, hoping the beast will not be hostile or will be easily dispatched.

The hydra also spies the devils coming towards him, and flies 20 feet up, angling towards them but mainly just trying to get off the ground in order to avoid crushing any more fleeing humans beneath his bulk. The Gelugon sees him and casts fly on himself, moving straight up to oversee the battle. The Barbazu teleports behind the wizard, who quickly steps back and hastes himself. A cold gray disintegration ray shoots forth from his hand, and turns a small portion of the devil’s stomach to dust, but the beast only screams and rages, angered and ready to destroy this insolent fool.

The Narzugon charges Gregory, and his Nightmare steed’s hooves lash out. Gregory dives aside, but only manages to impale himself upon the Narzugon’s lance. The two Spinagons, at the behest of their master, land and begin attempting to summon more of themselves. Their calls go unanswered though, as the Hamatulas move forward. The Hamatula’s calls are not completely unanswered though, and another one appears to fight alongside them.

The hydra, seeing another apparent half-celestial in danger turns around and charges. As he comes in, his heads unleash jets of frigid frost at the Narzugon and his steed. The devil’s mount turns to ice, cracks, and finally shatters, dropping its rider to the hard ground below, where he moves away and attempts to summon another steed. He fails though, and instead decides to forego protecting his battle companions in order to unleash his hellish gaze.

The Gelugon flies over and creates a 50’ x 50’ wall of ice between the hydra and the wizard, blocking the two off. Gregory manages to fall back though, and cures himself via his father’s blood gift. He then casts Dimension door, putting the wall between himself and the angered Barbazu. The raging barbarian devil runs around the wall and up to the wizard again, his glaive out and ready. 

The Spinagons fly up and meet with the Gelugon, who gives them their new orders: a plan he hopes will take down the powerful hydra. The Hamatulas move outwards, spreading to try to flank the Hydra, who welcomes their approach with a screaming charge. His snapping jaws narrowly miss the first of the three devils.

The Gelugon flies over toward a Hamatula, and creates an unholy aura about himself the Hamatula, and the two Spinagons. Hellish green fire licks around them, ready to protect them and damage all who would try to harm them.

The Barbazu continues to harass the wizard, who flies upwards a few feet and hastes the hydra as well. He answers the Gelugon’s unholy aura with a golden lighted holy aura of his own. It shields the hydra and Gregory from the devils’ blows.

The Narzugon teleports back out of the hydra’s reach and lifts his mask. As their gazes meet his, everyone in the area sees their worst fears reflected in his eyes. Even the other devils are not immune, and one Hamatula's fear drops him to his knees.

One of the Spinagons, acting as ordered, flies towards the hydra. As the beast’s jaws snap out, the spiked devil is crushed, and the green flames lick out to try to sap the strength from the massive beast. His celestial ancestry proves too strong though, and the Gelugon adjusts his plan. He orders the other Spinagon to hold back, and it begins to fire at Gregory, hoping to bring him down. The remaining Hamatulas teleport to surround the wizard.

The hydra flies over and hovers above Gregory, snapping at a Hamatula. Three of the heads get hold and shake the devil like a terrier with a rat before dropping it to the ground, where it leaps to its feet. The Gelugon charges the hydra and strikes out with his 20’ long spear. The tip buries itself in the creature’s body, but as it comes back out,t he hole immediately closes. Apparently slashing off heads will be the only way to kill this beast.

The Barbazu lashes out with his glaive and misses Gregory, who flies over and calls again upon his mysterious father’s blood gift, smiting the devils with holy power. The Narzugon responds with an unholy blight of his own, while the Spinagon flies over and shoots.

All three of the Hamatulas unleash unholy blights, and although the hydra seems unharmed, Gregory succumbs to the blasts and fall to the ground beside one of the Hamatulas, who kicks dirt in his glazed over eyes to ensure he is dead.

Meanwhile, Lorelei the titan and Meourgetok’s battle has moved again. As they move into sight of the combatants, fear overwhelms them all except for the Gelugon, who rapidly moves up to strike a head from the hydra. The Spinagon meanwhile, is plummeting to his death from the skies above, unable to maintain his flight.

When the Gelugon sees the lost head regrown into two, he sounds a retreat a teleports to a far off mountain top. The remaining Hamatulas (one of which is crushed beneath the Hydra’s bulk) do not manage to escape however. High in the sky the gate to Celestia opens wide, and the 15 lantern archons dispatched by the Solar move to help the hydra finish off the last remaining devils.


----------



## Krellic

I can't help but think that the property prices in this area are really going to suffer...


----------



## Immort

I'm feelin' bad fer Gregory here.  Poor sap finally finds his dad, gits outta the book, and WHAMMO!!  Toasted.  Sad sad day.

-Immort


----------



## James McMurray

Yep, he should have thought twice before hanging around under a Hydra fighting devils. He didn't even manage to get all of his defensive spells up.


----------



## Magus the Purifier

I just finished reading these 2 pages and now im hooked. Love the story keep it coming!


----------



## Magus the Purifier

Also if you get a chance id like to see the characters levels.


----------



## Immort

Good point, do ya have stat blocks fer yer dice jockeys?

-Immort


----------



## James McMurray

Galrond: Aasimar Sorcerer 18

Kargur: Human Paladin / Knight of the Middle Circle 8 / 8 (The level split may be off)

Oskar: Dwarven Fighter 8 / Dwarven Defender 8

Teflon Billy: Dwarven Wizard 18

William Siege: Human Cleric of Heironious / Ranger 17 / 1

Loser: Elven Rogue 14

Lanis: Human Ranger 5 / Fighter 7 / Order of the Bow Initiate 1 (The level split is almost certainly off)

The actual character sheets are at work, but since tey're done with PCgen I'll be sure to put the html version on the net. I'll post links to them here when I do.


----------



## Magus the Purifier

Bump 
just like to see whats going on.


----------



## James McMurray

We start the game back up at 1:00pm today (in 4 hours). The party's battle will get finished and then there will be some role playing to be done, as the party decides what to do with the small city of people they just freed.


----------



## James McMurray

“CROAK!” People die. Moments later the loud froglike cry is repeated, and more fleeing, screaming people collapse to the ground, bleeding from their ears.

Looking in the direction of the cries, our heroes see three froglike humanoid figures. Two are man-sized and gray, but the last, the one whose cry kills, is the size of an ogre. His oily white skin gleams in the morning sun as he and his cohorts charge towards the party.

“CROAK!” and more people die. The massive slaad seems puzzled for a moment when Oskar fails to keel over from his cry, but then smiles a wicked smile, knowing this will be more fun. Seeing a real battle, his summoned Death Slaads spring into action. One of them fires a ray of pure death at Oskar, whose skin turns ashen and pale. He manages to avoid the full effects of the assault though. The second lets out a massive croak of its own, and the blood vessels in Lanis’ eyes burst, blinding him.

Mist and Kargur move towards the fight, and Kargur attempts to detect evil. Unfortunately, the White Slaad’s arms seem deceptively short as they elongate out and rake a claw across his face. William also moves forward, and casts Destruction. The holy fire fails to utterly destroy the death slaad he targeted, but it does burn, and the beast cries out in anger. Meanwhile Galrond and Alzaran, having been pushed back by the fleeing mob, take to the skies to get a better view of the battlefield.

Acting in tandem, the two death Slaads begin to croak and cry. One’s voice bursts eardrums, while the other’s shatters blood vessels in eyes, leaving Oskar blind, and several others deaf. Oskar attacks and misses, as does Kargur. William attempts another Destruction, but it again fails to outright destroy a slaad. Teflon begins to pull out scrolls, his only remaining offense, while Galrond flies closer and Mass Hastes, followed by a Spell Turning. The Archon casts Aid on Galrond and then shoots a light ray at a gray, but it bounces harmlessly off.

Oskar again attacks and misses, while the White focuses its full rage upon Kargur. Two massive claws tear into him, but the tongue dripping ooze misses by a hair. A bit of the ooze flecks his armor though, and the spots it touches turn to glass. Lanis draws his bow and readies a shot for as soon as he can see again, which he hopes won’t be long. Teflon, having readied a scroll, casts a Bigby’s Grasping Hand, which moves towards the massive White Slaad. It grabs an easy hold, but is quickly shrugged off by the beast. The two death Slaads cease their concerted attacks, and one of them blinds Kargur with his croak, while the other slams the area with pure chaotic energy. Kargur responds with a swing of his sword, but without his sight, it misses. William moves up and Mass Heals, fixing everyone’s damage and blindness / deafness.  Galrond also moves up and touches Oskar, whose head is suddenly wreathed in Heironious’ crackling Crown of Glory. He follows this up with an attempted Feeblemind on a death slaad, but it fails to affect the creature’s chaotic mind.

Lanis shoots a death slaad, while Oskar focuses his assault on the White. Although he manages to land several solid blows, the thing shrugs them off, healing them as rapidly as they can be dealt. Seeing this, he steps over to attack a nearby death slaad instead. Mist also moves over to attack the gray.

The White Slaad turns invisible and suddenly all three frogmen are wreathed in shimmering and swirling fields of prismatic color. Teflon’s massive hand, not fooled by the invisibility, attempts another grapple and fails, while Billy himself uses another scroll to cast Leech Field. The White is caught in the field, and Billy feels mildly stronger, but the chaotic outsider does not seem to even notice the spell’s effects, as it continues its assault.

Myst moves around to try to get a better position from which to attack a death slaad, but screams out in pain as the invisible White latches his jaws into his arm, nearly severing it. As Myst collapses to the ground unconscious, the creature’s vile venom begins to take effect. Two of Myst’s fingers turn into butterflies and fly away. The rest of the arm begins to turn to butter, which rapidly melts in the morning sun.

Teflon stabs out at a gray slaad, and as his dagger drives home, the shimmering field folds and bends, then courses over him for a second before returning to enshroud the slaad again. It leaves behind a jumbled and confused mass of thoughts in Billy’s mind. 

-----

Flashback to moments after Conrad Adar has captured yet another soul. 

As he walks out into the night time street, Conrad hears the most pleasing word he can imagine. “I’d sell my soul for a mug of ale.”

Looking into the alley, he sees what appears to be a dwarf. It is hard to tell though, as Fokurt Deathdodger Stonegut is mostly a mass of scar tissue. He has died more times than he can remember, and now finds himself staggering through the alley, looking for a bit of the old “hair of the dog” to help ease his hangover. His pajamas give mute testimony to his drinking habits, and the fish and boats motif upon them stands out in stark contrast to the scar tissue beneath.

Conrad thinks for a moment, knowing such a bargain is really no challenge for him. It doesn’t take him long though to decide to teach this pathetic mortal the errors of errant speech. Snapping his fingers, a tankard of Dwarven stout appears in his hand, and he strolls casually over to the dwarf.

“Here you go good fellow. Have a tankard.”

As Fokurt reaches out for the mug, Conrad smiles. When Fokurt’s hands touch it, he laughs. “Too bad you didn’t mention wanting to drink it.” As Fokurt lifts the tankard of ale towards his mouth, he is interrupted by the undeniable pull of the Tome.

-------

Now, over two hundred years later, Fokurt finds himself spat out of the Tome in the midst of a chaotic battlefield. He looks around him to see the massive Slaadi falling before the heroes’ might and cries out. Seeing Galrond, Kargur, and Oskar in polymorphed troll forms, he chooses Giantish as his first linguistic attempt. Only Billy understands his request. “Hello good heroes. Would someone be so kind as to enchant my tankard? It is the only weapon I possess.” He then looks down and sees that there is still a bit of ale left in the tankard. Considering the pain it cost him, it hardly seems worth it when he tosses it back. Moments later he starts to feel a slight buzz.

The death slaad attempts to shatter Lanis’ bow but fails. Kargur attacks the slaad again. He hits it, but he too finds his mind confused by the cloak of chaos surrounding them. William, using the hand to target, unleashes a massive fire storm in the area, which engulfs all of the slaads. He follows it up with a bolt of Glory, killing one of the death slaads. Galrond casts See Invisibility, then a Greater Dispelling on the White Slaad, causing it to reappear, without its cloak of chaos to protect it. Alzaran flies over to Aid Kargur, and then returns to Galrond’s side.

From the North comes the sound of a steady drumbeat, which quickly shifts to a flute melody, then cymbals, and then the sounds of various animals. Looking over, William sees a roiling ball of color and sound moving towards him. As it gets near, he feels the energy being sapped from his limbs, and he nearly collapses, suddenly exhausted.

Lanis unleashes a flurry of arrow shots, and manages to kill the one remaining Death Slaad. Oskar charges the White and is again ineffective. Although Myst is unconscious from the pain, that does not stop him from seeing what happens next. The venom burrows deeper into his system, and his eyes crawl out of his head. Using the nerve endings to crawl like a worm, they inch away slowly. As they look back, he sees his unharmed hand detach itself from the body and crawl its way up to his face. As it begins to dig in the gray matter behind his hollow eye sockets, his world goes black.

The White Slaad again disappears, and Galrond, high above the battlefield, screams in pain. A large portion of his side has been ripped out, and the blood spatters down on Oskar’s head. The beast’s venom begins to take hold of Galrond as well, whose right leg begins to slowly turn to wood. That does not stop Galrond from attempting to polymorph the beast into a wicker chair, but it easily avoids the spell’s effects. Galrond then elects to go on the defensive, and a fiery shield appears in front of him.

The shifting and swirling chaos orb moves up, and this time its sounds turn to loud screeching and wailing, sending shooting pains through the heads of all who hear it. 

Lanis readies an attack for when the creature reappears, as does Kargur (after detecting no evil on Fokurt). Galrond’s corpse on the ground continues to shift and change. His leg turns fully to wood, and the blood flow through it ceases. He drifts into death without getting to see the wood begin to petrify. 

William calls upon Heironious and two rapid Flame Strikes slam into the massive white slaad, momentarily outlining it in flames.

Lanis, having not gotten a good shot, changes strategies when he remembers the mask that was found. Knowing its True Sight ability would be very helpful, he heads over to Galrond’s body and pulls it off. Placing it on his face, he prepares to activate it.

Oskar, seeing he cannot harm the slaad, turns and charges the chaos orb that has wandered through the battlefield. He slams into it hard, and its return shot bounces off of his armor. Oskar’s second shot send the thing splattering to the ground, the ooze it was composed of now inert.

The slaad assaults William and dispels his winged cloak’s magic, sending him drifting slowly towards the ground. Fokurt again calls out for aid, this time in common. Teflon replies “The gods have taken away my spell casting ability.” As Teflon turns to leave, he disappears, almost as if he had stepped through a doorway in the air. He appears on the other side in a familiar room. All around him are Raffi’s opulent furnishings. 

He reaches into his pouch to pull out some rations for the cat, but it just goes over and hisses at him. It then walks to a plate of oriental food and hisses again, reminding Billy of his wayward cracks about using the immortal cat as a replenishable source of meat for a Chinese restaurant.

“So, it seems you have decided to ignore Heironious’ words and destroy the book anyway?” Raffi asks from his pile of cushions.

“Well,” Teflon replies, “he did say yes and no.”

Raffi decides not to point out the obvious interpretation (that had been pointed out by others before the book was destroyed) that perhaps it was meant to be done in a more controlled manner.

“No matter. It is sometimes a good thing to not immediately obey the will of the gods. I see you’ve have suffered a grievous loss as a result of your actions. I can fix that, in return for a favor.”

Teflon, wary of deals since the group’s meeting with Shasalah and Conrad, asks, “What favor.”

“I need a book returned to me. Don’t worry though, it will in no way endanger humanity. Also, it can wait until you have completed your current quest, as stopping Acererak is much more important than this minor side trek for me.”

Billy rapidly agrees, and Raffi reaches out to touch him. When his fingers reach Billy’s chest, they do not stop there. Raffi continues to reach into Billy, until he has finally crawled completely inside of the dwarf. From within his head Billy hears, “It is done, you may return to your friends now.” A shimmering doorway opens in front of him, and Billy steps through.

Meanwhile, Kargur has cast Commanding presence on himself and readied an attack for when the thing reappears. William Mass Heals again, and begins to cast Summon Monster IX to call a Couatl.

Lanis fires at where he thinks the beast may be and misses. Oskar drops a Chain and Dagger beside Fokurt, who looks at it confused, never having seen one before. He picks it up though, and readies it to attack the beast.

William’s spell is disrupted moments later, and the chaos matter in his otherwise fully healed bite wound begins to eat away at his flesh, turning it to maggots which plummet to the earth and squirm away. The Slaad’s follow up attacks send him reeling.

As Billy reappears, he casts See Invisibility, and then Mordenkainen’s Disjunction on the Slaad. As it reappears, it floats towards the ground, narrowly missing the people massed beneath it.

William heals and then Flame Strikes, while Kargur slams his sword home. Oskar’s attacks are again ineffectual, and Fokurt cannot seem to figure out how to use the chain and dagger.

Alzaran attempts to move away to aid Lanis, and gets bit for his troubles. The chaos energy begins to course through him and his Lantern Archon light rapidly begins to shift colors. He does make it to Lanis’ side though, and the Aid takes affect.

Lanis moves away and shoots, then the Slaad teleports next to Teflon Billy, unphased by its reappearance. Teflon combat casts a spell and then reaches out to touch the Slaad. “Dance for me frog!” he commands.

“Hello my honey, hello my baby, hello my ragtime gal!”

The slaad begins to dance vigorously in front of Billy, who steps back. The party moves up and quickly surrounds it. As their blows ring home, it rapidly goes from a quick and lively tap number to a slow and onerous soft shoe shuffle, before finally dancing to its grave under the combined assaults of the heroes.

The party assesses its wounds, and far in the distance they see a host of celestials mopping up a few remaining demons and devils. 

A twenty foot tall gate opens up and Amastacia and Gundarag come through, leading a large group of armed and armored people, many of whom ride chariots.


----------



## Krellic

That White Slaad and its chaos venom is just horrid.  This is definitely not a book for a little light reading, and somehow I doubt that the next one they'll quest for will be a 'mere side-trek.'


----------



## James McMurray

Yeah, the description just says "Chaos damage" but that isn't fun sounding enough. No one who got bit had any bad effects (other than damage) until they died though. I didn't wantt o screw the party any more than 8d4 damage followed by 4d4 for 9 rounds would do.

I did forget to start using his Stunning Fist feat again though. At least I remembered his Blinding Speed.

DOH!


----------



## Krellic

James McMurray said:
			
		

> *Yeah, the description just says "Chaos damage" but that isn't fun sounding enough. No one who got bit had any bad effects (other than damage) until they died though. I didn't wantt o screw the party any more than 8d4 damage followed by 4d4 for 9 rounds would do.*




Dm's interpretation has a lot to answer for, but personally I'd always go with the gruesome...


----------



## James McMurray

Amastacia and Gundarag arrive with the troops, while the party begins to gather their dead and search the corpses of the fallen. They manage to find enough money to purchase quite a few resurrection gems (one especially large on for Galrond). Taking those back to town, the group spends the next day communing to gauge Fokurt’s trustability, and also determining if some of the dead should be raised. They find a few candidates to raise, one of which is Gregory. He tells them his story and thanks them.

Myst decides to stay with Amastacia, and the group heads out the next day. Their return trip to Moil deposits them via Galrond’s gate at the entrance to the Tower of Morning. Warning Fokurt not to look at the mural above the archway (as it puts people to sleep), they head in.

Fokurt scouts the place out, and stumbles across another Moilian Zombie. He follows the advice of the group and leads it back to the party, who quickly destroy it.

His travels go deeper into the tower, and he comes upon a room whose entire outer wall is covered in panels depicting the times of day. After some discussion, the group decides to identify the panels, which Galrond has detected as magical. They are designed to gather the light of the Sun and Channel it to another place within the tower.

Traveling to the pedestal that the Wand of Days was on, they identify it and learn that it gathers the light of the Sun from somewhere else in the tower and places it into the Wand of Days. Eureka!

They place the Wand on the pedestal and go back to experiment with the panels. Fokurt (the self-proclaimed fodder) moves up to touch the noon day sun panel, figuring it may be the best one. The panel lights up and those in the wand’s chamber see the pedestal light up as well. Ten minutes later it goes dim, leaving the wand mildly glowing. The group identifies it and learns that it now has ten charges. The confidence level of the party has obviously risen now that they have something they believe capable of destroying Acererak’s Phylactery.

Speaking amongst themselves, they decide to return to Al’raktal’s tower. Knowing they need to retrieve the key from him, they prepare for battle. The group describes the tower’s invisible floors of force to those who have not seen it, and moves out.

As they reach the entrance, Al’raktal’s voice calls out, “Welcome back Kargur Melasur, Oskar. Where is your friend Lo’ser and who are these?”

William replies that Lo’ser is gone with their belongings and the dragon expresses condolences. Fokurt introduces himself, “I am Fokurt Deathdodger Stonegut.”

“It is a pleasure to meet you Fokurt Deathdodger Stonegut.”

The party begins to whisper amongst themselves about how best to reach the pedestal and its key, when Fokurt asks them quietly, “Has anyone simply asked if we could have the key?”

Al’raktal chuckles and calls out, “No one has asked me that.”

Fokurt looks down into the tower. “Is that possible.”

“Giving the key is one of the possible options, yes. However, one must also take the mask with them as well.”

“What mask?”

Another voice calls out from below, high pitched and laced with sarcasm and mischief. “Me.”

Al’raktal says, “Silence fool,” in a curt tone, and the mask goes quiet. “Why don’t you come down and we’ll discuss this further?

The group decides to head down, and as they navigate through the invisible floors of the tower, they see a portion of the stone floor slide aside, revealing a dimly lit chamber below.

Inside the chamber the group sees a massive, partially translucent dragon reclining in a shimmering pool. All around lie the creature’s trove, and the pool it lays in flickers to life. Scenes of battle ripple across its surface.

The majority of the party begins to speak with the dragon, and they learn that one of the options available to them is to have someone wear the mask away. He who wears the mask may carry the key with him.

The mask itself is very enthusiastic about this idea. Closer inspection shows the mask to be carved in the likeness of the Sign of the devourer, its jet black mouth dark and empty.

Oskar has been studying the pool itself, and when he sees a scene of the party battling the Demi-lich in the Tomb, he asks what it is.

Al’raktal replies, “This is a Shi’ar pool. It is the locked away power of the ages, placed here by the gods to limit man. It is also part of my payment.”

Through further discussion the group learns that this pool, the Pool of Glory, grants great power to those who bathe in it. Even further discussion leads them to decide that Fokurt (self-proclaimed fodder) will wear the mask and take the key. Before he takes it, he speaks more with the Dragon, offering his services in the future, and telling him that he may be found on the Prime, near Greyhawk.

Al’raktal says he will keep that in mind, and when asked if the group can hire him asks if they know the location of any more Shi’ar pools. When they tell him no, he says to let him know if they find any, for that is the only payment he will work for.

“Did it say anywhere in the deal that the mask must be worn on the face?” Fokurt asks.

Galrond interjects, “I see your years in the book taught you something.”

Al’raktal answers, “Now that you mention it, no. Acererak just said it had to be worn.”

Fokurt cuts a strip of rope and ties the mask to his leg. As it chortles with glee, it burrows through his armor and slowly wriggles its way to his face. Acting quickly, Fokurt moves to grab the key and hand it to Billy. The mask then reaches his face.

“Thanks! This is great. That bastard wouldn’t wear me, or let me eat, or even let me talk much.”

The group begins to talk with the mask, and learns that it was forged by Acererak, but that it does not care for the demi-lich. As Al’raktal begins to gather his hoard into a portable hole, Oskar prepares to go for a swim. His removal of his armor is met with the mask’s enthusiasm. “All right! I love it when my food gets itself out of its can for me.”

Oskar keeps his distance, even more so after a 6 foot tongue of jet black nothingness lashes out from the mask towards him. He then heads to the pool where he tries to swim. The top of the pool is like slowly flowing glass though, and he is unable to enter the water.

Everyone in the party tries to enter, and it repels them all. As Fokurt is standing on the surface, the masks sighs impatiently and he begins to float off the ground. He turns slowly over and the mask dips itself into the waters of the pool, where it starts to glow and tingle on Fokurt’s face. It opens its mouth wide and drinks deep, taking away nearly a quarter of the pool. “Man! That was good!”

Fokurt floats back to the group and finds himself once again in control of his body.

The party talks amongst themselves, and when an Anti-magic field fails to stop the mask or remove it, Billy thinks about using another Disjunction. He foregoes the idea for now though, and the group heads back into the city.


----------



## Immort

Hey!  What about the rest o' the battles.  Ya led up ta the end of the battles but never finished em.  Yer leavin' me hangin' here.

-Immort


----------



## James McMurray

OOPS!

I forgot all about the ends of those other battles. I'll have to dig out the logs and finish them up.


----------



## James McMurray

*Charater Stats*

I know that Billy and William are a bit behind (Billy is 17th level and William is 18th now).

Amastacia - Her update is coming soon. She is tending tot he people freed from the tome, and has managed to meet someone quite unexpected.

Galrond Glorykin 

Gundarag - Amastacia's husband and the father of her unborn child.

Kargur Melasur He has suffered the worst privations from the City and the Tomb, as shown by his gear list being so small.

Lanis - Kargur's faithful friend.

Lo'ser - Recently seen being pulled into the Tome, the group desperately want to find him (or at least the Circlet of True Seeing that he wore).

Mhyst  - Recently freed from the Tome, he waits for Amastacia's return so that he can get to know the woman who was once the child he refused to kill.

Oskar - Dwarven Defender and fellow seeker for Glory.

Teflon Billy - No longer traveling under the Pseudonym Protekote Joey, Billy has recently lost and reacquired his Wizardly powers. He now owes the mysterious being known as Raffi a(nother) favor, and has not stopped feeling a tiny bit of dread in the back of his mind since the destruction of the Tome.

William Siege - Priest of Heironious, and Teflon Billy's role model.

I don't have the stats for Fokurt Deathdodger Stonegut right now, but maybe his player will be kind enough to post them?


----------



## Immort

As if it wasn't bad enuff fer these poor bastards bein' stuck inta this particular module, but fer the love of god, ta only give em a 32 point buy?!?  Yer a true wielder of the "Sadist's Screen".  Thanks fer the character profiles though.

-Immort


----------



## Mr.Binx

Fokurt "Death-dodger" Stonegut's updated character stats can be viewed here.  I apologize for the lack of luster, as it's not nearly as colorful as everyone else's online PC sheets.


----------



## James McMurray

"Only 32 point buy?" I hope that was sarcasm. 32 points is quite high by the DMG standards, which consider 28 to be high powered (I think). Besides, who says they're stuck? They could always just let Acererak become one with the negative plane and capable of transferring his essence to any undead anywhere. Heck, he might not even start his rampaging with the prime material. 

At the higher levels it hasn't really shown itself as much, but when the party was young, those stats were incredible. With 32 point buy you can easily get:


10,12,12,12,12,17 (can easily bump to 18 at 4th level)
10,10,12,12,12,18 (start with an 18, but don't get a true increase until 8th, after a stat has gotten two bump)
8,10,10,15,16,16 (you can be a good monk without having to get lucky and roll a lot of great stats)

All-in-all I'd have to say I would welcome a chance to play in a 32 point game. In any case, I much prefer pont buy to rolling, as I've got a better chance of being able to make any character I can envision.

Mr. Binx, The only reason the other character sheets are so colorful is because I cheated.  PCGen comes with all sorts of nice templates that you can export to.


----------



## Immort

Ain't yer ever noticed how much low stats tend ta favor magic characters?  A spell slinger with one good stat can wreak untold devastation with the "save or die" spells.  An up close character tends ta need about three decent stats or they end up bein' window dressin' or door stops fer the spell slingers.  

*shrug*

Anyhows, keep it comin'.

-Immort


----------



## James McMurray

Low stats may favor spellcasters (although I still think that a smart spellcaster is going to want at least three decent stats) but I don't agree that 32 point buy is low. I don't know what the average is on 4d6 drop the lowest, but I'd be willing to bet that it is under or near the level of stats attainable by 32 point buy. Heck, I was worried that 32 points would be too much when I started the campaign.


----------



## Mr.Binx

IMO those who whine over non-examplary stats are crack whores.  In real life you have to make due with what you are given. If you see above average stats that are less than exemplary as a problem then you are only adding obstacles to your path. The challenge is part of the fun of this game. Quit your whining and have fun with what ya' got.  

On a side note: I actually thought Fokurt's stats came out pretty kick-ass..


----------



## James McMurray

The party gathered themselves up after leaving the Shi'ar Pool and headed to the next tower. Above the door is a strangely familiar emblem: a humanoid figure wrapped in cloth around which two snakes entwine. Sending the scout on ahead, they follow closely behind, and are there in time to take down two Moilian Undead before much damage is caused. The by-now standard tactic of "bash them into submission and then have the cleric Mace of Disruption them" gains the party a few more minor magic items and some coins.

Traveling further inward, Fokurt enters into a room where a beautiful young woman sits in the floor sobbing. all around her the room is in total disarray. The solid metal hospital bed is bent and mangled, the armoire and nightstand shattered, and papers litter the floor. As Fokurt enters, Cyndia looks up, "Hello?" she says in a confused voice, still wracked with sobs.

Fokurt replies in kind, and asks who she is. "I am Cyndia, a Medron Magen. Are you injured?"

Through discussion, the party finds out that Cyndia is a construct, that this was previously the Tower of Health where Moilian citizens went to recover from injury and excess, and that Dr. Tarr may be able to remove the Mask from Fokurt.

"Come this way please. Dr. Tarr will be more than happy to see to your troubles, but first we must get you scanned." Further talk lets the party know that scanning will give a more complete diagnosis and that Dr. Tarr can then use that information to remove the Mask.

As the group enters the Deep View Chamber, Cyndia points to the massive metal cylinder in the center. Its Lead door is hanging from broken hinges, and the crystals above the door are cracked and flickering with a sickly light. This does not deter Fokurt though, and he climbs in. The door clangs several times as it tries to close, and then the outer screen lights up with a line drawing of Fokurt. A few small red splotches are visible on his body, and a large green aura surrounds the head area. Moments later a muffled cry is heard from inside, and the entire drawing lights in red. "This patient has suffered severe crushing damage and requires immediate medical attention." says a disembodied female voice in an uncaring, soothing tone.

"Oh dear! We must get him to medical attention soon!" Cyndia exclaims. She opens the huge metal door (which was only half closed) and easily pulls the dwarf out of the chamber. Cradling him in her petite arms she carries him out of the room. The party follows, somewhat amused and curious.

Up the stairs they go, and then find themselves in a massive operating theatre. All around are hospital beds in neat rows, each one perfectly made. From the ceiling drops an almost arachnid figure who introduces himself as Dr. Tarr. "What seems to be the trouble?" His upper body is humanoid, but the lower half is completely mechanical. Dangling from the round base is a large assortment of medical instruments: scalpels, syringes, and even a couple of bone saws.

Cyndia explains about the mishap with the Deep View chamber and the party explains about the mask (which looks on amused the entire time. Dr. Tarr insists that he be allowed to work on Fokurt to remedy his injuries and remove the mask.

Fokurt does not want to, but the rest of the party talk him into it. They seem completely uncaring as to whether he lives or dies, and insist on taking back the majority of the gear they gave him before they allow Dr. Tarr to start. They do agree to raise him if something terribly wrong happens.

The good Dr. lies Fokurt gently on a table and prepares to go to work. Moments after his body hits the table, Fokurt feels several tiny piercings below him, and the injected Moilian soporifics put him under rapidly. As one of his saw blades starts up Oskar asks what it is for. "To remove the Mask of course," replies Dr. Tarr. He then moves towards Fokurt, but an invisible force pushes him back as his blade nears Fokurt's face. 

Dr. Tarr stops for a moment, thinking, then tries to move forward again. This time he seems to be steadily pushing against an unseen force, and his saw begin to cut around Fokurt's facial area.

William looks on, and his Eyes of Doom's Deathwatch ability shows him that Fokurt is very nearly dead, and he casts Mass Heal to fix him completely. The doctor rises back up on his mechanical base and looks around bemused. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to please leave the chamber. Surgery is delicate business and I can’t work properly with all of the distractions."

Cyndia begins to usher the group towards the door, but they resist. "He was almost dead." William says.

Dr. Tarr explains to them that of course he was almost dead. Surgery is a delicate matter and requires extreme balance to maintain the subject's life force. The Moilian science in the tables will do that, but if a distraction causes him to make a misstep, the patient could be lost.

The group decides to allow the Doctor to work, and head to the waiting room. Over an hour passes and the group begins to get impatient. William, knowing he will be able to see the stats of Fokurt moves back to the door and opens it. He sees Fokurt propped up on the table, with his chest spread wide, the skin held back from the rib cage with prongs. Fokurt's head is shaved in ragged patches, and the Doctor is digging around in his chest with various surgical instruments.

Cyndia sees him and rushes towards the door to close it again. "Please, sir. There can be no distractions at this delicate stage of the operation."

William asks how it is going and if the Mask has been removed, to which Cyndia replies, "the Mask is still there, but we have removed several other malignant growths. The good doctor is now going to attempt to reach the mask from behind."

"Would it be too much to ask if we could get a lock of his hair for sentimental reason?" William asks, hoping to be able to resurrect Fokurt if things go terribly wrong. Cyndia agrees and returns moments later with a small patch of skin which is covered in ragged hair.

The group goes back to waiting, and after another hour they again try to open the door, which is locked this time. Billy casts knock and the door opens. William sees that Fokurt is still alive and the mask is still on him. Cyndia rushes back out and explains that this is a delicate operation and could take quite a while. The group tells her to please let them know when the Doctor is done with him and she agrees. Galrond calls forth the entryway to Heironious' guest house, and the group piles in to rest up while they wait.

------------

I took the battle logs to work yesterday and didn't have time to write them up. Now I'm at home and don't have them. I will finish them up when I've got time, but for now suffice it to say that the Titan won, in a battle that spanned several Mountain tops. All of the battles with celestials in them were won by the celestials once the reinforcementts arrived.


----------



## James McMurray

Meanwhile, to the East, a host of angelic figures harries and finally destroys a few fleeing devils. As the last battle ends, the silence is deafening. Then a voice rings out, “The first one’s free!” 

Looking towards the sound, Amastacia sees a ramshackle stand set up. Across the top signpost in several languages is the word “Refreshments”. Behind the counter are three gnomes. They take turns climbing on each others’ shoulders to reach the counter, and begin distributing drinks to anyone who will come near enough. An unfamiliar figure breaks away from the party’s area and heads that way. 

The party goes to ask Amastacia if she will Scry for Lo’ser (or William’s Circlet) when she gets a chance. The party then heads back to town, where they say they will be raising the dead and doing some shopping. 

Amastacia turns her attention to the task at hand, and begins to gather people to herself. The vast majority of the beings dropped here that still remain are human, dwarven, elven, halfling, or gnomish. However, here and there she spies a kobold or two heading for the 
hills, as well as Orcs, Trolls, and a couple of creatures whose type she is unsure of. These last appear to be Humanoid Snakes, but they aren’t like any Lizard men she has ever seen. The majority of the non-demi-humans disappear over the hills in the distance rather rapidly, although 4 kobolds and an orc stay behind. 

Casting about for something elevated to stand on, she spies a massive dragon corpse not too far away. Feeling it will be dramatic enough, Amastacia gets Gundarag’s help and climbs atop the beast’s head. Its glazed over dead eyes stare out at the people who turn to listen to her speech.

"My good people. If you seek refuge inside the safety of the nearby city, then please come with us. We have come to assist you in whatever needs you have by whatever means we have possible. There is food, shelter, good drink and good people where I am going. Also, we have access to temples of various deities and I am certain they would be happy to assist you too. Please, let us begin talking to see how best to get back to the city. If we have to walk, it will take about a week. Shall we see who does not speak Common, then? Those who can understand me, please raise your hands.”

Although she has to repeat herself several times in order to get the attention of many of the farthest people, her powerful voice and commanding presence soon grabs the attention of the vast majority of the people assembled. The throng of people begins to quiet down, and what few interruptions there are (“WHO ARE YOU???”, “WHERE ARE WE???”, “WHEN ARE WE???”) get rapidly squelched by the people who want to know where and when they are.

Once the crowd is assembled, she asks for a show of hands one final time. It seems the vast majority of the 1,000 or so people assembled do indeed speak common. This includes two of the Kobolds. They have managed to keep their places on the outskirts of the group, although several times they are the target of hurled epithets (or rocks). When this happens they rapidly move away from that group, but always stay close enough to hear.

The lone Orc also shows a bit of interest in coming along, although he does not raise his hand when the question of language is posed. He does keep to the outskirts of the group though, and his firm and strong appearance stifle any thoughts of attacking him by the assemblage.

"I understand you have many questions. First, you are about 50 miles West of Lopolla. In case you don't know, you have been freed from the book formerly owned by Conrad. You are, indeed, free as far as I know. That should be good news. I don't know where Conrad is, if he's dead, alive or what. My fellow-adventurers would better be able to tell you details about him, but they have gone back to town already to get their dead raised. The year is 615. You are in the land of Ket. If you see someone who did not raise their hand and you think you speak their language, please try to help them understand what is going on here. If we can't find enough spell casters to teleport our crowd, then we'll simply have to start our pilgrimage, relying on our magic and hunting skills to provide what is needed."

"I don't mean to begin asking things of you, for I know you've been through a great deal. But if we can just work together until we get into the city where we have more resources, things will go much more smoothly. I will allow anyone to travel with us, as long as they do not harm or rob us. The moment violence, thievery or any other menacing behavior or activity is witnessed, there could be swift justice. So, please, let's not take advantage of each other's hospitality and trust." So, please report to the charioteers if you have some way of teleporting us back to the city or another idea that would expedite our travel. She looks towards the kobolds to see how they react to this message, and she faces the others with bravery in her choice. 

The people look around at each other then back to Amastacia. Apparently if any of the book's captives could teleport, they have already done so. The kobolds are looking towards her with curiosity in their eyes. It is a bit of a shock to see that a non-kobold would have pity for them. One of them begins to step forward, then seems to think twice about it and fades back again. 

The orc appears a bit surprised when Amastacia approaches him and greets him in Orcish. He replies in perfect common, "I am Gormash. How do I reach the Lortmil Mountains from here?" The name strikes a chord in Amastacia and after a moment she recognizes it: he is the ruler of Gundabad, the orc who has been behind the war with the humans and the orcs. It is because of his troops that the Duchy of Ulek is unable to fight off the encroaching undead. 

"So I finally meet the Great Gormash face-to-face. This is a day I will not forget." She pauses, a mixture of respect and curiosity on her face. "Perhaps it is fated we should meet here, for I have longed to speak to you face-to-face, but thought it would never happen." Gundarag has remained in between them the entire time, but she steps from behind him and steps just one step closer to Gormash. "This is my husband, Gundarag." There is more protocol than politeness in her introduction. She's not expecting handshakes and warm hugs by any means. "You owe me no explanation, this is for certain, but I wanted to hear from your lips why you make war on the Duchy of Ulek. I have my own assumptions, but surly there is more reason for this than to take the land." Again she pauses and looks him over from head to toe. "There is a part of me that thinks ending your life this day would be a turning point in the war. Your dead body would be just the rallying cry needed for that land. But, Mr. Gormash, I don't operate that way." She looks him in the eyes, searching for a sign of “humanity.” 

"It is quite obvious that you have me out manned and out maneuvered. But do not think that I would fall so easily." As he speaks, his sword leaps into his hand, almost as if it has a life of its own. His cloak whirls around in a brisk wind that is not there, and the many tattoos on his arms and head begin to glow with an unearthly yellow light. Moments later, before Gundarag can leap to Amastacia's defense, the spectacle dies back down. "I too do not need to operate that way." Amastacia sees in his eyes that he is a creature of honor. 

"My people war upon the Duchy of Ulek and the Gran March because that is what they wanted. For several years we had between us a treaty. There was even a measure of respect between our nations. We traded our masterful weaponry for your agriculture and livestock. That all changed once his 'Illustrious Majesty' Duke Magnus Vrianian decided that we had grown too strong." The name of the party's patron is spoken with utter disdain, and followed by black spit from Gormash's mouth which spatters the ground at his feet. 

"Under my leadership the Urek Hai grew strong. We delved deep into the depths of ancient Gundabad, and made its secrets our own. Our women were trained in the ways of magic, and breeding programs instigated which brought the inner strength of the orcish men to the fore. This worried the Duke." 

"He struck in treachery, killing Torok, my diplomat, in his sleep. He then proceeded to blame the prvations of petty bandits upon my people, using it as an excuse for war. He now sees the folly of that ploy." Gormash's pride at his peoples' strength is plain to see, and though he is obviously outnumbered, there is no fear at all in his demeanor. 

"Perhaps he felt that the deal I had struck with Conrad would stay my people. For you see, in exchange for peace with humanity, Conrad sped my peoples' growth. We accomplished in a mere 3 breeding cycles what would have taken 20 to achieve." 

"Vrianian did not count upon my love for my people, and the inevitability of the future. The deal that was struck concerned only me. And I gladly gave my soul to the tome so that my people could defend themselves freely." 

"So come then. Take the body that will become your peoples' worst nightmare. But know that I die happily, for it was I, Gormash the outcast, who gave new birth to my clan."

Amastacia becomes frustrated at the news, for it is not at all what she expected. "Gormash, I have no way of proving what you say is true or is not true, but in my heart, I do not doubt you, for I know the greediness of each race. I have learned from you this day, and for that, I am humbled. But many men, Orcish and human, are losing their lives as we speak. Is there nothing that would bring an end to this needless destruction sooner? We both know the perils of war--most often those who control the war are never the ones who fight for or die in that cause. Right now, I have men and women who are wanting to go and fight the undead that are also attacking in that region. But I am torn. I am a peace-bearing woman who lives among war-making men. Is there no wisdom in the way of peace?" She looks kind of sad and defeated, knowing the answer in her heart is not how most creatures feel. 

Gormash seems reassured that she believes him, but it is obvious from his deportment that he would not have been upset if she had not. “My people are strong. Those that fight in this war do so because they choose to. Those that die know why they do so. Perhaps there can be an end to the slaughter. All that is necessary is to have Magnus Vrianian admit his treachery, and submit himself to me for punishment. The diplomats will want other things, they always do. But that alone will satisfy my people and me. Any other offers will be accepted, but only the truth will free your kind from their impending doom.

“Now then, I believe you were about to direct me back to my homeland? If I recall correctly, Ket is a great distance from the Southern Lortmils. Perhaps you would not mind if I were to travel with you to Lopolla, where I can surely find a faster means of transport?”

"Yes, you are far away from your home." she agreed. "May I please ask you one more thing? Would you allow me to go to Magnus Vrianian and begin speaking with him about what you have told me would bring peace between our people? And if he were agreeable to it, would you also receive me in the future, for perhaps more talks that would benefit both of our people? It will take time, but when you hear of Amastacia the Bard, please at least think of speaking with me." She smiled, stepped up to him and held out her hand in a gesture to shake his hand. Gundarag bristled, but did not draw his weapon (yet). Gormash did not accept the hand, but neither did his demeanor spurn it. It seems obvious that he understand the human convention of handshakes but does not follow it himself.

Amastacia moves away and talks to the two kobolds she had seen. She finds out that they are lost from Dragon Mountain and will most likely return to Lopolla with the huge group of people. They acted very strong willed and brave though, and so she did not offer many helpful niceties, even though she wanted to.

Amastacia and the kobolds finish their talk, and she heads back to check on the progress. The charioteers tell her it will be at least an hour or two before the group can get it together enough to know what kinds of resources they have available. 

Given that, she decides to take the time to scry for the circlet as requested by the rest of the party. Pulling out her paints, she begins to create a scene in the air. A small group of people gather to watch as it slowly comes to life. Only one person makes it through the hour long ritual required to create the scrying sensor though, and he sits by patiently watching. 

As the scene takes shape, Amastacia sees the circlet on the head of an old man. The man seems is standing I along line of people, going where she cannot see. Looking for a minute, she is about to give up on guessing the man's location when she sees a familiar figure in the background. One of the children freed from the book is sneaking up to a person three people back in the line and snatching his coin purse. 

Amastacia calls four of her people to her to see what she sees. She asks them to bring the old man and the boy to her. She gives them explicit commands to not be rude, man-handle, or threaten them in any way. 

Her people do not arrive in time to see the boy stealing the coin purse, he has already rejoined the crowd. They set out, and about 15 minutes later bring the older man and the young boy to her. The old man looks Amastacia up and down and say, "Hello young lady, what may I do for you?" The boy just sits back, looking slightly pensive, but also curious. 

She looks at the old man with kindness, "My good sir, it seems you have something on your head that looks like something I've been looking for. May I ask where you it so that I may get one as well?"

"Of course you may my dear. Anyone as pretty as you can ask an old fool like me any questions she wants to. I got it right here on the battlefield. It was a spoil of war, taken from a fallen foe." 

She smiled kindly at him. "I'm Amastacia by the way. What did you say your name was again? What brings you to this battlefield?" Looking over the circlet he wears, she is quite certain that it is indeed William’s Circlet. The many tiny fists and lightning bolts are a dead giveaway.

"My name is Nathaniel Delacroix. I was ensnared by the machinations of Conrad Adar in Greyhawk City in the year 611. Apparently you and your friends have managed to free those of us trapped by the devil, so in a manner of speaking I could say you bring me here." 

"Well, Mr. Delacroix, I'm glad to meet you." She shakes his hand. "And that half-orc not ever far from me is my husband, Gundarag. Should you need anything, you tell either one of us and we'll see what we can do about it. Now, this 'thing' on your head--do you have any idea what it does?" 

"Well, the little bugger that came at me was wearing it (he'd just pulled it off someone he'd killed). After I fought him off, at no small loss to myself, I took it off of him and put it on." As he is talking, he draws back his cloak to show Amastacia his dagger at his side, and moves his arm up to show a couple of nasty claw marks, which are still bleeding a bit. "I suppose I could certainly stand to have this arm fixed." 

As Amastacia heals his arm he continues. "As soon as I put it on, these old eyes started to work better than they have in ages. I've seen things clearer than I have since I was a small boy. It also seems that I can peer into men's souls, which is why I know that you are such a good person, and that your husband has a deep well of danger that he keeps constantly in check. He's a good man though. I reckon I'll have to assume that it enhances a person's senses." This last is said with a chuckle, since that is quite obviously what it does. 

Mr. Delacroix continues, "I also seem to be a bit more knowledgeable about matters of religion than I used to be. Time was I couldn't tell a Pelor symbol from a Gruumsh symbol, much less even knew who Gruumsh was. But now I can rattle off the names and general tenets of every deity you've got tied around your neck there. I'm going to have to assume that whatever Priest of Heironious created this trinket he also instilled a bit of his own religious knowledge in it." 

"You are very correct. I do not care one way or the other as to what you do with what you have rightfully found. But, you seem the kind of man that likes to be fair and have all the facts, so you should know that I believe this is a lost item of one of my fallen comrades. He is a cleric of Heironious and very dedicated to his work. He's an honest man, and fair like you. They have taken him into town to get raised, for he died fighting the good fight. They asked me to search for his lost item before they left. And I can vouch for him--I've seen him wear this item and his looks just like this one, so I believe it to be the one he lost. But, like I said, they didn't ask for me to return it to them, just to look for it. If they ask me, I'll tell them you have it. What you all decide to do from there is up to the two parties involved. But until then, won't you stay with me and be my personal guest once we get to town? I'm sure you have lots of things to share. I've never been trapped in a book--what was that like?" But then Amastacia realizes, before she gets lost in a chatty conversation with this stranger that she must tend to the boy. 

The man graciously accepts her offer, and seems about to start talking when Amastacia excuses herself and turns to the boy. 

She bends down on one knee to get to his level. "And what is your name?" 

"M'name's Jason. Who'r you?" The boy's tone is an odd mix of trepidation, curiosity, and defiance. Its obvious he knows he was seen but that he'll most likely deny it until the end. 

"Jason, I am Amastacia. Do you not have any family here with you?" She keeps a hold of the old man's arm, so he does not think she isn't interested in his story too. 

"What's a family?" It is plain from his tone that Jason knows what a family is and is only being sarcastic. "I ain't never had a family with me, why would there be one here? There was just a man, and we talked, and then he spoke with an angel. Then there was a lifetime in the book. Please do not mistake me for a child, dear, I have lived several lifetimes in torment, and am far older than I appear to be." 

His demeanor indicates he is telling the truth, but it is also fairly certain that although he may be old, he has not lived the full breadth of life required to grant maturity and is rather an old soul with a young mind and a young body. 

She straightens "Oh, I'm sorry" she exclaims innocently. "You look younger than you are. I'm sure you get that all the time then." There is a pause. "Well, then I won't sugar-coat this." Her voice kind of lowers so only she and he can hear "Just believe me when I tell you that I saw you take a coin purse from a fellow traveler here just moments ago. You know what I said earlier about people being allowed to travel with us as long as they are doing no harm to fellow travelers? What was your cause for taking the money?" 

"Actually, I don't get that all the time. Ya may not have noticed, but I just busted outta a book of pain. Weren't much talking in there. S'okay though, I don't mind too much. Figger I oughta get usedta it. Least 'til I can find someone to give me a body commensurate with my experiences. As fer the coins, yeah, I took 'em. So what? The man I took 'em from had just took 'em from another guy." 

Nathaniel clears his throat and speaks up. "The boy, umm... the man... Anyway... He's telling the truth. I saw it happen." 

Amastacia rolls her eyes at the big, fine mess she's trying to govern. "Good grief! Does that make it right then?!?!" Then she decides to cut them all a break, because, like he said, they'd just been freed from a book of terrors. "So be it. Do you follow a deity, sir, boy. . .whatever the case may be?" 

Ain't no god never done nuthin' fer me. Why should I do sumthin' fer him? 

"That is certainly understandable. So, if I'm understanding correctly, you live by the law of 'if you snooze, you lose'? It's survival of the fittest, and you plan to have before you are had?" 

"That sounds good. But I was stealin' from a thief." 

"I'm trying to explain to you that stealing is against the law and wrong, whether it be from a thief or a law-abiding citizen. Now, there can always be circumstances--a family is starving, a child has no other way to survive, an elderly person cannot get a job and must have something warm at night. So, I can't say it's wrong every, single time. What I do see here is a person who has been told they would be taken care of as best as possible until we get to the city, who has been warned that breaking the law would result in banishment from the group, and so I can only deduct that you are stealing for the act of stealing. So, then, we go to the next level of assumptions and give you the benefit of the doubt. He's in shock, he's afraid, he's just exited a book of terrors the like of which I hope to never know. He's not sure of his future once he gets to town, so he must secure something now. He justifies this by saying he is stealing what was already stolen. I'll even follow you to that point. But what I'm trying to point out to you is this train of thought is going to have to make you the best thief in the land, or, more likely, you're going to be the victim more often than the victor due to bad attitude and greed. But I don't have time to keep debating moral behavior with you, so you can either be banished from the group for your wrongdoing or you can agree to give one-quarter of what you stole from that person to a cause or deity of your choice the day after we get back into the city." She gave him a tired look, but one that showed she understood, "And learn to trust some people every once in a while. I said I'd do the best I could to get everyone safely back to the city, and that's what I intend to do."

“Um, I'll take that second option. Sorry." He does seem sincerely apologetic. 

"Very good choice, I believe. One more thing," she paused, "if I see you or hear report of you stealing anything else on this trip, then you will automatically be banished from the group. So, either behave or suddenly become the best thief there is." she kind of laughed. "Either way, you'd live a lot longer." She wished she could talk some since into his head, because he was young and had his entire life ahead of him. 

She turned back to Delacroix. "Now, tell me about being in this book." They walked towards the charioteers to see what information had come forward.

"Well young lady, there are things in that book that one such as young and pretty as yourself doesn't need to know about. Suffice it to say that it is not a pleasant experience by any stretch of the imagination. I have learned the one lesson Conrad seemed intent on teaching though: always get it in writing." 

As the two reach the chariot area, they see that the lines are much smaller. Algernon comes up to Amastacia. The final numbers have not come in of course, as we still have many people in line. However, it looks as if food will be a very big issue. We have almost no food ourselves, perhaps enough to feed 20 people for a day. We have about 1,250 people to transport. By my estimates we should be able to hunt for enough to feed half of those people for the next four days or so. We will leave behind us a swath of destruction though, as we will have to take every last bit of resources that this land has to keep them fed. If we ration well, we should be able to make it, but the old and the sick may perish on the journey. Finally, once we do get to Lopolla, what will we do? I guess that is a matter we can deal with then though." 

"Well, at least there is a chance of making it." she replied hopefully to Algernon. 
She looked at Delacroix. "Let's hope neither you nor I nor anyone we love ever has to deal with that Conrad person again. He is certainly more evil than I ever knew a being could be."

Amastacia took Gundarag's hand in hers and he could sense her worry. "You do the right thing." he reassured her that his journey would not be a waste.

"Gundarag, Algernon, would you mind being in charge of the hunting parties? I assume there are some around here who could assist in this?" again her voice trailed off, hoping Raffi had not given her too big of a task just to amuse himself in her failure. After all, he is the god of trickery and secrets, so there was nothing assured that she would actually be triumphant in this deed. But she didn't want to be a baby about every little thing that crossed her path, so she vowed to not ask him to help her with this. She could do it--she reassured herself. "What do you guys think if we started migrating back to town? We have a good afternoon ahead of us. And if any game crossed our way, all the better. I doubt any animals have hung around here after all the chaos this afternoon."

Algernon agreed and motioned for one of the three entertainers on the trip to sound his drum. A rhythmic, prompting beat filled the air, repeatedly. "Move out." one charioteer announced. The cry was repeated throughout the crowd as everyone slowly began migrating South-east, towards the Vida River and the City. The chariots only had one driver, and where the other soldier usually rode, they placed one of the sick. Those who could not stand or sit up in a chariot were rigged onto travois and pulled behind the chariots. But, overall, people were in fairly good spirits, for this was the day they were liberated from Conrad's book, so a journey on foot into the flourishing city was a small price to pay for their freedom.

The group headed East for a few hours. Overall it was a fairly joyful occasion, as most everyone was glad to have been freed of the tome. A few fights break out between people of radically different mindsets, but none are fatal and all are easily stopped. The day wears on and Gundarag points out that night is fast approaching. "we should make camp," he says. 

The group camps, and watches are set. The night passes completely uneventfully, but the morning preparations are interrupted by a loud shrill shriek. Amastacia moves to investigate, but Gundarag slows her, "let the men report, you don't need to be in danger." 

Sure enough, Algernon soon comes to the two. "There was a murder last night."


----------



## James McMurray

Cyndia does not notify the party of any changes, and they step out of the Guest House the next morning, right outside of the “warm tower” (the Tower of Portals is not frozen over). William leads the way, and Oskar follows. When Teflon Billy next steps out, a wall of ice appears behind him, trapping the rest of the party in the Guest House.

“Our business is with Billy. The rest of you may leave.” Says a raspy voice from nowhere.

Billy casts See Invisible and sees before him two Pit Fiends, an Osyluth, and another towering figure. Oskar asks what the business is and the voice (the Osyluth) again tells William and him to leave. When they refuse, two both Oskar and Billy are filled with terror, then turn to flee in fear. The Pit fiends follow, as does William, using his Wings of Flying.

A wall of ice appears in front of the fleeing Billy, and he cowers at it, desperately trying to claw his way past. Then, floating in the air above him, a figure appears. Great feathery wings rustle above the large man-like creature. Its hands are surrounded in funeral wrappings, but its most prominent feature is its face. The creature’s mouth, if it ever had one, has been removed, leaving melted looking flesh in its place. The eyes are fiery gray pits. The creature waves its hand and Billy’s fear fades. As he looks up he recognizes the figure of Bune, Duke of Eloquence In the courts of Hell.

“You have destroyed the Tome of Asmodeus’ son, and you must make amends.”

Billy asks what he is expected to do, and Bune replies, “First you will find us a willing soul to be the catalyst for the tome. And then your flesh will become its cover and bindings.” Billy, none too pleased with that idea, declines, and fires off a disintegrate, which washes over the Duke harmlessly. He also casts Teflon's Encouraging Boot, and sics it on Bune, who scoffs at the large boot made of force.

Meanwhile, the remainder of the party has managed to escape the Guest House when Galrond dismissed it, and they prepare to do battle with the Pit Fiends. William assaults Bune with spells (Destruction) and they too fail to destroy the fallen Celestial.

The two fiends react in unison. Fiery blasts surround Galrond, Kargur, and Lanis. A charred and blackened Lanis crumbles to the ground.

Galrond casts mass haste as usual, and the party flies into action. Galrond grants Kargur flight and he charges Bune, but gets grabbed by a Pit fiend on his way.  

Billy continues his disintegrate assaults, neither of which succeed. Bune Mass Heals the fiends, and Galrond casts See Invisible. When he realizes that they are up against several devilish creatures, he immediately follows the spell with a Gate, to summon the Planetar they had previously met.

Kargur tries to return the attacks at the Pit Fiend, but cannot locate it to hit it. Both of the creatures unleash on him, forcing William to Mass Heal. Galrond dispels the two beasts’ invisibility, and Kargur strikes out. Both hit, mildly damaging one of the fiends.

Oskar shouts repeatedly at Billy to make him flying, but Billy does not wish to put Oskar at risk, as it was he who brought the devils upon them. Billly casts fly on himself and moves straight up, turning invisible and redirecting the boot to the Pit Fiends.

Bune charges William and drops him immediately, but Kargur rushes up to heal him. Bune’s eyes change from gray to Orange, and all around him feel themselves being crushed from the inside. The Planetar (who had managed to cast Invisibility Purge and attack a Pit Fiend collapses in upon itself, as does Kargur. Oskar, freed from the Fear by the Mass Heal, charges Bune. Bune takes the blows, heals himself and the Pit Fiends, and then rends William apart with the help of the two fiends.

Galrond begins blasting, and Billy does too. The Pit Fiends charge Galrond and in one blast take him from slightly charred to almost dead. Galrond, having seen the damage done when his called Planetar was slain is crushed. He has just caused the death of a massive force for good. He thinks and then decides what to do. Calling open another gate, he drags a Pit Fiend through and orders the best to attack its friends. If it dies to the Implosion Gaze he will not care, but backup is sorely needed.

The Pit Fiend’s battle amongst themselves, and Galrond flees back to the warm tower via teleportation. He then rapidly erects a Private Sanctum and a Guest House, where he plans to hide. His last words to the party are, “I will meet you on the shores of Mount Celestia.” 

As the fiends fight, Bune gets blasted several more times and flees via a gate. The Summoned Pit Fiend kills one of the other two, and then gets killed itself. Billy and Oskar chase off the last Pit Fiend, then Plane Shift to Celestia, where Billy teleports them to the village of Chun-Tzao, Oriental God of Hospitality and Courtesy.


----------



## Joshua Randall

*I used to look down on high fantasy...*

... but from your story I now appreciate its potential for goofily entertaining mayhem and innocent bystander destroying battles. Great, great stuff. I want more!

Here are some specific comments and observations.


Naming the Dim Triad after the corrupted giants from S.R. Donaldon's "Illearth War" was a stroke of genius. Making them into Oriental Adventures-style classes was the icing on the cake. 'Tis a pity such wonderful villains had to perish.
Nuala was one nasty b*tch! Now that is what I call a great nemesis for the party. Too bad they couldn't figure out how to beat her fair and square (i.e., without Raffi's intervention). They were _so close_....
A Mace of Disruption makes combat against undead too easy. As DM I would make a house rule that it doesn't instantly destroy such things as the bone golem or Nuala's undead arena buddies.
Skipping ahead to The City that Waits. Wouldn't the Mask of the Devourer detect as evil? In which case why would Fokurt put it on? Also, why was the party so callous towards him in re: Dr. Tarr? This part has me baffled. It seems out of character for the party - so suspicious of everyone else (including Raffi!) - to trust the clearly insane doctor.

As my post subject says, I used to look down on high fantasy. One of the reasons - and this appears to be borne out by your story - is that the players (and characters?) lose their fear of death. When everyone is getting resurrected all the time with little repercussion (5,000 GP gems - big deal!), it seems that even the most awesome foes lose their ability to instill fear.

The fight against a Winter Wight should be *scary* - the players should be thinking, "Holy sh*t, this guy is kicking our @sses. Run!" instead of, "Blah, we'll stand and fight until we die, guess we'll come back later."

(Incidentally I can't wait to see how the party handles Acererak's Winter Wight form - assuming the big A. survives to transfer his unlife-force into it.)

Regardless of my quibbles, this story is among the best I've read. The greatest praise I can think to heap on it is that it's as compelling to read as "Navero"!


----------



## James McMurray

Sorry for the long absence. I've been a bit busy. I'll reply to you after I get a few more updates up. 

After the meeting with Bune, the party headed to Celestia for guidance. They began the arduous travel up the mountainsides, and came across a village. As they tried to skirt it, two gates opened and devils poured through. The party teleported to the far side of a nearby lake to try to draw the devils away from the village, but soon had to teleport back when the devils started attacking the village.

Everyone who was there except for Teflon Billy persihed defending the village. They then (except for Billy) woke up at the highest point on the plane. A voice in their heads informed them that self-sacrifice for the weak was one of the greatest virtues and they could travel onward. A gate to the second layer opened. William and Oskar (the only two survivors) found themselves fully healed and refreshed. William's spells were replenished, and after he stepped through the gate he began the process of reviving Kargur and Lanis.

Meanwhile, Teflon Billy had teleported to safety. He thought he was going to the far side of the lake, but the Plane knew he was fleeing and had failed the test. It deposited him back in the shores of Lunia, the silvery Ocean on the first layer. 

As the group travelled further ahead (William and Oskar carrying the bodies of Lanis and Kargur), this is what happened to Billy. It happened over email and I'm just cut and pasting, so please forgive me if it is mostly a second person and hasn't been spell chekced. 

As Teflon Billy stands waist deep in the waters of Lunia' vast Ocean, he finds himself feeling cold, alone, and afraid. The sky above opens up, and a now familiar background of scorched earth and dark flames shows through. Moments later, the Gate's opener floats through to hover 10 feet above the water's surface: a 10' tall muscualar man with 2' long horns shooting almost straight out from his head. An incredibly long baided goatee drapes down from his chin. In his shoulders are two massive rings, and he hangs in the air as if suspended from them. Billy finds himself stricken dumb with fear, unable to move or flee, only to listen.

"It is no suriprise that Bune failed in his mission. Ho words were ever the weakest ones." The voice is cold and emotionless, with the enevitability of the ages behind it.

"We have at least 2.45 minutes before the hosts of this plane react to my presence here. In that time I will explain to you why it is that you will come with me."

"You have greatly displeased the Lord Asmodeus. This is not something that is done lightly. As such, he has decreed that you will replace that which was destroyed. Every hour that you refuse his commands, the atrocities commited to exact revenge will continue. With each passing hour they will escalate. here is the first of the deaths caused by your foolishnesh." As he says this last, he puls his hands from behind his back and hold them forth. Cupped in his mighty fists is a tiny dwarven baby, completely limp. As he tosses the husk of the baby to the shore he continues, "That one's soul was quite delicious."

"For every hour you refuse to come to the Master, more souls will feed us. The deaths whose responsibility falls on your shoulders will double with each passing hour. That was the first. In 42 minutes' time, two more shall perish, then four, then eight, and so on."

"You can save their lives and their souls by simply acquiescing to our demands. Meet with the Master, accept his gracious offer."

High up the slopes of Mount Celestia a trumpet blares, and thunder rolls out as 25 tiny lights shoot down from the sky. They are followed by a Trumpet Archon and two Avorals.

"When you have seen the wisdom of my words, break this and you will be brought to me." He tosses down a small rod, which lands in the sand near Billy, then floats back through the gate, which closes behind him. As he leaves, so does most of Billy's fear.

The Archons are drawing closer.

Billy's reply:
Billy will take the rod.  Now that he finds his companions are safe without Billy around, he comtemplates for a minute on what to do.  If he doesn't go to hell and do the Devil King's bidding, innocent people will die.  If he does go to hell and do the Devil King's bidding, he will betray his compainions, his God, and his personal beliefs.  So he waits for the archons to arrive, and tells them what happened, and why, and informs them that he will leave so that the safety of celestia will not be compromised.  As to options, Billy figures if he disitigrates himself, the devil cannot use his flesh to be the binding of the new book, and though innocents may still be killed, the Devil will not get his wish of having Billy help him construct a new book(which Heironious wouldn't want billy to do)... But as to what I do next will depend on what the archon's tell me after I inform them of the events that alerted them to come here.

The Trumpet Archon and Avorals listen patiently to Billy's explanation, while the Lanterns roam near and far searching for signs of other evil intruders. When Billy finishes his tale, the Trumpet Archon thinks for a few moments then says, "That is indeed quite a predicament you have gotten yourself into. Having served under the great Heironious and in his army for Millenia, I can state with near utmost certainty that he would wish for you to achieve the glory that is inherent in sacrificing yourself for the gretaer good. Although it would garnish you an eternity of torment in the pages of a Contractor Tome, it is truly the path of the Proud."

Billy thinks "WHAT A GOD DAMNED, MF'IN.. oh wait, might be reading my thoughts... grrrrrrr.... fine, I'll be a book.... prolly not as bad as what derik put me through.... I hope..." Billy says "as heronious wishes, I will leave a message for my companions and journey to hell." Billy then rests and remem's spells, teleports to the villiage, leaves a message with the monk guy explaining what has happened, and what billy is doing, and the breaks the rod(after leaving the village. Billy thinks, "well, if I'm gonna be a book, and be tourmented forever, might as well piss off the devils as much as possible. > 

The Archon seems pleased by his choice, and Billy sits down to rest. About 30 minutes later, the sky opens above him for a split second, and 2 small figures fall through. A dwarven boy of about five years of age falls limply to the ground, followed shortly by what appears to be his mother. Both are bloody and mangled.

The devil's voice calls through, "More dead pile at your feet."

Moments later the Trumpet Archon rearrives and stares at the bodies on the ground. "This cannot be allowed to continue here. If you are going to rest, I must insist you go elsewhere."

"Certainly I will. Thank you for your cooperation."

As Billy breaks the rod, the ground beneath his feet opens up, and he sees a long fall below him dropping straight into the fiery pits of Hell. As his plummets downward, his skin burns and scorches and pain fills his entire being.

His fall is momentarily arrested, and a suave looking individual stands next to him holding a famiiar Tome. "You know, just because that blow hard Heironious thinks you should sacrifice yourself is no reason to do it. I can show you the loopholes in the Duke of Rhetoric's dealings, and ensure that you get out of this alive. What do you say?"

Billy's reply: I say "wow, thanks, you look like you could use an encouraging boot." And I cast teflon's encouraging boot. you can make the sr check 17th caster. (editor's note: Teflon's Encouraging Boot is a more Colorflul version of Bigby's Clecnched Fist)

As Billy Boots the devil back down into hell, his feet land back in the softly rippling shores of Mount Celestia's ocean, and his pain and suffering drift away into a moment of pure bliss. The Trumpet Archon stands before him, "You have passed the test of obedience and fealty, truly one of the deepest tenets of Law. You may rejoin your friends. Be forewarned though, the content of this past test was also a precursor to a possible future. The devils of Hell have long memories, and The Fallen does not soon forget transgressions against him and his kind. 

"I truly am but a lowly vassal in Pelor's employ and would be quite unfit to offer advice on how best to acceed to Heironious' Will in this matter. I would suggest you travel to meet one of his greater Servitors on a higher level and ask them what best to do." 

A Shimmering portal appears in the air beside him, and through it he sees William and Oskar. William is bent over Lanis in the now familiar Resurrection Ritual.


----------



## James McMurray

More emailed updates, please forgive the spelling...

Oskar and William stand upon the slopes of the second Layer of Mount Celestia. Looking around they see softly rolling hills which lead gracefully up a steady, yet subtle, incline. Reaching the highest point on this level would by no means be an arduous task physically.

As they sit back and contemplate what to do, William realizes that he feels as refreshed as after a full night's rest, and that his prayers have been replenished. Digging through his pack he pulls out two diamonds and begins the prayers of Resurrection. 

He finishes the task of Raising Kargur and begins to work on Lanis. About halfway through, a now-familiar shimmering portal opens beside him and Teflon Billy steps through. Behind him Oskar and Lanis see the rippling waves of the Shore below. William continues to recite his prayers over Lanis.

As the group looks at one another, deciding how best to explain what has happened in the past 20 minutes, William completes his ritual and Lanis stands up. Just then, another of the shimmering portals open up, and Galrond steps through. "I'm sorry I found you guys," he says. "That devil is making me do this." As he says the last word, his fingers crackle and an arc of energy blast forth. The familiar bursts of Galrond's Sacrificed Spells lash forth, felling Billy and William instantly. 

"Oskar, I command you to run until your legs give out, " Galrond says, and the magic of the Suggestion takes hold, sending Oskar hurtling towards the nearby slopes as fast as he can. Kargur and Lanis are left standing. It is quite obvious from Galrond's stance and the look of sheer horror on his face that he does not want to be doing these things, but that he has no choice.

Lanis and Kargur fight Galrond off successfully, managing to deal subdual and not kill him. They pass the test of mercy and are allowed to stay on the second layer of Celestia. (No shortcutting by getting your corpse carried )

The fallen are seen to not really be dead, and the group travels farther onward. They go through a couple of more tests, and finally find themselves at an incredibly long line. Oskar jogs for over three hours to find the front, and then heads back after being told to go to the end of the line. It seems fairly obvious that they have found  test of patience in this slow-moving monstosity. The guy at the front of the line asking questions of people may be a test as well.

Meanwhile, Fokurt had been left at the crazed doctor's. He awoke to find himself being dragged through the air by the Mask's long tongue, and approaching a tower. He talks to the mask a bit and finds out that the mask got tired of toying with the doctor and left the Tower of Health. It took the nurse with it as trail rations though.

Here's what ahppened with him (again via email, so the person and spelling may change frequently):

The narrow bridge attaches istself to the side of the tower with ancient, massive bolts. above the archway in Moilian is the legend "Tower of Test" surrounded by several martial tools: swords, knives, crossbows, etc. As you pass through the archway, a long, low howl cries out, like an ancient death knell. You wait around a bit and no amount of searching reveals the source of the noise. However, it also seems as nothing in the ancient tower has responded.

Beyond the entrywaya corridor curves two directions around the outside of the tower.The floor is covered in the ever present frost, and beneath it you can make out tiles of red and white, each bearing a different weapon emblem, many of which are completely unrecognizable. The walls are solid black metal, and every 10 foot interval you see grisly trophies: severed human heads affixed to wooden boards hang.

fokurt moves in, and his searches of the tiles reveal them to be only decoration. the first head he approaches is on  alarge plaque. The only in scription is "Garnok Darelian" which is presumably the guy's name. The heads on both sides of the hall are all human, and each one is on a plaque bearing an inscription. None of the inscriptions are long, and they all appear to be simply names.

Fokurt continues around the bend and spies ahead of him a T intersection. At the juncture of the T is yet another plaque and grisly trophy. However, this one is different from all the rest in that it is wriggling and struggling, as if a body on the other side of the wall is trying to pull itself out. Its struggles bring its eyes up to where it sees you, "Pleas sir! Set me free. are you sent by Acererak to keep your promise to me? I have directed all who passed towards the halls of testing and want to be free of this cursed wall!" Fokurt realizes that the head is not speaking in common, but the mask is trnaslating for him.

"Did you happen to notice that it is the devourer's visage I wear upon my face?"  Fokurt approaches with a look of interest, nonchallantly allowing his practiced wit to lead the disembodied head to it's own conclusions.  "I am here for Acererak if that is what you wish to know.  How did you come to be in your current situation and what is this promise that you speak of?"

The plaque reads "Darren Starkasta".

"I didn't recognize the symbol, just hoped you were here to free me for him. Long ago I promised Acererak that I would direct all who come this way to pass through that doorway over there." He kind of juts his head out and his eyes look. Fokurt looks over his shoulder down the intersecting corridor. It leads in about 40 feet to a door, and then disappers further into the darkness.

"Those are the Halls of Testing, where challengers prepare themselves to meet Faericles, the Lord High Justicator. Haven't seen him for centuries though, so the odds are he is dead. The tests may still work though, shortly after people go through I hear the unmistakable sounds of the Test of the Falling Pillars."

"I made my way through those tests a long time ago. I challenged Faericles for the title of Lord High Justicator. But his Blade was more than a match for me and the darkness engulfed me. After who knows how long I found myself here, with my neck stuck in the wall. I haven't moved my fingers and toes in forever! Please free me from my prison. If you do, I'll tell you everything I know about the tests."

"Sounds fair enough.  Unfortunately, the chances that you still have a body attached to your head behind that plaque is very slim.  Don't panic though, nothing is certain.  Either way, there are ways to restore ones body if it's been lost.  Let's wee what I can do for ye'."

I'll first check to see if his neck is flush with the plaque or if the poor sod's head is simply protruding from a hole in the plaque.  If there doesn't appear to be a hole I will try and free the plaque from the wall then carry him iwth me as I scout the other end of the path.  If it does appear that his head has been stuck through a hole I will tell him to wait while I scout the other end of the path to see if I can't find a way to the opposite side of his wall.

"There is most definitely no hole there. You wrestle a bit with the plaque and when it comes free he breathes a loud sigh of relief. A half-second later though he realizes that his body is not with him and degenerates into inarticulate screams along the line of "All these years wasted! That bastard said he'd free me! I'll never enjoy soft woman flesh again!" etc. It is mostly just guttural moans of abject defeat. If there is anyone alive in the tower that wasn't forwarned by the Trumpet blast when you entered, they will have been by this.

I'll hold the head up so I can look him in the eye and say "Look lad..  If you want my help getting your body back then you're going to have to shut your trap and help me out.  Otherwise, I could really do without the added difficulty and simply put you back on the wall where I found you."

The head continues to scream and lament, but nothing anywhere seems to be responding. Except for the mask, which says in your head, "Silence him or I will! That crap is annoying. Oh boo-hoo, I screwed up and now I wanna cry about it. Waaah."

He continues to scream for a moment, and then the cries turn to sobs, which finally die down completely. "you can get my body back? What do I have to do?" He seems really sincere in wanting to help you.

"Believe it or not, I have been in a similar predicament.  A few ages ago I too had my head separated from my body.  If you're able to help me out, I can introduce you to someone who may have the ability to restore you to your old self."  Fokurt takes a moment and waits for the look of hope to enter the heads facial features before continuing.  "If I fail, however, you'll probably be screwed."  The heavily scarred dwarf chuckles to himself and thinks out loud to the mask, "Sheesh!  What a whiner.  Moradin knows how he was able to get through these tests with such an attitude."

I'll remove my backpack, cut off two lengths of silk cord with the funky chain/dagger thing, and fashion a makeshift harness to hang the head off of my chest with.  Then I'll put my backpack on and we'll continue down the other side of the path to scout it out.

Fokurt heads out, with the head heading in front of him. "This is the Walk of Glory" Darren explains. All who have reached the Lord High Justicator's field of battle and failed are displayed here."

They head farther along, past many varied heads, all human, all male, all with Moilian sounding names. As they round the next bend, Fokurt sees a plaque with no head on it. Against the inner curve of the corridor, a plaque is attached to the wall with a copper plate below it. Protrding from the plque is a blackened and battered horn, some four feet long. The horn looks slim and tapers to a sharp point. A faint blue-clack radiance coats the horn.

"That's the second greatest trophy in these halls: the horn of an astral dreadnaught."

"This beast must have been huge!"  Fokurt examines the large natural weapon with awe, "Astral dreadnaught?  Don't believe I've ever heard of such a beast.  Why is it glowing like that?"

Out of character bit that was quite amusing: I have to look supremely riduculous at this point.  I'm a four foot tall individual, covered in stitches, wearing a demonic-looking mask, with a talking animated head strapped to my chest.  Has my braided beard been shaven off as well?

Yep, the beard is gone.

"I don't know why the thing glows. It didn't when it was first hung. Man those things are big. They're your basic ultimate predator type creature. So, when do I get my new body?"

"You'll not be having the chance at a new body if you continue to be so impatient laddie."  Fokurt pokes meaty finger against the side of Darren, the head's, head.  "First we've got to figure our way about this forsaken place and remain intact."  With that said, the small motley crew leaves the colossal horn and continues around the perimeter upon the dwarf's feet.

We'll continue on around the perimeter and see where the right half of the tiled path leads.

The path continues around, and you come up to another grisly trophy that is not a head.  This one is a hand, and when you get near it, you feel the familiar tug of the Moilian life draining undead. (losing 2 hit points in the process). The hand starts to wriggle and tries to free itself from its plaque. Darren says, "That is the greatest trophy in the Walk of Glory: The Hand of Tyr. It was removed from the God Tyr himself by the almighty Orcus, in a battle here in the Tower of Test. Tyr failed that test it seems. Heh-heh-heh."

"A god ye' say? God's have been through these halls?" We'll continue along, be sure to give the wriggling hand a wide berth.

You press up aginst the far wall, just barely out of range of the thing' life draining powers, and continue on, shortly finding yourself back at the entrance. It seems if you want to go anywhere in this tower, you have to head downt he corridor towards the 'Halls of Testing". As you walk, Darren talks.

"Heck yeah they have. Tyr, the little girly god of Paladins though he could challenge the Empire of Moil. It seems we'd 'accidentally' crushed one of his favorite worlds in our expansion. Well, Moil put up a great fight, and in the end we summoned almighty Orcus himself. Orcus challenged Tyr to a duel, and the fool's honor gave him no choice but to accept. When they met in the Hall of Test, Orcus lopped his hand off and sent him packing. This all happened way before I was born, but every Moilian child grows up learning the story of our greatness."

"Orcus, eh?  I heard he died a while back and is trying to come back from the grave or some such...  That's what my most recent employers tell me anyway."  Fokurt's sentenc trails off.  He then stops and looks around a for a moment, appearing confused.  "hRm..   What's the path to our right and why would someone try to keep us from going down it?"

I'll be sure to look back and make sure that we have indeed been placed back at the entrance and it doesn't appear to be some sort of physical trick.  Checking the martial weapon tiles and what not.

"Huh? I never heard anything about that. Orcus is the all powerful Lord of Life, Death, and Undeath. I don't see how he could have died. Perhaps you come from a freed world who has begun telling these tales to boost their morale? In any case, the Walk of Glory circles the entire Tower of Test. We should be fairly close to making our way back around to the entrance."

"Could be.  There's always lies and quibbling when gods are concerned."  The dwarf walks up and stands before the dark entryway that passes on into the Tower of Test.  "So tell me of this first test. The test of falling pillars I believe you called it?"

"The Test ensures that only the most dextrous reach the chambers of the Lord High Exultant. Massive steel pillars are standing in the room, and when you get halfway across they begin to fall. The far door will not open until they have all fallen. If you aren't quick enough, you could be crushed."

"Is there anything that you can remember about this test since you passed through it that may help us lad?"

I will ask the mask to attempt to deflect any pillars with his powers of telekinesis if my honed skills in evasion are unable to dodge one of the falling pillars.  Even if he's not strong enough to hold one of the pillars, he may be able to give it enough of a push so that it's course will be averted from making dwarven pancakes.  Unless Darren brings up something extremely important at this point I will step through the door. Heeding any advice that the head can give.

To make  along story short (and because the remainging emails from this portion somehow got deleted...) Fokurt makes his way through several more tests before being too injured, tired, and hungry to continue. He slumps down against a wall just outside a room filled with swinging pendulums of razor sharp blades and waits. The party waits in line a bit, then decides to leave Billy on his own. Everyone else goes back to the city of Moil and tracks Fokurt down.


----------



## James McMurray

*Re: I used to look down on high fantasy...*



			
				JERandall said:
			
		

> ... but from your story I now appreciate its potential for goofily entertaining mayhem and innocent bystander destroying battles. Great, great stuff. I want more!
> 
> Here are some specific comments and observations.




Thanks! That's good to hear. I know we've had fun playing the games. Its definitely the highest level campaign I've ever partaken in (as well as being the first campaign I've ever ran that lasted more than a few weeks.



> Naming the Dim Triad after the corrupted giants from S.R. Donaldon's "Illearth War" was a stroke of genius. Making them into Oriental Adventures-style classes was the icing on the cake. 'Tis a pity such wonderful villains had to perish.






That was their names in the Return to the Tomb of Horrors. I never even knew they were pulled form somewhere else. I've read some of the Chronicles, but it was a long time ago and I don't know if I got that far along in them. Makes me want to pick them up again though, just to read more about Absalom, Harrow, and Blaesig. 



> [*]Nuala was one nasty b*tch! Now that is what I call a great nemesis for the party. Too bad they couldn't figure out how to beat her fair and square (i.e., without Raffi's intervention). They were _so close_....




Yeah, I wish they'd done it too. They started down that path, then got distracted. A well, c'est la vie. The party doesn't know it, but Raffi has quite a few surprises up his sleeve. The sad part is that they'll probably not find out about them (at least not during this campaign).



> [*]A Mace of Disruption makes combat against undead too easy. As DM I would make a house rule that it doesn't instantly destroy such things as the bone golem or Nuala's undead arena buddies.




It hasn't worked against most things. Of course, the Moilian zombies fall to it, but that's after they get beaten to less than 0 hit points and then full attacked with it for a few rounds. There is very little in the remainder of the adventure that it will affect.



> [*]Skipping ahead to The City that Waits. Wouldn't the Mask of the Devourer detect as evil? In which case why would Fokurt put it on? Also, why was the party so callous towards him in re: Dr. Tarr? This part has me baffled. It seems out of character for the party - so suspicious of everyone else (including Raffi!) - to trust the clearly insane doctor.




The Mask definitely detected as evil. Fokurt put it on because he knew the party needed the key. His self-proclaimed title is "fodder". He is basically playing a Nodwick type of henchan. The player is enjoying it though, so there's no problems there.

As for the group leaving him in the Doctor's hands, its part of your concerns voiced bout high fantasy. The group really did hope that the doctor could remove the mask somehow, and figured that if it failed, the mask probably wouldn't come along for the ride during a bodiless casting of True Resurrection.



> As my post subject says, I used to look down on high fantasy. One of the reasons - and this appears to be borne out by your story - is that the players (and characters?) lose their fear of death. When everyone is getting resurrected all the time with little repercussion (5,000 GP gems - big deal!), it seems that even the most awesome foes lose their ability to instill fear.




Well, due to the party's overuse of them, 5,000gp gems are pretty scarce. True Artists can create them, but it costs the party 7,500gp. Considering that the party is incredibly broke right now, that's more than they can afford. Amastacia has managed to help reopen the Diamond Mine though, so they may be able to get some more soon.



> The fight against a Winter Wight should be *scary* - the players should be thinking, "Holy sh*t, this guy is kicking our @sses. Run!" instead of, "Blah, we'll stand and fight until we die, guess we'll come back later."




Two of the party have met final deaths so far. Those will be detailed (albeit briefly) in future updates. A quick preview: Kargur gets eaten by a Winter Wight wearing the Mask of the Devourer, and Oskar gets absorbed by the Vestige (a CR29 Abomination).



> (Incidentally I can't wait to see how the party handles _*something*_.)



I can't wait either, but would you mind terribly removing the reference to it? My players come here and I'd like that to remain as much of a surprise as possible for them (the ones that don't own RttToH at least  ).



> Regardless of my quibbles, this story is among the best I've read. The greatest praise I can think to heap on it is that it's as compelling to read as "Navero"!




Sounds great! Just one quest... What is "Navero"?


----------



## Joshua Randall

*Re: Re: I used to look down on high fantasy...*



			
				James McMurray said:
			
		

> *Thanks! That's good to hear. I know we've had fun playing the games. Its definitely the highest level campaign I've ever partaken in (as well as being the first campaign I've ever ran that lasted more than a few weeks.*




Did the party actually play their characters up to these levels, or did you start out at 15th (or whatever)? Just curious.



> *That was their names in the Return to the Tomb of Horrors. I never even knew they were pulled form somewhere else. I've read some of the Chronicles, but it was a long time ago and I don't know if I got that far along in them. Makes me want to pick them up again though, just to read more about Absalom, Harrow, and Blaesig. *




Hunh. I am losing my memory. Gonna have to re-read RttToH myself. I really didn't remember that the Dim Triad were named Absalom, Harrow, and Blaesig.

You should definitely go back to SRD's "Illearth War" for more on the original holders of those names. (Well. Absalom is from the Bible so I guess that's the _original_ original name.) Also, if you can find SRD's short story "Bannor's Tale" (or something like that - I think it's in the collection titled "Daughter of Regals"), it gives the Bloodguard's take on the whole corrupted giants situation.



> *As for the group leaving him in the Doctor's hands, its part of your concerns voiced bout high fantasy. The group really did hope that the doctor could remove the mask somehow, and figured that if it failed, the mask probably wouldn't come along for the ride during a bodiless casting of True Resurrection.*




Wow. I would certainly be pretty peeved if my friends left me in the hands of a thousand year old insane mechanical doctor. But maybe that's just me.



> *Two of the party have met final deaths so far. Those will be detailed (albeit briefly) in future updates. A quick preview: Kargur gets eaten by a Winter Wight wearing the Mask of the Devourer, and Oskar gets absorbed by the Vestige (a CR29 Abomination).*




The Vestige... ah yes. Y'know how some players/parties refuse to retreat even when you give them every hint that they are in over their heads? Well, they'd sure as hell better flee from the Vestige.

Or to quote everyone's favorite wizard: "This foe is beyond any of you. Run!"



> *I can't wait either, but would you mind terribly removing the reference to it?*




Sorry! I had the erroneous impression that the campaign had already been completed.



> *Sounds great! Just one quest... What is "Navero"? *




What?! Only the original net D&D story that started everyone down this path of exceedingly long writeups. You can read the stories here:

http://www.myths.com/pub/rpg/stories/navero/

But I warn you, once you start reading 'em, it's hard to stop.


----------



## James McMurray

*Re: Re: Re: I used to look down on high fantasy...*



			
				JERandall said:
			
		

> Did the party actually play their characters up to these levels, or did you start out at 15th (or whatever)? Just curious.




For the most part they did. The guy playing Dokurt just joined recently, so Fokurt didn't start at first level. He started at 12th or 13th I believe. He was one level lower than the rest of the party. 

The guy playing Oskar joined a bit before him, and so Oskar also didn't start at first. He started at 12th or 13th as well.

Everyone else has either worked that character up from first level, or worked on another character and then gotten a replacement.

Galrond is an NPC (or DMPC some might call him). He was a replacement for Gundarag when the party's number of front line fighters grew and they had no wizards.

Teflon Billy didn't technically work his way from first. He starated at first, but died at the hands of a Ghoul King early on and was not resurrectable. An old foe of the party resurrected him though, and then held him for torture. He managed to escape. In the interim he had gained some levels just so he wouldn't be third while the rest of the party was 9th.



> Wow. I would certainly be pretty peeved if my friends left me in the hands of a thousand year old insane mechanical doctor. But maybe that's just me.




He's definitely playing a downtrodden henchman type. The stories he tells o his past employers (I think he really was Nodwick) make the current party look like angels. He is honestly surprised when the party offers him treasures, and he refuses to take them if they are worth more than he feels he deserves.



> The Vestige... ah yes. Y'know how some players/parties refuse to retreat even when you give them every hint that they are in over their heads? Well, they'd sure as hell better flee from the Vestige.
> 
> Or to quote everyone's favorite wizard: "This foe is beyond any of you. Run!"




The party had even seen a vision of Raffi fleeing from the Vestige. Of course, when they were flying away, Oskar was the only one in heavy armor, and therefore the only one moving at 60. After they managed to hurt it a bit, the Vestige got mad and threw on a burst of speed. He had no way of knowing that he would have been teleported away by galrond if it had gotten close enough to catch him, so he stopped and stood his ground. He did keep trying to escape though, but its hard when hundreds of tortured souls are clinging to you.



> Sorry! I had the erroneous impression that the campaign had already been completed.




No problemo. Last weekend they arrived at the door of the Fortress of Conclusion.



> What?! Only the original net D&D story that started everyone down this path of exceedingly long writeups. You can read the stories here:
> 
> http://www.myths.com/pub/rpg/stories/navero/
> 
> But I warn you, once you start reading 'em, it's hard to stop. [/B]




I'll have to check those out.


----------



## Joshua Randall

James McMurray said:
			
		

> *The party had even seen a vision of Raffi fleeing from the Vestige. [...] He did keep trying to escape though, but its hard when hundreds of tortured souls are clinging to you.*




_sniffle_ <-- wiping away a tear for Oskar 



> *No problemo. Last weekend they arrived at the door of the Fortress of Conclusion.*




Muuuhahahahaha!

I will be interested to read your take on the Fortress and its... well, I'll say no more. Actually I can't wait to hear how Fokurt dealt with the end of the Tower of Test and how the rest of the party got the other key.

Y'know what else I love about RttToH? The phrases: Dim Triad. Skullkers. Dark Intrusion. Necrohazard. City That Waits. Fortress of Conclusion. And of course that final word that describes... argh, can't say it!


----------



## Derulbaskul

Hi James,

Just wanted to say thanks for typing up a really entertaining story hour. I think that my RttToEE campaign will end up heading toward the Return to the Tomb of Horrors in due course.... 

Cheers
NPP


----------



## James McMurray

"Well, they don't start to fall until you're half across. Other than that, don't get hit. I got barely brushed by one but the sheer weight and momentum made it hurt like the Nine Hells."

Fokurt moves into the room, and Darren was right. On the far side of the room, past several tightly packed pillars, Fokurt sees another door. He heads towards it and when he is halfway there the pillars begin to tilt. First only a couple fall, but then a couple more are knocked over by those, until finally the entire room is filled with tilting, rolling, and sliding steel pillars. The cacophony of sounds grates on Fokurt's ears as he deftly dodges and ducks, leaps and dives to avoid the pillars. 

He makes an error in judgement though and finds himself diving straight into an oncoming block of metal. The mask laughs with delight and shouts, "I can't have my feet getting crushed just yet!" It lashes out with its jet black tongue, pushing the pillar aside just enough for Fokurt to dodge. What seems like an eternity later, the final pillar falls. As it clangs and rolls to a stop, the far door opens.

"Next is the Test of endurance," says Darren.

"Well that was definately harrowing..  Not something I'm apt to feel like doing again anytime soon.  What can you tell me of this test of endurance before we enter?"

Darren informs him that the room is filled with all manner of stinging insects, and that one must find the switch to open the door before succumbing to their bites. Fokurt is a bit surprised though when the doorway opens to reveal a large empty room with a switch plainly visible on the wll near the door. He carefully moves in, then activates the switch and the door opens wide.

The next test is a test of strength, and although Fokurt is not up to the task, the Mask of the Devourer wraps it tongue around the door's frozen handle and lifts it effortlessly.

The room beyond shows sparkling lights on 5 gemstones near a massive door. Watching for a bit, Fokurt notices that there is a pattern to the lights that is repeated after 30 seconds. A seemingly random series of lights will flash, then 30 seconds later the same series will flash past, followed by a new series. Darren tells him that he is to press the gems which flash, in the same order as they flashed previously, andt he door will open.

He tries a few times and each time is met with failure. The failure is accompanied by a powerful electric shock, and after five or so tries Fokurt is too burnt and blackened on his hands to continue. The Mask gves a devilish chuckle and asks, "Can I try?"

Fokurt says ok, and the mask watches the lights flash for a few minutes. It then takes over Fokurt's arms and grabs Darren's mounting. Pushing buttons with Darren's nose, the Mask laughs with delight when it misremembers and Darren screams in agony. The screaming and shocing continue and the Mask finally manages to successfully repeat the pattern. The door opens wide.

Beyond is a room filled with light from hundreds of sphere that float from the cieling above. Darren explains that it is a test of forebearance and that the sphere will give off an unbearable sound the further one penetrates the room. Fokurt steals himself and charges in but is almost immediately dropped to his knees by the horrendous sound of a cacophony of discordant tones. The Mask is not done with its mount yet though, and it wraps its tongue around Fokurt's necka nd drags him to the doorway. As the fdoor opens, the sounds cease, and Fokurts can breathe again.

When he sees that the next room containshundreds of scythes swinging from chains, he drops into an exhausted heap on the floor and waits for the group to arrive to help him.

The party scries for him, then after meet up. They went through the remainder of the tests and Oskar defeated the Lord High Exultant in a duel. It was hard work, but he managed to do it. The thing that made it difficult was that the Moilian Zombie had fast healing, and Oskar had no way to damage him completely. But whent he rest of the party cheated by teleporting in to give him a Mace of Disruption, it becae much easier. 

Then they headed back to Celestia, but Fokurt found himself walking through the Gate and landing in the surf of the shores of the first layer while everyone else arrived on the second layer. Billy was still in line where he was left.

The group met up with Billy, while Fokurt plodded his way up the mountainside. The party waited in line for a day and a half and made it to the next layer. Meanwhile, Fokurt was continually finding himself being sent back to the shores. He failed the test of perseverence and sobriety when he stopped at night and drank himself into a stupor. He failed the test of obedience when he refused to follow the decree of a senestial sent by Moradin. He claimed to not believe that the Winged Dwarf before him was a servant of Moradin, but would not accpt any proof offered.

On the third layer the party traveled through the vast fields of Yondolla, stopping for a bit to play with some halfling children. They then travelled onwrd but were rebuffed by a vast cliff that was unscalable (at least with their current gear).

As they were trying to decide what to do next, the stench of brimstone filled the air as a gate opened above them and a bulap sack fell through with a wet thump. After a bit of investigation the party opened the sack and found inside a dead baby and a scroll tube. The letter inside read:

The scroll read "The test was also a prophecy. The countdown begins now." It was signed Furcas, Archduke of Dis.

The scroll was wrapped around a familiar looking rod, and the party deliberated over what to do. Kargur, in a moment of self-sacrifice, took up the rod and tried to break it himself, that he might go to Hell in Billy's stead. The rod refused to break though, and it was left for Billy to do himself.

Here is the recounting of what occuredt then:

When Billy breaks the rod, he disappears in a sulfurous blast of flame and begins to hurtle downwards to the floor of Hell. This time though, there is no contractor devil offering escape. You bounce and roll off the side of a massive pillar made of demonic looking skulls, and then fall off, plummeting downward and slam into the the side of a massive tower.

Your fall continues and you plummet through the vast city of Dis. Several devils laugh at you as you pass. The city is forged almost completely of glowing red iron, and your skin blisters and burns from the closeness of it. From the city streets below a cry of thousands of tortured voices gets louder, then you are slamming into the glowing redhot flagstones of the streets of Dis. You crash through them and into the sewers below. A torrent of slimy devil filth and feces catches you up and takes you over a massive fetid fall which dumps you into vast swamp.

As you start to regain your feet, you realize that they are stuck in quicksand, which burns like acid. As you wriggle to break free, the surface below your feet erupts and a gargantuan barracuda-like beast rises up and engulfs you. Its seven layers of teeth tear at your flesh and it dives, spitting you out a minute later to send you hurtling over yet another fall.

The acidic water around you scars and burns, then rapidly evaporates into steam as it splashes into a river of liquid fire. You land in the napalm flow's shore and have a moment to try to catch your breath. That turns out to be a mistake though, and the air of the place is also fiery, and it sears your lungs. As you try to scream in pain the ground beneath you opens up, and you begin to fall again.

You hurtle through the air, and the coolness is at first a blessing. It does not take long for the icy air around you to become painful though, and your beard and hair are quickly covered with frost. You drop rapidly through a sky ripped apart by lightning blasts, and splash into a great ocean of nearly frozen water and ice bergs, where you start to sink. The current grabs you and sends you sinking into the frigid blackness that even your dwarven sight cannot penetrate. Something grabs you with scaly hands, and then more hands are grabbing you. Water fills your lungs, but you are not drowning. The hands begin to pull you farther downward, clawing and scratching to let the frigid salt water in.

A minute later you are free of the icy water, and find yourself being hurled into an underground cavern by several scaly fishmen. As you start to look around the cavern, it begins to shake and tilt, and you are again rolling through a tunnel opening. It drops you out on the side of a massive mountain, and you roll right off of a cliff face. The sky above you boils with leprous colors, and you see far out on the plane below you several massive copper fortresses. An avalanche of massive boulders grabs you and carries you downward, crushing your arm and pulping your leg.

The sky above you shifts and twists and turns the color of old, black blood. All around are mine camps and quarries, where countless human and humanoid figures work under the ever watchful eye of devil captors. It looks like many of them are pulling down ancient cities and others are using the stone from them to build new cities far away. The boulders continue to carry you forward and into a deep crevace, which glows from within with a sickly gray light. The sides of the canyon pulse, and are twisted like a massive brain. Dark thoughts slither into your head, speaking of ownership and eternal pain.

As you drop through the depths of the cavern into an icy blue sky, you find that the cold you knew before was only a mild breeze compared to the cold of Cania, the eigth layer of hell. In mere moments your skin is icy blue. Your teeth chatter so hard that the tips of them break off, exposing the nerve endings below. Yet another instrument has added itself to your symphony of pain and torment. The icy ground below rushes up and you slam into it.  In the glacier beneath, your eyes make out strange alien shapes, locked forever in the ice. Then you break through.

Just as it seems your fall will continue forver through countless worlds of torment and sorrow, you slam into the ground beside an incredibly deep chasm. You can barely even muster the will to stand, knowing that as soon as you try the ground will shift and you will fall again. As your head lolls to the side, you look down into the crevace and see a massive city, large enough to make the teeming Metropolis of Lopolla look like a rural village.

Rising up out of the depths of the city is the familiar face of Furcas, Duke of Rhetoric. Behind and beside him stands a troop of kytons, draped with razor sharp chains. As they get nearer, the chains lash out and wrap you up. Their razor sharp barbs dig into your flesh, searing you with intense agony.

"So, mortal, you felt that you had it in you to challenge the depths of Hell itself eh? What do you think of your foolishness now?"

As you try to reply, you choke and cough on your own blood. The spikes of the chains wrapped around your chest have pierced the lungs. It is only the will of the Lord of Baator that prevents you from drowning on your own blood.

"No matter, I think it is fairly obvious what the outcome of those ill-thought actions is now. Here is what will occur: You will be sent back to the prime material plane, where you will have one Oerthian month to bring to us a willling soul. This soul will then be forged into the magicks of a new Tome of Souls. Your flesh will make up the bindings. In return, Asmodeus, master of all that is dark and hidden, will spare your friends' lives."

His robe opens up and a long, dark shape slithers out. A black, spiny, snakelike trunk slides towards your face and forces itself into your mouth. Your jaw is forced wider by the thing's expanding head, and something crawls out of its mouth and down your throat. You feel hundreds of tiny legs grasping the sides of your esophagus, as the thing burrows deeper into you.

"The Gurj will keep a watchful eye upon you." Furcas continues. "Should you try to work against the will of the Master, it will know. Should you plot with your friends to circumvent your fate, it will know. Everything that it learns, so too does Asmodeus. You have proven that your own safety is held less dear to you than that of your friends and innocents. As such, you need not fear harm from us. Instead, the price for failure and the price for betrayal are one and the same: The destruction of the earthly city known as Lopolla, and an eternity knowing that it was your fault, and that your actions could have easily averted it.

You have one month. Brigade, dispose of him."

The chains that enshroud you lift you high, and a jet-black fire erupts from the ground at Furcas' feet. The kytons hurl you into that fire, and as it blackens and burns your flesh and sears your eyes, you begin to hear the surprised outcries of countless voices speaking in common. In a haze you see that you are lying on a busy street, recognizable as the market district of Lopolla. You look down past the smoke rising from your body to see a charred and blackened body barely recognizable as your own. Tears mark your flesh, and your clothing has been burnt completely away. As you watch, a piece of charred flesh breaks off and falls to the ground. Beneath it is pink flesh, which pulses as if something were crawling beneath it.

You twitch in agony, and several more small pieces of flesh crack off, leaving behind pink new tissue. As you chip and flake, people around you gasp in terror as your blackened body rapidly falls away to reveal a perfectly healed replacement below.


----------



## Immort

This seems a bit, well, brutal.  Don't git me wrong, here, I can appreciate a little brutality as much as anyone.  Billy just seems ta be gittin' a raw deal.  Celestia seems mighty vulnerable ta the devil's incursions too.  I gotta figger, if a devil is gunna go an start killin' folks and try ta tell me it is my fault, I'm thinkin' he is gunna be killin' folks whether he has me ta blame fer it or not.  Nuthin' good ever came of makin' deals wit devils.

-Immort


----------



## Mr.Binx

Immort said:
			
		

> *I gotta figger, if a devil is gunna go an start killin' folks and try ta tell me it is my fault, I'm thinkin' he is gunna be killin' folks whether he has me ta blame fer it or not.  Nuthin' good ever came of makin' deals wit devils.*




The majority of the party actually came up with this same conclusion.  Unfortunately, when you're dealing with characters who have the words "Lawful Good" written in their alignment box on a PC record sheet they are often forced into avoiding that whole "out of sight, out of mind" approach to the situation.  If a demon is destroying innocents souls (or so it _says_ they're innocent souls) then the individuals who have oathed to follow the ways of Hieroneous must attempt what they can to stop such events to continue.  Whether or not it truly is Billy's fault is beside the point.  The fact that innocent souls are being destroyed and Billy has been made aware of this prevents Billy from turning a blind eye.  This is a GM tactic to used to get you to do something via alignment that KotD comics lovingly refer to as the _Sucking Chest Wound_.  Dastardly..


----------



## James McMurray

Ah, but it was Billy's fault. He started the battle with the devils by destroying Conrad Adar's tome.  He also escalated the situation by refusing to talk with the peacable negotiator that was sent first. the entire situation could have been avoided had Billy's player not been the type to shoot first and only role-play when necessary.

That's cool though. The majority of the players have shown that they prefer high-powered fights to role-playing. Since I'm the kind of DM who likes to give my players what they want. . .


----------



## Piratecat

I've found you tend to die faster with high-powered fights.


----------



## James McMurray

Ain't that the truth.


----------



## Immort

Bah, I'm thinkin' that fer defeating a major force of evil and destroying an incredibly powerful artifact of evil, and liberating many powerful forces of good the good bigwigs might be inclined ta step in and take a stand on Billy's side.  'Specially seein' as how these devils are invadin' celestial space.  And ya can't seriously tell me that lawful good characters let alone Heronious would ever condone makin' deals with devils or being held hostage to their terrorism.  There is no negotiatin' wit evil.  Other than wit the shoot first RP later method.

As fer the innocent victims, I'm thinkin' at that point it is devil huntin' time.  That is how ya deal wit it.  Maybe yer dead anyhow, but damned if yer ain't dyin' fightin' the good fight.  Maybe yer kin take some of 'em with ya.  Once yer dead, yer soul is gonna go where it goes and yer outta their reach anyhow if yer good.  Can't hold yer corpse responsible fer nuttin'.

-Immort


----------



## Joshua Randall

James McMurray said:
			
		

> *The party scries for him, then after meet up. They went through the remainder of the tests and Oskar defeated the Lord High Exultant in a duel. It was hard work, but he managed to do it.*




The Lord High Exultant is one of my favorite baddies in a module full of great baddies. He's tough, he's smart, and - he cheats! The party does't _have_ to abide by the so-called rules of the fight, but the Exultant states them with such a commanding tone that they likely will.

I imagine that a bit less lawfully aligned group would take one look at the huge, undead warrior demanding single combat, then another look, then say, "Screw _you_!" and bum rush him.

*



			The thing that made it difficult was that the Moilian Zombie had fast healing, and Oskar had no way to damage him completely. But when the rest of the party cheated by teleporting in to give him a Mace of Disruption, it becae much easier. 

Click to expand...


*
Bah, drat that Mace of Disruption; it takes all the fun out of undead. Although it does allow the party to get back at Mr. Exultant's cheating through some cheating of their own.

Finally, where was the Vestige during this fight? It didn't show up for a visit? *shiver*


----------



## Greybar

> Bah, drat that Mace of Disruption; it takes all the fun out of undead.




Not having the RtToH, I'd guess that The Lord High Exultant has a pretty good Fort save.  So you're smacking on him, waiting and hoping that he'll finally roll a bad save while he heals everything else you throw at him?

Still sounds like a fun time... for the GM.

I love the tormenting of Teflon Billy.  Mess with an instrument of an archdevil, and you have to face his wrath.  I'd much prefer to see the party work their way out of this than just appeal for help to Celestia and Heironeous.  Having someone else save your butt isn't nearly as much fun!

Plus they get to wallow in the ace-number-one sin that Lawful Good types fall to: PRIDE.

John


----------



## James McMurray

Immort: The good guys have taken heed of the actions. Billy still has his spellcasting ability because of that fact. The reason Billy still has a few weeks before he is demanded in hell is also because of that. It is quite possible that their actions between now and then will result in more direct intervention. However, if there is any god that is more of a believer in standing on your own two feet then Heironious, I'm not sure who it is.

The problem with "devil huntin' time" is that you cannot solve your problem that way. The party certainly isn't going to kill Asmodeus in his lair. And if they die in the attempt then Acererak manages to make himself one with the negative material plane, thus becoming uite possibly the most powerful being in the omniverse.

And besides, Billy has already learned once that being deda doesn't protect you from evil. The first time he died he was resurrected by an evil dragon he had tormented. He was held captive and tortured for 12 years after that.

JERAndall: Well, the fight with the Lord High Exultant went pretty fast. Oskar being a high level dwarven defener was nearly impossible to hurt. The life drain was doing an average of 5 points per round, and The LHE couldn't beat his AC after all of the buffs he had on. Granted, Oskar would have eventually died to the life drain, but it would have taken a few hours of rolling real time. 

The vestige never showed up unil they went to its tower. There were chances for it to, but they never happened.

Greybar: Well, all you need for him to do is roll a one. When you're full attacking at 4 attacks per rond, that will happen after five rounds or so. And the LHE was only healing 10-15 points per round, so there was no way he was getting back up any time soon.

I wholeheartedly agree with the idea that having someone else save your butt sucks though. Had the party continued climbing Mount Celestia, it would have happened, but that wouldn't have been nearly as satisfying (IMO) as getting themselves out of the jam.


----------



## Joshua Randall

James McMurray said:
			
		

> *The vestige never showed up unil they went to its tower. There were chances for it to, but they never happened.*




Understood.

If/when I next run RttToH, I may script things so that the Vestige shows up at a dramatic time. Or I might use it (ironically) to save the PCs: for example, they are getting beaten down by the Exultant, who has just dropped someone. He steps back and smirks as he readies his weapon for a coup de grace. Just then, behind him, flowing up over the platform comes the Vestige, an evil fog whispering imprecations.

The Exultant half-turns - his smirk fades - he screams in terror - and is _absorbed_ and destroyed (graphically) by the Vestige. (Yeah yeah I'm stretching things beyond the module as written but it's _dramatic_!)

Seeing something as tough as the Exultant get snuffed out by the Vestige should convince the PCs to run. Although you never know.

Actually, James, I am very inspired by the way you've modified Return to make it cooler. Really makes me wish I were a player in your campaign!


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

Congratulations on a great story so far! Keep going!

It's making me itch to roll up some high level characters and get blasting stuff...!


----------



## James McMurray

Well, Cleveland isn't too far. We play every Sunday.


----------



## James McMurray

The remainder of the party begins to explore the floor where the Lord High Exultant lived. They find very little of worth, but a strange meditation mat does draw their attention. William sits upon it and begins a prayer to Heironious. He gets two words into it when a feeling of dread makes him get up and leave the stand.

The party travels onward and finds themselves in another tower. This one is empty of floors or internal walls, and would be completely empty but for the mass of glowing green webs as thick as a man’s arm.

Fokurt begins to work his way down the wall to investigate, but comes back up when he hers an arachnid chittering from below. As he rejoins the group topside, 4 horse-sized jet black spiders come up through the webbing and shoot out glowing emerald cords as strong as iron. William and Oskar are caught and dragged downward towards the waiting spiders.

The group flies into action and the battle is joined. The spiders soon begin to take the worst of the exchange, except that two party members have been bitten and weakened by their negative energy essence, while Galrond has managed to get himself cocooned.

Just as things are about to end in the party’s victory, the mother shows up. She is a massive beast the size of a house, who skitters forward and bites Oskar. The battle again shifts in the favor of the spiders. That is, until William casts a Mass Heal. The massive beast gets a few more good bites in, but it is no match for the combined might of a high-level party.

The party regroups and send Fokurt back in to investigate, as the riddle earlier had mentioned that a riddle box was hanging beneath emerald webs. Sure enough, Fokurt finds beneath the mesh a huge black metal cube hanging from a tree-thick cord of webbing. He works his way around it to try to find a riddle and is surprised by the Winter Wight that moves around the corner and attacks him.

The beast’s claws tear into him and set him alight with the dreaded Blackfire. Luckily the force of the blows kills his body, freeing his soul before the blackfire could snuff it out. The party, not having heard from Fokurt, head down to investigate.

As William rounds the corner of the box, he too is surprised by the beast. The party fights for a few short seconds before they decide they cannot hope to defeat this thing when they are already weakened. Just as William is noticing that his wounds are healing on their own, and that his Mass Heal had no effect upon them, the group dives through a gate held open by Galrond, and into the shores of Celestia.

As William steps into the surf, his legs begin to smoke as the water around them boils. Incredible pain shoots through him and the light of the eternal Sun sears his eyes. Mere microseconds before he is completely snuffed out he plane shifts to the sewers of Lopolla.


----------



## Tzarevitch

JERandall said:
			
		

> *
> 
> The Lord High Exultant is one of my favorite baddies in a module full of great baddies. He's tough, he's smart, and - he cheats! The party does't have to abide by the so-called rules of the fight, but the Exultant states them with such a commanding tone that they likely will.
> 
> I imagine that a bit less lawfully aligned group would take one look at the huge, undead warrior demanding single combat, then another look, then say, "Screw you!" and bum rush him.
> 
> 
> 
> Bah, drat that Mace of Disruption; it takes all the fun out of undead. Although it does allow the party to get back at Mr. Exultant's cheating through some cheating of their own.
> 
> Finally, where was the Vestige during this fight? It didn't show up for a visit? *shiver* *



*

Yeah. When we played it (in 2e) our lawful party didn't even think about stepping in. Even when the Lord High Exultant started cheating we figured that there was something in the rules that we didn't know. Eventually our champion (a 21st level 2e fighter with a girdle of fire giant strength) put him down despite his cheating but it hurt her a lot. 

Honestly, Return to the Tomb of Horrors is one of my favorite adventures of all time. We had fits with the Winter Wights and the Moilean Zombies. We has less of a problem with the Vestige because we (with the help of an NPC wizardess) destroyed it pretty early after coming to Moil using Wish and Limited Wish spells to make it vulnerable to our other spells and attacks.  

I love reading this Story Hour because it is cool seeing how another group reacted to the same challenges. 

Tzarevitch*


----------



## James McMurray

I guess I'm unfamiliar with 2e (played it a little long ago), so I'm amazed that you managed to destroy the Vestige. I certainly wouldn't allow Limited Wish to remove its defenses, although Wish might work (for a round or two at most).

And of course, when I converted it to 3E I used the Abomination info from the ELH. I gave it regeneration requiring a weapon forged in a dream to get past.


----------



## Tzarevitch

James McMurray said:
			
		

> *I guess I'm unfamiliar with 2e (played it a little long ago), so I'm amazed that you managed to destroy the Vestige. I certainly wouldn't allow Limited Wish to remove its defenses, although Wish might work (for a round or two at most).
> 
> And of course, when I converted it to 3E I used the Abomination info from the ELH. I gave it regeneration requiring a weapon forged in a dream to get past.  *




I don't remember the exact sequence but it involved Wishes to lower the defenses for a round whereupon the spellcasters piled the damage spells on at longest possible range.  We then repeated the process for 3 or so rounds using limited wishes as nevessary to simulate other damage spells like Cones of Cold or Chain Lightning. I think it took 3-4 Wishes a Limited Wish or Two, several Delayed-Blast fireballs, Flamestrikes, Meteorswarms and lower level damage spells over about 3-4 rounds before it died. We never did get its resistances completely down, we just reduced them enough that massive amounts of damage could get though and eventually kill it. 

In all fairness, our 2e party consisted of a 15/16 Mystic of Nog(from Al-Qadim)/Priest, a 11/13/15 (Rogue/Priest/Sha'ir(from Al-Qadim)), a 21st level fire-genasi fighter with a Girdle of Fire Giant Strenth and a +5 sword, a 9/12 paladin/priest with a semi-artifact level Holy Avenger, an 19th lvl Wu-Jen (using the kit from the Complete Wizard's Handbook), and a 20th lvl Necromancer (an NPC ally who we'd picked up in an earlier adventure), plus an efreet, a marid and an Al-Qadim slayer genie with Max HP and a +5 Sword of Mortal Slaying. We had been playing these characters for 5 years or so of real-time and we had accumulated a LOT of stuff and knew how to use it. 

My rogue/priest/sha-ir alone carried a Wish spell stored in a tattoo on his chest, a Wish spell stored in his staff, and another stored in memory. I could also call on a Wish from the Efreet once per year and an Alter Reality (1st edition spell similar to a Wish) from the Marid. The NPC 20th level necromancer also carried 3-4 Wish spells on scrolls and one or two in memory. 

Note, despite our firepower, the Vestige surprised us and routed us the first time we fought it and forced us to Teleport without Error back to Al-Qadim. The second time we loaded ourselves for bear and came looking for it and provoked a fight on our terms. As I recall, we also used divination spells and Wishes before the fight to try and figure out what it was and what might work against it. (This didn't work very well so we settled on using the Wish spells to drop whatever resistances or immunities it had and then just pouring the damage on.) Even then, it didn't go down quietly. It's just that at that point we knew that it was there and we had a pretty good idea how to kill it. 

That all said, despite our levels, the adventure was tough. We had deaths aplenty (I will avoid specifics so as not to tip off your players.) We lost a PC to the Winter Wight under the Puzzle Box. We lost another to another Winter Wight somewhere else in the City. We lost a couple when we accidentally cast Delayed Blast Fireballs into an ice corridor filled with Moilean Zombies. One PC was killed by the Executioner, one PC was killed when we shattered the mirror of life-trapping (we forgot that you needed to dispel it), one was maimed by playing the game of chance, and another was killed by the dragon. Finally, all but one of us died again in the final fight when we forgot what we were supposed to do to end the Devourerer's menace forever. The last guy remembered it in time for us to pull victory out. 

As I said before, Return to the Tomb of Horrors is one of my favorite adventures of all time. I love the way you are running it and I check weekly for new installments to the saga. 

Tzarevitch


----------



## James McMurray

Sounds cool. Damn that's a lot of wishes! 

I was hoping the party would drop fireballs in the ice cavern too.


----------



## Joshua Randall

*bump* so that James will update!


----------



## James McMurray

Sorry, things have been a bit hectic and I'm in the process of starting up a PBeM, so time has been short. I promise I'll get another update out before this weekend's game. I may not be able to get the story completely up to date, but I'll get as much as I can out for it.


----------



## James McMurray

The party is left wondering what the heck happened to William, but without the resources available to find out. They rest and recuperate from their battles. Meanwhile the priest of heironious finds himself in a bad position. He is beset by an unearthly hunger, and the mere scent of a nearby rat coupled with the sounds of its tiny heartbeat send him over the edge. He lashes out with preternatural speed and snatches the squeaking thing, making a short mean of it. When the flesh turns in his stomach and comes back up, he realizes that somehow he has become a vampire.

Thinking back through the events of the day, he comes to the conclusion that the only thing he did that noone else had done was to meditate upon the mat in the Tower of Test. Apparently the negative energy flow that kept the Master of the Tower moving for centuries had snuffed out his lifeforce and replaced it with something much more malevolent.

He vowed not to take his own life, and that he would fight through the condition for the greater glory of Heironious. The next night he awoke and cast  Commune. He learned that calling forth a Miracle would cure him of his ills, but that he was not prepared for it yet.

The party meanwhile received a sending from him. They were informed that he was in Lopolla, and they went to meet them him there. a bit taken aback when he stepped out of the shadows in the attic of Amastacia's home, they soon decided that they had to trust their friend. the group then headed back to Moil to continue the hunt for Acererak.

--------------

Sorry. I know it isn't much, but things have gotten a bit more busy than I had though t they would, and so I'm afraid this is all I can get out this week.


----------



## Joshua Randall

James McMurray said:
			
		

> *When the flesh turns in his stomach and comes back up, he realizes that somehow he has become a vampire.
> 
> Thinking back through the events of the day, he comes to the conclusion that the only thing he did that noone else had done was to meditate upon the mat in the Tower of Test. Apparently the negative energy flow that kept the Master of the Tower moving for centuries had snuffed out his lifeforce and replaced it with something much more malevolent. *




Muuuhahahaha! I was wondering if William's brief time on the prayer mat was going to come back to haunt him. That prayer mat really is a nasty spot; turning the PC into a vampire is about the least bad thing that can happen.

A question - when the Mass Heal went off during the fight with the Winter Wight, shouldn't it have acted as Harm on the vampiric William? Or was he not a target of the spell?


----------



## James McMurray

Me and my players decided we didn't want Harm in our campaign. To keep it fair to the undead, Heal does not affect them. Instead, there is a "Heal Undead" spell that will return all of an undead's lost hit points.

The spell did try to target him, but that portion of it fizzled.


----------



## Joshua Randall

*bump*

What? Who, me? Dang, I've got to stop running into things like that.

How goes real life, James? 'Tis always a pity when it gets in the way of one's fantasies.


----------



## James McMurray

Life goes fine I suppose. Trying to buy one house and sell another is definitely a pain in the tuckus, but it needs to be done.

Here comes another update. The portions of it will be very brief, as I packed away most of my notes for the sessions. You can see these and the next few parts at my website  here. Click on the "Clendar for the Games" button on the bottom bar. The items are color coded, blue is the RttToH game, red is world specific items (such as holidays), and red is my PBeM campaign.

Its a little php and javascript calendar I threw together. The month the link oes to and also the following two should have entries. As I have time I'll add more to the update here.

[edit] Changed the link so it will always work, and addeda bit of explanation for the calendar itself.[/edit]


----------



## James McMurray

The party spends several days preparing for a new battle with the Winter Wight that slew Fokurt. The knowledge that it now probably wears the Mask worries them greatly. That is counteracted by seeing William still casting spells through Heironious. If he can overcome an entire change in his being, surely they can defeat a Winter Wight.

The day finally arrives, and Galrond opens a gate. Stepping through it, the battle is joined! The winter wight is unsurprised to see them, and reacts quickly. It floats upward and the area fills with Sleet and Snow. The group joins up and begins to hunt it down, while it snipes at them from within the sleet storm, clawing then moving silently away.

Galrond dispels the sleet, and Kargur seizes the opportunity to charge forward. He is met by the grotesquely distended mouth of the Mask of the Devourer, eaten by Acererak’s tool.

Greatly distrought, but not stopped, the party continues to battle. Galrond opens a gate to Celestia and draws forth two cadres of Lantern Archons. William and Galrond buff the archons with magics, and their rays of holy light tear into the Winter Wight’s icy shell, forcing it to flee after creating another huge sleet storm.

They have seen its wounds closing before, and know it will be back. In the time allotted they look over the huge black puzzle box, and find inscribed upon it a riddle:

Many ends have I,
Or many a beginning.
When I fail people sigh.
Wails mark their passing.

Unable to puzzle it out in the few short moments they have, the party sends the archons out to hunt for the Wight. They do not find it, and shortly thereafter are drawn back through the gate, returned to Celestia. This of course, is what the undead thing has waited for, and it hurtles through the glowing emerald webs, thirsting for life essence.

When the party sees it returning fully healed, they quickly decide it is time to flee. Galrond opens a gate, and Oskar slices through the webs that hold the cube aloft. The party follows the falling cube through the gate to the outskirts of Lopolla, where the land has not yet healed from their prior battle with the forces released from the Contractor’s Tome. Galrond just barely manages to close the gate before the Winter Wight can get through it, and the party gathers up the cube and heads for Lopolla, where they hope to be able to find someone to open it.

The next day, after offering a huge reward, the riddle is solved by a young boy. When he answers aloud, “rope” near the cube, a perfectly hidden panel slides open to reveal a lever.

The party rests and meets Prospero, an undead hunter. He pledges to join their cause in destroying Acererak.

William requests and is granted a Miracle. His undead nature is removed. 

The group then decides to try the lever, and returns to Lopolla (albeit not the Wight’s tower of webs). They pull the lever and there is no visible effect, so they continue their exploration of the city.

The party returns to Moil to face the Darkweaver in her lair. She turns out to be a rune-covered humanoid whose touch drains the magic from her victims and empowers her. The party only manages to defeat her by battering through the tower floor, dropping her into the negative material plane. 

The party recuperates and then returns to Moil. They see the Vestige and flee, but when they anger it with attacks, it bursts forward and catches Oskar. The Vestige is a massive cloud of roiling gas and screaming souls. It relentlessly pursues them and shrug off everything they try to harm it with. Communing shows that Oskar's soul is now one with the conglomeration of cursed souls that were once the Moilian citizenry. As much as they would like to avoid the thing completely, it appeared to be guarding an hourglass, and with what they’ve learned of Acererak’s demented nature, they know it is probably another torment he wants to run them through.

The remainder of the group journeys onward. Inside a black spire of ice they find countless Moilian zombies, and another demilich. They hide within an Anti-Magic Field while determining what to do, then return to the Prime to discuss and divine. 

Their divinations tell them that they should journey onward past this demi-lich and go to face and destroy Acererak’s true form, which lies within his Fortress of Conclusion.

The party returns to Moil, where they outwit the Vestige by teleporting into the Hourglass chamber and flipping it over, then hiding elsewhere while it searches for them in vain. They return a little less than an hour later, and rotate the hourglass when it empties, head back toward the Black Spire. The demilich there tells them that whether they fight it on the ledge or in the fortress, the outcome will be the same: Acererak's supremacy.

The bypass the demilich and rides the Phantom Flyer to Acererak's Fortress of Conclusion.

There they find an old friend: Galen. The wizard they have been following turns up in Acererak's Fortress, where he is sewn tight and tormented, forced to be the Devourer's 'doorman'. 

The party journeys deeper into the Fortress after having rescued Galen and returned him to the Prime. 

They fight a Nightwalker, which manages to destroy the Wand of Days, leaving the party at a loss as to how they will destroy Acererak's Phylactery.

They also fight a large group of demons, freed from their bindings by a Disjunction from Billy. William gates in a Solar and is told in no uncertain terms that the greatest forces of good are not to be called upon without cause. Indeed, they are never to be called upon again by him.

The party rescues a dretch from a room filled with vapors and chains, freeing it from the torment of its captor: a Glabrezu.

They return to the prime again to recover from their wounds and discuss their next course of action, which of course ends up being “go back in and find Acererak.” But before they return, they take a week to identify the items they have found, and sell those that re not useful to them.


----------



## James McMurray

After an incredibly hard battle, the party returns to the prime, carrying te remnants of their disjoined items.
They recuperate (as usual).

The party scries upon Acererak and returns to face him in the room of his phylactery. Beneath the prison of souls they fight, and Acererak swallows Galrond's soul. He and his captive Balor destroy the party, and all seems lost. 

The party awakens and finds themselves in celestia. It seems that the devils had been keeping close watch for Billy's soul, and stepped in just as Acererak was about to devour it. Acererak's Apotheosis was only partially successful, and in the battle that ensued, his phylactery was destroyed.

The party, along with two new members, is charged by Heironious himself to hunt down and destroy Acererak and all of his works. 

The party returns to the ledge above the void and fights the shard of Acererak, regaining Kargur's gear in the process.

Following divined clues to the Mask of the Devourer, the party finds the Winter Wight holed up in an Abyssal fortress, where it plans to awaken the unborn child of Hextor, in the hopes that its master will be able to use the powerful entity to further his goals.

The party assaults the Keep's main gate, and although they destroy the Mithral golem gaurding the entrance, they are no match for the rest of the defenders once Billy accidentally catches the Mask within the radius of a Disjunction. Seeking to safegaurd itself, the mask drives the Winter Wight onto the field, where it kills all but Kargur and Lanis.
The lucky two survivors flee (carrying the body of Cade, Cleric of Heironious) with them. Billy's body plummets into the River Styx, and the Winter wight keeps the body of Caspian (Mana Knight and Planar Champion) and his gear.

Lanis and Kargur are stranded in the Sea of Dust that s the 52nd layer of the Abyss.


----------



## Joshua Randall

Hey James! Great stuff as always.

I'd love to know the details of the party's confrontation with some of the fiendishly nasty traps in the Fortress of Conclusion, if you have the time.

I was sorry to see the party get waxed by Acererak and his captive Balor.   Did they fight a good fight, or was it a one-sided slaughter?

But it seems the story will continue! So give your adventurers my best, and remind them...

_you've left and left and found my tomb
and now your soul will die_

Muuuuuuuuhahahahahaha!


----------



## James McMurray

It was a damn good fight! It came down to the Balor's last itertive attack. If it hadn't vorpalized the archer, the Phylactery would have been destroyed. One of the earlier attacks had already threatened a critical but failed to confirm it.

Acererak would still have killed the archer for doing it, but it would have saved the party a whole big mess o' trouble.

Guess that's just the way the dice fall sometimes.


----------



## Joshua Randall

Using my new Search feat  , I have rescued this thread from oblivion.

So... what's new? Has the party managed to get some measure of revenge upon Acererak? Any chance of getting an update to this story hour? *beg*


----------



## Rune

*Bump* for this thread.


----------



## James McMurray

To answer several questions I have received about what happened, I posted this reply in the "Bump a Story Hour" thread:

--------------------------------------------------

The reason I stopped posting was because of the TPK mentioned in the last post. I'm not sure where people have gotten the idea that it ended abruptly. 

After that campaign ended, I tried to continue on with a different group of high level characters, but it wasn't as interesting for everyone, so we moved on to other games and other GMs.

I've just recently started up an Epic level campaign though, and will be posting a story Hour for it once we get past the opening stages. So far I'm just running the group through a slightly modified version of the introductory adveture in the ELH. Once they've gone through that we'll move on to the real meat of the story: the (highly modified) Bloodstone Series and its quest for Deification.


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

That's a shame, but I'll be eagerly awaiting a new SH from you when it arrives! If you could post the link here, then those of us that have subscribed to this thread can easily make their way across to the new thread.


----------



## Greybar

Hear, hear.

I also like the integrity it shows that you didn't pull any punches or deus-ex --- the TPK means they lose.

Now I'd be be really interested to take that event, project its impact into campaign, and start a new group up dealing with the effects 10 years later...

John


----------



## James McMurray

Check my sig for the link to the new story hour.


----------



## the Jester

This is a great story hour!  I'm not quite done with it, but I really like how you worked things.  

My group, just starting to creep into epic levels, has just started RttToH.  I'm curious- how did you deal with Moilians?


----------



## Joshua Randall

Arise, o ancient thread, and bask in the glory of this discussion of your source module.


----------

