# Agents of Chaos (Final Update!)



## the Jester

Cinnamon and cloves and cardamom- strange woods and strange scents- the stink of fish from the docks district- the hustle and bustle of a major trade hub, with merchants from everywhere and their customers, buying and selling everything that anyone could want, from slaves to drugs, spices and food to exotic woods, silk and satin, cloth of all descriptions, pigments and jewels and weapons and perfumes.  This is Pesh City.

Ah, Pesh.  It seems that anything can happen here, from assassination to romance, mysterious magic to alchemical experiment, underground pit fighting to pederasty.  Pesh is notorious for its strange mores, its odd culture, its fantastic cuisine.  But the culture and the food and the strange ways aren’t what our heroes are here for.  In fact, at this point they don’t even all know each other.  But soon enough they will, and our diverse little group will come together, all for their own reasons, all with common purpose... to a certain extent.

Some of you know Horbin.  He’s been traveling for the last five years, serving as ship’s priest on a variety of vessels, trying to make a decent living with a little less of the risking of the neck part of it that he had as an adventurer.  He’s disembarking about now, head held high, happy to be on solid ground for a while- though he’s just as happy to be at sea.  He misses Till, his old shield-bearer, who’s off training on the nearby isle of Khelm at present, but he figures they’ll meet again soon enough.  Horbin breathes deeply, drawing in the smell of fish that wafts through the seaward side of this great metropolis, smiling at the scent of spices that Pesh is so famous for.  The crowd is thick, with vendors of various foods on either side of the street, warehouses and sailors’ bars on both edges.  

As he walks, he hears his name from up ahead.

“Horbin!” cries a dirty man, sitting cross-legged with a begging bowl in his lap.  He doesn’t seem to be paying any attention to the priest of Dexter, but our hero, intrigued, walks towards him, trying to pick up the rest of what he’s saying.

“Blind justice from a blind god!” the man raves, and Horbin realizes he has no eyes.  Surely, Horbin thinks, this is a reference to Dexter- the blind god that Horbin himself serves.  He stops before the man, and the beggar cocks his head and looks right at him from his empty sockets.  “Law and chaos clash, and on both sides the good slips through the fingers.  Blood, blood will spill!  Alas, that the Light sides with mere Law when Good is so much more important!”  The dirty man stops.

“Well,” Horbin starts to answer after a moment, but the stranger cuts him off.

“Arr, and the spit of a thousand mouths will drool down on the losers.  Who takes only one side?”

"Uh, who are-" Horbin tries to ask, but is cut off again.

“Fools!  Fools and old men whose time is past!  Let that not be thy fate!  Arr, the bile rises- let it not past thy lips.  Read instead, for the good book will guide you through the fluid world.  What is change?  What is good?  Arr!  What is justice?  The law or the right?  And if Law loses sight with its blind eyes of the good, what then is to be done?”  

Horbin waits a moment, thoughtful, and tosses a coin in the beggar’s bowl.  “Who are you?” he asks.  The man mutters for a moment, then cries out again.

“When she speaks, she lies- remember that honeyed words poison teeth!”

“O-kay,” Horbin answers, shaking his head slightly.  The man mutters to himself; nothing else seems forthcoming.  “Right,” the cleric finishes, and walks on, looking for a room.  _Pesh,_ he thinks.  _Weird things always happen in Pesh._


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## the Jester

People stare at Angel as he walks down the street. One of his hands is wreathed in fire. His skin is an angry scarlet color and his hair looks almost like flame. A large falchion is strapped to his side. Walking with him is a young woman, apparently human, but with brown, strangely earthen-looking skin. A bow is slung across her back. This is Sybele. They're chatting amiably, obviously old friends. The two of them are new in town, having just disembarked themselves from a ship out of Tirchond, an island far to the south that has thrown off the yoke of the Forinthian Empire about five years ago.  

Their path takes them to a small temple. The temple is devoted to a new goddess- Coila, her name is. She's Angel's deity, the goddess of time and relentlessness. Angel guards another temple to her, back on Tirchond, that is overseen by another old friend of these two. That friend, Sheva, a dark and brooding figure, is on Pesh as well... but she slipped away almost as soon as the party disembarked from the ship. Angel and Sheva have been driven here by their goddess- driven by visions and dreams.

Five years ago, the three of them- along with a sizable group of companions- found themselves drawn into a grand and terrible adventure. They wound up taking sides in the conflict between the primal forces of Law and Chaos, and had some dealings with Na'Rat's forces and allies. Despite Coila's lawful nature, she set them on the side of Chaos. Now Coila has sent her clerics hope of a new weapon against Law- some sort of new time spell. It's unclear exactly what, but Sheva and Angel both know the location and name of the person who they're being sent to, and she's supposed to be here. She's apparently another priest of Coila, and her name is Reth Fire-Scarred.

Angel and Sybele enter the temple and find themselves in a small worship chamber with only a single inhabitant. He raises his eyes as they enter and greets them warmly. 

"We're here to see Reth Fire-Scarred," Angel says politely, and the man's face falls.

"I'm afraid she's not here, and I haven't seen her in some time," he answers. "Who are you?"

The two introduce themselves to the man, and he responds in kind, naming himself Marius. "Where is she?" asks Angel.

Hesitating for just a moment, Marius glumly responds, "I'm not entirely sure. The last I knew she was heading to the picewoods to investigate an infestation of formians."

"What are formians?" Sybele pipes up

"They're big bugs from another plane," Marius tells her. 

"Great. Thanks, we'll look into it," Angel replies, and the two leave.


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## the Jester

Lester gets as many looks as Angel, if not more. He has a vaguely elven cast to his features, but atop his face his hair lurks in a large dark afro. His skin is swarthy; he has only a single arm, but instead of a stump or even a shoulder joint, it looks strangely as if his body simply isn't built for a second one. This is a mark of Chaos- as are the pair of large bat-like wings that sprout from hisback. He wears a suit of evil-looking full plate taken a decade before from a deadly adversary, Fuligin. Several swords are strapped at his side and to his back. Those that know him call him the L. He is an elementalist of great power- and a warrior of chaos.

Lester loves Pesh. Weird things happen here; it's a very chaotic place. He wishes he spent more time here; he's never been thrown in prison, tricked into massive debt, or killed here; all those things have happened to him over the years in other places. 

Of course, bad things happen too...

A rapier deflects off his armor from behind. If it had penetrated, it would have stuck him through the kidney, a potentially lethal blow. Lester gives a cry: "Assassin!!" He stumbles away, turning to see his assailant. It's a human male, probably thirty-five years old, dressed in nondescript studded leather armor and already trying to move in for another strike. Lester channels elemental fire and a roaring column of white-hot flame blasts down, but the would-be assassin has already jumped aside, completely evading the spell, and then lunges forward again, striking twice rapidly.

Lester backs away again and waves his hand, channeling earth-power this time- and his foe stiffens and petrifies. 

"By the elements!" Lester swears. _Who is this guy?_ he thinks, but he can't really ask questions of him right now. He rubs his chin, mulling over his option, then looks at the gathering crowd. "Who wants to make a gold piece?"


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## the Jester

*NOTE: Dragons in my campaign have traditionally been seen as gods. There were only a few back in the 2e days, and if one lived on your continent you generally knew about it. A dragon would claim a mountain range, entire island, or similar geographical area as its lair; nobody messed with them. Bear that in mind when dragons are discussed...*


Zeebo Swayzac is an old friend of Sheva, Angel and Sybele, but he's out of touch with them. Since they helped liberate Tirchond from Forinthian domination, he's been a member of the Council of Tirchond and not much of an adventurer. Politics is really his game, anyway. But sometimes the two things mix well. Half a decade ago, when he adventured with them and a bunch of others, they helped guard a cavern full of dragon eggs from the forces of Law as part of a gambit to overthrow the power of the Forinthian Empire and its crushing monotheistic religion- and it worked pretty well. Tirchond is free, the majority of the baby dragons made it out into the world, and things are good for Zeebo (called "the Mayor" by those who know him well). Zeebo is a gnome, and both a wizard and a sorcerer. Though his split abilities stop him from having very high-powered magic, he rarely runs out of spells.

Recently, a powerful enchantress associate of Zeebo's, Estelias, approached him with some very interesting news. Rumor has it that there is a dragon on the island of Pesh- but from what she'd heard it's too big to be one of the ones that Zeebo and his companions released. Nobody's ever heard of it until recently, and it seems like making contact with it could be very useful. A dragon could be a valuable ally against the forces of Law- and Zeebo's the man for the job. Thus, he's come to Pesh City, the major port, and is going to investigate from here.

Zeebo's a lawyer at heart, so the first thing he does is go to one of the two major barristers' guilds of Pesh. The more liberal, libertarian, even libertine one is called the Society of the Grey Scarf (scarves and veils are a large part of the fashion and culture of Pesh), so that's the one he chooses. When he enters the place, he sees a young man with make-up and veil on at the front desk. A few honeyed words later, Zeebo is talking to a lady attorney named Souliass; another short while later and they're at dinner, and not too long after that... well, let's just say that over pillow talk, our hero puts her on retainer. Tada! He's got a local lawyer, just in case he needs one. 

The pillow talk tells him a lot. She knows all the good places to go shopping, she tells him, as well as all the good restaurants. She tells him about a strange infestation of extraplanar insects in the Spicewoods; they're formians, and they're intensely lawful creatures. She also tells him that there's been a suspicious rash of assassinations lately, and explains to him that the ruler of Pesh is the oldest member of a very extended royal family- which makes assassination very common. But these assassinations have been predominantly of lawful members of the royal family, and auras of Chaos have been detected at all of the crime scenes that have been checked. _Interesting,_ thinks Zeebo.

The two make a date for the next night at a restaurant that she knows called the Gorel Tree.


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## the Jester

*Lester and Horbin meet up*

Horbin’s eyebrows shot up as the strange, bat-winged, one-armed figure entered the Weighty Anchor Inn, loudly exhorting the commoners to “muscle him in, c’mon there, don’t you want to earn your gold piece??”  Grunting and groaning, they finally managed to deposit the petrified assassin in the corner while Lester moved up and exchanged a few words with the barkeep.  From his table, Horbin observed all this with a bemused smile, finally standing up and walking over to Lester.

“Hey there,” the cleric of Dexter said.  “What’s going on here?”

“Oh, man- this guy tried to kill me!  That’s the problem with Pesh, assassins everywhere,” Lester responded.  The two sat together and talked over a drink, getting to know one another.  Then Lester said, “Well, I think I’m off to the local shrine to Na’Rat.  He’s a god of Chaos- he’s why I have these wings and one arm.”

“Na’Rat?  Hmm, one of my old friends was a priest of him.  He was an all right god, if I remember right,” Horbin mused.  _Ah, Clambake,_ he thought.  _I haven’t seen him in years.  You never know- he could be here._  “Do you mind if I join you?”

“Not at all,” Lester answered, and the two of them secured rooms, settled their tabs and headed out.  They walked across town, from the docks district through the sprawling lower class area of the city and then into the merchants’ district.  Finally, they found their way to the shrine of the Chaos-Bringer- and to their dismay, the tall proud obelisk of Na’Rat was broken at the top!  Two grim-faced men were standing listlessly within the shrine’s environes, engaging in murmured conversation, but they stopped as the strangers approached.

“Who are you?” one of them asked, almost a curse.

“I’m the L,” Lester replied.  “We’re friends of Na’Rat.  He’s touched me before.”  He flapped his wings.

One of the two men cast a spell and looked Horbin and the L over, checking them for chaos.  Finding it in both of them, he visibly relaxed.  “I’m Kuldorf,” he said, then glanced to the obelisk’s tip, which lay shattered on the ground.  

“What happened here?” Lester asked.

“Cluma,” Kuldorf answered.  He uttered a string of terrible deprecations.

“Who’s Cluma?” Horbin spoke up.

“He’s a guardian of order.  He’s caused us no end of trouble- and now _this!_  He’s defiled our shrine, broken our obelisk... Curse him!”  Kuldorf smacked a fist into his other hand.  “He must be stopped!”

“Maybe we can help,” Lester offered.  

“Well, we’d appreciate it- but be careful, he’s very dangerous.  If he knows you’re on our side he’ll try to slay you.  He’s done bad damage to our religion here.”

“Hmm, I guess touching the obelisk won’t do anything anymore,” Lester mused.  Horbin shuddered, recalling the strange things he’d witnessed years ago due to the touch of Na’Rat through his obelisk or agents- a friend growing a second head, another becoming an ooze...  “You should really try it sometime,” the L continued, speaking to Kuldorf.

The cleric of Na’Rat smiled and unbuttoned the front of his shirt.  “Oh, I have,” he said, and revealed a mouth in his belly.  “Believe me, I’ve felt the touch of our great lord.”

Conversation turned to other things, and soon Kuldorf mentioned the presence of strange insects serving Law in the Spicewoods.  _Oh, no!_ Lester thought.  _Clockwork horrors!  But we defeated them a decade ago!_ 

Shortly afterward, Horbin and Lester returned to the Weighty Anchor.  Over another beer they discussed finding this Cluma fellow.  “But how?” Lester wondered.

“Well, I can ask Dexter,” Horbin offered, and after finishing their drinks the two of them went upstairs to Horbin’s room, where he prepared to _commune_ with his god.  

“You should also find out who put a price on my head,” Lester pestered him as he began to slip into a trance.  “And if it’s the Grey Brothers.  And what the assassin’s name was.  And...”

“Yeah, yeah,” Horbin said, slipping into a holy trance.  He sent his spirit flying up to the heavens, and soon he could feel the presence of his divine patron.

*Where is Cluma hiding?* Horbin asked.
Marrow Street.
*Will Cluma attack soon?*
Yes.
*When will he strike?*
Six in the evening tomorrow.
*Where?*
The Gorel Tree.
*Is Cluma resistant to magic?*
No.
*Who was Lester’s would-be assassin?*
Zelon.
*What organization does Zelon work for?*
The Grey Brotherhood.
*Is there a price on Lester’s head?*
No.
*When will they strike at Lester again?*
Unknown.
*Where can we find fellow adventurers?*
All over.
*Are there any special weaknesses that Cluma has?*
No.

Horbin emerged from his trance, opened his eyes, and related what he’d learned to his weird companion.  “Now we just need to figure out what to do next,” he finished.


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## Priest

Good story so far Jester (Its odd but my world has a Grey Brotherhood too...)


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## willpax

I'm enjoying the Moorcock-esque feel here. I look forward to reading more.


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## the Jester

*Angel vs. an angel!*

The Wild Berry Inn is a nice one, with clean rooms, decent food and a pleasing location in the upper class borough of Pesh City.  Angel and Sybele are fast asleep; it’s the middle of the night.  Angel dreams of his father, who has regained much of his sanity in the last half-decade since being rescued from the depths of Firestorm Peak.  Sybele dreams of her four-year-old half-dragon daughter, safely placed in the monastery of the Danger Elves on Tirchond.  Deep into the night they rest-

Suddenly they both awaken to a thundering loud voice.  “SERVANTS OF CHAOS, SHOW YOURSELVES!!” it cries.  The sound of large wings beats just outside their curtained second-story windows.  Both of our heroes spring up and out of bed immediately, long-trained reflexes snapping them upright.  Angel strides to his window, drawing out his gleaming falchion and throwing the curtains open.  Hanging in the air before their windows is a golden-skinned winged man with a flaming sword- an angel to confront Angel.  The psychic warrior springs into the window sill and strikes at the flying figure before running down the wall and assuming a fighting stance.  “Well, come on, then,” he yells up at it.

Sybele, meanwhile, has whipped out her bow and quiver and nocked an arrow.  She sights and lets fly- but as she does, she feels a large blade slam her from behind, and she twists and rolls with the force of it.  Turning as she feels the blood seep from her shoulder, she sees a strange large blue ogrish creature with horns and a huge blade.  Its hair seems arranged in perfect patterns.

The angel swoops down, his blade whistling as he hacks at Angel, and steel rings as the two duel back and forth for a moment, but then the winged deva backs off slightly and speaks a holy word.  Angel cries out as his eyesight and hearing fade; meanwhile, in Sybele’s room, the archer clambers out the window, suffering another ringing blow as she does so, and scrambles up to the roof.  Fortunately, her psionic abilities prevent her from falling, but then she hears the deva’s word and screams in pain as her ears go numb.  She realizes that she can’t hear, and glaring down at the winged form, she decides that enough is enough.  Arrows sing as they slice through the air towards the lawful angel, bursting into flames as they hit.  The deva’s head whips around to stare at her, and its magnificent gold wings beat as it charges her.  She has only a moment to brace herself before it slams into her with a flaming blade, slashing at her arm and side, striking a terrible and telling blow.  

Angel is clueless.  He swings her falchion through the air near him to no avail, then drinks a potion and stands ready.  Everything looks white- he can’t see or hear, he’s disoriented, he doesn’t know where to attack- but he’s ready if he can get a target.

Atop the Inn, the archer has retreated and fired a peppering of arrows at the deva, dropping it, but then the blue-skinned horned ogre appears from nowhere, slashing at her again.  She groans, backing off further and shaking her head, trying to escape down the wall with her psionic _spider climb_.  The blue-skinned creature advances, every hair perfectly in place, and unleashes a _cone of cold_ at Angel’s obviously fiery self.  On the ground, he grits his teeth together and manages to tough it out.  Finally his vision’s starting to clear.  His head snaps up, blinking away particles of frost, and he sees his enemy atop the roof.  With a hoarse cry, Angel charges up the wall and swings!  Blood flies in a fan-shaped spray.  They struggle, with Sybele retreating and drinking a potion to restore some of her lost strength.  The ogrish being tries to force Angel off the edge of the roof, and for a moment it looks like he’ll succeed- but then our hero’s blade flashes again, and the blue creature stiffens and slides to the ground, its throat slit.

The two adventurers look around for any sign of other adversaries, eyes wild.  They’ve both fought the forces of Law before, and they know that those forces often come in numbers.  They see no sign of further enemies, but-

“Good evening,” comes a voice.

A small, weasely man emerges from a nearby alley.  He’s nondescript, with reddish-brown hair and no obvious weapons or armor.  His hair’s slicked back and he wears a stylish black scarf.

“Please,” says the man, “come with me.”

Angel and Sybele look at one another.  “Who are you?” asks Angel.

The man smiles ingratiatingly.  “I’m just here to bring you to some associates of mine.  They have a favor to ask of you.  Please, come with me.”  The man starts walking away.

After a moment’s hesitation our heroes follow...


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## the Jester

A small bag of platinum coins proves the messenger’s lack of ill-will.  Sybele and Angel follow him to a small nondescript building, and he leads them inside.  A figure sits behind a nicely-appointed desk; there’s nowhere for the two adventurers to sit.

“Which one of you is  Sheva?” 

The old wrinkled man has eyes sharper than Angel’s falchion.  The younger fellow leans insouciantly against the wall.  The shadows in the corners are deep; who knows what they hold.  

Angel and Sybele glance at each other.  “Well,” says Angel, “she’s not here right now.  She’s with us, but just not right this second.”

The old man frowns and the crevices in his face seem to mirror it.  He glances at the messenger, whose face slowly drains of color, and then back at our two heroes.  “That,” he slowly says, “is unfortunate.”  He leans back in his chair.  “Well.”  He clears his throat.  “You might say that she’s an associate of ours.  My boy over there” –he indicates the messenger with a short stab of his thumb- “was supposed to bring her specifically to us, not necessarily you... Well.”  He steeples his hands together, seeming to contemplate for a moment, and then goes on, “I suppose you’ll have to do.”  He fixes his sharp eyes on the two adventurers and goes on, “We have a favor we need you to do for us.”

“Oh yeah?” Angel says, and he holds out his hand in the universal bribe me symbol, but the old man ignores it.

“You see, we like to be known as a group that lives by the deals we make.  A few years back we had some... _issues_ with a few people, and as part of the resolution of those _issues_ we agreed to leave them alone.  Well, one of our boys overstepped his bounds earlier and attacked one of these people.  Of course, he ended up petrified for his trouble, but we want to _clarify_ things for him, and make sure the fellow who was attacked understands that we didn’t sanction it.  We want you to make nice with this fellow and bring our boy back for us to _clarify_ things for.”

Angel’s hand remains extended.  “How much are you going to pay us?” he asks.

The old man’s eyes bore into his.  “Let’s just say that you will avoid being _entangled_ any more deeply with our organization.”  Angel’s smile falters and his hand drops an inch.  “Besides, I believe you’ve already been compensated well for your time.  And it isn’t like this little ‘favor’ is dangerous.  No, you want to help us out and avoid any further _entanglements_ with us.”  He smiles a crooked-toothed smile.

Angel’s hand drops by his side.  He’s heard of these guys before, if they’re associates of Sheva’s.  _They’re the Grey Brotherhood- and the old man’s right,_ thinks Angel.  _We do want to avoid any entanglements here._


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## the Jester

*A Knock in the Night*

Horbin and Lester are sharing a room after a head full of wine.  They’re getting along fine at this point, although the wine and the fact that they’re asleep may have something to do with it.  A stone statue- Lester’s assailant- is in the corner, their cloaks hung on it.  But then a knock on the door wakes them both.

“Ah!” cries Lester, startled.  He jumps to his feet, his bat-wings shivering.  “Who is it??”

A low voice comes from the other side of the door.  “Quietly, friend.  I have a message for you.”

“You’re from the Grey Brothers, aren’t you??” Lester shouts.  “You’re trying to kill me again!”

“Keep it down in there,” the voice hisses.  “Come with me.  My... associates would like a word with you.”

“No way!” Lester yells.  “You’re going to try to kill me!  Why’d you send this Zelon guy after me anyhow?”

“Not at all,” the voice says soothingly.  “If I wanted to kill you I’d hardly have knocked.  Nobody wants to kill you.  In fact, we need to _clarify things_ for Zelon.  But keep it down, will you?”  This last comes in a low hiss.

Horbin, meanwhile, has pulled out his mace and is starting to strap on his armor as best he can.  He doesn’t like the sounds of these assassins, and if hostilities break out he sure wants to be ready for it.

“Why are you trying to kill me?” Lester yells again.

“We just want to _talk to you,_” the voice on the other side of the door murmurs.  “Come on, no harm will come to you.  My associates are waiting nearby.”

“No way!” Lester retorts.  “If they want to talk to me, they can come here!”

A muffled heavy sigh comes from the other side of the door.  “Fine,” the voice calls.  “But in the names of the gods, _be quiet_ in there!”  Footsteps recede from the door, and Horbin and Lester hurriedly finish donning their arms and preparing their weapons.  

“Listen,” says Lester as they finish preparing themselves.  “I have an idea.  If they’re going to take this guy away” –he jerks his finger at his petrified enemy- “that’s fine, but I get to keep his stuff.  Why don’t we break his arm off and then turn him back to flesh, then we’ll take all his stuff?”

“I don’t know about that,” says Horbin, thinking that sounds somewhat cruel.  “Can’t you just _stone shape_ him or something?” 

“I guess I could, be not right now, and I’ve a feeling that we have limited time.”  He scratches his chin.  “Well, how about if we blindfold him and tie him up as best we can, and then I’ll turn him back to flesh and we can take all his stuff?”

“Sure,” says Horbin, “I can dominate him, then we won’t even have to fight him.”

After a few minutes, they’ve tied up the statue as best they can, wrapping a cloth around its face.  Then Lester gestures, channeling elemental power, and the figure turns back into flesh.  But moving so fast he’s a blur, the assassin is out of the ropes.  The blindfold is fluttering down to the ground.  And then Horbin’s magic grabs his mind in an iron fist, crushing his will.  “Hand over your stuff!” Lester yells, scrabbling for his rapier- and Zelon slips free of the domination, stabbing at the L again.  But it’s over in seconds, with the L and Horbin the Holy laying down some serious smack.  Once again they tie up their foe, Lester muttering to himself about not letting him wake up.  “Now we loot him,” he gloats.

Just then there’s a knock at the door...




_Coming Soon:_ The party gets together!  Cluma, the Guardian of Order!  Fine restaurants, fireballs, and attorneys, oh my!


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## the Jester

“Just a minute!” Lester shouts, hurriedly trying to take as much as possible from Zelon before his presumptive allies enter and presumably stop him.  Horbin quickly walks over to the door but it pushes open and Angel and Sybele enter.  

“Hey,” says Angel, “we’re here with a message from the Grey Brothers.  They wanted us to tell you, well, that there’s been a misunderstanding, and they want to punish him.”  He points at Zelon’s unconscious and bound form, then tosses a bag of coins to Horbin.  

“Oh, yeah,” retorts Lester, barely paying attention to the newcomers.  “Sure there’s been a misunderstanding.  The Grey Brothers owe me for this.  You go back and talk to your bosses and tell them that they owe me!”  He tries to keep his body between Angel and Sybele and the unconscious assassin.

“They aren’t our bosses,” Sybele pipes up.

“Look,” Angel says reasonably, “I don’t care.  You take his stuff, we’ll take him back to them, and everyone will go their separate ways.”  He leans forward, calling upon the power of Coila, and lays a hand upon the Grey Brother.  Instantly, his eyes snap open as a few of his minor wounds close up.

“NO!” Lester cries, and throws a crushing punch to Zelon’s jaw.  His head bounces hard against the floor and he loses consciousness again immediately.

“He’s all tied up and stuff,” Sybele points out while Lester strips Zelon of his gear.

“No, believe me, we’ve tried that route before,” says Horbin, suppressing a yawn.  It is the middle of the night, after all.  “He’s good at slipping bonds.”  Angel nods thoughtfully, pulling out a rope of his own, and ties it like a leash around the assassin’s neck.  Then he leans forward and heals him again- following it up with a brutal punch to the temple.  Zelon winks in and out of consciousness before he has time to know he’s awake.  Then Angel heals him again, bringing him around again.  But this time he doesn’t struggle, recognizing that his position is untenable, at best.

Lester finally looks at Angel and Sybele, and his eyes widen as he recognizes their elemental natures.  “You’re touched by the elements!” he exclaims.  “Why didn’t you say so!  Sit down, let’s talk and stuff!”  Horbin groans inwardly; he’s very tired.  But the four of them spend a few minutes getting acquainted, chatting until Sybele mentions that she became an earth creature by way of Na’Rat’s touch.  Lester and Horbin exchange a glance and relate the tale of Cluma and his destruction of the local obelisk, telling Sybele and Angel that they plan on intercepting him when he strikes tomorrow evening.  The others offer to help.  

“Well,” says Sybele, “we’d better take care of this guy.”  She gestures at Zelon.  “His associates want to punish him, and we’ve been here for a while already.”  The four adventurers agree to meet for breakfast the next day, then part ways.  Horbin rolls back into bed, as does Lester; as Angel and Sybele leave, she stops to retain a room here in the Weighty Anchor.  The two of them then escort Zelon back to the house of the Grey Brothers that they were brought to before, and then they head to bed themselves.  A busy night, but at least it’s led to some new friends!





*Next Time:* Cluma's attack, and a 'hot' date for Zeebo!


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## the Jester

“We should stake out that restaurant in advance,” opines Sybele in the morning, after Lester and Horbin tell her and Angel what they’ve learned about Cluma’s next move.  They all agree, and decide to do some shopping first.  After all, in a cosmopolitan place like Pesh City they can probably get the sort of provisions that they wouldn’t be able to find just anywhere.  Indeed, they buy up a selection of potions and inquire about a few other magical items as well as looking for someone who could do some work enchanting their items- or further enchanting them.

By late afternoon they start heading for the Gorel Tree.  They give themselves enough time to get there early despite their general lack of familiarity with the city, but how could they possibly have anticipated the parade?

__________________________


The Gorel Tree is a fantastic restaurant.  Gorel is an elven island somewhere over a thousand miles distant, well-known for its fantastic selection of fruits and fowl.  This place works hard to get the cuisine right.  The Mayor (as Zeebo is often known) is having a fine dish consisting of lerpa (a small type of bird, just the right size to make a meal) marinated in lime and honey and cooked with cashew, onions and peppers.  It’s delicious and comes with a side of soft, flaky elven bread smothered in a butter flavored with honey and cloves.  Souliass, his date (and attorney), is eating a Gorellian salad that consists of greens, peppers, nuts, a strange whitish root-thing Zeebo’s never seen before (according to the waiter, it’s called ‘jicama’) and shredded fish with some sort of tart vinegar and lime dressing.  The date’s going well and the two of them are having a fine time.

Until, that is, an armored human bursts out of the wash room in armor and strides swiftly towards Zeebo, a sword in hand.  He looks hostile.

Although he’s completely unprepared for this, Zeebo’s quick reactions save him.  He screams out the magic words for an _invisibility_ spell and fades from view even as the stranger’s blade slashes down into his chair.  But he’s already thrown himself away from his seat, diving under the table.  The restaurant’s other patrons are yelling in surprise and fear.  Souliass’ eyes have gone as wide as saucers.  “Zeebo, what’s happening?” she shrieks, pushing back from the table and to her feet, scuttling away.

The stranger is dressed in full plate armor, but he pulls out a wand and points it- and a _fireball_ bursts in the crowded dining room.  Zeebo, under the table, is burnt, but not too badly; but he sees Souliass drop with a faltering scream.  Smoke billows up as many of the tables catch fire, and bits of exotic food splatter through the room.  The Mayor crawls from his table to the next one, trying to make his way to his fallen date’s side, and he glances up to see the enemy looking around, apparently unable to see him.  

But then the human moves towards Souliass as well, purpose in his stride.  Zeebo curses silently, then _hastes_ himself and unleashes a bolt of lightning, becoming visible.  It sizzles and pops as it arcs into the warrior’s side, but the Mayor’s assailant turns and springs for him, his bastard sword whizzing through the air.  Zeebo cries out as a single telling blow lands, slicing deep into his left arm, and he staggers back.  Desperately wounded between the sword blow and the fireball, he tries to think of what he can do...


----------



## the Jester

*Cluma vs. Our Heroes*

Large colorful floats pass through the road, extending- or so it seems- forever in each direction.  There are dancers, some male, some female, some indeterminate.  They whirl veils and scarves as they prance along, their movements graceful and quick- but their progress irritatingly slow.  Decorated carts drawn by garen (zebra-like equines each in two colors of green, yellow and brown) move leisurely along.  Balloons filled with alchemical gasses float above the parade.

“This is really annoying,” mutters Lester.  “We’ve got places to go!”  he shouts.  “Come on,” he urges the parade, “get out of the way!”

Despite the elementalist’s urging, the parade keeps its easy pace, and by the time it’s finally passed, he, Horbin, Angel and Sybele can tell they’re short of time.  “I hope we’re not too late,” Horbin says.  They hurry the rest of the way toward the Gorel Tree, and as they approach they can see smoke billowing from the windows and hear the screams of fleeing customers.

With a curse, Sybele sprints ahead, rushing into the burning building first.  She skids around a corner into the main dining area, her bow already in her hand, and looses an arrow at the man in armor with the Arrow of Law emblazoned all over it, hoping to staple his cloak to the floor.  The arrow deflects off his greaves and he glances in her direction.  He has a sword in hand and looks like trouble.  She nocks another arrow and draws the string.  From somewhere she sees a trio of _magic missiles_ shoot out at Cluma, but they seem to be absorbed by something invisible in front of him.

Lester flies in, his wings beating the air and stirring the smoke around him.  He gives a great inarticulate cry as he flies at the guardian of order, and his sword, Felix Optima Maxima, slashes into Cluma.  There’s a clap of horrendous sound as the L’s chaotic abilities cause a burst of chaotic energy and the guardian of order feels a wound open up on his shoulder.  Lester keeps going, flying past Cluma, and feels a blow himself.  A flash of light seems to spring from Cluma’s blade, shooting agonizing lawful power into Lester’s wound.  Angel rushes in to the room as well, pulling out her blade and surveying the scene.

“Angel!  Sybele!”  Angel’s head snaps around as he looks for the source of the voice- and there’s his old friend Zeebo!  “Destroy the assassin!” the Mayor shouts, and casts a spell he devised himself long ago on Cluma.  Unlike his _magic missile,_ this one works- and suddenly Cluma finds his hands clumsy, his sword arm all thumbs and his shield arm more proficient than ever.  It’s as if he was physically dyslexic.  

Then he and Lester clash again.  There are flashes of light where Cluma strikes at the L and claps of thunderous, chaotic noise where Lester hits the guardian of order.  And then, with a mighty shout, Lester swings Felix Optima Maxima in a lethal arc and Cluma’s head flies free.

“Zeebo!” exclaims Angel.  “What are you doing here?”




*Next Time:* Is Souliass alive?!  Who will Zeebo sue?!  What will our heroes do next?!


----------



## the Jester

Introductions are rapidly exchanged and Horbin sets about healing the injured diners, starting with Souliass.  Her eyes flutter and open.  “Zeebo!” she gasps.  “What happened?”

“It was an assassin,” Zeebo exclaims.  “I need you to get to work right away!”

“What do you mean?” 

“Find out who he was and sue him.  Sue his family.  Sue everyone!  And make sure we don’t get in trouble, of course,” he adds.

“His name was Cluma,” Lester offers, and picks up Cluma’s blade.  He feels his life force weaken noticeably as he does so, and his own sword, Felix Optima Maxima, speaks in a feminine voice.

“We should destroy that blade,” she says.  

“Relax,” says Lester, dropping it back to the ground.  “Maybe we can find someone to sell it to.  It’s probably worth some money.”

“Destroy it,” Felix Optima insists.  “I don’t like the idea of it being out there somewhere.”  

Lester shoves Cluma’s blade into his backpack, muttering about making some easy money.  He then starts loading the rest of the guardian of order’s equipment into his pack as well.  Horbin suggests that they all split up Cluma’s stuff, and the L says, “Relax, we’ll split it all up.  I don’t know why you’re worried about it.  Of course we’ll divide all the magic items up evenly.”

The group leaves the area, Zeebo’s date somewhat spoiled by the attack.  He can already feel the pressure building.  He too has been touched by Chaos- and his gift was enormous fertility.  He cannot go long without some form of relief.  Thank goodness that Souliass seems in need of comfort.  Angel lingers behind long enough to take Cluma’s head, then splits off from the rest of the party and heads to the Grey Brothers’ house that he saw.  Outside are two young lads, leaning nonchalantly against the wall of the building.  They give Angel a searching look.

“Is Eric here?” Angel asks, searching out the old man’s name from his memory of their prior encounter.

“Nope,” says one of the boys.

Angel tosses the head at their feet.  “This guy was performing assassinations.  I don’t think he’s one of the Brotherhood.”  He pauses for a moment, then smiles wolfishly.  “My friends and I took care of him.”

The next day our heroes go shopping, guided by Souliass to all the best places.  The shopping they’ve done previously pales in comparison to this, as they pick up magic rings and potions.  Angel commissions further enchantment of his falchion, then picks it up a few days later.  Zeebo continues to see Souliass every night, inwardly quite grateful that he doesn’t need to spend any gold on whores.  Meanwhile she starts filing legal papers to try to get some money from someone related to the attack.  

After arguing with his sword for some time, Lester finally relents and destroys Cluma's blade.  Felix Optima Maxima hums happily afterward and congratulates him for doing the right thing, but he can't help wondering how much it would have fetched on the open market.

The group discusses their next move.  It’s obvious now that they have a common enemy and its name is Law.  It seems that the formian infestation is a good place to go to try to head off further ambushes and assaults in restaurants and midnight inn assaults, so- after Angel receives his newly-enhanced falchion- the group starts heading for the Spicewoods.  There is a small town at the edge of the forest called Ifthonia, and our heroes head there...



*Next Time:* Into the Spicewoods, which I've described to pcs as "an herbalist's wet dream" on many occasions!  Perfect plants!  Meet the Eye, Lester's cohort!  And we finally get to meet Sheva, the other member of our group!


----------



## arwink

W00t!  Finally got the time to read the entire thing.

Very cool.  The chaos-law conflict seems fun, and very Moorcockian (someone already mentioned it, but I just finished reading Elric so I coudln't resist repeating it).

Update already


----------



## the Jester

arwink said:
			
		

> *W00t!  Finally got the time to read the entire thing.
> 
> Very cool.  The chaos-law conflict seems fun, and very Moorcockian (someone already mentioned it, but I just finished reading Elric so I coudln't resist repeating it).
> 
> Update already  *




First I need player feedback on a certain strange scribbling in my notes, but have a couple updates ready other than that...

I ran a session on Christmas and it was amazing how far the party got ahead of where I thought they'd have been.


----------



## diaglo

Pesh, one of my favorite places to visit. 

Keep up the good work.


----------



## the Jester

diaglo said:
			
		

> *Pesh, one of my favorite places to visit.
> 
> Keep up the good work. *




Thanks!  

A slew of updates tonight!


----------



## the Jester

Ifthonia is a much smaller town than Pesh City.  It’s about 26 miles from the city, perched on the edge of the Spicewoods.  As our heroes catch sight of it in the distance a faint smell of spices wafts to them.  The woods are well-known for being home to a host of strange plants, everything from food plants to spices to healing herbs, poisons to plants used to dye things in bright colors, insect repelling leaves to bloody-smelling flowers.  The aroma is strange, exotic, exciting.  Ifthonia boasts a population of almost 1000, but it was once much larger before druidic eco-terrorists scared many of them off.  Now the logging is down to a level the druids find less objectionable, and the people are allowed- more or less- to work unmolested.  

Our heroes make their way to the first inn they can find, called the Milkwood.  They rent a room and make themselves comfortable, having just made it to town about an hour and a half before dark.  Zeebo hurries into the common room, looking for a woman to help him relieve the swelling pressure in his gnomish groin.

He finds a young lass working the bar who he talks into giving him a hand (so to speak), though she’s inexperienced and unwilling to do much more than that.  Still, the pressure of the Chaos-induced enormous fertility is eased, and the Mayor hopes that she won’t tell anyone what they did together.  _Even if she does,_ he thinks, _I’m sure I can talk my way out of trouble... and besides, she needs to learn some important lessons about life._

The next day, Zeebo and Sybele make inquiries about the formian infestation.  The local woodcutters mutter curses about the damn bugs and tell of several missing people, as well as a number of attacks.  Furthermore, there are areas in the Spicewoods that the outsider insects have clear-cut, stripping them of all their resources.  

At noon in his room, Lester pulls out a card, cold to the touch, and concentrates upon the image on its face.  The picture depicts a scene in a castle in faraway Var, on a continent called Dorhaus.  This is literally thousands of miles away- the castle of his good friend King Malford the Magnificent.  But it isn’t Malford he’s looking for.  The image gathers depth, seeming almost to swim before his eyes, and finally he sees the hall almost as if he were there.  Standing there waiting is a human with short brown hair, a goatee, and an amulet depicting an eye over an open book- the Eye of Boccob.  This is Orbius, Lester’s cohort, a divine oracle and wizard.  “Hello, Orbius,” the L says with a smile.  Every day at noon they make contact in this fashion.

“Hello, Lester.”  The Eye, as Orbius is called, smiles at his friend.  “How are things?”

“Oh, they’re fine,” Lester answers, his bat wings flexing.  “We may need your help soon.  We’re going into the Spicewoods to fight some sort of extraplanar bugs, and your magical abilities might be crucial.”  He extends his hand.

The Eye purses his lips, then nods.  “Let me gather my things.  Contact me again in half an hour and I’ll come to you.”  Half an hour later, Lester reactivates the trump card and extends his hand again; this time the Eye reaches to him, grasps his hand and steps through the card.  There is a prismatic rainbow of color for an instant and then he is there, in the L’s room.  

“You set up here and we’re going on an initial foray,” Lester tells him.  “We’ll be back by tonight.  Try to find out what you can and we’ll see what we can find out in the woods.  Tomorrow we’ll all go in together.”  His cohort nods, wishing him well.  After a round of introductions- he’s never met any of the other party members- the group, minus Orbius and Sybele, who remains to make sure nothing bad happens to the Eye, departs.  Meeting him makes Horbin think of his old shield-bearer, Till, and wonder how he’s doing with his training.

Armed with the locations of two attacks, our heroes head into the woods....


----------



## the Jester

Meanwhile, in Pesh, a beautiful and dangerous woman with hair as red as flame finally finishes dealing with her social commitments with the Grey Brotherhood.  This is Sheva.  She wears only a chain mail bikini, a backpack, and weapons; other than that she is naked.  She is Angel’s friend and trainer in the ways of Coila; she is also a Sister of the Grey Brotherhood- an assassin.  She’s a killer, but she’s much more than just that.  Her faith is her armor; she has had the privilege of actually meeting Her Relentlessness in the courts of Law.  She has lived her last few years in contemplation, building a temple with Angel and serving her faith.  She feels as though her life has meaning- something it lacked for her early years, after she found her woodcutter father stuffed full of berries, slain by faeries.  And now she has a quest.  

There is a spell that will serve her as a weapon, she knows.  A weapon against Law.  If only she can find it...

Her investigations lead her to Marius at the local church of Coila, who directs her after Angel.  She heads towards Ifthonia, only a day behind the rest of the group- a group she does not even know has assembled.


----------



## the Jester

*Into the Spicewoods!*

Heading into the Spicewoods the party finds that their visibility is limited by the thick foliage.  The heady scents of the place are almost overpowering.  The dappled sunlight that penetrates the boughs seems mild and cool, and the air is kept still by the thick branches on all sides.  Shrubs and small plants are everywhere and the flowers of summer add splashes of color periodically as the group advances.

The first location they know was attacked is some six miles inside the boundaries of the forest, due north from town.  The group heads that direction, alert for signs of trouble.  They find themselves at a zone that has been cleared of vegetation.  A few stumps remain at ground level, cut evenly.  “Stupid Law,” mutters the L.  There’s no sign of the formians, however.

“You know,” Angel suggests, “we could try to summon some formians and see if they know anything helpful.”

“Yeah, right,” Lester answers.  “And I’ll bet as soon as we did the other ones would know we’re coming.”

The group starts to head towards the other location.  They’ve only gone about a half mile when they spot two huge plants that seem oddly symmetrical, with every leaf in a perfect pattern- and they’re moving.  Lester turns to the Mayor.  “Here,” he says, handing over one of his swords.  “As long as this is in your hand, you can fly- it’s the Airsword.”  Then he channels the powers of elemental earth and an arm of rock and earth springs into being at his side, where the one he’s missing should be.  The party attacks, being suspicious of anything that looks too orderly under the circumstances.  Lester’s wings lift him up as he tosses a _fireball_ at the plants, Horbin fires a _searing light_ towards them, and Zeebo takes to the air with the sword, firing a ball of flame from the wand of fireballs that the group looted from Cluma.  Angel rushes forward, taking a smashing blow from one of the plants as he does so, and hacks mightily at it.  

Lester dives at one of the plants, dodging its attack as he moves through its reach, slashing with Felix Optima Maxima.  The discordant sound of his chaotic energy rings around them as he hits his lawful foe.  Angel stands his ground and hews at the enemy, batting aside its counterstrikes.  Lester isn’t so lucky- the perfect plant creature slams into him and grabs him, trying to draw him into its substance.  Horbin fires another blast of light at the plants, then screams, “They’re regenerating!”  He follows this with a roaring column of white flame, striking down from above, then invokes Dexter’s favor on himself and moves in with his mace.  

Zeebo wobbles up a little higher in the air, unused to the sword’s mode of flight.  He casts a _slow_ spell at the thrashing plants, but to no avail- they seem able to resist his magic.  He curses inwardly, moves up some more, and hurls magical arrows dripping acid once, twice, thrice... all for naught.  His magic can’t penetrate their resistance!  

Meanwhile, Lester struggles free of the creature’s maw, cutting at it with Felix Optima Maxima.  It grabs him again immediately, and again he manages to fight free.  Then he strikes a mighty blow, the familiar sound of his chaotic energy echoing through the woods, and the first plant shudders to a halt- but Horbin can see it’s still moving.  Lester swoops in to aid Angel, who is standing stoutly and swinging like a woodcutter with her curved falchion, and even as the warrior of chaos moves in the one on Angel falls.  But almost immediately it repairs itself enough to attack again.  With a snarl, the fiery Coila-worshiper smashes it down again.  “Stay down!” he shouts at it.

Zeebo lands and starts frantically building a fire, then glances at the one that Horbin hit with a _flame strike_ and sees that the fire damage, too, is regenerating.  He curses aloud, then notes that where the cleric has joined the fight with his mace he seems to be doing more irreparable damage.  _Blunt damage,_ the mayor realizes, and moves in to aid Horbin.  Soon the plants are smashed to pieces, destroyed beyond repair.  

Wiping the sweat from their brows, the group looks at each other.  They have fought their first battle together from start to finish and it bodes well for their success.   But by now dusk is falling; it’s time to head back to Ifthonia for a good night’s sleep and to meet back up with Sybele and Orbius.


----------



## the Jester

*Enter Sheva*

Sybele is meditating. 

The archer-psion swore a vow to a powerful slaad years ago, that she would take up the role of a warrior of chaos.  The time has come at last.  She can feel the pulse of the chaos within her, calling to her.  

She’s always stood fairly well in between Law and Chaos, personally; but that changes now as she lets it into her.  She feels her perceptions subtly alter, her sense of smell growing stronger and richer.  The scent of the Spicewoods is almost intoxicating.

When the party gets back to town it’s fairly late, and they fall into a deep sleep.  When the morning comes, they prepare to enter the Spicewoods again.  As they are girding their weapons, a pale-skinned, fiery red haired woman wearing a chain mail bikini walks in.  There are two greatswords strapped across her back.  She is wafer-thin. 

“Hey,” says Lester, walking up to her and thoughtfully eyeing her ample blades, “we’re going to go overthrow some formians and claim it as my temple of Elemental Earth.  You look like you can handle yourself, unless those are just for show.”

Sheva looks at the L and laughs.  “No, they’re not just for show.”  Then she catches sight of Angel.  “Hello, Angel.  Have you found her yet?”

“No, not yet.”

Sheva looks over the rest of the party.  “I take it this is the party of adventurers you’ve gathered to help you.” 

“Ah- our interests coincide.”

The redhead turns to survey the rest of the group and spies someone she knows well: Zeebo.  “And it’s the Mayor!” she exclaims.  “I’ve been trying to reach you for months, but I keep getting held up by your secretaries.”

Zeebo chuckles.  “There’s always time for you, Sheva.”  

Orbius scries out a worker formian.  It seems to be carrying wood with a gang of other workers.  Since it’s not too interesting, he tries to scry out the queen.  Indeed, he succeeds- and sees her with several more large formians and a group of trolls, apparently underground.  They aren’t really doing anything, and while he watches that doesn’t seem to change.  “I could teleport a few of us in there,” he offers, but the group decides to stay together, at least for now.  

“Keep that scrying spell going, though,” Lester tells him.

The group flies, air walks and assumes _wind walk_ form, and then moves at great speed towards the second place in the woods where they know there was a formian attack.  It becomes visible over the treetops as a cleared-out circle with only stumps remaining.  _I wonder what they’re using all the wood for?_ thinks the Mayor.  Landing, the group reassumes their physical forms and starts searching for clues.  Sybele can’t help but notice how rich everything smells.

“They’re still just sitting there,” the Eye tells them.  His eyes have a faraway look.

Suddenly there’s a strange sound in the distance, a ululating howl.  “What was that?” Sybele calls out.

Nearby, something moves through the brush...





*Next time:* Introducing Jibber, and to the nest!


----------



## the Jester

*To The Hive!*

The creature is a lot like a frog, but pinkish-white, humanoid and 6’ tall.  As it dances through the brush it’s breaking things- in an artful way.  “Lululululululu!” it yells.

It stops when it sees them and starts making funny faces.  “Blah!” it cries.

Sybele looks at it and smiles.  So does Lester.  The various members of the group have all encountered things somewhat like this before, and they all recognize it as some sort of slaad- an agent of Chaos from the plane of Limbo.  “Hello there!” says the L.

“Hello,” the things responds, sticking its tongue out and pulling at its cheeks with its hands.

“Uh- what are you doing here?” asks Sheva.

“Watching the formians,” says the slaad with great gravity, picking up and breaking a stick.  

“The formians!” exclaims Zeebo.  “Then you know where they are?  Will you show us?”

The creature nods and whoops, then spins in a circle and ululates again.  “Sure I’ll show you!  My name is Jibber!”

Sheva asks, “Have you seen a woman, scarred by fire?”  She is, after all, trying to find this Reth Fire-Scarred person.  

The slaad stops and looks at her, its eyes bulging out.  It makes a face at her, deeply furrowing its brow.  “Yes.  She came and left.”

“Came and left!” Sheva exclaims.  “Where’d she go?”

The slaad stops, looks thoughtful for a moment, scratching its chin with a long white finger.  It opens its mouth as if to speak, then shakes its head and closes its mouth.  Then it raises a finger, widens its eyes, and acts as if about to speak again, but stops abruptly and shakes its head forlornly.  It looks to be pondering again, then finally says, “Nope, I wasn’t paying attention.”

A disappointed Sheva grits her teeth.  Lester says, “So show us to the formians then.”

“This way!” the creature cries, and ululates again.  It bounds away into the forest and leads the party to an area sharply demarcated by a lack of vegetation.  There is no cover for the last 60’ around the hive, and the hive itself is quite large.  There are walls surrounding the place, made of chewed up wood pulp, and there are towers thrusting up into the sky with bugs keeping watch.  It’s clear that the party has been spotted.  Only seconds from when our heroes reach the tree line, dozens of formians are pouring out of the towers, and the battle is joined.  Some sort of strange diabolic wasp things lift off from somewhere within the walls’ confines.  The formians are pouring over the walls and Sybele can hear something whinny from within the walls... something that smells of brimstone.


*Next installment:* We'll see the beginning of a furious battle with formians and their allies, including a death knight!


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

Good SH Jester! As others have said, focusing on the Law/Chaos axis makes a nice change.

But I'm a little confused...how does story fit in with the previous? And what sort of levels are we looking at here? Thanks!


----------



## the Jester

Tallarn said:
			
		

> *Good SH Jester! As others have said, focusing on the Law/Chaos axis makes a nice change.
> 
> *




Thanks!  I always love feedback, so let me know what you think of the style, the types of stuff they fight, etc... 

I may post the stats on some of the more interesting things they deal with in another thread. 
*



			But I'm a little confused...how does story fit in with the previous? And what sort of levels are we looking at here? Thanks!
		
Click to expand...


*


Right... the party's a confusing one.  Horbin was a member of the party in the other group, and it touched on the Law-Chaos conflicter peripherally before (the group once stumbled upon a big battle between Chaos and Law... they even had the chance to alter the course of it).  Sheva, the Mayor, Angel and Sybele were part of an earlier party that was more directly involved- they guarded this chamber full of dragon eggs for months against attacking forces allied with Law and with a terrible dragon.  They had to go to the Court of Law on Nirvana, where the attorneys are modrons.  (In fact, Zeebo still has a modron attorney on retainer too...)

At the current time in the SH post above the party consists of:

Angel- pschic warrior 8/cleric of Coila 3
Lester "the L"- elementalist 11/warrior of Chaos 4
Orbius Visionary, "the Eye"- Lester's cohort; diviner 6/divine oracle 7
Horbin- cleric of Dexter 11
Zeebo "the Mayor"- wizard 5/sorcerer 5
Sybele- fighter 8/psion 4/warrior of Chaos 1
Sheva Unseelie- ranger 1/rogue 2/assassin 2/cleric 7/contemplative 2/ monk 1


So as you can see, the levels vary significantly.  They've gone up, too, since this was posted, and gained more members (although I suspect they'll be part-timers).  One of these new members has had to fight some of them before at the hatching cave, too, so it makes it interesting.


----------



## the Jester

*Battle for the Formian Hive (pt. 1)*

As the formians and their allies pour out of the nest, our heroes spring into action.   Zeebo starts casting _haste_ on everyone, while Orbius stays behind the L and continues to scry the queen.  Lester attacks one of the wasp things as it rushes forward.  It stinks of smoke and hellfire, but he swings Felix Optima at it and his sword strikes!  There’s a clap of chaotic sound as the blow connects, and Lester shouts, “They’re lawful!”  Then the wasp is attacking him back, but the frightful armor he wears, Fuligin’s Armor, deflects its sting and bite.  

A large, tough-looking gargoyle swoops out, attacking Angel.  As he attempts to defend himself from it, a crowd of the ant-like formians moves in around him, stinging at him.  Angel is beset on all sides, deflecting blows with his falchion and trying desperately to protect himself.  A troll suddenly appears at the top of the wall surrounding the hive, and it’s immediately starting to clamber down to meet them.  Almost immediately afterward, some sort of horrifying creature with hooks for hands clacks its way to the top of the wall as well.

Jibber starts blowing snot at the forces rushes out at the adventurers, strangely inspiring confidence in the champions of Chaos.  Lester hammers away at the strange wasp-devil with Felix Optima Maxima as it stings and bites at him.  Fuligin’s Armor turns all the wasp-thing's blows, however.

As more defenders keep pouring out of the woodwork, Orbius drops his scrying to start hurling spells at them.  The bugs move in en masse, and soon everyone is being attacked by something.  Angel busts free of the knot of enemies around him and races up the wall as easily as a normal man would run across a floor, stopping at the top to swing a mighty blow at the hook horror, but things only get worse as he’s dominated by something up there!  The gargoyle charges towards him, not realizing that Angel has just switched sides.  Sybele fires arrow after arrow that bursts into flames at the troll and the formians, dropping one after another.  Sheva grows larger through the Mayor’s magical power while Horbin grows through his own spells, and both tear into the surrounding foes.  Lester drops the creature he’s fighting with another clap of chaotic power.  There’s a tremendous boom of noise as the Eye fires off a _lance of disruption,_ setting off a momentary twinge of jealousy in the L.  

Things start looking worse as Lester calls out, “The wasp things are regenerating!”  Meanwhile, the hook horror rushes at Sybele, attacking the archer with its terrible hooks, ripping her up and down for terrible damage.  She backs away from it, trying to shoot it with her bow, but its reach gives it a deadly advantage.  Then Angel charges down the wall and into Horbin, slashing the cleric of Dexter with his terrible flaming falchion...


_*Next time:*_  The battle continues!   Undead, timeslipping, teleportation, and the queen!


----------



## the Jester

*Battle for the Formian Hive (pt. 2)*

The strange singing slaad Jibber does something that gives our heroes a little help, yelping and thrusting his hands wildly before him; there’s a swirl of random colors and a strange smell, and a large green slaad appears.  It surveys the scene and clearly recognizes formians, growling in a strange-sounding way, and unleashes the power of chaos on a group of combatants, blasting the lawful ones- including Sheva- with a hammer of chaotic force.  The two slaadi then wade into the battle, their claws slashing, their bites snapping all around.  

Lester tosses a _fireball_ to incinerate some of the bugs, then creates a bank of _acid fog_ and starts dragging one of the downed wasps towards it.  He’s intercepted by another formian and he strikes it down in a clap of chaotic energy.  Sheva’s doing well, slicing the outsider bugs handily; she seems to have grown a second pair of arms and is wielding both of her greatswords at the same time.  Orbius dispels the domination on Angel, but also dispels some of her defensive effects.  Angel, free of the mind control, glares around for a moment, attacks one of the formians, and then disappears.

Then the death knight arrives, charging in on a barded nightmare, giving off sulphurous fumes and the stench of corruption.  It wears a gaudy tabard and wields a lance, charging through the air to charge Lester, but the undead knight’s lance slaps in its grasp and it misses.  Quickly, Sheva hastes herself with Chronovestis, one of her swords, and then tears into the nightmare with both greatswords.  The nightmare screams and drops, and the death knight cries out in anger as it does.  The terrible undead creature lands on its feet, whips out a greatsword and makes three devastating attacks on Lester.  The blows smash through the L’s defenses each time, and though they cut open terrible wounds he stands fast in toe-to-toe battle with the creature.  It fires a blast of terrible abyssal flame at him and Lester cries out in pain, then grits his teeth and swings Felix Optima at the undead monster again, his bat-wings flapping as he flies above it.

Orbius is shouting something about teleporting to confront the queen, but he’s also still casting attack spells.  Zeebo keeps moving about, hasting one person, enlarging the next, and things are starting to look good on the bug front when another wave tops the wall.  Some of the formians from the first wave are still standing and are of a different, much hardier and more dangerous strain than the simple warrior formians.  These ones are quicker, stronger, and deadlier.

Horbin and the troll are clashing in brutal battle, and Horbin brings the troll down in a pair of tremendous blows that snap its head almost off.  Still, he knows it’s bound to be regenerating... He glances at Lester’s acid cloud.  Sybele and one of the slaadi are already hauling the twitching, regenerating wasp-devils to the roiling cloud of vapor and throwing them in.  There are dead formians everywhere.

Lester strikes another blow, driving the death knight to one knee.  The elementalist’s wings are flapping violently as he charges in, and the death knight raises his sword, but Felix Optima Maxima slices in, slashing open the unholy creature’s helm and splitting its skull.  An ominous clap of chaotic sound echoes over the field of battle as the death knight falls.  Lester draws a shaky breath and flies over towards the formian near Sheva.  “Down, Law-abider!” he cries, and Felix Optima bites again with a clap of chaotic thunder.

Again the taskmaster formians try to _dominate_ a number of our heroes, and for a moment they struggle back and forth against the party’s slippery minds and dispel magics, but then all the bugs are engaged and they cannot so easily seize the group’s minds.  Sybele falls back, whipping out her bow again and taking shots at the closest bugs.  She can smell the stale waxy smell of their hive, and she doesn’t like it at all.  Meanwhile, Jibber and the hook horror engage in a terrible bout of hand to hand combat, and finally the hooked beast falls to Jibber’s large claws.  Those who glance in the singing slaad’s direction can see his wounds healing moment by moment.

Orbius summons a huge earth elemental.  It rises up, striking at the remaining enemies, and then the wizard creates a magical telepathic link between himself, Lester, Sheva and Sybele.  “We’re teleporting in to attack the queen!” shouts Orbius.  “Come on!”  Sheva and Lester cluster close to him.

Suddenly Sybele turns and starts firing shots at Zeebo.  Clearly, she’d dominated.  “Oh crap,” says Zeebo, as Sybele draws another arrow.  There are already two burning shafts in him.  Sheva tosses a dispel magic at the archer, but it fails; Lester tries to turn Sybele to stone, but she throws off the effect of his powerful magic.  Orbius overcomes the power of the domination with a dispel magic of his own, breaking the taskmaster’s hold on Sybele.

“Hold them here!” Lester shouts to Zeebo and Horbin as Orbius casts a spell.  “We’re going to go kill the queen!”  And then Orbius, the L and Sheva vanish.

“Uh, okay,” says a very nonplussed Horbin.  

The remaining formian defenders are moving in...





*Next Time:* All right, I guess it's _next time_ we get to the queen...   And where'd Angel go anyway?  Everything you ever needed to know about the _timeslip_ ability!


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

Wow that's some fight! How long did all this take, anyway? How many rounds, and how long in real time?

Can't wait for the next installment!


----------



## the Jester

Tallarn said:
			
		

> *Wow that's some fight! How long did all this take, anyway? How many rounds, and how long in real time?
> 
> Can't wait for the next installment! *




The fight took everything after the first twenty minutes of a nine-hour game, _plus_ the first hour of the next session.

In game terms this was 23 rounds, a new record for a high-level fight for my campaign.  Think about that, though: that's only 138 seconds, just over two minutes.  That's some firepower rolling out for chaos!

Right now the story hour is on round forteen...


----------



## the Jester

I have this terrible desire to refer to Angel as a she when I write about him.  

This is because he was a female until she was touched by chaos.    What can ya do.

So if I ever do let that slip in by accident, please understand it doesn't mean anything...


----------



## the Jester

A moment ago, Angel swung his blade and then disappeared.  Let’s go back to that.  

Angel has used one of his granted powers- the ability to _timeslip_.  To those around her, it appears as if he has disappeared.  To him, things suddenly appear as they will in a few moments, but frozen in time.  He has a few moments while time “catches up” with him, and he wastes none of this time.  

Angel rushes up over the wall, leaving the frozen tableau of battle behind him.  It’s not getting them anywhere anyway.  His burning blade and burning hand trail flames behind him as he dashes up the vertical wall to the top, then down the other side.  An owlbear is at the base of the wall; Angel strikes it down as things begin to move again.  He races into the hive itself: a cluster of small buildings, including some sort of a pen, and guard towers that look to have emptied out to meet the party.  He rushes close enough to see that some sort of cattle is contained in the pen, and then rushes past for one of the buildings.  It stands out from the rest- it’s constructed of stone, with arrow slits, while the rest of the hive’s low cluster of buildings look to be made of the same stuff as the walls, a chewed-up regurgitated wood pulp.

Things start moving around him as he looks in one of the arrow slits.  An arrow whizzes out and _whangs_ into his shoulder guard.  He grunts and flings the doors open.  A small group of undead, reeking of the grave, faces him.  He chops them down.  Behind the walls there is a building- the walls are an outer defense.  Angel rushes into the building and finds himself attacked by a rowdy pack of hell hounds.  Falchion flashing, he dispatches one, two, three, four, finally five of the beats, and the last two- one severely wounded- cower, backing into the building’s corners.  Angel pulls forth a pair of collars and forces the hounds to submit.



Orbius, Sheva and Lester appear in a dark chamber, lit only by their own magical light sources.  Across from them is a large, bloated formian, floating above the ground.  Around it are four more of the tougher formians, and clustered around one area of the chamber staring at the ceiling are a quartet of trolls.  Immediately our heroes are attacked. 

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea!” shouts Sheva as she defends herself with both greatswords, the second pair of arms granted her by her cloak of Jerakai very helpful indeed.  Orbius does something to Felix Optima Maxima as Lester casts a powerful spell of elemental Earth and drops straight down through the stone beneath them.  He moves rapidly underground and sticks his head and sword arm out when he’s near the queen to strike at her.  An instant later the ground covering him disintegrates as a green ray flashes from the formian queen’s antennae.  Lester cries out in fear, and the queen follows up with a blistering black ray that shoots out and hits him.  Lester feels his heart start to falter, but the elemental forces running through him throw the effect off and, although he suffers grievously, he survives.  Then the trolls are on him.

Sheva starts tumbling forward, trying to reach the queen, while another huge earth elemental rises at Orbius’ command to defend our heroes.  The creature starts battling the formians, smashing at them, but these formians are at least as tough as any of the ones outside.  They fight back, scratching it slightly, but it’s obvious they’re outclassed.  Unfortunately, they’re smart enough to realize it, and while one of them holds the massive rock creature back, the other bugs swarm onto Sheva.  

Then horrible agony shoots through all three of the attackers as the queen casts a powerful spell that sucks all the moisture from them.  Orbius, Lester and Sheva all scream in agony as the terrible wilting effect dries their skin, parches them, makes their limbs ache and their skin burn.  Lester swings his sword from across the room at the queen and wounds open up on her.  She gives out a dangerous hiss as ichor spills down her side.  

Sheva vaults up next to the queen, fending off the other formians as best she can, and swings.  Her teeth are gritted, her dried lips pulled in a rictus across her face.  A mighty blow and the queen squeals; another and the bloated insect-thing falls.  

The remaining formians and trolls fight hard, but to no avail, and soon Sheva and the elemental drop the last ones.

Outside, Horbin, Sybele, the Mayor, Jibber, the green slaad, and a dwarf who seems to have come out of nowhere, are holding the line against the rest of the formians, and finally Horbin smashes the last one down.   They rush to the top of the wall- and see a large number of the smaller formian workers marching away from the hive, into the Spicewoods.  “The queen must have been killed,” Zeebo says.  Horbin nods.

Within an hour, our heroes have reassembled and begun looting.  The dwarf apparently is someone who has been watching the formians for some time, and when it seemed that the party might be able to defeat them he through his own power in to try to weight the battle.  His name is Morelan, and he’s a stone lord- an elementalist who has turned to the deep powers of the earth.  Lester and he engage in a long conversation, at the end of which they decide that Morelan will serve as the L’s head priest here, where they will establish a temple to Earth.

Sheva and Angel find no sign of Reth Fire-Scarred, but the group does find a number of magic items, mostly from the death knight.  They head back to Pesh City to identify items, rest and plan their next move.


----------



## Angel of Fire

*Angel's thoughts on the Grey Brotherhood...*

I think rather then:
Angel’s hand drops by his side. He’s heard of these guys before, if they’re associates of Sheva’s. _They’re the Grey Brotherhood- and the old man’s right,_ thinks Angel. _We do want to avoid any entanglements here._

Angel thought this: 
_They’re the Grey Brotherhood- if I do this for them, I might be able to keep them as a contact should I ever need their services........and I probably will with Law after us,_ thinks Angel. _Plus, I think that bag has enough money to cover a small job like this._

I read through the story line….it’s really cool….there are some parts that I was confused about that it cleared up……that was useful  …………

Angel


----------



## the Jester

In Pesh City, Horbin goes to a church of Dexter to meditate and pray on what has ocurred with Law.  Meanwhile the items are identified.  The death knight's powerful greatsword goes to Sheva and Angel sells its plate armor.  There are also a magical chain shirt, gauntlets of ogre power, gloves that seem to have some sort of climbing magic, an amulet of natural armor, a bow with a very strong pull, a wand of charm person, and a magic lance.  

Sheva is more concerned than ever about the whereabouts of Reth Fire-Scarred.  She sends a _sending_ to the other priestess of Coila but receives no response.  Considering her options, she elects to call upon another one of her temporal powers.  Gathering a bowl of water, she casts a _time pool_ and attempts to scry back in time to the moment when Reth left Jibber.

Her first attempt fails, leaving her with a splitting headache, but the next day she tries again, peering as if through a silver mist.  Slowly an image resolves in the shimmering water, and as if through a thick cloud, she can hear Reth speaking to Jibber.  The slaad is making animal noises, clearly ignoring the priestess, but Sheva listens intently.

"It's settled, then," says Reth.  "I go to the Mountain of Bile."

Sheva watches as Reth moves away from the slaad and the slaad makes faces, until the images shimmer into nothingness.  Now she knows what _her_ next move is, too.


*Next time:* Meanwhile, in Heaven.....


----------



## the Jester

*In Heaven*

Heaven is the perfect place.  The skies are beautiful and the stars are ordered.  The halos of angels fly across the sky like fast-moving comets.  The plants grown strong and healthy, as do the beasts and animals.  The souls of the dead- at least, those worthy of coming here after they die- are at peace; they know eternal bliss under the Light of Galador.

Even here, however, there are those who are discontent.

Alcar, the Angel of Food, has been on the outs for years now.  He's spent several years in the Heavenly prisons, followed by several more spent working his way through the courts of Heaven.  He was once a mortal elf himself, with a slightly different view of how Galador wanted things than the one accepted by the church hierarchy.  Declared a heretic, he eventually went through a sort of celestial apotheosis, and now he wears the wings and halo just like the celestials born to the service of the Light. 

But even here he's run afoul of rules and order.

Alcar has never been one to get caught up in the letter of the law; he's more interested in Good.  And though he's been given several chances to get back into Galador's good graces, he's failed each time.

_But not this time,_ he thinks grimly to himself.  

His last court appearance gave him one more chance.  He's had a quest laid upon him by the forces of Heaven... to break the curse, whatever it is, on Bile Mountain.  To make the River of Bile run clean again.  And by Galador, he vows to himself, he will not fail this time.

The last time he was given a chance to prove himself he was driven away by an old friend, who persuaded him to allow the adventurers he'd been sent to stop to accomplish their goal.  If he hadn't done that, who knows whether the Conflict would be building so rapidly now?  But in any event, the past is done; Bile Mountain awaits.  He burns some _incense of meditation_ and begins winging his way to the Prime Plane....





_*Next Time: *_ The party heads towards Bile Mountain, which we get a first look at; a kitty; old enemies- will they be new friends??


----------



## the Jester

*To the Mountain of Bile*

The sky is overcast; it’s a warm summer day.  The stink of the fish markets is heavy today in Pesh City.  Business is heavy throughout the city, and it’s easy enough for Angel and Sheva to find a map that has Bile Mountain on it.  A short trip to a cartographer and they have what they need: the location of the mountain.

Pesh is shaped something like a giant V; Bile Mountain is located on the northwestern arm, near the edge.  It’s an infamous region; a river runs through it, and on the map it’s labeled the River of Bile from that point until it reaches the sea, where it pours into the Bay of Bile.  After the party huddles over it to plan, they decide to use Lester and Horbin’s _wind walk_ magic to travel the several hundred miles by evening.  They gather their gear and prepare to leave.

_It’s been a long time since I last really adventured,_ thinks Zeebo.  His pulse quickens; the lifestyle has an excitement to it that thrills him, even though it also fills him with sadness.  After all, he’s seen many good friends die along the way.  Still, several of his old friends are here now, and that heartens him.  His only concern is the lack of available companionship for relief on his journey- but then, there’s always Sybele.

Horbin feels his blood quickening too; his time at sea, as a ship’s priest, seems like wasted years now.  He’s a combat medic- that’s what he’s always been.  He’s slipping easily back into his roll after five years of absence.  Even though none of his old friends are here, Lester somewhat reminds him of his old ally Anvar.  This, in turn, reminds him that he has an obligation to return to the Temple of Elemental Evil and overthrow it.  He’s seen the horrors within that place.  He once infiltrated it.  

Sybele still can’t get over the rich tapestry of scent she perceives now.  She had no idea that the world could be this rich before she became a warrior of Chaos.  Her bow has a musky odor that she loves, and she can almost taste the oil on its string.  The fletching smells of birds- naturally- but she never knew that before.  It’s an exciting thing to perceive for the first time; she’s giddy like she was as a little girl. 

The group assumes vaporous form and rides the winds away to the north.  The wind whisks them along at unbelievable speed; it’s exhilarating for all of them.   Even at such fantastic speeds- Horbin guesses they’re moving about two days’ ride every hour- it still takes them all day to get there, and the shadow of the mountain has grown long as the afternoon has lengthened towards evening.  But they arrive, flying in above the mountain like clouds, scudding in upon the wind.

Before them- below them- Bile Mountain squats like an otyugh, the land around it its dung heap.  The land around it is obviously poisoned and unhealthy; the few scraggly plants on the land around the mountain look sick and anemic.  A sweet river runs through the desert that leads up to Bile Mountain, and it flows in through a visible crack in the mountainside; but when the river emerges from the other side of the mountain it runs a sickly yellow, with froth like sea foam rolling atop it.  It reeks.  It has somehow become the River of Bile.  The mountain itself sweats bile like sap from a wounded tree.  

There is a small camp on the desolate field beside the last of the river as it pours cleanly into the mountain.  A single individual stands staring at the hideous peak.  He’s a tabaxi- a feline humanoid.  The party approaches him cautiously, but several of them have met the cat folk before, so soon they have engaged in a parlay.  

“Who are you?” asks Lester.

“I’m Captain Grumpy Fluffbottom,” the tabaxi replies.  “Who’re all you?”

“I’m the Elementalist,” proclaims Lester, “and this is my friend, the Eye.”  He gestures towards Orbius, who bows slightly.  The rest of the group introduce themselves as well.  “What are you doing here?”  the L asks Grumpy.

“Well, a group of my people came to the continent of Dorhaus about ten years ago, following one of our great heroes, Hobbes.  I’ve been exploring the region ever since- I’m something of an adventurer.  I came here because- well, because I heard about it.”  The tabaxi gives out a loud purr.

“Hmm,” says Sheva, “we’re here for reasons of our own, but it seems as though our purposes have intersected, at least for the time being.”

“Perhaps,” the tabaxi offers, “we could join forces?”

“Just what I had in mind.”  The red-head in a chain mail bikini smiles.

The party and Grumpy chat for a little while and compare initial observations.  “There’s no way in from above that I could see,” Lester reports.  Attention turns to the river, and the great rent in the side of the mountain where it floats in.  

Then there’s a flash of golden light from above them!  A glowing radiance washes over them, and instinctively the group draws weapons.  A form is descending from the clouds above- an angel of some kind.  Angel’s jaw tightens; will he have another battle with a celestial?  And then he realizes that he has met this one before.

“_You,_” Sheva says.

Alcar, the Angel of Food, alights before them, giving them a hard look.





_*Next Time: *_Oh yes, they have past history indeed!  Will they fight now- or will they fight later?  And what will they find *Within Bile Mountain*?


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

> “Well, a group of my people came to the continent of Dorhaus about ten years ago, following one of our great heroes, Hobbes.




You are a funny man, Jester. The great cat people hero, Hobbes


----------



## the Jester

Tallarn said:
			
		

> *
> 
> You are a funny man, Jester. The great cat people hero, Hobbes  *




...who was a pc in my campaign back in the 2e days, actually!

Unfortunately, the player is no longer in close contact with me, so he's not in the current group.


----------



## the Jester

*Old Enemies*

"It's _you guys,_" the celestial growls at Sheva and Angel.

For an uncomfortable moment the air thickens with the threat of violence, then Alcar spots Lester.  "Lester!" he says.

"Hey, Alcar," the L smiles back.  "What are you doing here?  You know these guys?  You still got that backpack?"

Alcar frowns.  "No, I'm trying to get it back... that's why I'm hear, to break the curse of Bile Mountain.  And, yes, I know these ones!"  He gestures angrily at Angel, Sheva and the Mayor.  

"He attacked us before," Angel says grimly.  His flaming falchion is in his flaming hand.

"Guys, guys," says Lester, "there's no need to fight!"

"Yes," interjects the Mayor.  "It seems that we might be able to help each other this time.  We aren't at cross purposes or anything."

"What are you doing here?"

"We're looking for someone," Sheva says.  She's frowning.

"Don't double-cross us," Angel warns menacingly.

"Hey, he's an angel, he can't double-cross us," says the L.  He smiles.  "Me and Alcar go way back."

There's another moment of tension, then Alcar turns to study the crack that leads into the mountain.  It's a jagged rent, about 30' across and 15' high.  Water flows swiftly in through the gap.  He beats his wings and alights, then starts winging his way in to the mountain's interior.  The party scrambles to fly, spider climb and water walk after him.  The stench of the bile wafts from all around them as they enter the passage.  The walls seem to sweat beads of the foul yellow fluid.

They move into the mountain for several moments, then emerge in a huge chamber.  The entire thing is full of murky bile; the clean water mixes in with it visibly.  The cave is full of wisps of yellow vapor.  There is an evil smell that pervades everywhere, and the ceiling is bare of stalactites or ornamentation.  Along one wall, a narrow staircase ascends through a hole in the ceiling.

Alcar flies up towards it, intending to wing his way through it, but there's a sudden quiver of movement.  Something yellow-grey and fluid oozes along the wall- and before he can react, it vomits a stream of bile at him!  The stream bursts when it hits him, yellowish spray splashing the wall and stairs....



_*Next Time:*_ Look, it's the Bile Monster template!  Will Alcar and the party continue to get along?  How long until they fight pc to pc?  Stay tuned- the answers are coming!


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

Bile Monster template? Where? Link?

I'm enjoying these frequent updates, by the way. Thanks!


----------



## the Jester

Tallarn said:
			
		

> *Bile Monster template? Where? Link?
> 
> I'm enjoying these frequent updates, by the way. Thanks! *




Homebrewed just for the occasion, but I may start a 'not for my players' thread somewhere and post npcs they've fought, new monsters and the like.


----------



## the Jester

The ooze pulsates and writhes, crawling towards Alcar's flying form.  But the celestial is not slow to respond!  His mace is already in his hand and he swings a mighty blow at the strange, bile-sweating thing and hits it soundly.  The thing ripples, and then divides wetly in two.  Alcar cries out in frustration, then swings again.  When his mace connects, the liquid thing splits wetly again.  He checks his next swing, gritting his teeth.

Meanwhile, behind and below him, the rest of the party hurries to catch up with Alcar.  Horbin reacts to the battle first, half-closing his eyes and invoking the power of Dexter.  A blast of searing light shoots from his outstretched hand, blasting into one of the oozes and destroying it.  Seeing this, Sheva follows suit, destroying the second, and Alcar tries a _searing light_ of his own at the third.  That one, however, survives the holy light of Galador and extrudes a pseudopod to strike at him, missing only because of the angel's agile maneuvering.  Then a burst of ringing sound explodes the ooze with punishing force, cast by Sheva.  It dies, and Alcar just shakes his head grimly.  "Split in two," he mumbles to himself.  "That sucks."  Then he turns to the rest of the group.  "Come on!" he calls, and continues flying up the stairs.

The stairs end in an empty room.  There's nothing in there except exits- two doors and two passageways both lead out from the chamber.  As the rest of the party clambers and air walks up into the chamber, Alcar begins flying down one of the halls- and his face whitens.

Coming down the hall at him is a spherical shape with a large central eye and several stalks on top of it....


_*Next Time: *_Is it beholder time already??  Stay tuned and find out!


----------



## the Jester

*Beholder?  I'll- oops!*

Alcar flies forward and casts a _sound burst_ behind the thing.  There's a momentary blare of terrible ringing sound- and then the "beholder" explodes, spraying spores all over Alcar!  He gives a cry, and then another floating round thing comes out of a room just off the hall- followed by several more fungus creatures.  Some of these are round like the 'floaters' but they roll on the ground instead, and yet more of them are strange moving growths with leg-like stalks on them.

But our heroes are nothing if not swift and effective.  It's all over in seconds as Hobin catches all the fungus except for one creature in a roaring column of fire and Sheva tumbles in, her greatsword snicking out to finish the last one.  

Alcar charges into the room the creatures came out of.  It's full of fungus of all sorts, including 4' tall mushrooms.  There seem to be several bins of some sort that have been entirely overgrown.  The walls still sweat beads of bile.  The angel spots another archway leading out of the chamber and flies on through.

"Sure," Horbin mutters several dozen feet behind, hustling to keep up.  "Just charge ahead on your own.  Dexter's nadlies!"  Then he hears a loud shrieking coming from up ahead and quickens his pace.  When he rounds the corner he sees several large mushrooms in the next room have started shrieking and he curses again.  "So much for a quiet entrance!"  The rest of the group also charges in to silence the hideous racket.

And then something up ahead moves, and Angel feels something latch on to him.  He grunts in surprise as he realizes that some sort of sticky strand has struck him and is starting to pull him forward to a stalagmite-like object- only now it's opened a single yellow eye and is grinning a toothy-mawed grin at him.  He feels his strength falter as he starts to be reeled in....


_*Next Time:*_ Battle in Bile Mountain!  A little friendly rivalry between Angel and Alcar starts!  And where's the privy?


----------



## the Jester

The party springs into action.  Sheva steps forward, one of her greatswords flashing down in a terrible arc and severing the strand holding Angel fast.  She can hear Horbin invoking Dexter behind her somewhere and Alcar moving in, but she's too busy to pay attention.  Suddenly thin, almost-invisible strands are blurring through the air all around her and Angel- and several thwack onto her fiery friend.  He slashes through one of them with his falchion's keen blade; it parts, but more are still attached to him.  A shortspear flies over him from someone further back in the party and he feels himself being pulled forward, jerked almost off his feet.

Then Angel hears Alcar cry out, "Don't worry, I'll protect you!" and a wall of blazing orange fire springs up just behind the creature's body.  It gives a terrible cry and writhes, its strands whipping about even faster than before.  One of them slaps onto Sheva's arm, but she whips her blade through it and frees herself, then leaps, rolls, and tumbles in next to the monster, giving it a terrific blow as she does.  

The creature turns to face her, its slavering maw opening wide.  Little flames are running along its backside, where the wall of flames is clearing inflicting terrible damage to it.  The beast's mouth gapes open, as large as Sheva's entire head, and it leans forward.  The priestess of Coila braces herself for the blow-

And then Angel's blade emerges from the monster, and he's there in all his copper-skinned glory, ramming the falchion's tip all the way through the creature's body.  Another terrible shriek and it dies.

Alcar's flying in to attack it, but as he gets close it falls, so he shrugs and flies headlong through the flaming wall.  It tickles as he does so.  Angel, seeing this, hmphs and tumbles through it himself.  The two are in a short hallway with a chamber at the end, and both enter it at almost the same moment, competing to be first.  The room's full of rubble and broken stones, and there's a moment's hesitation as they look for trouble.

"Maybe I'll protect you," Angel says with a smile, and leaps forward.  Something big's slithering in the rubble... and then it bursts into the open.  A large serpentine head strikes out, biting Angel.  He grunts in pain, feeling the fangs inject venom into his thigh, but then grunts again in surprise as the snake's rear end moves into view- and it's also got a head!  The second head strikes as well, and only Angel's animal-quick reflexes save him from a second deadly bite.

Alcar joins the battle with a heavy mace blow, and it goes back and forth for a moment, the two-headed snake spitting an explosive spray of toxic bile at them.  But it's no match for the angel and Angel, and the fiery Coila-worshiper quickly slices it cleanly in half.  

"It appears it's two for me and none for you," Angel smirks.  "Who's protecting who?"




_*Next Time:*_ Will Angel stay aheah in the protection scorecard?  And what lurks in the privy?  Find out soon!


----------



## the Jester

Okay, this is for you, Tallarn!   I'm resurrecting an old thread for stats on things from my story hour- *my players, stay out please!*  (You never know when something might come back to haunt you later...)

I'm posting the Bile Monster Template there for starters since you asked about it.  It'll be here.  I hope you like it!


----------



## the Jester

*What lurks in the privy??*

The _wall of fire_ eventually dies down, and the rest of the party troops in to where Alcar and Angel are searching the rubble-filled chamber.  The two are bantering back and forth, Alcar waggling his finger at Angel from time to time while the fiery Coila-worshiper chortles about being ahead.  Horbin shakes his head, but he'll take the Angel of Food on his side any day. 

The party's examination of the room turns up no treasure ("Curses," Lester exclaims- "Come on, there's gotta be some loot in here somewhere, let's go find it!"), but the group does note that at least some of the broken rock appears to be the remains of some statuary.  It seems that some sort of semi-humanoid creatures with tusks were once glorified in here.  Two halls lead out of the place, and as the group gives each exit a cursory examination, Horbin finds a door a little way down one of the halls.  He alerts the rest of the group and they cluster around it.  Alcar throws it open; it resists for a second and then swings open with a bang.

The door leads to a small, 10'x10' square room.  A hole with a crude wooden seat is in here, but nothing else of note.  A faint stink of old offal wafts up from below.   

"Anyone wanna search down there?" Horbin asks.  "There might be some treasure.  Myself," he adds quietly, "I've done my time in sewage..."*

"Well, hm," Lester mutters, "there might be something down there..."  He rubs his chin, trying to think of a way to investigate without being covered in filth.  Even with a quick wash, he's thinking that it's a nasty, stinky job.  _Maybe I can talk everyone into drawing straws?_ he thinks.  _But no, then I might have to go down there..._

Without warning the rough seat slams into splinters as a large, muscular tentacle crashes into it violently from below!  A great voice bellows out, "YUNGO HUNGERS!!"  The party is caught off guard as something strikes from within the privy!






_*Coming Soon:*_ Yungo the Otyugh Barbarian!  Can he last more than a round or two against the party??  Can anything??  So far they've torn through just about everything they've encountered with no real trouble- when will things suddenly become much, much more dangerous?  And where do we find the stairs to the next level, anyway??

Stay tuned, and remember- I promise frequent updates!



*For Horbin's previous sewage-related adventures, see my OLD story hour- specifically, look on page 2, especially starting in the post titled "The best use of a shatter spell..."


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

the Jester said:
			
		

> *Okay, this is for you, Tallarn!   I'm resurrecting an old thread for stats on things from my story hour- my players, stay out please!  (You never know when something might come back to haunt you later...)
> 
> I'm posting the Bile Monster Template there for starters since you asked about it.  It'll be here.  I hope you like it! *




Woo hoo! Another thread to subscribe too!  Thanks!


----------



## the Jester

*From the Privy*

_Yungo lurked below the hole as he had for years now.  He'd been there through the last two sets of tenants- and he's even explored some of the outside world.  He wasn't born in Bile Mountain; he came here because he thought the food would be good, and it was.  When he first came here, the inhabitants at the time recognized him and gave him a happy place where he could eat their excrement.  They would also sometimes throw prey in for him to eat, and sometimes the prey would almost slay him before he killed it.  Then the inhabitants themselves were slain by adventurers and Yungo's food supplies dwindled.  For a time he dimly considered leaving, but the hole had long been a good home and he trusted it.  The pile of offal that Yungo slept in grew smaller and smaller day by day as he devoured it, and after half a year it was almost gone.  Then he heard new creatures moving in, claiming the place- and soon Yungo's larder fattened.

Then more adventurers came.

The inhabitants were slain again, and Yungo's frustrations grew as his food dwindled again.  Too soon his anger and rage had gripped hold of him.  This place had betrayed him.  The bile was no good, he couldn't eat that.  He had seen what happened when you did that, and he did not want that to happen to him.  Day by day his little pile shrank again, and this time it ran out.  He couldn't even remember the last time that had happened, and hunger began coiling in him like an angry serpent.

Then Yungo heard voices.  He hoped fleetingly that he would hear the yipping of kobolds or gnolls, the guttural orcish or goblin tongues; but he heard the prissy voices of humans and elves.  

More adventurers, come to deny him his food. 

Well, enough of that, Yungo decided._


As the otyugh bursts free of the privy in a howling rage Alcar moves to meet it.  Body to body with it, he swings his mace and catches it a crushing blow, then another.  Sheva steps in, flanking him, but he dodges her blows with surprising finesse.  Nonetheless, the greatsword Chronovestis in her hands slashes into the stinking creature more than once.  Angel steps in too; his falchion slices at Yungo's flesh with awful lethality.  Even as he does so, though, the poison from the bite of the two-headed snake takes its toll on him and he can feel himself weakening.  Horbin sees Angel blanch and moves in to his aid with healing magic, restoring him.

The hungry Yungo fights back as best he can, swinging and biting, raking one tentacle in a powerful arc across Alcar's chin.  But the angel shakes the blow off and strikes again, and this time he brings his mace down squarely on Yungo's disgusting head and it bursts like a melon.  Yungo dies, betrayed by his mountain.

"So two to one, then," says Angel, looking at Alcar with a smirk.

Alcar shakes his finger at Angel and says nothing.  He backs out of the room and heads immediately down the hall.  "Hmph," mutters Horbin, "we shouldn't just be charging off everywhere, somebody's liable to get killed."  But of course, Alcar alreay has charged off, and so the rest of the group follows.

Alcar emerges from the passage in a large crumbled room with a floor that slopes somewhat downward and a staircase leading up.  Alcar hesitates for a moment, glancing at the pool, and lets the rest of the party catch up.  

"You know, you really shouldn't do- Look!" shouts Horbin, and launches into a spell.  The pool's churning with tentacles!

Alcar casts too, and a flame strike blazes down, fully maximized from his incense.  There's a terrible noise and bits of tentacles fly everywhere.  The stench of cooking bile is beyond belief.  Alcar smiles at Angel, then starts winging his way up the stairs.

"You're gonna get somebody killed, dammit!" shouts Horbin.  The group ascends....



*Next Time:* What's at the top of the stairs?  When will the party fight something they can't destroy in a few seconds?  Will Angel and Alcar ever get to blows again or will they make friends?  And will Horbin's warning be right??  Well, you'll get the answer to _two_ of those questions next time, and the other two not long after....


----------



## the Jester

*The Six-Armed Statue with the Elephant Head*

The stairs are slightly damp with the foul yellow bile.  Traces of froth like dried-up sea foam dot the steps from time to time as the group pounds up them, Alcar flying ahead.  Sheva is running through the air, followed closely by Angel, and the two of them rush into the room at the top of the stairs just after Alcar.  As Angel runs in there's a sharp click.  Horbin's next up the stairs, and he runs smack into an invisible barrier of some sort, crying out in surprise and coming to a sudden halt.  He feels blood start leaking out his nose.

There's a loud grinding sound, and the three of them barely have time to even notice the huge statue before it starts moving towards them on thunderously loud rollers.  It's made of some sort of greenish stone, and it's easily 10' high and 20' wide.  It depicts some sort of six-armed creature with a strange elephantine head.  

Sheva and Angel dodge behind it as it rolls forward, but Alcar's too slow.  Horbin watches in horror as it rolls right into the servant of his god, smashing him into the barrier right in front of him with incredible force.  Blood spurts from Alcar and his wings both break.  Horbin can't hear anything from where he's at, but the sight is gruesome.  He can see Angel swinging blow after blow at it, but the thing's huge, and even his punishing blows aren't as effective against it as they would be against a living enemy with vitals.  Sheva grunts as the stone juggernaut pummels her with all six of its arms, inflicting terrible damage, and Horbin can see Alcar striking at it even as the massive things crushes him against the wall.  Desperately, the cut-off priest casts a _dispel magic_ at the barrier, but to no avail.  _It's a wall of force!_ he thinks.  _If only I had some sort of disintegration ability!_  But he can only watch as Sheva disappears, timeslipping away from almost certain doom.

Alcar finally manages to break free and get out from under the six-armed statue, staggering away long enough to invoke the power of Galador to heal himself.  Angel keeps hitting it, and the creature turns on him, lashing out with all six arms and beating him badly.  Horbin swears aloud and begins summoning a huge earth elemental, angry and worried.  His companions are barely standing up to the thing.

But then Alcar steps back in on it, swinging his mace with a mighty roar, and he smashes the statue's head.  The blow resonates through his arms, the shock reaches his shoulders, and for a moment he has to blink the impact from his eyes; but then his vision clears and the juggernaut lays smashed and destroyed before him.

Alcar turns to Angel.  "You gotta bring some to get some," he says, smiling.  Angel smiles back, and the two match gazes for a moment.

Sheva reappears a moment later, and all three move to the _wall of force_ that seals them off from the stairway down.  There are two other doors out and Alcar starts to head for one, but Sheva dissuades him.  "Let's at least wait until Horbin and the others can get through."

Soon enough the barrier drops, and then the group moves on.  Sheva checks both doors for traps and the party opens each to see what their options are like.  Both open on hallways, but one of them is crumbled and drops downward, ending in an area where bile fills much of the height of the passage.  The group agrees as one to take the other passage.  

"Let's search around a little here first," Sheva suggests, and they do so, looking among the broken shards of the elephant-headed statue for loot, checking the walls for hollow spaces or small catches- and finding one!  Sheva checks it for traps, her pulse quickening.  _Secret doors usually hide something,_ she thinks.

Finding no traps, Sheva stands back and Alcar trips the catch.  A section of wall pivots with a loud grinding sound not too dissimilar from the juggernaut's sounds, and the party enters a smaller chamber full of old pillows and cushions gone brittle with age.  "I wonder what this place was?" Sheva muses.  

Then almost everyone falls upon the cushions- and each other.  They start pawing at each other, kissing and touching lewdly.  "By Galador!" Alcar exclaims.

And then something appears out of nowhere, rushing Alcar.  It looks like a huge insectoid horror spewed from a strange planar window.  It's the size of a man, and it's got a freakish four-mandibled mouth full of death and a set of four-foot claws that just don't look very nice at all.



_*Next Time:*_ Attack of the strange outsider!  Memories of a whale!  Relgious debate between Alcar and Horbin!  And- hey, are those _dragons?_  I'm not saying they are for sure, but...


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

Jester, my friend, you are an evil, evil man...


----------



## the Jester

Sheva feels languid and lascivious.  She can't seem to help herself.  The caresses she's giving and receiving have become her whole world.  She can feel a throbbing lust rising through her entire body, a shivering, palpitating sensation of pleasure and submission racing through her veins and arteries.

But there's a piece of her mind that is sealed off from the rest, a slippery piece of self that refuses to submit.  She is Sheva, priestess of Coila, contemplative, assassin, monk, master of the Self.  She has submitted- but only for a moment.  

She shakes off the compulsion, shakes her head, shakes her mind.  _I will not be controlled!_ the hidden piece of her mind screams.  Blinking, she leaps back to her feet.  Out of the corner of her eye she can see Angel and Horbin locked in a perverse embrace, Angel atop the priest of Galador.  But before her eyes is something far more important.

Alcar is fighting back, but the bizarre, insect-like creature has leaped upon him and torn a gaping wound in his shoulder.  The angel of Galador is faltering.  _How long was I trapped in the orgy spell?_ Sheva wonders briefly; but she can see that the most important thing now is to defeat the monster.  Suddenly she's hasted, moving with blurring speed thanks to her power over Time, and a greatsword's in her hands.  With a single step she's flanking the monster, and then she's tearing into it.  It squeals with terrible pain as Sheva's blade slashes into it again and again, and then Alcar's pressing the attack too.  A horrible screaming sound emerges from its death-filled mouth, and Sheva steps up again and rams the point of the blade she took from the death knight through it's mouth.  It emerges from the rear of the monster's head in a shower of gore and the creature drops.  

Alcar winces at the pain in his side, where the monster hit his vitals.  Sheva pants for a few instants, still shaking off the full effects of the lewd spell that still grips the rest of the group.  The celestial quickly dispels it, freeing the others from the enchantment as well.

It's as if someone threw a bucket of cold water on them.

"Hey, you're not a whale!" Horbin exclaims.*  He and Angel stand up quickly, rebuckling their belts, strapping armor gone askew back into place.  Horbin's quite embarrassed, but Angel isn't.  He used to be a woman, after all; and besides, he was on top.  He considers for a moment, then casts a _detect magic_ spell.  With a smile, he picks up one of the pillows and shoves it into his backpack.  Maybe it'll work for him somewhere else at another time.

Alcar shakes his finger at Horbin.  Primly, he says, "I don't think Galador approves of sodomites."

Horbin gives the angel a dirty look.  "Probably more than he approves of loudmouths."  The two servants of the Light start arguing scriptural interpretations as Horbin straightens his tunic and creates a globe of water that forms above his head and falls immediately to clean off any dirt or... anything else that may have soiled him in the encounter.  Alcar heals the terrible wound the strange outsider inflicted on him.

A thourough search of the pillowed chamber turns up nothing in the way of treasure or clues as to why it is here.  

"Well, if there's nothing here, let's move on."  With that, Alcar heads off.  Horbin shakes his head; he's got a terrible feeling that the celestial will lead them to disaster soon if he doesn't slow down.

The party heads down the more intact passage that leads from the juggernaut's chamber.  The hall turns, then after another twenty yards it ends.  To one side is a door; to the other, an archway leads into a long room that has a pair of large cloth-covered objects in it.  There's a thick layer of dust on the floor.  

"I wonder what those are?" muses Alcar, and he steps in to uncover one of the forms.

As soon as he's within the chamber, the two forms burst into motion.  The cloths are left behind as a pair of creatures burst out from beneath them- two reptillian, draconian-looking things.  And they're coming right for Alcar.




*For more on Horbin's whale-loving experience, see the orca's penis-ring.


_*Next Time:*_ True dragons or something else?  What were they doing under those cloths?  Who's the halfling that the group's about to meet and what's he doing here?  And what's this about mind flayers??


----------



## the Jester

*Dragons!!  Or-?*

There's a blur of motion as the dragons bite, claw, slap their wings, whip their tails.  Alcar is pounded again and again.  The rest of the party rushes in to aid him, striking at the creatures.  It's Horbin who first notices the bolts that hold them together, and the fact that they're made of parts of multiple creatures held together.  _Dexter!_ he thinks.  _They're some sort of golems!_ 

Alcar staggers back and concentrates on the Light.  Blood is flowing freely from a dozen wounds, he can feel multiple broken ribs, something out of place in his chest... and then he heals himself, invoking the power of Galador to bring himself back to his full health.  Even as he does so, a wing buffets him and one of the dragon-golems tears at him with unrelenting fury.  Alcar cries out in pain, staggering further back.  Sheva, Angel and Horbin land blow after blow on the monstrous creatures, but they don't even slow down.  Alcar is driven to his knees and only the power of his god preserves him; once again he fully heals himself, and once again the creatures drive him back, snapping at him, slashing with their vicious claws, beating him with their tails.

Horbin steps in to heal him, and then Alcar seizes the chance he's got to attack.  "Rahhh!" he cries, swinging his mace in a terrible underhand blow at one of the drolems' face.  He shatters its teeth and snout, and it falters.  The angel screams in rage again, and brings the mace down on the rest of the head.  With a terrible snapping sound, the head comes loose and flies across the room.  The monster's body slowly topples over sideways, crashing to the floor.

The other one smashes into him, tearing at Alcar's belly.  Blood splatters as it rends his stomach, smashes his face with its beating wings.  Angel throws himself at it to try to grapple it, but it shrugs him off.  And then Sheva steps in, moving almost into its chest, and slashes at it with the death knight's greatsword.  Blow after blow flashes into the monster from her, her red hair flying about her as she springs from one point to another.  A final strike just below the shoulder and she nearly cuts it in two, and it stumbles to a halt with a final roar.

Panting, the group exchanges glances.  

"Well," says Sheva, "this certainly is the right group for this kind of stuff.  We're virtually a party of clerics."

They begin healing Alcar.  Nobody sees the slender bald figure slinking through the shadows towards them.





_*Next Time: *_ Who- or what- is the slender bald shadow?  Didn't I say something about mind flayers?  Stay tuned!


----------



## the Jester

Posted the stats for the death knight the pcs fought in the Rogues' Gallery thread (stay out, my players!)


----------



## the Jester

*Norman from Borman*

_How long has it been since he came into this cursed mountain with his friends?  How long since the tentacles writhing in the dark claimed them all?  How long since his mind was his own?

And where are his friends?  What's happened to them all?  

A few short hours ago, Norman came to his senses.  Something was happening, something that caused the iron will that gripped his mind to loosen its grasp, at least long enough for him to slip away from them- the glistening monsters.  He can't remember what he's been doing here, or for how long.  He doesn't know where his friends are.  He doesn't know anything about what's happened to him.  

He's hungry, cold, tired; his head has been shaved and powdered and perfumed.  He doesn't remember much of anything- except a dull pleasure at the idea of serving the creatures that held him prisoner.  Now it seems like madness, but he was ready to offer himself up- to allow them to... to... 

He can't think about it.  Is... _that_ what happened to the rest of his band of adventurers?

Norman from Borman has never seen things like this before- strange, tentacle-faced creatures with moist slime dripping from them, with lamprey-mouths and huge, lidless eyes.  They stand upright like men, but they are no men.  He shudders as he eases down the stairwell, its steps covered with salt, towards what he hopes is freedom- then freezes as the guardians at the bottom come into view.  They're some sort of monstrous agglomeration of leeches.  He shudders, both from the cold and the horror.  He can imagine them sucking him dry of blood in a few short moments... There's only a crack leading out of the chamber, and it's through that crack that he must sneak.

Norman moves slowly, stealthily.  He tries his best to make absolutely no noise, to kick no pebbles.  He slowly inches through the crack, seemingly undetected.  But what if the masters- no, his former captors- notice he's gone??  What if they come for him??  He can't stand up to them, especially not alone!  He has to get out of this horrible stinking mountain!

He has to force himself not to run, but running would give him away- and then, as he eases out of the gap, he finds himself standing above a small drop into a pool of bile.  Taking a deep breath, he climbs along the wall above it, trying desperately to avoid the frothy yellow fluid.  Soon there's a dry hall he can drop onto, and he does, then continues moving stealthily down the hall.  He comes to a four-way intersection and pauses to listen, smell for fresh air, look for a way out.  There's no light here, and his vision- somehow enhanced by the masters (no, his _captors_)- is fading.  He almost panics as he realizes that he soon won't be able to see at all!

Then he realizes there's a flicker of light coming from ahead, and voices: _

"...the L makes a habit of killing people and _then_ taking their stuff," comes the first, a male voice, probably human or half-elven.

"You shouldn't kill things needlessly," a feminine voice, strangely metallic, responds, and a few others join in a confusing rumble of conversation.  

_Norman shudders, realizing that he hasn't heard a voice in- how long?  He doesn't know.

Slowly, he inches forward, praying that these people can help him, that they're adventurers- that they can take him out of this gods-forsaken place!





*Next Time: *_The party meets both Norman and another (apparent) potential ally!  Can they use diplomacy to defeat a ghost?  What about the leech-things?  Will they ascend the salty stairs?  Will they meet Norman's former masters?  Will they end up with shaved and perfumed heads?  And what was in jail here anyway??  Find out soon!


----------



## Welverin

Finally got all caught up, good show!


----------



## the Jester

Welverin said:
			
		

> *Finally got all caught up, good show! *




I'm glad you're enjoying it.  Just wait... things get crazy not too far ahead, when the pcs start trying to kill each other (or at least some of them do)!


----------



## the Jester

*Norman and Slouthus*

"Are you adventurers?"

A halfling steps out of the shadows.  He's got daggers in his hands with elegantly carved hilts.  His head is shaved and smells faintly sweet; it looks oiled.  His eyes are sunken in his face and there's a look of such deep horror on him that our heroes are struck dumb by it for a moment.  Then, Lester replies, "Yes we are!  Who are you?"

"You've gotta help me get out of here," Norman squeaks.  "There are horrible things up there!  Horrible!  Ahhh!!!"  

"What is it, what was done to you?" Horbin asks.  "Are you injured?"

Norman shudders.  "Not physically.  They- horrible tentacle things!  Ahhh!  I... I don't really want to talk about it..."

"Well, sure we'll help you," Angel says, extending his greedy hand.  The halfling looks at it for a moment.

"I have nothing to give you," he says in a quiet voice.

"No, it's okay," Lester interrupts.  "We'll help you, but you have to help us.  Tell us what we're up against."

"Yes, what can you tell us?" comes the metallic voice Norman heard earlier.  It is the voice of Lester's sword, Felix Optima Maxima.

"And what's your name?" adds Orbius.

"My name's Norman from Borman," says the halfling.  "I'm an adventurer.  My group came in here... and... they captured us.  The tentacle creatures."  He shudders again.  "I think my companions are probably dead- or worse.  They kept me as a slave for... I don't know how long."

"Where are they?"  Angel's interest is piqued.  He fought an illithid once before, when he was still a woman.  Before he was the Angel of Fire.  

"They're on the next level up.  That's where I escaped from."  Norman gestures down a hallway.  "But it's guarded by some sort of leech creatures."

The party huddles together to discuss strategy, leaving the strange halfling out of it for now.  "We should go kill the mind flayers," Angel says.

"We might not really want to fight a bunch of mind flayers," Zeebo says.  "That could be a very dangerous fight."  

"Why don't we explore this level a little first?" suggests Grumpy, his tail twitching.  "We really don't want a bunch of stuff coming in behind us and cutting off our retreat."

"Another good point," says Horbin.

Thus decided, the party moves along away from Norman's directions.  The halfling accompanies them; he wants nothing more than to get out of this horrid place, but he knows that to survive he likely needs aid.  He's definitely glad that they aren't going after the illithids; he's certain that that way lies only thralldom and doom.

Lester leads the party down a hall and opens the first door he finds.  There's a huge, patchy-skinned snake in there, half out of a pool of bile.  It's mouth is full of foul yellow froth.  Fortunately, it's dead.  The human turns to look at them as the door swings open.

"Who are you?" calls Lester. 

"Are you friend or foe?" shouts Sheva.

The man has blond hair and is fairly handsome.  He's probably pushing forty.  He says, "My name is Slouthus.  I'm an adventurer... and a friend, if you'll have one."  He smiles.  

"Well, what do you do?" asks Horbin.  Slouthus doesn't seem to be armed or armored.

"I'm a sorcerer," the human says, still smiling.  He seems to have a sort of radiant charisma.  "As I said, I'm an adventurer, and I'm here basically in search of adventure."

Another hurried conference ensues, and the party decides that, though they don't trust this guy, it's better to keep him where they can keep an eye on him than to have him elsewhere.

The group continues and spreads along a long passage that ends in a door, various members looking down neighboring halls simultaneously.  Lester looks at the door; it's formidable looking, made entirely of iron.  "Hey, Sheva, do you wanna look this over for traps?" he calls, and she starts forward.  

"I can do that too," Norman offers.  He seems eager to ingratiate himself with the party.

First Sheva and then Norman examines the iron door for traps.  Finding nothing, they move back and Lester attempts to open it but finds it locked.  It doesn't look feasible to break it down, so Lester _stone shapes_ a way past it.  The hole is fairly small, however, and anyone crawling through it would be in a fairly awkward position if attacked from without.  

"Hey, halfling," Lester says.





_*Next Time:*_ The jail, the ghost, and the prisoner!


----------



## the Jester

"What?" Norman from Borman says nervously, eyeing the hole without a single bit of enthusiasm.  "You want me to go in there??"  His eagerness to integrate seems to have abruptly departed.

"Well, you're the smallest..."  Lester smiles at him.  He glances at the beads of bile that sweat from the wall.

Nervously, Norman squirms through the stone shaped entrance.  He looks at the hall behind it, lined with massive doors with small, barred windows.  _Cells,_ he thinks.

"It's all clear," the halfling's voice comes from beyond the hole.  Some of the others wriggle in through the hole.  The group starts to search around.

Then suddenly a translucent hand rises from below and grabs at Grumpy Fluffbottom.  His uncanny reflexes are all that save him as a mad-looking spectral elf emerges from the floor, gnashing its incorporeal teeth together.

"Wait!" Sheva cries.  "We're here to help you!  What can we do to put your spirit to rest?"

The ghost's eyes widen.  It screams faintly.  And it sinks back into the ground without a word.

"Wow, that worked!" Sheva says in surprise.*

The ghost doesn't reappear, so the party searches all the cells, uncovering a loose stone that, once removed, leads to a small crudely-dug tunnel.  The party loosens their weapons in their sheathes and begins moving in...




*I believe she rolled about a 36 on her Diplomacy check.



_*Next Time:*_ What is the prisoner in the secret tunnel?


----------



## the Jester

*The Prisoner*

_It doesn't even remember why they put it in the cell so long ago.  It's never going to feed again.  If it goes back to the cell it will be caught by the terrible Lords.  They will do things to it, to its essence.  Even this- having this empty, hollow chest with no essence inside it- is better than that would be.  

It has been here for how long?  It doesn't even know any more.  Thousands of years?  Tens of thousands?  It doesn't matter.  There is no escape out there.  It will wait here, in terrible gloom, until the ends of time.  It does not need food or drink, after all.  

And then it feels something- a warmth around it, in its chest.  There are essences around it.  _



The party moves down the narrow tunnel, stooped over, almost crawling, Norman in the lead and walking comfortably.  They emerge in a small hollowed out area.  Within it is a strange creature- tall, almost skeletally gaunt, with a large hollow chest.  It sits in an aspect of desponancy and doesn't seem to notice them.  A faint, feverish light burns in the hollow sockets of its eyes.  

"What is it?" whispers Norman fearfully.  It doesn't seem to hear him.  Lester and Sheva enter the chamber; the others are stretched out to the cells and even beyond the sealed door.  

Suddenly the thing's bony head jerks and it seems to see them.  Hissing despondantly, the strange creature stands up.  A spark seems to flow from Lester to its chest, and for an instant it seems that a vaporous miniature Lester form is being drawn from the L's body.  Then the horrific moment passes, leaving the Elementalist's face white with strain.  

Norman whips out a dagger and tries to move into position on the thing, thrusting eagerly at its lower body.  Sheva grasps her amulet of Coila and channels negative energy, trying to rebuke the thing, and she sees it flinch; but her clerical power is not well-developed enough for her to succeed.  She whips out the death knight's greatsword and swings, but her blow misses the monster entirely.  Lester pulls out Felix Optima Maxima and strikes the prisoner hard, but it still seems curiously despondant and disinterested in the entire proceeding.

"What's going on in there?  Do you need help?" calls Zeebo's voice from without.  In the hall beyond the locked iron door, Orbius is already casting one of the best spells he knows.  A good part of the party is telepathically linked with a spell; it gives enough information for his _seeker missiles_ to streak off, through the hole shaped in the wall, into the cell, down the bolt hole, and into the terrible undead creature's chest.  With a loud boom, they blast it into oblivion.

"That thing tried to suck my soul or something!" Lester cries, visibly shaken.  "Man, I hope it had some treasure."

A search turns up nothing, and the party briefly wonders who or what had imprisoned the strange thing, but there are no clues to be found.  Still, the bolt hole seems like a good place to rest.  It's a tight fit, but most of them can get in there together, and the entire row of cells seems safe enough too- assuming the ghostly elf doesn't come back.

The party settles in...




_*Next Time:*_ The Leechwalkers!  Reth Fire-Scarred's fate!  And the power of high-level divinations- they let you get right where you want to be...

Or do you?


----------



## the Jester

What do you guys think about the monster point of view installments?  Do you like those?  I kinda like telling a little bit of the backstory of some of the weird stuff...


----------



## Welverin

the Jester said:
			
		

> *What do you guys think about the monster point of view installments?  Do you like those?  I kinda like telling a little bit of the backstory of some of the weird stuff... *




Those are good, keep them coming.

Lester sure  is a hard core adventurer.

The _seeker missiles_ going to end up here?


----------



## the Jester

Welverin said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Lester sure  is a hard core adventurer.
> 
> The seeker missiles going to end up here? *




Yeah, I put them up!   

And yeah, Lester sure is a hard core adventurer... He goes way back to 2e, was played during the Players Option period, and even was on an adventure where the pcs traveled back in time to a previous universe and got statted in 1e terms and played a few 1e games.


----------



## the Jester

*The Fate of Reth Fire-Scarred*

Not without some trepidation, the party sets watches in the little bolt hole and prison corridor beyond.  They make sure that someone is awake with both Norman and Slouthus, as they still don't trust them.  Once they all awaken and refresh, the clerics all meditate together over a block of Sheva's _incense of meditation_.  Then the group waits around as each divine caster's time for prayer and spell refreshing comes around- Horbin's in the evening, Sheva and Angel's at midnight, Alcar's at dawn.

The group is undisturbed, nor does the ghost return.  Once they've all cast and manifested their preperatory spells and powers- Lester grows a second arm made of earth, many of the group receive _bull's strength, endurance,_ and _cat's grace, greater magic weapon_ spells are placed, and so forth, they head out of the cell block.  The group is talking and bantering, feeling confident, and Sheva's sharp ears catch something that Orbius says to Lester.

She turns to him and asks, "What's this about Reth Fire-Scarred being dead?"

"Yes," the Eye says, "she's dead."

Sheva's cruel face tightens.  "How do you know this?"

"Boccob told me," the divine oracle replies.  "She was killed by someone named Marius."

"Marius!" Sheva exclaims in surprise.  She remembers him: the man guarding the temple of her deity in Pesh City.  "But why?  He serves Coila!"

Orbius shrugs.  "I don't know.  I tried to scry him but couldn't get him.  I'll try again tomorrow, but he may be protected or sequestered."

While Sheva digests this, the rest of the party confers about which way to go, and after a moment's debate Lester successfully argues for an ascension to deal with Norman's former captors.  

"No, no!  W-we don't want to go back there!  They'll enslave us again and eat our brains!" Norman cries, but the rest of the group overrules him.  "Look," Lester tells him, "we'll take you back to town with us as soon as we go, but until then you should stick with us.  You'll have a better chance than if you were going it alone."

When they approach the crack leading to the room with the stairs that Norman had descended, they stop.  It looks a little more difficult than they would have first guessed: a hall that has fractured and settled at the far end, where a large pool of stinking yellow bile lays, above the far side of it a narrow crack.  It doesn't look easy to enter- especially without getting covered in bile.

"How are we getting across that without getting clobbered?" Zeebo asks.

"That's a very good question," Sheva answers....



_*Next Time: *_Fighting the leechwalkers!  And- Hey, wait a minute, can't we just teleport?


----------



## the Jester

*Hey, Can't We Just Teleport?*

The party argues for several long moments about how they're going to get through the narrow gap.  It's going to be a squeeze.  No one wants to get the bile on themselves; not only is it disgusting, the strange bile-tainted creatures they've faced seem to indicate that it's not a good idea.

Finally, Lester gets fed up.  "Screw this," he says, "I'll try to draw them out."  He casts _pass through earth and stone_ and uses his bat-like wings to fly towards the gap, Felix Optima Maxima in hand.  He grimaces as he sees the beads of bile on the wall and just keeps moving, passing through the stone as freely as if it were water.

The room beyond does indeed have a stairway ascending from it.  It's also got two strange guardians, as Norman warned.  They are vaguely man-shaped, but misshapen and squirming, seemingly composed of thousands of tiny leeches all clumped together in one terrible form.  Lester doesn't wait for their response to his arrival; he hucks a _fireball_ to get their attention and drops back into the corridor, passing back through the stone.  

The party waits tensely for a moment, but the creatures don't emerge.  

Angel spits, whips out his falchion, and rushes forward.  He leaps onto the wall and runs along it above the pool of bile, then leaps and tumbles through the gap into the room in one smooth motion.  Lester flies back through the wall.  The two adventurers engage the leech-things, both of which try to fight back but are quickly overwhelmed.

Outside in the passage, Sheva turns to Orbius.  "Hey, if I can describe where Reth Fire-Scarred died to you, can you teleport us there?"

The Eye nods.  "Of course."

The red-haired priestess of Coila shrugs off her pack, drawing out a bowl.  She pours water into it, then begins uttering prayers to Coila.  This is what her _time pool_ spell is made for. 

"C'mon," yells the L from the chamber where he and Angel stand.

"Hold on," calls up Zeebo.  We're going to teleport to where this Reth person died."

Orbius employs a trump- a card with Lester's image upon it.  He concentrates on the picture, watching as it gathers depth and then swims into motion.  He can see the real Lester now.  Angel has one hand on his shoulder.  "C'mon, pull me through," Lester says, extending his hand, and Orbius grasps it.  Lester steps forward and there's a momentary shower of rainbows, and he's back in the passage with the rest of the party.

"All right," says Orbius a moment later, after Sheva describes the room she's seen, "I'll use the trump to pull the rest of you through after we teleport."  Angel, Sheva and Zeebo all gather around the Eye as he casts his spell, then they vanish.

"I hope they don't run into trouble," says Lester anxiously.



_*Next Time:*_ Reth's Skull!  Magic books!  And the Chronal Repeater!!


----------



## the Jester

*Enter the Repeater*

Angel, Sheva, Zeebo and Orbius appear in an area that is extremely different from anywhere else they've seen in Bile Mountain- crumbled, rough walls; pitted floors and ceilings; rubble and burn scars here and there.

And something spinning like a top, leaving a trail of strange silvery sand as it moves towards them.  There's only an instant before it reaches them, a strange, nearly formless thing that's hard to catch with the eyes, seeming to flicker as it comes.  And then it splits into three and attacks!  All three lash out, striking at Sheva, Angel and Zeebo, moving at the same time but independently.  With horror the rest of the party watches as Zeebo is struck and his movements slow and he rocks back, stunned.  

Orbius responds first, backing away.  The trump's in his hand; it'll take only a moment to activate it, but he needs that moment.  Then the creature's three images strike again, hitting Angel and slowing him as well.  The fiery psychic warrior responds with a fierce swing, but the thing he's facing flickers as his falchion slashes harmlessly through the space it's in!  It doesn't seem incorporeal, but... as if it's not there.

But the thing is no illusion.  Even as Sheva draws the sword Chronovestis, which protects her from temporal magic, and moves in to attack it, it's healing and fighting back, stunning Angel with another blow.  Zeebo is terribly wounded, his flesh badly torn by the monster's attack, down on one knee, still holding his head, still stunned, unable to act.  Strangely glittering silver sand is crossing the battlefield, confusing vision.

_What is it?_ Sheva wonders wildly.  And the three images of the strange monster merge back together- then it instantly splits in two and unleashes a flurry of flanking attacks on the stunned Angel!



*Next Time:* The skull and the books!


----------



## the Jester

*The Skull of Reth*

The Eye stares intently at the card in his hand.  Slowly it gathers depth.  Slowly Lester's image swims into motion.  "Quickly!" Orbius cries.

In the hallway, Lester turns to Slouthus.  "Stay here, we'll see you later," he says rapidly as the rest of the group moves to touch him.  

"What?" the sorcerer says, somewhat nonplussed.  "But I-"

Lester and the rest of the party vanish, leaving only a prismatic afterimage for a moment.  Slouthus purses his lips, then turns away, shaking his head.  We'll see more of him later.


As the rest of the party trumps in, they spring into motion.  Sheva is trying to defend the beleagured group that the strange silvery thing that's pounding them, but it seems focused on Angel and her blows keep slipping through it as if it isn't there; she's only damaged it once.  It's still split in two and flanking her fiery friend.  Orbius thrusts his hands forward and calls out in the language of magic; an unseen force ripples through the area around the creature, not seeming to affect the creature but freeing both Angel and Zeebo- both of whom are still stunned- from the effect slowing their motions.  Horbin draws his holy mace and advances grimly; he's already laid a dweomer of spell resistance on himself and he prays it's enough.  His earlier premonition of impending doom is still there, just waiting for them to charge ahead without thinking again, with Alcar in the lead...

Lester sizes up the situation in only an instant and unleashes a _chain lightning_ at the split creature's two halves, and though the powerful bolt only affects one of them, arcing through the other as if it were a ghost, both of them spray out sand when the blast damages it.  "They're linked somehow!" Lester shouts.

Sheva responds, "It's only one creature!"  She swimgs again, her blade biting only air.  Grumpy hisses at the strange monster and rushes forward to engage it, but he runs across some of the silvery sand the weird thing is leaving in its wake.  He gives a surprised yelp as his entire body goes pins and needles, but he manages to resist- whatever it was.  He springs in and stabs at the creature, but misses.

_Seeker missiles_ streak out, failing to hit it just like their blades.  "It isn't incorporeal!" Orbius says in surprise.  "Then what-"  He curses and tries a volley of _magic missiles_, which also slide harmlessly through the thing.

Then the _seeker missiles_ swing in for another pass, and this time they hit.  The silver sand explodes in a sparkling cloud, and the thing dissolves as if it was never there, the only evidence of its passing the sand it trailed behind it as it moved.  Grumpy tries to gather some up, but that too fades in only a few seconds.  He grumbles about it, but it doesn't seem to help.

The chamber that the creature guarded is roughly shaped, with two passages out.  There's some sort of strange green energy wall blocking off one side of the room; there's also some bones and some old signs of damage.  Swiftly, Sheva walks to the bones, but they're clearly decades or even centuries old.  She frowns, looking over what is clearly a human skull.  Her power over time allows her to know the age of something- and when she concentrates that power upon the skull, she learns that it's only two months old.  She looks around the room again, and how rough it is, the amount of rubble, the way the walls, ceiling and floor are all permeated by holes- and she nods grimly.  There is or was some sort of temporal magic at work here.  She picks the skull up.  "Maybe I'll talk to you later," she says.

"It's good to see that Law and Chaos, Good and Evil can all work together in harmony," Horbin says.

"Shut up," Sheva says primly, and walks to the other side of the room.  

"See what I have to live with?" Horbin says with a shrug and a smile.  

"Hey," says Grumpy, "We found some books!"

There are five thick tomes.  

"And they're all magic," adds Lester after a moment.

"And they aren't just spellbooks," Zeebo puts in.

"Well I'll be damned," says Sheva.  "That is some good loot."

The group decides to rest.  They set up watches, then settle in for a little shuteye.  Once  Sheva is up, she casts a _speak with dead_ upon the skull.  "Who are you?" she asks.

A ghostly sound whistles out of the empty mouth of the grimy skull.  Then it answers in a low gravelly whisper.  Reth Fire-Scarred.

Sheva's eyebrows go up.  This is the person for whom she's spent the last two weeks looking for!*  "Do you have a great and powerful spell that will aid Coila's forces in the great battle between Law and Chaos?"  Even as she says it, she feels the irony of Coila being on the side of Chaos when she's Lawful, but her loyalty to her goddess outweighs all secondary considerations.

Yes, the grating, hissing voice of the skull replies.

"Can you teach it to me?"  She's eager, now; perhaps the end of her quest is at hand?

No.

The Coilite priestess rocks back on her heels for a moment to think.  Then, "How can I learn it?"

The book, comes the tired whisper of the skull.  And then, with a long sigh, the skull's voice fades to silence.



* Note that in my campaign world a week is nine days long.  Also note- this story hour so far covers a span of only _nineteen days!_



_*Next Time:*_ Further up into the mountain- will our heroes get in over their heads?  When will Horbin's premonition come true?  Who will lose their most powerful weapon?  Stay tuned!


----------



## Technik4

*Chronal Repeater*

That thing is awesome! Did you come up with it yourself or is it a conversion? I can't believe it went down so quickly...but with only 82 hp I can see why. How big is the party now? Could you give rough stats on their levels again? What the heck is alcar (angel template?, angel with classes?). Also, I'd love to see everyone's alignments 

I didn't like this one at first, but its growing on me. Bile Mountain rules!

Technik


----------



## the Jester

Yeah, things got _much_ more out of hand in yesterday's game, with (among other things) what looks like a permenant pc death.

Alcar is an old 2e cleric/fighter who has the half-celestial template tacked on as a result of a major quest (at the end of the 2e days).

The party's rough breakdown right now (about four games after the current story hour update) is:

Horbin- cleric 14 (NG)
Lester- elementalist/warrior of chaos 12/4 (CG)
Angel of Fire- psychic warrior 11/cleric 3 (LE in sh, but changing to NE)
Alcar- fighter/cleric 2/12 (NG)
Sheva Unseelie- ranger 1/rogue 2/cleric 7/assassin 3/contemplative 2/monk 1 (LE)
Sybele- fighter 8/psion 5/warrior of chaos 1 (CN)
Norman from Borman- rogue 11 (NE)
Grumpy Fluffbottom- barbarian 8 tabaxi (+3 ecl) (CN)
Zeebo- wizard/sorcerer 6/6 (CG)

And there are the cohorts, Orbius "the Eye", a diviner 7/divine oracle 7; and Habiskis, an imp rogue 6.

Of course, a typical game only has about six players, but that's okay- the group works well with a few main full-timers and a rapidly alternating cast of part-timers...   Bet you can only sometimes tell who was at a given session from the sh, too. 

And the chronal repeater is one of mine.     Glad you liked it!

_edit: fixed Zeebo's level._


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

More excellent stuff Jester!

And I love the Chronal Repeater...I might have to _yoink_ that one from you...


----------



## the Jester

*"Watch out for the slime!"*

Examining the books in greater detail, they can determine no titles of any of them except for one.  They are thick and heavy, obviously weighty tomes of some strange arcane nature.  One is bound with brass, another with some sort of white leather.  One even has jewels in its cover.  The one whose title can be ascertained sets Sheva's blood afire- it's called _the Book of Time._  This must have what she's here for!

Sheva and Angel glance at each other.  They've traveled far, for several thousand miles and several months, to get to this point.  Now a few days to figure out the nature of the powerful spell they've been sent after by their goddess... 

A simple glance apparently isn't enough to cause the books' powers to activate, and in the next few moments Sheva can't determine anything to speak of about the one she's greedily holding.  "This is what I'm here for," she tells the others, and they agree to give her that book and split the rest up among the rest of the group.

"I may be able to figure some things out about them, about who could best use them," offers Orbius.  "Give me a day to prepare the proper spells." 

"And in the meantime, let's go, adventurers!" Lester adds enthusiastically.

The party moves along further.  They head out a rough passage, but it almost immediately opens into a large cavern.  Within it is a bizarre creature that none of them have ever seen before, like a huge slug crossed with a sea turtle.  Disgusting, bile-tainted slime froths and drips from its body.  Huge flippers with blunt claws jut from its forebody.  Its maw drips bile and a single dark eye stares forward.  

Grumpy gapes for a moment, then draws out his crossbow, not sure whether he should attack this thing or not.  "Do we fight or flee?" he asks, his tail swishing back and forth.  Sheva answers by throwing a _flame strike_ at it.  She's suddenly moving very fast, and so is Angel, thanks to Zeebo.  Horbin gives a great scream as he sees the thing and steps back to draw out his mace.  Orbius fires off a volley of _magic missiles_ at it, and then the thing responds to the attacks by vomiting forth a huge spew of yellowish-brown bile, stinking of terrible rot and piss mixed together.  It catches the entire group.  There's a chorus of surprised yelps and screams of pain as it burns them like acid; and worse, half the group suddenly feels sapped of health.  

Grumpy avoids the worst of the blast of bile, but he still doesn't like it.  Yowling, he rushes forward, tumbles and jumps at the creature, striking with his blade.  It slashes into the strange monster- and Grumpy jerks it back in surprise as the slime coating the creature hisses and sizzles on his blade.  Horrified, he sees smoke rising from the sword!  He flicks his wrist and the slime splatters off his weapon, leaving it still intact... but barely in time.  "Crap!" he yells.  "Watch out for the slime!"

More fire bursts down at the creature, followed by a _searing light_.  And then Angel rushes it, tumbling in on it, and slashing with his lethal falchion.  He strikes it across its neck, the muscles in his arms tightening to receive the shock of the blow on the tough creature.  With satisfaction he watches the blade sink deep into the monster, and he shoves it in an extra few inches just to be sure.  The bile monster falls with a loud groaning sound.

Angel jerks his falchion free, and stares in horror.  It's already half-dissolved, useless.

This has happened to him before...!



_*Next Time:*_ A brief synopsis of Angel's unfortunate experience with losing weapons!  And we fo further up in the mountain, to *big trouble!*


----------



## the Jester

*"This has happened to me before"*

"This has happened to me before," Angel says, and remembers....

_He was still a woman, back then- not yet the Angel of Fire as he has now.  It was when they were guarding the dragon eggs- part of a complex plot that they had become involved in to shatter the Forinthian Empire's faith.  It was actually when he first met that bastard Alcar- Alcar had been assigned by the forces of Heaven and Law to attack, since he himself was not Lawful and the Hatching Cave was warded against Law.  Alcar, a couatl, and a strange, birdlike celestial of some kind had come, and during the fight, a huge earth elemental was summoned by the enemy.  Angel faced off with it, slashing and hacking at it, wounding it badly- until it struck and sundered her blade.  Holding only the hilt and the jagged stump of a blade, Angel's stomach plummetted.  "Hey, does anyone have a weapon I can borrow?" she shouted...

Of course, they prevailed over the silly celestials, though Alcar got away.  Yes, this Alcar fellow was annoying even back then... well, his time will come, thinks Angel._

"We should go back to Pesh City so I can find a new weapon," says Angel now.

"What?  Oh, come on!" says Lester.  "Someone's got a weapon you can borrow!"

"A falchion?" Angel asks.

"Well, no, but I'm sure I have something you can use... let me see," says Lester, rummaging around in the strange box he has.  It has six sides; each opens to an extradimensional space.  "Hm, that's my backup weapon," he mutters, "no, not that one... How about this?"  He pulls out a longsword, but as it approaches Angel the psychic warrior feels its chill as a prickle of pain.  

"What is that?" Angel asks.

"A frost brand," the L replies.  "Oh.  Yeah, never mind.  Well, here then."  He pulls a different blade from his box.  This one has a loop of leather to keep it with the wielder should he be disarmed or drop it.  "It's the Airsword.  It's pretty cool, if you're holding it in your hand you can fly with it.  But be careful with it, okay?  It's an elemental sword and it's my main backup weapon."

"Thanks," says Angel.  

The group turns their attention to the bile monster's room.  It appears that the creature had dug a hole leading up to somewhere.  The group ascends along the rough hole, which is coated in disgusting bile-colored slime that's dried to a crusty consistency.  As they move along, Sheva notices someone missing.  "Where's Slouthus?" she asks.

"Oh, he's fine," Lester answers.  

"What?  What do you mean?" 

"I left him behind."

"Why'd you do that?" Zeebo asks.

"I didn't trust him!  Did you?  What's this guy doing here, just 'adventuring around'?  Not too likely, you know?"

"Now we've maybe made another enemy," Horbin grumps.

"No way, he's fine," says the L.  "He knows how it is, he's an adventurer.  It isn't like we attacked him or anything."

The passage opens onto a room just ahead.  The party slows, and as they move up they try to see what's ahead.  The room seems to have a trio of icy giants of some kind.  They seem to be on guard duty.  Sheva, remembering her success in using diplomacy with the elven ghost in the cell block, steps forward and calls out, "Hello!  We come in peace!"

The creatures burst into motion.  They are 10' high, seemingly made out of ice and snow, with strange, rune-shaped ice crystals all over them.  They have a wise old man kind of look.  Several of the crystal runes on the creatures burst with musical chiming sounds as the icy creatures begin casting spells.  All three of them vanish, and Sheva feels something claw at her mind.  "So much for that," she mutters to herself...



_*Next Time:*_  A vicious battle!  What is the master of the ice giants?


----------



## the Jester

*Against the Immoths*

"Wait!" Orbius cries as he casts _tongues_.  "Don't attack us!  We bring a friend of the elements!"  

The party can still hear the ice creatures, and it sounds like they're casting spells.  Sheva casts an area dispel to try to make them visible again, but to no avail.  Cursing to herself, she draws out a blade and braces herself- then leaps aside as a crackling bolt of electricity arcs at her!  She manages to evade teh blast, but another one shoots out and catches Horbin and Grumpy and some sort of frigid ray strikes Angel, doing terrible damage to him.  He has a ring to aid him against it, but of course the Angel of Fire's acchiles' heel is cold.

The group scatters.  They can't see any of the enemies just yet, but when Horbin casts another area dispel one of them appears with a cry of displeasure.  Then Lester dives in and swings Felix Optima Maxima, smashing into it.  The blow seems significantly dispersed by the creature's icy makeup, however; it is not nearly as severe as Lester would have expected.  Then fire blooms all around the two of them as the Mayor's _fireball_ explodes.  The visible monster screams in pain and staggers back a step.

A horde of _magic missiles_ flash into Orbius as the Eye casts _true seeing_.  He staggers back a pace, but points and cries out hoarsely, "There!"

Sheva leaps forward and strikes, and even though she can't see the thing she manages to land a blow on it.  Ice and water spray out from her unseen opponent like blood and gore.  Another bolt of electricity shoots out, and Sheva and Angel are both caught in its deadly arc.  Grumpy starts firing arrows at the spot that Sheva just hit, and then a pillar of flame whumps down on it as well!  A horrible cry comes from the empty air, and for an instant the flame outlines a staggering giant form.

Lester and the one he's on are fighting back and forth, and Zeebo hastes Lester to improve the odds.  Two of the creatures are still invisible, but Orbius keeps pointing them out to the party.  The battle's ugly and fast, with the thunk of Felix Optima biting into ice counterpointed by the sizzle of an acid arrow hitting Orbius.  Another lightning bolt shoots out of an invisible giant, catching Grumpy and Horbin, who steps back a pace to heal himself a little before moving to strike with his mace.  Zeebo is backing further and further away, but as he does so he causes Angel to _enlarge_.  Meanwhile, Grumpy suddenly gets a glassy look in his eyes and calls out, "Where are you, how can I help?"

The Eye casts a _lance of disruption_ and there's a tremendous boom that seems to shake the entire room.  Then Lester's blasting flame arrows at the one he's battling and it finally drops.

"Skoli!" cries a loud voice, enraged, from the air.

Two more _lightning bolts_ zark out, both straight for Orbius.  The divine oracle gives a strangled cry as they blast into him, but he manages to avoid most of the damage- and then he cries out again as the monsters both charge him!  The creatures have piercing, stinging tails, a detail he hasn't noted til now; and he staggers back as the creatures lash at him, and one strikes home.  The tail stabs him in the chest and pumps some sort of venom into the wound.  

Alcar casts _true seeing_ himself.  He's had just about enough of this invisible crap.  Another burst of flame from Lester drops the second creature, and the third one- now visible to Alcar- turns and starts running away.  The angel spreads his wings and begins pursuing it.

"No way are you getting away," says Orbius grimly, nursing the wound the thing's tail inflicted, and casts _Seeker Missiles._  They shoot out and just into the hallway the creature is running for.  There's an explosion of force and a strangled cry, and water and ice flies out.  Alcar and Horbin both see the ice creature fall.

Alcar sees something else coming down the hall the giant had tried to flee down, too.

_"Beholder!!"_ he shouts.



_*Next Time:*_ Well, you can probably guess that our heroes are going to fight a beholder for real this time... but would you guess that they're gonna fight a beholder _hive?_


----------



## the Jester

*Against the Immoths*

Oops, double post!


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

A double post, but it's almost worth reading through again!

I like your style, mate!


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## the Jester

*Beholders*

"We should get out of here!" shouts Zeebo the Mayor, but there's no time.

The party tries to get it together- Grumpy's ready to attack and Angel seems to have disappeared, Horbin's healing people.  Alcar can see the approaching beholder, so he tosses a _sound burst,_ and for an instant he dares to hope that it'll explode like the fungus the group fought earlier; but the thing winces for a second, then flies forward, charging at Alcar!  The angel feels his magical defenses all drop as the terrible central eye focuses on him, and then the beholder takes a bite of him.  Alcar cries out in pain, raising one arm to shield his face.  The sharp teeth of the orbular monster chomp down on his arm, rending and tearing.  A few of its eyestalks swing to glare at the Lester, to its side, and there's a sizzling sound as three rays shoot out at him.  The L eeks as the first ray misses.  The other two catch him, though- one shaking his soul to its foundations and threatening to slay him instantly, the other attempting to put him to sleep.  He throws off both, but the death ray deals terrible damage to him anyhow.

Horbin starts to cast a summons, but then Angel appears from nowhere, striking the beholder twice.  Even using the Airsword he's a terrible foe.  He slashes the beholder's body _hard,_ leaving a long, deep gash in it.  His next blow is a deadly accurate thrust to the central eye, and with that the thing dies.

The party pauses for a moment.  They're all a little shaken by the encounter, even though several of them have fought a beholder before.  

A quick search in the chamber uncovers a chest hidden in the rubble, but after a few frustrating attempts to open it the party realizes its shielded by some sort of force bubble- except for the keyhole.  Norman and Sheva both try to open it and they both fail.  

"We'll have to find the key," says Horbin.

The room has two exits, both openings leading to other rooms.  One of those continues as the passage the beholder came from.  The first room is large and long, full of broken jars of herbs, and several areas of the ceiling, walls and floor are strangely holed- as if areas had been disintigrated out of it.   The other room is smaller in size and shape, and it also has blasted and disintigrated areas, but there are no herbs.  Instead, there's a statue of a medusa.

"Turned her to stone," murmurs Zeebo.  "Ironic."

"It's a good tactic," Lester remarks. 

"Let's move on, then," Alcar says, and without waiting for a response he flies out the passage the beholder came through.  The rest of the party pursues, Horbin grumbling.  His premonition's back; this is gonna get somebody killed.

Alcar flies down a long hall.  It ends in a door, and he throws it wide.  He can hear the rest of the party not too far behind him.  He's looking into a vast chamber; he can only see a portion of it.  It seems to have many hollow tubes leading up and down from the floor and ceiling, as well as many partial walls and obstacles.  

He doesn't know it, but Alcar's just stumbled onto a beholder duelling arena.  In fact, as he glances around and the rest of the party catches up to him, two beholders rise up from behind a partial wall and fire their eye rays at our heroes, advancing.



_*Next Time:*_ Horbin's premonition comes true at last!


----------



## Lester

In regards to whomever said that Lester is a hardcore adventure, let me just say . . .  "DAMN RIGHT!"

When other party members are thinking about attacking the dungeon, . . . Lester already has a plan (or a reason why they don't need a plan!)

When other party members are standing around, contemplating if the party should rest  . . .  Lester ready to go for round 2, or 3, or 4 . . . and isn't afraid to call them sissies for wanting to sleep!

When other party members are worried about releasing unspeakable evil unto the world . . .  Lester is thinking about how exciting it would be to save the world (and all its treasure!!!)

When other party members are busy applying their band-aids . . . Lester is already healed and is busy looting!!!!

Hurray for Adventure!!!


----------



## the Jester

*Twenty Eye Rays Per Round...*

Alcar prays to Galador as the two beholders advance, sizzling colored rays shooting from their many, many eyestalks.  Blasts strike Lester, Orbius, Grumpy, Horbin, Alcar... things are happening fast!  All the struck party members resist the eye blasts, but Alcar and Horbin both cry out as the beams leave terrible wounds.  The Angel of Fire rushes to meet them, drawing his falchion.  Horbin invokes _divine favor_ while Zeebo hands off a potion to him, shouting, "Drink this!"

Then Alcar's flying at the beholders, his mace flashing.  He delivers a terrific thump to one of them just above its central eye.  An arrow whizzes into it from Grumpy; it fires a few blasts at him, two hitting, and bites at Alcar, tearing his flesh.  It's central eye is glaring at the angel of Galador, and his mighty mace has ceased glowing.  He's caught in its antimagic ray!  The beholder shouts in a gutteral voice, "Destroy my enemies!"  Grumpy draws another arrow and sites on Alcar, then lets loose, hitting him in the back.  The other one continues to blast the party with crackling rays of magical energy.  This time, a black ray strikes Horbin and he falls, face white, not breathing- dead.



_*Next Time:*_ The Battle of Two Beholders concludes!  Will the party survive?!


----------



## the Jester

Zeebo throws a _fireball_ into the mix and hunkers down, trying to get as much cover as he can.  He's terrified, as are most of his companions.  He raises up to fire off another spell.

Another arrow from Grumpy whizzes by Alcar.  The angel just grits his teeth and keeps thumping on the beholder.  It's terrible teeth are ripping at his abdomen, but his hard body can withstand tremendous punishment.  He swings, smashing his weapon into the monster's side.  It roars and blood begins pouring out of its mouth.  Grimly, determinedly, Alcar swings again.  With a mighty crash his mace staves in the top of the monster's head!  Its great central eye rolls up and its ten eyestalks go limp.  The dead beholder hangs in the air like a flaccid balloon.

The other one roars in anger.  Its eye rays are blasting everywhere, shooting at Alcar, Angel, Sheva.  It's moving in on Angel, but this proves to be a terrible mistake.  The servant of Coila slashes out with the Airsword, cutting into the beholder several times and inflicting horrible wounds.  He stands in the glare of several of the eye beams and manages to throw off their effects.  Horbin's corpse is in easy view.

The beholder looks like it might be about to reconsider; it starts to drift up and back, but a volley of _magic missiles_ from Zeebo streaks in and blasts it from the side.  The monster gives a great cry and goes limp.

The dust settles.

Alcar almost immediately raises Horbin from the dead.*  Shaken by death, the cleric immediately bursts into a tirade.  "And I'm not gonna just run off everywhere with you anymore!" he finishes, shaking his finger at Alcar.  "You're gonna get us all killed that way!"

Angel announces that he's changing his name to Angelfire.  He isn't the same person he was when Sheva and Zeebo first met her five years ago; she was a normal human then, looking for her father, Nigel.  So much has changed since then: now she's a man, and fire runs in her veins.  His skin is red, his hair the flickering orange of flames.  "It's only fitting," he says.

The party's resources are badly depleted.  Most of them have cast most of their spells, and everyone's a little wounded.  After some healing, Horbin insists the group rest.  Alcar and Lester press them to continue on, but Zeebo, Angel and Sheva throw in thier lots with Horbin.  The group sets watches and proceeds to rest, most of them for only a short time via the magical _nap_ that Coila's priests can induce.  Still, it's about 3 a.m. according to Sheva's reckoning, and the various clerics won't get their spells back til as late as the next midnight.

Horbin settles in to an exhausted sleep after an initial period of tossing and turning.  He's still shaky from his experience.  He will sleep a long night's sleep before waking finally refreshed, with the memory of Heaven fading like wisps of a dream, leaving him with the sense that he's lost something irreplacable that will only come back to him upon his true death.

Alcar stays awake to guard the rest of the group while they nap.  He stares at Angel, sleeping next to the Mayor.  Frowning, he casts a spell and concentrates.  Yes... not the Mayor, but Angel... evil.  Another spell reveals Chaos emanates from both of them.

_We're gonna have to talk about this when he gets up,_ Alcar thinks, his lip setting in a hard line.



*A rules gaffe on my part- he died from a death effect, this should have required _resurrection_.  By the time I realized it, however, the deed was done and I try to avoid "do-overs."

_*Next Time:*_ Angelfire vs. Alcar!


----------



## the Jester

*Alcar vs. Angelfire- talkin' smack*

Angel _(no, it's Angelfire now, he thinks to himself)_, Sheva and Zeebo awaken from their magical _nap._  Immediately Alcar confronts Angelfire with the righteous wrath of one who has looked on the face of Galador.  His halo glaring, Alcar demands, "You got about a minute and a half to explain your chaos and evil- and I better like your answers!"  As he speaks, a compartment opens in his left leg- it's metal, made of some sort of clockwork- and his mace pops out into his hand.

_Oh crap,_ thinks Zeebo.  "Uh, we've almost all been touched by Chaos," the Mayor says.  

Angelfire stares disbelievingly at Alcar for a moment.  "I am what I am," he states flatly, a slow smile spreading across his face.

"Hey, wait a second, can't we just get along?" asks Zeebo desperately.

In response to Angelfire's words, Alcar surrounds himself with a golden aura of blazing holy power.  Angelfire whips out the Airsword and flies away with it.  "Hey!" Alcar exclaims, but the other's out of sight around the corner already.

"This isn't the time or the place for this argument, Alcar," Zeebo states.  "We're in the middle of a deadly dungeon, who knows what's coming next-"

Alcar frowns, seemingly considering the Mayor's words.  "I'll drop the aura if you explain yourself!" he calls.  "You need to renounce your evil!"

A moment passes.  And then Angelfire re-emerges, moving slowly, watching the angelic being before him cautiously.  He's spent the last few seconds in total concentration, activating various psionic powers, and he's ready to fight- if it comes to that.

"Well," says Angelfire, "I am evil, and I like being evil... and I will _stay_ evil.  And if you have a problem with me... then come on."

And it's on.


_*Next Time:*_ The Real Deal- Angelfire vs. Alcar!


----------



## Talix

Gah!  Just ran out of material to read through, and in a really exciting part, too!  

Oh well, as you might have guessed I really like this story hour - great telling, and awesome speed!  

Thanks!


----------



## the Jester

*PC vs. PC!*

Alcar is opening his mouth to talk a little more smack, his mace clenched tightly in his raised arm, but Angelfire is just too fast.  The red-skinned Coila-worshiper tumbles in- he's hasted- and attacks, slashing at Alcar twice, drawing scarlet furrows under the half-celestial's robes!  With a mighty roar Alcar strikes back, his mace crashing into Angelfire's shoulder, then his abdomen.  The two press against each other, slashing, clubbing, parrying, dodging.  They press against each other, corps a corps, each straining to throw the other back.  Both are possessed of immense magically augmented strength.  Both are masters of combat.  Both are agents of their God (or Goddess).  

Zeebo's still trying to talk them down, shouting over the pounding of their weapons, but it's clearly not gonna work now.  With a curse, he casts _charm person_ on the angel of Galador.  Once it might have had a chance, but that was before Alcar ascended to angelhood.  Now that he's an outsider, the magic doesn't even begin to reach him.

Sheva snarls, hastes herself, draws the death knight's greatsword, sprouts another pair of arms and tumbles in to flank Alcar.  "I don't want trouble from you!" Alcar yells.

"If you're trying to kill my protege you do," Sheva answers grimly.  And in that moment of distraction, while Alcar's eyes have flicked towards her, Angelfire strikes.  He's using the Airsword, so he isn't as expertly trained as he'd prefer, and it feels clumsy in his hands; but he's well-trained in the art of combat, and while Alcar and Sheva are exchanging words he slides the blade into Alcar's groin!  The angel gives a terrific yell, staggering as blood gushes from the now-severed artery, and then Angelfire strikes again, the Airsword piercing a lung.  A third blow skitters off his ribs, drawing blood but not piercing anything vital.*

Stumbling back, Alcar _heals_ himself.  All his wounds close.  Angelfire is bleeding from several major wounds himself- and then his eyes widen as he vanishes into invisibility, cast by Zeebo.

"Stop this!" the Mayor cries.  

Still flanking, Sheva attacks for all she's worth, slashing at Alcar's achilles' tendon, cutting for his kidneys, aiming a thrust at his throat.  The angel's bleeding from many wounds again already.  With four arms granted by the cloak she wears, Sheva's attacking with two greatswords. 

"I don't want to fight you!" Alcar shouts.  "He's evil!  He needs to renounce his evil!"  He _heals_ himself again.

"I'm evil, too," Sheva snarls, and presses her attack.  She knows it's only the _undetectable alignment_ she casts every night that stopped him from discerning her nature as well.  Angelfire reappears as he attacks too, and the beleaguered Alcar is sorely beset.  

"Fine!" the angel shouts.  "We'll finish this another time!"  And with that, he spreads his wings and flees, suffering another minor wound as he moves.  

The dust settles around them.

"Well, crap," says Zeebo.


*A very dramatic turn for Angelfire- two crits and one hit!  


_*Next Time:*_ Red-Eye the bile beholder barbarian!


----------



## Technik4

*OOOH!*

Wow, cool interplayer fight. So did you have the players write notes to you on what they activated or did the players not assume knowledge their characters wouldnt have? 2 crits and a hit, wooo. Cool fight, funy there wasn't more magic flying around though, alcar could have just taken off a little and summoned some allies rained down havoc....

Technik

PS- Any chance of getting some stats on the interesting items those characters have? Airsword, The L's sword, that cloak that grants extra arms?! Also, what chaotic effects are on the various characters...its easy to forget this stuff


----------



## the Jester

*Re: OOOH!*



			
				Technik4 said:
			
		

> *Wow, cool interplayer fight. So did you have the players write notes to you on what they activated or did the players not assume knowledge their characters wouldnt have?*




Well, the only things active were Alcar's holy aura and a few psionics that Angelfire had activated when he briefly flew away (he gave me a list).  But of course, there's more to come before all is said and done with this battle- as you'll see soon! 


*



			2 crits and a hit, wooo. Cool fight, funy there wasn't more magic flying around though, alcar could have just taken off a little and summoned some allies rained down havoc....
		
Click to expand...


*
Well... heh... funny you should mention Alcar flying off and summoning some allies... >ahem< Nothing to see here, nothing to see!  

*



			PS- Any chance of getting some stats on the interesting items those characters have? Airsword, The L's sword, that cloak that grants extra arms?! Also, what chaotic effects are on the various characters...its easy to forget this stuff 

Click to expand...


*
Sure, I'll try to post things as time allows and as I have the proper info in front of me.  

The _cloak of Jerakai_ allows its wearer to activate a _Jerakai's embrace_ spell (iirc) 1/day... said spell gives you an extra set of arms, basically.  Here's the text of the spell (which may need revision when 3.5 comes out)...

*JERAKAI’S EMBRACE*
Transmutation
Level: Wiz/Sor 3, Brd 4
Components: M, S
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Personal 
Target: You
Duration: 1 round/level

This spell grants the recipient a set of two extra forelimbs, usually arms, usable for anything the original limbs could do.  You can take an extra partial action with your extra set of arms with no penalties, although your choices are slightly limited.  You can only take such an action that can be performed by a single set of arms; you can’t cast extra spells through the arms, even if one spell is verbal only and the other is somatic only.  The arms are identical to your originals; they have the same claws, strength, dexterity, etc as you do.

While you have the extra arms you gain a +4 circumstance bonus to climb, intimidate, escape artist, tumble and use rope checks.  You suffer no penalty for taking a single attack with your extra set of arms (generally you can only take more if you have improved two-weapon fighting or better).

Material component: an octopus tentacle.



Some of the other interesting things in the party... hm, okay, let's see if Lester will post stats on the Airsword, Felix Optima Maxima, etc.  

Chaos traits: good lord, some of them (Lester) have been exposed to Chaos so much it isn't even funny.  Off the top of my head, here's a few of the more obvious or memorable Chaos traits they have:

_Lester:_ Missing an arm that can't be regrown or easily compensated for; used to have a third eye in the center of his forehead that was caused by contact with an alien mind that made a fungus grow on his brain (the party he was with at the time had to shrink down and enter his head to kill it); bat wings; gills.  Um, I'm sure there are several more, plus his traits from Warrior of Chaos levels include fast healing (1, I think- he may have gotten it more than once, though) and lawbane twice (which stacks- gives him a total of +4 profane bonus on attacks and saves vs. lawful creatures or spells with the Lawful descriptor; +2d6 damage vs. lawful creatures).  I think his stats have gone both up and down from Chaos effects, too.

_Sheva:_ Sheva's got a nonfunctional eye in the back of her head.

_Angelfire:_ Angelfire changed into a man, gained the fire subtype, and (I think) had some ability mods.

_Zeebo:_ Zeebo has been blessed by Chaos with enormous fertility... as you'll see in updates that are soon to come.

_Sybele:_ Gained the earth subtype.  

There's more, of course, but I can't recall off hand what everyone's gotten- about half are good and half are bad, but the party seems to have lucked out a lot with their Chaos experiences.  

Well, I was gonna post another update tonight but I think it's going to have to wait- it's late, I have to get up early, and this reply's taken up enough time that I don't think I'll finish it til sometime tomorrow.  With luck maybe some of the players will give ya some feedback too.  (Lester- how about posting Felix Optima and the Airsword?   )


----------



## Greybar

> JERAKAI’S EMBRACE




Nice.  Looks modelled on Haste, but much more balanced since the spell weirdness and super dodge bonus don't come in.

Excuse me while I *YOINK*
There are some baddies in my game from legend that have been blessed with four arms.  This might be a nice spell for their adherents to have.

Enjoying the story, though I must say as a DM I would be too worried about the multiple alignment thing.

John


----------



## the Jester

Greybar said:
			
		

> * Enjoying the story, though I must say as a DM I would be too worried about the multiple alignment thing.
> 
> *




Well, the main thing that keeps the party mostly together is a shared interest in the forces of Chaos' victory in the building conflict... even the Lawful party members (Sheva and Angelfire, who recently shifted to NE) are siding with Chaos (it has to do with the origins of their deity, Coila, and her vested interest in seeing the fall of the Forinthian Empire).

If anything, the party members who might actually eventually have some serious issues are the ones who worship Galador in his multiple manifestations- namely, Horbin and Alcar.  I find it immensely ironic that when intraparty conflict arose it was Alcar, the good one, who started it.  As you'll see in the following updates, the guy by himself is usually the one to get in the most trouble...


----------



## Talix

Man, that Heal spell sure can be annoying sometimes, no?  ;-)


----------



## the Jester

*Red-Eye*

Most of the group is still resting.  Sheva's gone back to sleep- she woke when Alcar and Angelfire were shouting at each other but she was just in a normal sleep, so she isn't yet fully rested.  Still, Alcar's out there somewhere, so Angelfire casts a _nap_ himself.  Now Sybele, Horbin and Sheva will rise, fully rested, in only an hour.  

Fluffy's stalking around the chamber alertly, eyes constantly flicking towards the exit.  His tail twitches back and forth constantly, revealing his nervousness.  Angelfire can't help but find it annoying.  Then, when Fluffy yowls, for a moment the cleric of Coila is tempted to throw something at him.

Then Angelfire hears the unmistakable sound of Fluffy's teeth chomping into something, and he whirls to see that the tabaxi has just charged an icy giant with a strange stinger tail- another of the rune-covered creatures that were originally in the chamber!  Moving with the speed of thought, Angelfire whips out the Airsword and tumbles in next to the hapless creature.

Fluffy bites and claws, a furry ball of fierceness!  His natural weaponry seems to hurt the thing- it bleeds cold water- but not too badly.  And then Habiskis, Sheva's imp cohort, becomes visible, a dagger fashioned from the horn of a unicorn in his red little hand stuck in the creature's back.  He flies by his flat-footed enemy.

The ice thing flies up and away!  Fluffy and Angel both swing as it moves, striking both of its legs.  Water sprays from the creature, which gives a grunt, then _hastes_ itself and disappears.  Then it gives a loud cry, clearly on the move from the sound of things.  Habiskis disappears too.

Nearby, Sybele stirs.  Her eyes open- she smells something happening- and she sizes up the situation in an instant.  She scrambles to her feet, scooping up her bow and a quiver of arrows.  She's in the room with the broken bottles of spices, so she can smell and hear something but not see it.  It sounds like a fight, though... She moves to look just in time to see Fluffy shake his head as he fights off a _charm_ and a nearly simultaneous _lightning bolt_ shoot from an unseen foe and blast Angelfire.  He leans into the bolt, taking the damage on his chest.    "Fall back!" she shouts to him.

Meanwhile, near the party, the invisible imp pulls out a lion out of his bag of tricks.  He grabs it by the ear and drags it over to the entrance to the room with the sleeping party members.  "Here, you guard this!  Attack anyone who comes through here."

The awake members of the party pull missile weapons.  They're covering the doorway and various other parts of the room, but there's no sign of the enemy.  A few tense moments go by; Habiskis invisibly darts errantly around, detecting good.  Then the group hears a loud shout from somewhere down the hall.  

Sybele curses.

A few moments go by.  The group hides themselves to be on the safe side.  The lion, guarding as instructed, starts to growl.

A human steps out, his hands up.

"Peace!" he calls.  "I come with an offer of peace from a powerful master!"

"Hey yeah, you come back later, uh, in an hour or two," says a voice from the area of the lion.  Habiskis calls, nervously considering the sleeping party.

"He wishes to speak with you now."  The human hesitates.  "Red-Eye is not to be kept waiting," he says heavily.

Then four of the ice creatures- including the one that the party just attacked- enter.  Sybele curses again, silently this time.  She's seriously considering firing a shot when the beholders come in- one of them clearly this Red-Eye that the human spoke of.  He's larger than the others they've seen, tough-looking, criss-crossed with scars.  His huge central eye is bathing them in its ray.  It's clear where he gets his name from- it's bloodshot, with visible veins angrily standing out on the pink of the orb.  The iris and pupil are red, and tears of bile are dripping from it.  Worse yet, his mouth is frothing with bile and strange boils are leaking it from the rest of him.

_By the gods,_ thinks Sybele, _he's a bile-infected beholder.




*Next Time:*_  What's Alcar been up to?  

_*Coming Very Soon:*_  The fight the party christened 'The Battle of Five Armies'!


----------



## the Jester

After fleeing the dangerous duo of Angelfire and Sheva, Alcar goes to the beholder duelling chamber.  There's enough cover there for him to do what he has to do.

First he summons a planetar named Norlin and asks his aid in destroying Mt. Bile.  In return, Norlin asks Alcar to fight alongside the forces of Law in a battle against Chaos.

"I'm not interested in the conflict between Law and Chaos," he protests, but gives in.  While they bargain a pair of beholders flies from one of the holes in the ceiling and back out in the general direction of the party.  The two haggling angels are behind cover, and the beholders don't seem to notice them.  Norlin stares, frowning, after them as they leave, but both of them are quiet as they float by.  

Next, he summons St. Vitus the Curse-Breaker, a powerful deva cleric.  "Alcar!" the saint proclaims.

"You know of me?" Alcar's surprised.

"Of course- I hear much.  You are out of favor."

Alcar frowns.  "Hey, I just want to help people, and sometimes rules get in the way.  And I'm on a major good quest now, to overthrow Bile Mountain.  I just need a little help.  And we may have to deal with some evil adventurers as well."

"Alcar, you are young and inexperienced.  We should have no quarrel with adventurers."

"I mean no harm to those that accept the Light," Alcar protests, uncomfortable at being lambasted by an angel that he's summoned.  

"I will not fight adventurers for you.  It gives Heaven a bad name."

"I don't want to fight them, but they attacked me last time we met!"  Alcar relates the tale, but finds himself wilting as the saint clearly seems to hold him responsible.  

He bargains with St. Vitus and the deva agrees to help him destroy Bile Mountain, but states again that he won't fight adventurers.

"All right, all right," Alcar accedes. 

Finally, Alcar summons Raina the lillend, one of the bards of the upper planes.  "Alcar," she murmurs, lidding her eyes.  "You need my aid?"

"Yes!" the angel exclaims.  "I need your help in overthrowing Bile Mountain."

"Bile Mountain," she whispers to herself.  The, louder, "Ah, Bile Mountain.  I will tell you what I know about Bile Mountain if you will get me a harp made by the best craftsman in all the lands."

"Very well," says Alcar.

She proceeds to tell him a tale of legends and history- but it does not reach back to the beginning.  "It's been like this for tens of thousands of years," she states.  She tells him of rumors of strange elephant creatures with bifurcated trunks and ivory tusks, with hair all over their bodies, that once lived there.  She tells him of mind flayers.  She tells him many things, but none of those things holds the answer of how to destroy the mountain's evil influence.

Then she bows to depart.  "My harp," she reminds him.  

"Wait a minute," he protests.  "You're supposed to help me overthrow Bile Mountain!"

"That was not out agreement.  I was to tell you what I know.  I did this.  Now it is your turn."  She smiles a beautiful smile.  "Remember, the finest in all the lands."  She departs. 

Alcar grumbles momentarily, but then turns to the task at hand.  "Let's go kill some beholders!" he says cheerily.



_*Next Time:*_ The Battle of Five Armies!


----------



## the Jester

*Other Negotiations*

Sybele had been counting on her psionic _invisibility_ to conceal her.  Bathed in Red-Eye's central eye's terrible power, she snaps into view instantly.  With a gulp she examines the odds... two beholders, four of the ice guys, and this weird human.  

Not good, not good.

"You, human," snarls Red-Eye.  "You are powerful adventurers.  You will _help_ Red-Eye- or Red-Eye will _destroy_ you all!!"

"Uh-" Sybele's a little taken aback, but she isn't about to pass up the opportunity to avoid fighting a bevy of enemy's like this- especially when most of the party's still trying to rest.  "What, um, could we puny adventurers do to help you?"

Red-Eye gives a growling scream.  Several of the small eyes writhing at the end of the eyestalks fire random blasts at the walls, and the four icy giants all back away from him a bit.  One of the rays disintegrates a piece of wall in a puff of powder, and the bile beholder gnashes his teeth.  He screams, "You will not mock me!  Red-Eye needs help!  You _see_ what has become of me!!"  Bile drools from his frothing mouth.  "It hurts, always!  Red-Eye wishes to be _cured_ of this affliction!  You will help, *now,* or Red-Eye will destroy you!"  The other beholder moves a little ways away too, glaring at the party even as several of its eyes remain trained on Red-Eye.

"Oh, yeah, well we can help you.  But we need a little time to-"

*"NOW!!!"* Red-Eye bellows.

Sybele purses her lips.  "We need the right spells prepared.  Look, my friends who can cure you are resting right now.  Once they're up they can prepare all the spells to cure you, and they only need an hour or so..."  She tries to sound as reasonable and persuasive as her low charisma will allow, and something in her tone must resonate with Red-Eye- because he doesn't immediately disintegrate her.

"Show me," he demands.

_Uh-oh,_ she thinks.  But it may be their only chance.  

"All right," she answers him.  "But they're in a magical sleep, so please try not to hit them with your antimagic ray, okay?  If you do they won't be able to prepare to aid you."  She leads him to the rest of the party, and though he snarls and twitches he agrees to wait.

The rest of the party wakes up a little while later.  Sybele quickly explains the situation and they go to talk to Red-Eye.

"I think I can help you," Horbin says.  "I'll have to do some divinations to find out exactly how, though."

"What's in it for us?" asks Angelfire, made bolder by dint of numbers.

"Red-Eye will be grateful- and will not destroy you," says the human who first entered the chamber.  "And who knows how far the gratitude of a creature such as this goes?"  He glances at Red-Eye.  It's clear that he, too, is nervous about this erratic creature.

"Well, will you tell us what you know of this place?" Angelfire asks.

"Of course," says the human quickly, "but it is not wise to keep Red-Eye waiting." 

"Well, we've been attacked by an angel in here," continues the Coilite priest.  "If you see him, will you kill him for us?  He'll probably cause you problems too."

"If you wish to bargain with Red-Eye, you may, but I recommend against it," the human says.  And then he sees something coming from the direction of the duel chamber and cries, "Angels!  They're coming this way!"

Alcar flies into the room, followed by Norin and St. Vitus.  "It's go time!" he shouts.



_*Next Time:*_ Death, destruction, terrible combat and confusion!


----------



## the Jester

*The Battle of Five Armies*

Red-Eye whirls, focusing his central eye on the onrushing celestials, and Alcar cries out in dismay as the spell he tries to cast fails to manifest.  Behind him, around the corner, St. Vitus manages to activate _divine power_, but Norlin's _flame strike_ fails to take effect.

The "human" with the beholders- his name's Thuurgen- casts a _shield_ and steps away from the three angels, then casts another spell.  He seems reluctant to enter the fray.  Horbin gulps, looking from angels of his god to his friends and party mates.  He stumbles away from the fight, still shaken from his death and subsequent raising.  Sybele, _spider climb_ already active, rushes up the wall to the ceiling, then away from the wall- and somewhat away from Red-Eye.  He creeps her out.

The icy sting-tailed giants are casting spells and moving in on the angels, and the other beholder seems to be keeping multiple eyes focused on the party.  Red-Eye himself spits a mass of yellow stinking bile at the three, and it explodes all over them, sapping their vitality and burning them with acid.  Angelfire is moving up next to Red-Eye, whipping the Airsword out and flying with it.  An arrow zings forward from a hasted Sheva, but it misses Alcar.  

Then something appears, its invisibility dissipating as it moves into the antimagic to attack.  It's large, with a long, flexible neck, bat-like wings, long claws and hideously large fangs.  Its deep eye sockets are dark and its skin is the grey that comes from death.  It claws, bites, and buffets with its wings, attacking Alcar savagely.  He staggers back as it tears into him, and he can feel negative energy sinking into his bones as it claws his flesh.  An aura of fear rolls out of it like a shot from a catapult, and Horbin panics, using his slippers of spider climbing to ascend to the ceiling where he cowers.

With a grunt, Alcar strikes back.  His mace snaps into the thing's chest, and he hears the crack of bone, but it takes the blow quite well.  A second shot to the forearm also sounds satisfying but is disquietingly ineffective in stopping it.  St. Vitus, gripping his holy symbol, shouts, "Back, foul creature!"  But even the faith of an angel is not enough to turn this terrible monster.

The ice giants are all around the angels, attacking them.  Norlin ignores them and flies in at Red-Eye, his flaming sword leaving a trail of smoke behind him.  "Die, abomination!" he screams, but even as he swings, a ray of doom shoots at him from one of Red-Eye's small eyes.  His sword slices across the beholder's body, drawing a trickle of blood, but the ray disintegrates the celestial in a puff of dust.  "Norlin!" Alcar cries.  "You'll pay for that!!"

"No, outsider," Red-Eye grates.  "You will pay- for daring to disturb Red-Eye!"  He roars and flies into a rage.

Angelfire tumbles in on Alcar, striking at him, but he misses.  St. Vitus glares at him and activates an _antimagic shell._  Thuurgen is casting something in the background- and the undead creature gives a hollow laugh as the _desecrate_ goes off, and Red-Eye spews more bile, which bursts to cover the two remaining angels- as well as several of the ice creatures.  Sheva and Sybelle are firing more arrows while the ice creatures keep St. Vitus and Norlin tied up in melee.  Now that Angelfire's in there, the two human females think that things are pretty well decided.  After all, one of the celestials is already dead- and Angelfire and Sheva were a match for Alcar before without much help.  

Then things get messy.

One of Sybele's shots goes wild.  There's an ice giant in the way, and the shaft sinks into its back.

"HOW DARE YOU!!" shouts the other beholder.  There's a sizzle as it disintegrates her bow.  A couple of the ice giants break off and turn on her, flying to attack.




_*Next Time:*_ The Battle of Five Armies gets messy!  Who- or what- is Thuurgen really?  Will Alcar and St. Vitus be overwhelmed?  Will Sybele be disintegrated?  Will the rest of the party?  Stay tuned!!!


----------



## the Jester

*The Battle of Five Armies (cont.)*

Angelfire and Alcar clash for a moment, then each backs off to heal himself somewhat.  Spells and eye rays are flying everywhere, the ice creatures are attacking, things are suddenly much messier than before...

Sybelle whips out her greatsword, shouting, "Sorry!" to the beholder as she strikes at one of the ice giants attacking her.  Then a ray from the beholder hits her and the blade drops from her fingers onto the ground.  She's been knocked unconscious!  She hangs from the ceiling, her arms reaching halfway to the floor.  

"Call your men off!" shouts Sheva.  She quaffs a potion an instant later and disappears.  Moving quickly, the invisible priestess of Coila strides up the air to Sybele and shakes her back into consciousness, handing off a bow to her.  The archer tries to draw it, but its pull is too strong for her without magical augmentation.  "Oh no!" she cries.  Meanwhile, Alcar cracks the undead thing a blow so hard that its head pops off and bounces away with a shriek as its body collapses into a heap.  Alcar and St. Vitus turn their attention to the inferior beholder, both simultaneously inflicting terrible wounds.  With a groan the eye tyrant expires, a fountain of blood pouring from its mouth.

Horbin's frightened on the ceiling, trying to stay away from the combatants- especially Thuurgen.  _He must be some kind of evil priest,_ the cleric of Dexter thinks, _he cast desecrate.  I'll just bet the undead was his, too._  His panic drives him into the herb room where the party rested.  He's as far away from the battle as he can get, and it isn't very far, and he's terrified-

And, hardly even thinking about it, he casts _remove fear_ on himself.

Alcar, meanswhile, is under a blistering assault from the imp (who keeps sneak attacking from invisibility), the ice creatures and Red-Eye.  He's taking horrible blows on his arms, legs, wings, body- but his incredible vitality is keeping him going.  Even the poison that has hit him isn't slowing him down.  He blasts Red-Eye with a _flame strike_, but the beholder just gives a loud growl.  Angelfire drinks a potion and then vanishes, and the imp turns invisible too.  Vitus drops two of the stinging giants.

Then Horbin charges in. 

He's fought evil priests before- one of the worst shattered his holy symbol*- and he doesn't like them at all.  He barrels into Thuurgen with all his armored weight behind him, his face set in a grim frown.  His holy mace smacks out and catches the "human" in the side of the head.  Thuurgen grunts in surprise, then turns to face him.  

"You should help me, not attack me," Thuurgen says, looking Horbin in the eye, and his words seem to echo in the cleric's mind.  

_Yes, help him, not hurt him- it makes perfect sense.  Help him..._  Horbin starts telling Thuurgen all about the miracles of Dexter- how, even though he was blind, he could see; about his self-sacrifice in Bleak's Maw for the good of everyone else; about his driving out of the demons...

Then Red-Eye's antimagic stare sweeps over Thuurgen, suppressing his magical disguise- for the first time a few of our heroes begin to realize that he isn't exactly on the same side as Red-Eye- and he is revealed.



*Those of you who've read my old story hour may remember this encounter.



_*Next Time:*_ Thuurgen revealed!  The Battle of Five Armies concludes- but who wins, who loses, who lives and who dies?  Find out soon!


----------



## the Jester

*The Battle of Five Armies (conclusion)*

Thuurgen is not human.  Not even remotely.  The antimagic ray of Red-Eye's central eye suppresses the polymorph that he's using to _appear_ human, and he's revealed for what he truly is.

His worm-shaped body is 10' high, held erect by a multitude of suckered tentacles with eyes at the ends.  His "head" consists of a fleshy sheath that houses a set of three cruelly barbed mandibles.  Eight long, spidery arms with tiny insectoid claws that disturbingly resemble human hands protrude from a set of verticle ridges on the forepart of his body.  A reek of mold and decay, no longer covered up by his disguise, emenates from him.

None of our heroes have seen the likes of this before, that's for sure.  The sight is enough for Horbin, shaken, to throw off the _suggestion_- especially as it's currently suppressed.

He moves to the side, out of the antimagic cone, and his polymorph snaps back into effect.  Appearing as a human again, the strange creature's eyes dart around.  He appears ready to fight if need be.

Sybelle reaches out with her weary mind- she's been doing a lot of psionic manifestation without much rest- and touches a crystal capacitor that she carries, drawing energy from it to power a mind blast.  There's an almost-visible ripple in the air as she catches Red-Eye from the side his central eye's ignoring, and the great beholder shudders and drools, stunned.  She rushes in, greatsword rising, to strike at it.  Sheva's already moved in and unleashed a mass of blows with Chronovestis, slashing Red-Eye across the side and nearly severing one of his rubbery eyestalks.  Horbin rushes in as Red-Eye's central eye stops emenating its antimagic.  He swings his holy mace, crying Dexter's name, and smashes Red-Eye in the temple.  There's a sickening thud as the side of his head caves in and his central eye rolls up in his head.  Red-Eye stops moving.

Habiskis is giggling as he keeps flying by and attacking St. Vitus with the deadly unicorn horn dagger, then turning invisible again.  The saint is healing himself, though; he's not out of it yet.  Alcar is swinging at the other beholder again and again, and finally he lays it low with a mighty strike to the face.  He whirls to glare at the remaining two ice giants, but seeing both beholders dead they look at each other and flee.  

"Please, I mean you no harm!" calls Thuurgen, raising his hands.

"I don't know about you, wormy guy!" calls Sheva.  "Throw down your arms!"

Alcar's moving in on Thuurgen, though; he doesn't know what it is, but it's bound to be evil.  After all, it cast _desecrate_ earlier.  St. Vitus flies in to flank with Alcar and shouts, "Surrender!  We offer you quarter!"

"You should reconsider-" starts Horbin, but Alcar swings, scoring a mighty blow against the polymorphed creature, and it seems the time for words is once more past.  Thuurgen unleashes a crackling black ray of negative energy at Alcar, inflicting several negative levels, and tries to curse him as well.  St. Vitus shouts, "Surrender, Varlet!" and strikes at Thuurgen twice, scoring two crits in a row!  The creature rocks back and falls to one knee shaking his head.  He's badly bloodied and looks on the edge of unconsciousness.

Sheva glares at Alcar and yells, "If you've come to take my protege again I'll kill you some more!"  Invisibly, Habiskis flies to her leg and grabs on.  Angelfire is still invisible, and he's drinking potions, using his wand to heal himself, and gearing up to attack Alcar.  There's a grim smile on his face, though nobody can see it just yet.  

Alcar blasts at the area of the battle with Thuurgen with a _holy smite_ and Sheva and the unseen Angelfire both wince as good energy crackles around them.  Thuurgen collapses, smoke rising from him.  Seeing Sheva's reaction to the holy energy, St. Vitus points at Horbin's holy symbol.  "You are a man of the Light, are you not?  You keep evil company!"

"I keep _strange_ company," Horbin admits.  He smashes the unconscious Thuurgen with his mace, trying to coup de grace him- but to his dismay, the cleric sees the strange creature's wounds knitting shut.  "Hey, he's regenerating!" he calls.

Angelfire appears.

He unleashes a hasted full attack on Alcar, scoring several hits, slicing the angel's wing, side, and back.  Habiskis appears too, flanking with Angelfire, sneak attacking him twice.  Alcar concentrates, and casts defensively, healing some of the damage that's been inflicted upon him.  St. Vitus steps up and heals him as well, further repairing the damage inflicted, and shouts, "You adventurers, we should have no quarrel with you!"

"He attacked us!" Sheva and Angel yell together.

"Is this true?" Vitus demands of Alcar.

"No," Alcar says-

"Yes!" both Angelfire and Sheva yell.  

"Well sir," Horbin interjects, "their complaint is valid.  I'd like to see everyone stand down.  We certainly don't need to be fighting inside this place."  He keeps his mace out and stands next to St. Vitus to try to protect him if anyone should try to attack him.

"Call off your dog and get out of here," Sheva says to St. Vitus.  She's tensed on the balls of her feet, ready to spring and swing at Alcar if he attacks them.  

"He insulted my religious beliefs," Angelfire says.  "If he doesn't apologize I'll kill him."  He strikes once, drawing another line of blood across Alcar's wing, and readies his blade for another shot.

There's a brief lull.  All the fighting stops and all the eyes are on Alcar.  He's clearly struggling inwardly, trying to decide where his honor leads him, what his duty is to the powers of Good in this moment.

"Coila did aid me in the past, so I'm sorry for offending her," he finally states.  "Bur I'm not sorry for offending you.  I won't lie about it."

Angelfire attacks.  A rain of blows falls on Alcar, who staggers back, then flies a off to the room's exit.  Sheva blasts a _sound burst_ in between the two of them and calls out, "Stop this!  This is neither the time nor the place for this fight!  Settle it at a better time!"  And she turns and leaves the room, going into the spice-filled room followed by most of the party.

Angelfire locks stares with Alcar.  "If you do not apologize to me I'll hunt you down and kill you.  We can call it a draw here, but you'll be my mortal enemy."  His eyes bore into Alcar's.

"Closest thing I'll do is I'll heal the damage from my holy smite."

"All right.  Then I'm going to kill you someday."  Angelfire turns and leaves.

"You," says St. Vitus darkly, "suffer from the sin of pride."





_*Next Time:*_ Our heroes head back to Pesh City to re-equip- and they start receiving some rather disturbing news!  We'll learn a little bit about a few of their backgrounds and family members, and we'll get to meet a half-orc with an unhealthy interest in tabaxi!


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

Jester, I do not even want to think about how you ran that battle...argh!

Congratulations on it though, that was excellent stuff! The battle of Five Armies indeed.  And now, rest and restoration...what happens next?


----------



## the Jester

*Return to Pesh City*

Our heroes regroup.  "We need to go back to town," Angelfire says flatly.  "I need a new falchion."  Though Lester tries to convince him to soldier on with the Airsword, he refuses.  "If Alcar comes back I need to be at my best," he says.  "I need the weapon I'm trained in.  If you don't want to go back to town, that's fine- but I'm going."

After a few moments' debate, the party decides to stick together.  They go to retrieve what arrows they can and loot the fallen- and they find that Thuurgen has vanished.

"Uh-oh," says Horbin.

"That's right, he was regenerating and we left him where we fell!" Lester exclaims.  "Whoops.  Well, hopefully we won't meet him again."

"And if we're really lucky maybe he'll go and kill Alcar for us," Angelfire adds with a cruel smile.  Horbin frowns; Alcar is a celestial of Galador, after all- albeit one who is never too high in the graces of the Light.

Orbius teleports back to Pesh City, then contacts the L via his trump.  The rest of the group all touches him and they pass together through a rainbow of light and to the Eye's location.  The group sells loot and buys new equipment (such as a pair of falchions for Angelfire, one of which is magical).  Some of the group visits Souliass, Zeebo's lover and attorney, and to their surprise they find that they are being sued by the heirs of Cluma, the guardian of order who attacked Zeebo in the Gorel Tree restaurant.  

"Screw them!" Lester yells.  "I want to hire you to sountersue.  Talk to the priests of Na'Rat- they'll tell you, that Cluma guy was bad news.  He'd already attacked their temple and broke their obelisk, and he was the one who attacked us!"

"I know, I was there, remember?" she replies calmly.  "But under Peshan law, they have a case.  They're suing for Cluma's sword, Law-Tablet, too.  Do you still have it?  It might be a good bargaining chip."

Felix Optima Maxima snorts quietly in her sheath.  "No," says Lester.

Privately, she tells Zeebo that he's being sued for paternity by not one but two gnome lasses.  He's surprised, but hardly shocked; since being blessed by Chaos he's been enormously fertile, and it was only a matter of time before it happened.  The pressure builds and must be relieved.  He arranges to meet with them and he meets his two 2-year-old daughters, Hailey and Klaira.  The mothers- Leanne and Klaira (who named her daughter after herself, obviously)- are mollified once the Mayor sets up trust funds for each of the children, and Klaira gives him doe-eyes, obviously still hoping to win his affection.  Souliass, on the other hand, is quite plainly pissed at Zeebo and gives him the cold shoulder.

As some of our heroes head towards a scroll shop that Souliass directed them too, Grumpy is stopped by a weasely-looking half-orc.  "'Scuse me," he says.  "Yer a tabaxi, aren't you?"

"Why, yes," Grumpy Fluffbottom answers. 

The half-orc licks his lips.  "Hey, would you be interested in making some money?"

"Uh- how so?"  

"Well, I have some associates who'd be willing to pay you for your time."

"To do what?" 

"Oh, they'd just want to meetcha," the half-orc says casually.  "I'm sure they'd make it worth your while."  He smiles a yellow-toothed smile.  Orbius, meanwhile, has wandered a little farther into the crowd and is casting _detect thoughts._  What he learns shocks him.  The half-orc introduces himself as Dapthos and explains that Grumpy would have to sail to Valonia to meet with them.  Orbius tips the tabaxi off that something's not quite right, so he agrees to meet the half-orc again the next day at a dockside fish fry.  

After the party reaches a tavern, the Eye tells Grumpy that Dapthos wants him to sell himself into slavery for a ring of Valonian orcish 'furry-lovers'- a twisted cult of sexual perversion!  The group debates what to do about it- leave them alone, kill them, turn them into the authorities- "Screw that, they want to make me their bitch!" says Grumpy- and in the end they decide to let things play out, try to take him alive and turn him in, but not worry too much about it.  If the slavers die, so be it.

"We need to try to find out about those books, too," Sheva says, and Orbius agrees to see what he can do.  

Then Angelfire hears the voice of an old associate, Estelias, a grey elven enchantress from his homeland of Tirchond.  It's a _sending_ from home, and it's not good news.  _"Angel, your father is gone.  I don't know if he's been kidnapped or left on his own.  I have a ranger out looking for him."_

Angelfire sits in silence for a moment.  His father is Nigel, an alienist that a different group of adventurers (although some of the members- him, Sheva, Zeebo, Sybele- are the same) freed from bondage in Firestorm Peak.  Nigel was driven completely mad by his experiences; he had been convalescing in the temple in the Shining City for the last five years, going outside a few times a day.  He seemed to be finding peace at last, and he hadn't cast a spell or summoned a strange creature since they took him from Firestorm Peak almost six years ago.

Angelfire shrugs to himself.  He isn't the same person that was Nigel's daughter, not really; and his father's so far gone that he's not the same man Angelfire knew as a child.  He decides to worry about it when he has some time.  There's a lot already on the plate, after all.  Angelfire will say nothing about Nigel's disappearance for now.

In the morning the group sets out to snare the slaver, and Orbius tells them that he'll try to figure out what the books do as well.

"First thing's first," says the L, and Grumpy polymorphs him into a female tabaxi.

The party turns invisible and heads out for the fish fry....



_*Next Time:*_ Snaring a slaver, all kinds of divinations, and the event that makes Angelfire mention Nigel's disappearance!


----------



## the Jester

*Disappearances*

As he enters the fish-fry, the smell of cooking fish makes Grumpy glad he just ate a massive breakfast.  He's angry but trying not to show it; even so, his tail's twitching a little.  He sees Dapthos sitting in a booth, and the half-orc motions for him to come over.  Sliding into the booth, Grumpy feigns interest in the half-orc's offer- "50 gold now, and another 200 when we leave"- and agrees to leave a week hence.  "Meet me later at the Green Griffon Inn.  I'll give you the fifty gold then."  Grumpy agrees, and they part ways.  The party confers and decides to take him later in his room, so it's just a matter of passing time.  

"I bet he tries to kidnap you or something," Lester says.  "And that fish-fry was filthy!  Did you see, the cook was a half-orc too... I'll bet they were in cahoots."

That afternoon, at the Green Griffon Inn, Grumpy goes up to Dapthos' room, followed again by a mostly-invisible party.  There's a moment of scuffling, and then the hapless half-orc is a prisoner.  They take him to an agent of the watch and announce that he's a slaver.  To their chagrin, the guardsman, Cadros, seems corrupt and demands a bribe to arrest him at all, but once they grease his palm he smiles and says, "Give me another hundred and I'll make sure he doesn't see the light of day for a long time."  The half-orc's face falls as Lester chortles with glee, gladly handing over the coin.

Orbius casts several powerful divinations over the books.  "I saw a vision of a Galadorian cleric looking at this one," he reports, "this one will help a wizard but harm a follower of Bleak- I assume that means that it is for a wizard of good nature- and this one seems like it will make you smarter and tougher, faster and wiser, better in every way."

The Eye then communes with Boccob.  His first several questions are about his own interests; then-

*Is Marius within Mt. Bile?*  Unknown.
*Why can't Marius be scried?*  I don't know.
*Is Slouthus angry with us for leaving him behind?*  No.
*What must we do to shut off the bile?*  Destroy the source.
*Who or what is the source?*  Powerful magic obscures.
*Is Alcar alive within Bile Moutain?*  For now.
*What is the name of the Champion who reopened the Nodes of Elemental Evil?*  Lareth
*Whho is the nearest person who can give Lester his arm back?*  Zenthos.
*Can Zenthos give his arm back without dispelling the rest of the Chaos attributes he's gained?*  No.
*Who can?*  Midrabel the Old.
*Is anyone currently trying to assassinate Zeebo?*  No.
*What is Midrabel the Old's alignment?*  Lawful Evil.

Sheva browbeats her imp into using a _commune_ as well.

*What is the name of a powerful devil who relishes killing angels?*  Apocraphyte.
*Are there demons involved with Mt. Bile?*  No.
*Are the rumors of illithids in Mt. Bile true?*  Yes.
*Will conventional divine magic cure the bile disease?*  No.
*Who is the leader of the illithids?*  An elder brain.
*How can you cure the bile disease?*  Unknown.

The group debates the splitting up of the books.  Orbius and Zeebo dice for the one that helps wizards, the group agrees that Horbin is best suited to the one for Galadorian priests, and the rest dice for the one that improves its reader in every way.  Angelfire wins, and over the next week the group reads their books.  

In the middle of the week, a messenger arrives with a letter for Sybele.  She reads it and her face falls.

"Jezebel's missing!" she cries.  "My daughter's been kidnapped!"





_*Next Time:*_  Angelfire's dad and Sybele's half-dragon love child are both missing!  Will the party try to finish up Bile Mountain first or find the missing people?  Plus: the return of Alcar- but why's his head shaved??


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

Jester, with these updates you are a-spoiling us!

I hope that whoever else reads this enjoys it as much as I do, and please post some kind words and tell the man! He's putting in an amazing amount of work to this tale, and I'm enjoying every minute of it!


----------



## the Jester

Tallarn said:
			
		

> *Jester, with these updates you are a-spoiling us!
> 
> *




Tallarn, even posting 6-10 updates a week I'm still six games behind...  

Thanks for the kind words, I'm gonna try to post another couple later today!


----------



## the Jester

When Sybele announces her daughter's kidnapping, Angelfire mentions that his dad's gone too.  "That's disturbing," says Sybele.

"Well, I'm just going to go about my business," says Angelfire with a shrug. 

"No way," says Sheva.  "If they've both disappeared there might be a connection."

"I can probabaly find out," Orbius offers.

After some discussion the group decides to finish reading the books, then finish overthrowing Bile Mountain, then find the missing people.  With luck, they'll be able to teleport straight to the elder brain and take care of the bile issue quickly- assuming that the mind flayers are behind the bile.

Sheva speaks with Reth's skull again.  "Why did you go to Bile Mountain?" she asks.

The dragons, a hollow, whispery voice answers from the skull.

"How are you and Marius connected?" 

Friend- betrayer! the breezy voice of the skull gasps.

"Why did he betray you?" Sheva demands.

Law... I think, groans Reth's skull.

"Are there dragons in Bile Moutain?"  

Yes, the voice answers, and then the skull falls silent.

Sheva considers.  The Book of Time that she has has a number of unique spells in it.  Given a few days* she can swap them out for her current Time domain spells- potentially a very potent ability.  And she knows what the powerful spell that's to aid as a weapon in the battle between Chaos and Law is now: _age dragon._  She smiles grimly, thinking of the potential in it.

The party finishes with the books, then prepares to attack the elder brain.  Orbius scries it out and reports back that there are many guardians around it- "I see several humans, a couple of weird... brain golem looking things, a mind flayer, another of those nasty long-necked undead thingies... and Alcar.

"And Alcar's head has been shaved."





*And a few xps. 


*Next Time:* Attack on the elder brain!!!


----------



## the Jester

*Attack on the Elder Brain!!*

Orbius _mass teleports_ the party in to attack.  

They're fully prepared, buffed up, magical defenses active, totally ready to go.  But the elder brain detected their scrying and has looked back at them- there won't be much in the way of surprise.

The party appears in a large dark room, shadows dancing from their own glowing and flaming items only.  There are enemies all around, but the elder brain is the important one.  It rests at the bottom of a 20' deep pool of briny liquid that squirms with tadpole-like things.  Orbius moves fastest as the party appears, snapping off a _lower resistance_ at it.  He's already hasted, too, so he surrounds Alcar with a _forcecage_ as well.  Angelfire steps in on a large creature made of greyish fleshy pulp that's swirled like a brain; he slices it with his new falchion.  Grey matter sprays out from it, and briny blood drips down his blade.  Angelfire grins; it feels good to have his type of weapon back.

The elder brain dominates Sybele easily, but is disgruntled to find the control suppressed.  One of the party clerics has a _magic circle against evil_ running!  The three brain golems move forward, bludgeoning with their terrible fists.  One of the "humans" in the room turns out to be an elf; he _disintegrates_ the cage of force holding Alcar, then blasts the party with a _chain lightning_.  Another of the humans starts frothing.  His eyes are red and his skin is pale.   He rushes forward, charging at Angelfire, and swings an orcish double axe.  A tremendous blow hits Angelfire, and though his armor turns the worst of it it still deals a stinging wound to him.

Lester casts a _chain lightning _back at the enemy.  The bolts don't even hurt one of the brain golems, the illithid, or the elder brain itself.  Then the elementalist blasts Vaarsh (the elven wizard) with a _flame arrow_.  Sheva casts _control water_ and lowers the pool around the brain; now it's going to be much easier to attack it!  She grins fiercely; everything is going according to plan.  She slashes at a brain golem nearby, scoring a hit on its back.  

Sybele shouts, "It did something to my mind!  Watch out!"  She's firing arrows at the elf, and hits him a couple of times.  She stays close to Horbin, who's casting his most powerful spells at the brain.  Unfortunately he fails to penetrate its spell resistance- even lowered- with his _feeblemind_ and it survives his _destruction_.

Orbius blasts a volley of _seeker missiles_ into Vaarsh.  They hit the elf with tremendous concussive force and he screams- then turns into mist!  The mist flies out a crack in the wall and vanishes.  The entire party resists an attempt at _mass domination_ by the elder brain, and now the battle is turning into a churning mass of chaos as the undead mixes it up with them as well.  Zeebo's casting spells to aid the party, enlarging Sheva and Angel, casting _protection from evil_ on Sybele to give her more freedom to stray away from Horbin.  Hasted, he's trying to keep counterspells ready too.  The brain golems and Lord Ryce, the raging half-orc, are striking with great fury at the party.  Sheva and Angelfire are taking most of the blows, and Angelfire is starting to wilt a little under the barrage of huge meaty fists and double axe blows.  Things get worse as Alcar, a dazed look on his face, steps in on Angelfire, swinging his mace directly in the Coilite's head.  A spray of scarlet blood splatters from his chin and nose as he staggers with a whooof!

And then Lester channels the furious power of elemental earth, the unstoppable juggernaut of a rising mountain of granite.  He casts with a roar- and the elder brain quivers once and turns to stone.



_*Next Time:*_ Whooah!  Who'd have thought the elder brain battle would go so well?  Watch our heroes finish the battle in only twelve more seconds!


----------



## Technik4

*The Man!*

Jester, you are the man. I love how your players (and you, as the dm) can think of counters in a high level battle so quickly. Disintegrating the forcecage, lowering the water in the pool, brilliant stuff!

Lester hasnt gotten around to posting Felix or the Airsword yet, so how about giving us a preview of "Age Dragon", somehow it sounds like it would backfire, making the dragon older (and thus more powerful). Or maybe she plans to parlay with the dragon and cast that spell in return for something? And what about the time book, isnt she a psionic user? Interesting item, to say the least.

Is zeebo reasonably happy with his sor/wiz combo? Is he deathly afraid of the nerf coming to haste (the only spell that allows him to get the utility of having so many spell slots) or are you guys planning on picking and choosing 3.5 tweaks?

I don't know how you come up with answers to their divinations so quick! Thats an amazing thing to just whip out names like that!

Anyway, as usual, huge props for a great story.

Technik

PS- Whats a tabaxi?


----------



## the Jester

*Re: The Man!*



			
				Technik4 said:
			
		

> *Lester hasnt gotten around to posting Felix or the Airsword yet, so how about giving us a preview of "Age Dragon", somehow it sounds like it would backfire, making the dragon older (and thus more powerful). *




All right, here you go... this is converted from the 2e Tome of Magic.  As I kinda described above, the book allows her to swap out domain spells given time and xp.  Here's one of her 'alternate' spells available now:

*AGE DRAGON (Transmutation)*
Level: Time 7
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 hour
Range: Close (25’ + 5’/2 levels)
Target: One true dragon
Duration: 10 minutes/level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Spell Resistance: Yes

This spell causes a true dragon (one which progresses through various age categories) to physically age one category per eight levels.  This aging takes effect immediately, but it does not change the dragon’s intelligence, wisdom or charisma.  Other than that, however, it is just as if the dragon had aged naturally; it gains skill points, feats, special abilities, increased hit dice and breath weapon damage, etc.  This spell will affect dragons with the Drake template on them.  It has no affect on other creatures.

This spell does not stack with itself.  It is, however, subject to permanency. 




*



			And what about the time book, isnt she a psionic user? Interesting item, to say the least.
		
Click to expand...


*
Sheva's incredibly multiclassed.  She's a ranger/rogue/cleric/contemplative/assassin/monk.  Angelfire is a cleric/psychic warrior.  The two of them are the worshipers of Coila.

*



			Is zeebo reasonably happy with his sor/wiz combo? Is he deathly afraid of the nerf coming to haste (the only spell that allows him to get the utility of having so many spell slots) or are you guys planning on picking and choosing 3.5 tweaks?
		
Click to expand...


*
I have a wait and see attitude, but I hope the quality of the revision will win me over.  I'm actually working on a prestige class to build up the synergy between the two classes, and I've worked up a few custom feats for him (he just recently took arcane synergy, which aids him in penetrating SR- a big problem for him!)

*



			PS- Whats a tabaxi?
		
Click to expand...


*
They're a classic 1e and 2e monster; they're a feline humanoid.  I like them, and I also have canus (dogfolk) in my campaign... but not in the local region.

Thanks for the kind words!


----------



## the Jester

*Attack on the Elder Brain, pt. 2*

With the petrification of the elder brain, Sybele and Alcar are both freed from its domination.  There's a lot of opposition left, but none of it can really stand up to our heroes.  Sybele peppers the illithid with arrows.  Horbin blasts Lord Ryce (the half-orc barbarian) with a _searing light_ and is surprised at how much damage it does, so he does it again and the barbarian turns to mist as well.  "Some of them are vampires!" he shouts.  Zeebo tries to blast the mist before it can escape, but his attempts fail to harm it.  The mind flayer drops as a volley of _seeker missiles_ blasts into him; all in all, things are working well for the party.

Alcar, Sybele, Horbin and Lester lay into the golems.  Angelfire slices at Alcar even as the celestial of Galador strikes the golem!  Then the red-skinned cleric of Coila vanishes into the timestream.
Lester's blows drop one of the brain golems.  He cleaves onto another, and it drops, as well!  Sybele finishes off the last one.  Sheva, meanwhile, lays the undead creature low and drops the last remaining human- who looks like he is, indeed, a human- with a _spiritual weapon_.

Alcar heals himself, regaining his full strength and looking around with wide eyes.  "St. Vitus!" he shouts.  "Where are you?!"  Orbius decides that a better question is where are the vampires' coffins, so he casts _greater scrying_ to track them down.  He can see the misty form going through what looks like a secret door in a hallway.  

The only possible enemy still staanding is Alcar.  Angelfire reappears and assesses the situation instantly: Alcar's fully healed, but there are no more distractions.  "Are you ready to die?"

"I'll tell you what," says Alcar.  "I'll duel you.  Tomorrow at noon."

"Why not now?"

"Forcecage deathmatch!" someone shouts.  "We should advertise- we could make some money that way!"

"Deep inside Bile Mountain isn't the place," Sheva interjects cooly.  "Settle this now.  From where I stand, you owe us an apology- especially since we just saved you from the mind flayers."

"You didn't save me," Alcar protests.

"Whatever," snorts Sheva.  "Then go off on your own and get killed.  We won't save you next time."

"I don't need saving."

Horbin casts _calm emotions_ and tries to talk out a settlement.  Several party members push for a promoted fight in Pesh City with expensive tickets, but neither Alcar nor Angelfire are in the mood for that kind of crap.  Finally, when it becomes apparent that Angelfire is not going to be mollified by anything less than an apology and Alcar isn't going to apologize, the celestial says, "I don't have time for this!  I have to find St. Vitus!"


He finds a secret door where the mist went through the wall.  On the other side is a room with a pair of dark altars- and in front of one of the altars, mounted on a spike, is the head of St. Vitus.  Worse, it's _empty._  They took his brain.  Alcar sheds a tear for him, then _plane shifts_ away in despondancy.

Orbius maintains concentration on his scrying spell until the party can find the vampires and stake them in their coffins.  Then the party loots.  They find a number of magic items- they'll identify them when they have a moment with Sybele's _dorje of identify_.  They also find a strange-looking orichalcum key in the pool of tadpoles that still twitch around the elder brain.  It's end is about the size of the last knuckle of Horbin's thumb, and it's strangely shaped.

"Well, we should probably go figure out what to do next," says Lester.  "We've probably stirred up a hornet's nest here.  Let's trump to Var, then we can teleport back here later."  The party agrees and they trump away.


_*Next Time:*_ Strange things are afoot in Var!  If Lester doesn't have a brother, who's the one-armed man looking for him?  And one of Lester's favorite old stories- how he's responsible for Boccob's existence!


----------



## the Jester

*In Var*

The party trumps in to Var in the middle of the day.  There's plenty of time for them to do stuff, so they split up to take care of business.

Orbius uses a crystal ball of exceptional power that he made after reading the libram and tries to scry both Angelfire's father and Sybele's daughter, but for some reason he can see neither.  "They are obscured somehow," he muses to himself.  Then he decides to spy on the Champion of Elemental Evil, Lareth.  What he sees shakes him to his core.  "I saw him in the middle of a human sacrifice," he reports.  "And he saw me.  He said he would destroy me, and he killed the man in front of me and tore out his guts and waved them at me!"

"Come on, Orbius," says Lester, "to the Temple of Elemental Good!"

Established in Var by Lester as a response to the Temple of Elemental Evil, the Temple of Elemental Good holds many of his followers.  He checks in with the head adept, Unger.

"Has your brother gotten ahold of you?" his follower asks.

"Brother?" Lester exclaims.  "I don't have a brother!  What's this guy look like?"

"Like you, pretty much," Unger says.  "One arm, similar features... older than you, though."

"Well, if he comes back you haven't seen us, all right?"  Lester shuffles out his trumps of two old buddies who live in Var, Malford and Thimbleton.  However, neither one responds to him.  "I wonder what they're up to?" he mutters to himself.  Then Lester and the Eye go to the local temple of Boccob, where there's a new high priest, Polis.  He tells them that he's replacing the old high priestess, who recently died.  

The L tells Polis the tale of his greatest adventure: traveling back in time to another, previous universe, where he and some other adventurers- "King Malford was there, and Thimbleton, and even Dexter himself was with us on that one!  In fact, that's where Dexter became the Harvester of Water, but that's another story"- retrieved the objects required to recreate nature and defeat Fuligin, the powerful evil being who had destroyed almost all non-evil life on Dorhaus.  He brags on, "And Boccob and Froth and some of those other gods came back with us in this little thing.  And when we got back to Cydra, it popped out of Thimbleton's head.  Everyone else wanted to destroy it, but I stopped them.  So you see, without me, there wouldn't even be a Boccob here!"

They make a substantial donation, and then Orbius prays to his deity in front of the altar and _communes_.

*Who am I speaking with?*  Boccob.
*I ask for protection for Lester and open my mind to you.
How did the old high priestess of Boccob die?*  Not your concern.
*Which side is ahead in the Great War of Ethics?*  The battle is just beginning.
*Does Boccob side with Law or Chaos?*  No.
*Does the Ethic of Chaos overall lean towards Good or Evil?*  No.
*Where are Thimbleton and Malford?*  Goldstone.
*What is the purpose of their visit?*  Expansion.
*What is the best way for us to serve Boccob?*  Penetrate the hidden secrets.
*Where can one begin to look for the hidden secrets?*  Upper Bile Mountain.
*What will be the biggest danger we face in upper Bile Mountain?*  Unknown.
*May I have the name of a weak-willed creature in upper Bile Mountain so I may scry?*  Unknown
*If we penetrate the hidden secrets will you reward us with a personal visit?*  No.
*What can we do to earn an audience with you?*  Get for me the Codex of the Infinite Planes.

"Darn," says the Eye.



_*Next time:*_ Horbin gets chastised!  Is that guy crazy, or is he seeing something that we can't?  Then- back to the mountain!


----------



## Talix

Wow.  Jester, you are the most post-crazy DM I know, and that's without even the usual multitude of encouragements posts!  I'm very impressed.  

You should know that I am avidly reading and enjoying this story hour, and I hope you continue it (especially at this fast pace!).  I just can't get to it as often as I would like.  

Keep up the great work!


----------



## the Jester

Talix said:
			
		

> *Wow.  Jester, you are the most post-crazy DM I know, and that's without even the usual multitude of encouragements posts!  I'm very impressed.
> 
> You should know that I am avidly reading and enjoying this story hour, and I hope you continue it (especially at this fast pace!).  I just can't get to it as often as I would like.
> 
> Keep up the great work! *




Thanks for the kind words, Talix!     As far as the quick pace of my updates- well, let's just say that I'm still about four to five game sessions behind and I really want to catch up...

Hope you continue to enjoy it as things get _really_ outrageous- the party is rapidly approaching epic levels, and I can't wait!  They're actually in the middle of their _second_ epic-level fight already- we had to wrap up last weekend's game without finishing the battle- and when you're fighting CR 21 monsters with a party of 12th-17th level characters the xp rate is tremendous (especially since I use the FRCS xp system). 

By the way, if you haven't already checked it out you might be interested in my [players stay out!] rogues gallery thread- most recently I posted the stats for Red-Eye...


----------



## Greybar

> especially since I use the FRCS xp system




Okay, I'll bite.  I've seen this referenced before, but I assume this is a pre-3E thing that I missed during my absence from D&D.

Does anyone mind clarifying for me, by post or email?

thanks,
John


----------



## the Jester

Greybar said:
			
		

> * Okay, I'll bite.  I've seen this referenced before, but I assume this is a pre-3E thing that I missed during my absence from D&D.
> 
> Does anyone mind clarifying for me, by post or email?
> 
> thanks,
> John *




Actually it's in the 3e FRCS hardback.

Basically, instead of figuring the average party level and awarding xp accordingly, you figure each pc's xp based on their individual level instead.  It's more time consuming, but imho well worth it.  It helps to close the gap between the high and low level pcs.


----------



## Greybar

(slaps forehead)
Doh!, I have the FRCS.  My bad. That is a good idea.

I'm really looking forward to the conclusion of Bile Mountain.  It is bother wonderful and annoying when players manage to take down the opposition cleverly (lower water, for instance).  We're still talking about how one of my players managed to the BBEG in a recent game.  She came in fully buffed after the heroes were worn down, one turned to stone, the wizard almost out of spells.  With a little slap she delivered a harm to the lead warrior-type ... then she died without anyone touching her or casting a spell on her.

*sigh* dammnable PCs.

She was standing on top of a crushing trap the heroes had disabled earlier.  He simply reached in, pulled out the wedges that were holding the mechanism, and *smash* one failed reflex save later the evil high priestess was a gooey paste.

Beautiful.  Probably would have been a TPK otherwise.

John


----------



## the Jester

*Metron's Visions*

Horbin goes to a local church of Dexter.  He's been here before; it was here that he was given the holy mace he bears by the church's high priest.  And, as that high priest, named Metron, reminds him, he was given it for a purpose.

"Have you overthrown the Temple of Elemental Evil yet?" Metron demands.

"No, it's on the list..."

"It must be attended to!  It is a dangerous boil on the world," Metron insists. 

"I know," Horbin replies.  "We're in the middle of something right now, but that's next.  And I think Lester's already hired some adventurers to go attack it, too."

Metron paws at the air.  "You must hurry," he insists.  He seems to be watching something that isn't there move through the air.  Something funny's going on here.  Horbin frowns, watching.  Metron swats at something unseen again, then shakes his head.

"Is everything all right?" Horbin asks. 

Metron looks at the adventurer.  He shudders.  "I see things," he whispers low.  "I... I don't know if they're real or not, nobody else can see them.  Things like eels, swimming through space.  I..."  He swallows.  "I cannot cure it, if it is a disease... or a curse.  I fear I am going mad."

Horbin isn't quite sure what to say.  He offers to help if he can, but there's no real answer as to how.  After all, Metron's a cleric of some power himself.  On his way out, Horbin speaks to a street preacher amed Faindar and asks him to watch over Metron.  Horbin's definitely concerned.

Sybele, meanwhile goes to the church of the Sea Queen and prays for her daughter, Jezebel.  She's not particularly religious, but in times of stress, she asks for help from everywhere that she can.

Then the party reassembles and prepares to return to the elder brain chamber to continue their explorations.




_*Next Time:*_ More mind flayers!  And a monster I got from ENWorld- the wasp golem!


----------



## the Jester

*The Wasp Golem*

The party returns to the elder brain chamber.  Sheva's imp cohort scampers to the dead and dying tadpoles in the pool and starts gorging itself on them, smacking its lips in delight.  The party searches for a few moments, then finds the trigger to the secret door that Alcar had previously gone through.  "Don't forget that key we found," says Sybele, but the secret door doesn't require it.  They find a room with two disgusting altars of evil aspect, one squirmous and wormy and the other shaped to accomodate a head, with a brain atop it.  

"Foul evil altar!" cries the L, drawing Felix Optima Maxima and swinging wildly at the squirmous altar.  Both he and his sword cry out as one as they strike, and the elementalist groans as a dark and terrible curse settles over him, lowering his wisdom.  He staggers away.  "I don't think that was such a good idea," he moans.

The party passes by the altars without further tampering.  They enter another room- and find themselves in battle!  There are a dozen ogre zombies and four illithids!  The battle is fast and furious, and despite stunning most of the party initially, the illithids and undead drop before the combination of Sybele's rapid shots and Orbius' devastating magical prowess.  When it's over the two of them exchange a look of proud triumph- not bad, for the two of them.  Lester grabs Norman, who now has some fuzz growing back on his previously shaved head, and cries out, "We won!"  -to which Norman replies, "Don't pick me up."  Lester also apologizes to Felix Optima Maxima for dropping her when he was stunned, and fashions a loop that ties her to his wrist so it won't happen again.  She seems mollified by this.

Exploring further, the party stumbles into a room with one end cut off by a glowing green wall of energy- they've seen this before, from the other side, when they found the books!  But on this side, there's some sort of swarm of wasps forming a vaguely humanoid shape- coming at them!  Norman throws a dagger but misses it; Sybele fires a shot and Lester swings his sword at it.  Then it's on Lester, and it engulfs him!  Wasps surround him, stinging and biting everywhere!  "I've got it distracted!" he shouts, "Kill it!"  He can feel the stinging of their poison on him, but his powerful system is fighting it off so far.

Sybele pours on a steady rain of arrows, some hitting but many missing.  Norman keeps hucking daggers at it until it swoops him up as well, and now he and Lester are tumbled together inside the thing.  Horbin hits it with a _searing light_ but it doesn't seem to harm the thing.  The creature moves towards him, buzzing angrily, and drops Norman as it grabs Horbin.  With a gruntthe halfling scrambles back and hurls a dagger, hitting the wasp golem.  Sybele's backing away from it frantically, continuing to fire arrows even as it smashes at her with its terrible fists.  Her arrows are inflicting telling wounds on it, and as it turns to drop the already-wounded Norman unconscious with a mighty blow the archer's bow sings again as it fires a trio of arrows at the golem, all of which hit.  The wasp golem stops buzzing and all the wasps fall to the ground, dead, as one.

"This is the other side of the wall," Sheva says.  "Reth died on the other side.  Maybe she made it?"

"Or someone else did, to keep her out?" suggests Lester, dusting himself off.

"What do we do now?" wonders Orbius.  "We don't really need to explore all this area, we may know enough to be able to get where we need to go once I can teleport us again tomorrow."

"Where _do_ we need to go?" asks Horbin.

"Up," says the Eye.  "To penetrate the hidden secrets."  He frowns.  "Where's the highest point we've been?  We're on the mind flayer level, but we went up from the other side of that glowing wall before to the beholder level, so that's where we should be.  We'll [/i]teleport without error[/i] up there tomorrow."

"Well, for now, let's keep exploring," says Lester.  "I haven't turned any bad guys to stone today yet."


_*Next Time:*_ What will Lester turn to stone next?


----------



## Talix

*Re: The Wasp Golem*



			
				the Jester said:
			
		

> *"Well, for now, let's keep exploring," says Lester.  "I haven't turned any bad guys to stone today yet."*




LOL


----------



## the Jester

*Turning bad guys to stone*

A little more poking around and our heroes burst through a thoroughly locked door and into a chamber holding several undead crawling with worms, a dozen melancholy-looking bare-headed ogres and another human-looking individual (but between the wormy guy and the vampires, the party's not buying that any more).

The group bursts into fast and furious action.  The ogres stumble away from the fight, huddling together.  Almost instantly the whumph of a _flame strike_ blasts down from Horbin.  Several of the ogres drop.  The human stiffens and turns to stone in seconds, having only had time to fire out a volley of _magic missiles_ and a _flaming sphere_.  Lester cries out with glee, "It happens every time- so evil bad guy gets turned to stone!"  Then he turns his attention on the undead, Felix Optima Maxima thrumming in his hand.

The worms crawling on the undead are leaping for party members, reminding Sheva, Sybele and Zeebo of previous experiences they had in Firestorm Peak years ago.  The L cries out in disgust as one of the fat green worms lands on his arm, but it explodes in a cloud of greenish-black fluid as Orbius targets it with another volly of _magic missiles_.  Lester cries out, "In the name of the elements, I cleanse you!!", and unleashes a _fireball_ on the hapless ogres.  Several fall, and only a few remain, screaming and crying out for mercy (though only a few party members can understand it).

Lester hesitates.  "They aren't fighting back," Horbin points out.  

"And they're asking for mercy," Sybele reports.  

The party hesitates briefly, trying to decide what to do with them, and ultimately they decide to try to recruit them.  "I'll take them to the Temple of Elemental Good," says Lester.  "They'll serve the elements there."  He ponders.  "Let's turn statue boy back to flesh there, too.  That way he won't have anywhere to run."

The party agrees, and then they trump back to Var, ogres and all.  The steward of King Malford's castle looks askance at the ogres as the party parades them through the halls, but as long as they behave he doesn't appear interested in starting trouble.  After all, the King and his companions have many odd friends... much odder than that.

"So tomorrow we'll turn this guy back," Lester says of the statue.  

"And we'll try to get as high in Bile Mountain as we can," adds Orbius.  "To pierce the hidden secrets."



_*Next Time:*_ Turning that guy back to flesh, and a stern warning about spying!  Don't miss the assassination of a party member!


----------



## the Jester

*Warnings*

The ogres are ushered away once they reach the Temple of Elemental Good; hopefully, Lester's head acolyte will be able to put them to good use and keep them out of trouble.  Lester puts them out of his mind for now.

The next morning, the party is walking down the streets of Var, en route to do some shopping, when the assassination happens.  It seemingly comes out of nowhere, and right before their eyes, Orbius is murdered.  They group is talking about turning the captured and petrified fellow back to flesh when something unseen slips from a hiding place and attacks him.  The Eye cries out as he suffers grievous damage, and then something _else_ unseen attacks him from the other side.  He tries to evade their attacks by casting a _mirror image_ and now that they aren't hiding anymore, Lester can see them- they're some kind of air elemental creatures- but there's nothing he can do in time.  

There's a terrible snap as one of the aerial assassins grabs Orbius by the neck and kills him.  Then it drops a note and both of the elemental creatures ascend into the sky, flying away fast.

"NO!  MY EYE!!!" Lester screams, and shoots a _fireball_ after them, wounding one of them a little.  He flies after them on his wings, but they're far quicker than he, and he can only cast one more _fireball_ at them before they're out of range.  The rest of the party is still trying to figure out what just happened, and the only thing they're sure of is that Orbius lays in the street, his eyes glazed and open, staring at nothing, head at an unnatural angle.

Lester returns, angry.  "Damn it!  Who were those guys?  And why'd they do it??  I need my Eye back!"  He snatches the note from the Eye's chest.

_Do not trifle with or spy on us,_ it reads.  It's unsigned, but Lester curses.  "It was the Temple of Elemental Evil, I'll bet!  Ooh, we gotta get those guys!"



_*Next Time:*_ Lester's quest for a scroll of _true resurrection!_  Will this change the party's direction?  And coming soon- Alcar's return!


----------



## the Jester

The party goes about their shopping, though Lester's priorities have changed somewhat.  After talking with Horbin, he's decided to seek a _true resurrection_ for Orbius, since he doesn't want him to lose some of his life energy to death.  He expects it to be expensive, so he's selling rather than buying.  After some deep contemplation, he decides to sell his _frost brand,_ but first he asks his intelligent sword, "What do you think of me selling this?" 

"You don't need it," Felix Optima Maxima's feminine voice snorts.  "You have me." 

"You really should give me another _wish_ sometime," Lester mutters.  The sword, had it face, would smirk at that.  It granted Lester a single _wish_ many years before, in fighting its true enemies- the clockwork horrors.  But Lester and his old group, including King Malford, Hobbes the tabaxi, Thimbleton and many others defeated them at the source- drove off Master Control and turned off the horrors.  The sword doesn't anticipate any more trouble from them.*

After selling some valuable items, Lester combs the city for a scroll of _true resurrection_ but there just doesn't seem to be one to be found.  He curses to himself, long and loud, and then goes to Boccob's temple.  Orbius was a devout worshiper of Boccob and had donated many thousands of gold pieces to him here in Var; so Lester appeals to the priests for help.  They offer to raise the Eye from the dead, but cannot perform a miracle of the magnitude he seeks.

Frustrated, Lester prays, making a large sacrifice.  He implores Boccob for aid, and he meditates and prays for almost an hour.  Then, perhaps because of the level of power of Orbius as a worshiper of Boccob, perhaps because he's doing Boccob's work, perhaps because of the value of all the sacrifices that the L and Orbius have made for Boccob, Lester is granted a vision.

He sees a ruined church in a ruined city that stretches all along a huge dirty lake.  There are burn scars and entire neighborhoods that look like they've burned away; walls in ruins everywhere, with few rooftops still intact.  It's a huge city, or at least the corpse of one.

Lester comes out of the vision, but the image of the church and the ruined city is a starting point.  He asks the priests about ruined cities around a lake and is told he should speak to Brother Nelly, who is apparently the historian and geographer of the church of Boccob.  When the L finally speaks to Brother Nelly, working in the gardens, Nelly tells him that the city is likely to be Makon, once the largest metropolis known to exist, the capital of Imperial Wotan- a country that vanished with the coming of Fuligin.  It's far away, but Brother Nelly offers to blindfold Lester and Angelfire and get them there along a secret way, and they accede.  



*Astute readers may note that the band of adventurers that Horbin was with about five years ago traveled on a ship covered in clockwork horrors and reactivated them.  Whether or not this will have any long-term or large-scale repercussions has not yet been revealed.  




_*Next Time:*_ What price must Lester pay for Orbius' _true resurrection?_


----------



## the Jester

*The Price For Orbius*

Blindfolded, Lester and Angelfire are led along a long path.  For a time they can hear their footsteps echoing all around- it seems that they pass through a long cavern- and then they can smell fresh air and hear birdsong again.  Soon after, Brother Nelly removes the blindfolds. 

Our heroes look around.  They're at the edge of a massive ruin that spreads as far as the eye can see.  Buildings are burnt or simply abandoned, almost intact or cast down entirely.  There is a huge lakeshore that stretches out along the left hand side.

"Excellent," breathes the L.  This is definitely the place he saw in his vision.  He thanks Nelly and tells the Boccobite that they can get back to Var on their own.  

"Good luck to you," says Nelly.  He turns and walks off, apparently to whatever secret path he led them here by.  Lester and Angelfire turn their attention to the task of finding the church.  Lester takes to the air on his bat-like wings, and soon enough he spots the church from his vision, but it's in much worse shape than he'd thought.

The two approach it quickly.  The roof has collapsed over most of the temple and little of the place remains in any kind of easily-searched shape.  Lester looks on with despair.  If he'd only taken Horbin here, he could talk him into casting _find the path_ or something...

Frustrated, the elementalist kneels down before the altar.  "Galador," he prays, "I helped watch over your son, Dexter, and helped deliver him from Bleak.  I've never prayed to you before- never asked you for anything- but I need my cohort back at his full power if we're to succeed at overthrowing Bile Mountain- which I'm sure you want to see happen as well!  Please, guide me here!"

Lester and Angelfire begin searching, and almost immediately the L finds himself drawn to a crack in the altar.  There's a secret compartment in it- and within that, a scroll.  

As the L picks up the delicate, rolled-up parchment, he feels a sense of heavy obligation fall onto him.  "Oh no," he moans, "not a _geas!_"





_*Next Time:*_ Too bad Lester doesn't even know what his geas is, huh?  Orbius returns from the dead- and the party returns to Bile Mountain!  Can Alcar be far behind?


----------



## the Jester

A shaken Orbius is brought back to life.  He's angry that someone came after him, and it makes him very nervous about scrying enemies a lot.  Lester tells him not to worry- "Death's just a temporary thing.  I've been dead before; I came back too.  Heck, I'll bet most of us have been dead before!" -but Orbius just shakes his head.  Horbin frowns; his recent death left him profoundly shaken.

The party spends ten days taking care of various forms of business.  Lester fasts and meditates, trying to ascertain the nature of his _geas_, but to no avail.  Various items are bought, dents are hammered out of the party's armor and shields, commissioned items are procured.  And then the party's ready to return to Bile Mountain.

"I'm really worried about my daughter," says Sybele mournfully.

Angelfire shrugs.  "I'll worry about my father when I'm not busy."

The party decides to _mass teleport_ in to the beholder duel chamber.  They'll explore from there.  They cast their various power-up spells and then they're off.  In an instant, the Temple of Elemental Good disappears from around them and is replaced by the strange beholder architecture.  There are verticle tubes leading both up from the ceiling and down from the floor, but most seems to be merely places for beholders to retreat.  A cursory search turns up one that actually exits, however.

"You know," Lester says, "we could really use Alcar's help.  He and I used to adventure together, and he's really tough.  And he packs a lot of healing, which is always good."

"But he's my enemy," says Angelfire flatly.  "He's already attacked us."

"Well, yeah, but I bet I can talk him into behaving."

"I don't believe I'm hearing this," mutters Sheva, but Horbin looks like he's intrigued by the idea- after all, Alcar is an angel of his god.

"Look," Lester continues, "I'm for peace in the party.  I'll just make it very clear to him how things are, and we know he's trying to overthrow this place too- we're bound to run into him again sometime anyhow, right?"

"If he starts anything, I'll kill him," warns Angelfire.

"And if it comes to that, we'll all help you.  But it won't," Lester assures him.

And he shuffles out a trump of Alcar.



_*Next Time:*_ Alcar rejoins the party?  How long can that last??


----------



## the Jester

*Alcar Returns (Again)*

Alcar has a strange puzzled look on his face when Lester contacts him.  "Lester!" he exclaims.  "But you look younger again!"

"What?  No, never mind- the important thing is, we're back in Bile Mountain, and I know you want to destroy it too, and we should work together."

"Who are you with?" Alcar asks suspiciously.

It takes a few minutes for Lester to persuade the angel, but finally Alcar agrees to keep the peace as long as Angelfire doesn't start anything.  The L sternly warns him that "I'm on the side of peace, you understand?  So whoever starts it, I'm against them."

And Alcar rejoins our heroes.

The tension's palpable.  Angelfire and he exchange a glare, and the party advances.  Lester's got a plan to keep them from each others' throats- _keep moving._  The group ascends the tube in the beholder chamber in a variety of ways- sticking to the walls or flying- and soon they find themselves in an hall with holes all through the walls, almost like swiss cheese.  "What's all this?" wonders Orbius.

He's answered, although he almost wishes he wasn't.  There's a crackling hiss and a ray shoots out from one of the holes.  The Eye's face drains as he realizes what they've walked into.  There are beholders in the halls here!  Several more beams shoot out from the holes- from somewhere behind the walls!  "This is a bad situation!" he yells.  "Those are beholder rays!"  Even as he speaks, a green ray hits Alcar, and the blast deals severe damage to him (though he isn't disintegrated).  Worse, there's no way for the party to attack back- they can't see the beholders at all!



_*Next Time:*_ The beholder nest!  Will the party's weak alliance with Alcar hold?  And where do they use that key from the elder brain pool?  The answers are coming soon!


----------



## the Jester

> *
> *Astute readers may note that the band of adventurers that Horbin was with about five years ago traveled on a ship covered in clockwork horrors and reactivated them.  Whether or not this will have any long-term or large-scale repercussions has not yet been revealed.
> *





Just thought I'd post the link to the part of the old story hour where that happened, just for the sake of 'the big picture.'


----------



## Talix

Wow, great updates!

I am honestly astonished that they are working with Alcar again after what happened last time.  It seems to be working, and I'd guess that it will continue to work as long as they are facing mutual bad guys - these beholders should do the trick.    After that, though... 

Don't you start weakening and generally not doing well if you don't work on your geis?  Isn't the L generally doomed in that case, since he doesn't know what his geis is the for the moment?    Ouch!

In other words, great fun!


----------



## the Jester

Talix said:
			
		

> *Don't you start weakening and generally not doing well if you don't work on your geis?  Isn't the L generally doomed in that case, since he doesn't know what his geis is the for the moment?    Ouch!
> *




Lester finds out what his geas is soon enough, and in this case it's a _prohibitive_ geas to stop him from doing the wrong thing... heh heh...


----------



## the Jester

*Eye Ray Boogie*

There's a flurry of eye blasts through the holes in the walls.  Several strike various party members, slowing or wounding them.  Lester, Alcar and Angelfire immediately rush down the various passages to find their enemies- they know they have to find them and kill them fast- while much of the rest of the party begins a retreat.

Alcar reaches one beholder and rushes it.  The two battle for a moment, but the angel is puissant and mighty, and the beholder falls before him quickly.  Lester and Angelfire find the other beholder and come at it from both sides; and though they're both hit by eye beams, they both manage to shrug off the effects.  The second beholder dies as well.

The party regroups, then searches around.  This area, its walls swiss cheesed with holes, yields another passage.  They advance.  After only a few dozen feet the smooth-bored passage opens into a large chamber.  The room holds a beholder and two weird monstrous creatures that combine the features of a bull, a man and a beetle are there with it.  

"By Galador!" Alcar cries, invoking his _holy aura_, and then the battle is joined.



_*Next Time:*_ The final beholder battle!


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

You know, the phrases on your sig are nearly as interesting as the SH itself! Keep on, great stuff!


----------



## the Jester

*The Final Beholder Battle*

The monstrous humanoids instantly show that they aren't just some dumb beasts, manifesting powers of confusion and feeblemind.  The beholder- the _last_ beholder they'll face in the mountain, though our heroes don't know that yet- starts firing off eye rays like mad.  But the L and Alcar meet the attack of the enemies with their own mighty magic.  A _flame strike_ whumps down from the ceiling, and since Alcar burned more of his _incense of meditation_ it's maximized.  The beholder, sadly, can't take the damage, and it drops in mere moments... and the two reptile-beetle-rhino things (whatever they are) find themselves in close combat with Lester, Angelfire and Alcar immediately.  One of them breathes out a frosty cone, and both of them strike at our heroes with huge greatclubs and their dreadful horns, and Alcar and Lester each take some wounds- but not enough to even slow them down.  In less than thirty seconds the battle's done as Angelfire decapitates the last of the enemies with a blow of his falchion.

Barely breathing hard, the tough band of adventurers sets to searching the place.  Strange grey fungus grows almost everywhere, and there are nests of matted, rotting vegatation ("These must be for those beetle guys, since the beholders float," Norman says in passing).  After about ten minutes of searching, the party recovers several thousand coins and a pouch holding a dozen pieces of amber, but they can find no exit, so they return to the last other turning they haven't taken, from the beholder duelling area.

The hall leads to a pair of doors.  One of them is more than impressive, looking like a thick plug of coppery metal that Lester tells them is orichalcum.  The other is more normal, though large (as have been almost all the doors in Bile Mountain).  A moment's discussion and the party decides to take the more normal door first.  They make ready to throw it open- but before they can, it opens up to reveal another of the sting-tailed ice giants.

[color=139991]"Hold!"[/color] the creature cries as the party's hands fly to their weapons.  [color=139991]"I have no wish to fight you!"[/color]

The group hesitates for a moment.

[color=139991]"You have destroyed Red-Eye, who kept my people here enslaved.  Now we will not oppose you... so long as you do not interfere with us."[/color]

"We can take this thing," Angelfire calls, and Alcar scowls at the ice giant.  For once they're in agreement.  But then Lester speaks up.

"Hey, we don't need to fight this guy, we've got better things to do.  In fact," he turns to the icy creature, "why don't you join us?"

The giant's face darkens.  [color=139991]"You have slain many of my people,"[/color] he rumbles.  [color=139991]"I will not hinder you, but do not _dare_ ask for my aid."[/color]

The party considers for a moment.  The creature- its name is Tarent- answers a few of their questions; he tells them that his kind are called the Immoths, and that they were enslaved by Red-Eye's beholder clan years ago.  Lester demands his treasure, but he scoffs and tells them that they already looted it from his people.  When asked what he will do now, Tarent shrugs, telling them he's undecided.  [color=139991]"You have killed most of my people.  I must find a new cause in my life."[/color]  Yes, this guy was the immoths' leader- and that factor finally sways the party; they'll leave him alone.  After all, the regular ones were tough enough.

"I can probably get you to your home plane," Horbin offers.  

[color=139991]"I do not need your help,"[/color] Tarent tells him coldly.

"Fine," says Lester.  "Well, then, one more thing- what's behind that door?"  He jerks his thumb at the thick portal on the other end of the hall.

[color=139991]"I do not know,"[/color] Tarent replies.  [color=139991]"I have never seen it open, nor could the beholders penetrate beyond it."[/color]  At this our heroes exchange glances and smile grimly.  If the beholders couldn't do it...

_There's just got to be loot,_ thinks Lester.




_*Next Time:*_ How does the party get through the door?  What's back there?  Will Alcar continue to work with the party?  And what the heck is resonite??


----------



## the Jester

*"That's the Thickest Door I've Ever Seen!"*

An examination of the door reveals that it's locked with a strange, large-looking keyhole, but neither Sheva nor Norman can get through it even with their best efforts.  None of the party's available magic seems to work either.

This leads to a discussion about the merits of opening the door at all.  "What if there's something locked away there that shouldn't be let out?" Horbin points out.

Lester has a lot of experience with these sorts of things; he once pulled a lever that released an entity called Fuligin from a cage that had held him for _billions_ of years.  Fuligin, once released, virtually destroyed the continent of Dorhaus, summoning demons and devils and ravaging the landscape.  His order was simple: if it isn't evil- be it man, animal or plant- kill it.  Lester, along with Malford, Thimbleton, Hobbes and other great heroes- had to travel time itself back to the universe destroyed by Fuligin's master to overthrow him and free Dorhaus.  The whole adventure cost thousands of lives and left Dorhaus overcome by evil for about a hundred years.  Even now, with Fuligin overthrown about a decade ago and Malford now ruling as God-King of West Dorhaus from Var, the population is low, and many evil creatures and forces remain.

"Well, look," says the L, "if we let something out, we'll eventually kill it and take its treasure.  Look at my armor, for instance.  It came from Fuligin.  Yeah, he was a badass, and sure, it took a while, but we managed to take him.  And now I have his armor, which is pretty cool stuff.  So I think we should go on through."

I guess that just goes to prove that some people never learn.  

In any event, our heroes scrabble at the doors a little more, scratching their collective heads, until finally someone remembers the big key from the elder brain pool.  They pull it out- and sure enough, it fits in the lock just perfectly.  And as they turn it, a strange humming arises from the door.  Slowly the orichalcum plug sinks back away from them- revealing itself to be no less than 44' thick!  It filled a thick passage that seems to lead into another chamber.

As the party warily advances, they are met by a pair of strange headless things.  They tumble in with surpriseing speed, attack and tumble away out of sight around the thick plug.  They're moving with blurring speed, seeming to shuffle from one limb to another freely, using all four limbs to move and attack!  Their movements are more than a little baffling.

As our heroes move in and try to fight back, it rapidly becomes apparent that these things move faster than anything this side of a quickling, and with their monk-like abilities, they can heal themselves.  Fire blasts down on one, but it easily evades it, taking no damage.  Then they move in to press their attack, dodging and weaving with unreal alacrity.  Arrows zing at them but they bat them aside.  

Orbius fires a volley of _seeker missiles_ that streak around, missing, but circle in to try again.  The weird headless things are moving with unbelievable grace, leaping from place to place and slamming our heroes around like raquetballs.  Spells and weapons both have trouble landing on the monsters, but our heroes have managed to inflict a few serious wounds by now, and a couple of the _seeker missiles_ have landed as well.   Alcar finally manages to get a full attack on one of the headless, and with a cry to Galador he drops it down with a final crushing blow to the chest.

The other headless monk continues to dance from enemy to enemy, but it staggers as the L's blade conncects with it and there's a clap of chaotic thunder.  Then Orbius casts another _seeker missiles_ spell, and they zip in.  For once the creature is off-balance from Lester's blow and suffers almost the full effect of the missiles.  It drops as well.

Panting, our heroes look around at the chamber they're in.  They're all battered and bloodied from the assault, and they're also getting low on spells and psionic power points.  After a quick look around the room, they decide, they'll head back to Var for the night.

The room has few features.  Only a set of huge stairs, about 2' high and wide, leads up and out; they seem to be vibrating, filling the room with a low hum.  And the walls are painted with ancient, faded imagery: A group of tall cloaked figures is shown, being guarded by headless and having the mastodon loxo as workers.  The group is shown coming to Bile Mountain when the river ran clean, bearing some sort of wagon of crystals.  They  enter the mountain (where they overthrow some sort of powerful angelic being) and then it runs with bile, to the delight of the cloaked figures.  The final scene shows a headless celebration around a large pool of bile with a large rock outcropping over it having a 30’ long pillar of crystal plunging down into the bile.  The cloaked figures are on the outcropping, near the crystal, and seem to be concentrating on it.  The crystal looks like it is glowing and it seems to be shooting out bile.

The party takes note of the images, then trumps away.  They'll be back soon enough.



_*Next Time: *_The party tries to  turn that petrified bad guy back to flesh and take his stuff!  And what's up with the vibrating stairs?  The party's about to hit epic challenges by sidestepping all the stuff on the lower levels of Bile Mountain- and they're from 12th-17th level!!


----------



## the Jester

The next day, the party turns Sorzast (the petrified villain that Lester turned to stone previously) back to flesh in the Temple of Elemental Good and immediately moves to subdue him; but he turns to mist and flees out the building.  "Cripes, he's another vampire!" Horbin cries.

"Well, it's broad daylight," Lester says.  The party rushes outside.

They can't find his body, but it seems likely that he's been destroyed.  They leave word for the authorities just in case.

Angelfire tries to sell his _ring of protection +3_ but there doesn't seem to be enough ready cash in Var to purchase it.  Disgruntled, he decides to wait for Pesh City.  Accompanied by Lester, he visits a temple of Bleak- Var has a policy of free religion, even to distasteful faiths.  Angelfire wants to get his falchion made unholy.  Lester becomes increasingly uncomfortable during the negotiations- the priest of Bleak seems perfectly willing to do it in return for "a favor that we'll name later."  Lester leaves.  He doesn't like or trust Bleak worshipers; he's had to fight the worst of them in the past.

With Orbius, Lester _stone shapes_ an idol of Boccob.  The Eye then _communes_.

_Did the forces of the Temple of Elemental Evil send the air elemental assassins?_ *Yes.*
_What is the name of the air elemental rogue?_ *Lendivo.*
_And the name of the monk?_ *There was no monk.*
_What was the other creature that attacked?_ *A mortal hunter.*
_What is its name?_ *Turfi.*
_What is the consequence of Lester taking the scroll of true resurrection?_ *He cannot raise a hand against Galador.*
_Does Boccob side against Galador in the War of Ethics?_ *Yes.*
_Is there any way to destroy the geas?_ *Yes.*
_What must he do?_ *Break the Throne of Darkness.*
_What guards the Throne of Darkness?_ *The Famine.*
_What is the greatest weakness of the Famine?_ *Unknown.*
_Given our current path in Mt. Bile, will Lester come to blows with agents of Galador?_ *Unknown.*
_Is there any way to side with Boccob and not offend Galador in the immediate future?_ *Yes.*

Alcar, meanwhile, trumps off to see an old friend- Belmondo the Enhanced, a dwarven prostheticist and master of the order of mountained maimed old soldiers called the Rough Riders.  Belmondo's at his famous lighthouse.  They hang out for a while and catch up on old times.  Both are strong in the Light, and Alcar tells Belmondo that he's worried about this Bile Mountain place.

"Perhaps Belmondo can help you," Belmondo says.  "Belmondo will give you one of these- but be very careful with it!  It is very dangerous!"  The dwarf hands Alcar a glass globe, about 8" in diameter, full of green slime.

The party takes care of some shopping needs in Pesh via teleportation and trump, Alcar rejoins them, and they prepare to go back to Bile Mountain.  Lester summons a _planar ally_- an earth elemental of impressive power named Polsoon.  The elemental agrees to help cleanse Bile Mountain in exchange for Lester's help in slaying an "air prince" named Ahhl'Ahhh.

In the afternoon they gather and _mass teleport_ back into Bile Mountain- more specifically, the room past the great plug to ascend the great stairs.  They stop before them, and Sheva looks for any sign of traps; finding none, the redhead in a chain mail bikini steps out of the way.

"I think this is resonite," says Orbius.  "I've never seen it before, but I've heard of it.  It's an extremely rare stone, and if you gather enough of it into one place it sets up weird magical resonating fields that can have all kinds of different magical effects.  It's impossible to harness or control it..."  His voice trails off as he looks at the massive stairs.  "Supposedly."

A little magical examination ensues.  With _detect magic_ spells, they can see a series of magical fields of energy that they'd have to pass through as they ascended the stairs.  

"Maybe we can go around them," suggests Lester, and tries to _stone shape_ the wall.  It doesn't work, though; his spell won't affect the stone of the wall.  

"We'll have to go through them," says Horbin.  "I'll find out how we go through each one."  With that, he casts _find the path_.



*Next Time:*  To Breach the Resonating Fields!  What happens when you get in too deep somewhere you can't get out of??


----------



## the Jester

*To Breach the Resonating Fields*

"We can just push through the first field," says Horbin.

A little experimentation reveals that the field is slightly elastic.  Angelfire puts his back into it and pushes through the field, leaving a barely-visible hole still in place.  Alcar scurries through, glancing momentarily at Angelfire, but the rest of the party is not quick enough- the hole closes.  

"Crap," says Horbin.  "Well, the next field needs to be overcome by channeling sufficient energy at it."  Upon hearing this, Alcar extends his hand, holy symbol presented, and begins channeling.  In a few short seconds a hole tears open in the field- again it's visible.  Alcar passes through it.

"No sweat," Lester tells the rest of the party.  "Here, I'll just push a hole through-"  As Lester tries to push another hole into it, he realizes that it isn't going to be easy.  With a grunt, he fails to penetrate it- and then both he and Horbin, too close to the field, suddenly dance with electricity.

"Ow!" cries Horbin.  "That sucks!"

"I could try again," Lester says dubiously, but from the other side, Angelfire grunts and throws himself at it again.  He's enhanced by both psionics and magic, and his strength is enormous.  The field tears visibly again and the party moves past it, through the hole.

Now that they know they have to move quickly, the party works efficiently to try to work their way past the fields.  The third field must be unraveled by skilled spellcraft; Orbius takes the challenge and defeats it.  The next field has a very narrow gap that can be squirmed through; a perfect mission for Habiskis, Sheva's imp.  The final field must be talked into letting them past; Zeebo handles it with his customary aplomb.  (Boy is he horny.  Extended dungeon adventures try him sorely due to his enormous fertility.)

At the top is a strange magical circle.  It's got hundreds of runes in extremely complex configurations scribed in it; even at first glance Orbius can tell that this is far beyond anything he's ever seen before in terms of magical complexity and power.

With the sort of faith in the ultimate fairness in life that tends to kill cocky parties of adventurers, our heroes all pile into the circle without even examining the runes beyond that cursory glance or anything.  And they all vanish, teleported to the highest level of Bile Mountain of all.




_*Next Time:*_ Enter- Axon and Axel!  (I originally thought I could get one of their threat ranges down to 6-20...)


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

> With the sort of faith in the ultimate fairness in life that tends to kill cocky parties of adventurers, our heroes all pile into the circle without even examining the runes beyond that cursory glance or anything. And they all vanish, teleported to the highest level of Bile Mountain of all.




Now that's heroic fantasy! I presume the next update is the epic level battle you've been talking about?

Bring it on! Still enjoying this enormously!


----------



## Talix

Woohoo! Bring on the epic battle!  

Did they stay long enough for Angelfire to get his sword Unholy-ed?  Wouldn't that be pretty expensive (and time-consuming) to do on top of the other enchantments on it?

Man, the party sure is racking up the debts that they have - one favor to evil priests, and now a promise to help take down an air prince! 

Lookin' forward to this next scene.


----------



## the Jester

*Enter Axon and Axel!*

A dizzy, sickening moment passes.  And then the party reappears, somewhere else, though shaken by the transition; and two individuals are watching them warily, each apparently armed with two rapiers.  The creatures look like humans, but they're clearly metallic.

"Greetings," one calls warily.  "You must be strong to have come this far, but know that there is no escape.  We bid you serve the Bile Lords!"

Our heroes are nonplussed.  "Take us to them," Sheva says into the silence, and to their surprise the creatures nod.  

"Follow us," says the second metal creature, "and we will escort you to the first of them."  With that, the two constructs begin leading the way.  

As the party moves down a hall after them, a door opens and a giant peers out at them and scowls.  Another door opens, and a heavily-armored human gazes warily at them from the threshold.  _Or is he?_ wonders Horbin.  _There have been so many evil monsters that looked like humans lately..._  Clearly, other creatures have chosen to serve these Bile Lords.

Soon enough, the two metal creatures- their names are Axon and Axel- lead the party to a door.  With a warning to stand back lest they be harmed by the Bile Lord's power, they knock and, at a call from beyond, throw the door wide.  Beyond is a modestly-furnished bed chamber- and Chemnu, the Bile Lord.  

Chemnu is hideous.  The bile lord is ten feet tall, withered with age, skin yellow and dripping disgusting yellow bile like sweat.  He has only small patches of hair remaining and looks almost skeletally thin.  A cloud of noxious yellow gas seems to emanate from him, extending about 15' from him.

"Visitors, my lord," says Axon.

The party, naturally, is on the balls of their feet, ready to spring into action at a moment's notice- but this guy looks old and mean.  Angelfire tries to move up close to him to take his measure eye to eye, but as he moves into the cloud he groans, sickened by it, and moves back.  

"Have they agreed to serve?" Chemnu asks.  His voice is old and ragged, but not faint; it's as strong as steel.

"Not yet, my lord," Axel replies.

"You will," he says to the party.  "There is no other choice.  There is no way out of this level of Bile Mountain.  In the meantime," Chemnu tells Axon and Axel, "allow them the run of the place.  Except for the personal quarters of the Bile Lords, of course.  And show them our power."

The two constructs nod and lead the party away.  They're all somewhat shaken by the reception they're getting; and the human and giant- indicative of others who have come and not been able to escape- are a little demoralizing too.  But our heroes aren't quitters, so they've all got plans forming.

Then Axon and Axel show them the room of cages.  Along the floor are a dozen small cages, each holding withered and dead creatures that tried to resist the power of the bile lords.  Among these forms are ones recognizable as some sort of celestial, a dragon, a pit fiend, a marilith, an illithid, a mastodon loxo and many unrecognizable creatures that have rotted away.

"You may wander at will for now, but you must come to your senses in time.  There is no other source of food or drink, unless you can create it yourselves.  And there is no escape.  The Bile Lords have been here for a very long time."




_*Next Time: *_Well, now what do our heroes do??


----------



## the Jester

*Trapped in Bile Mountain*

Left to their own devices, our heroes rapidly discover that neither teleportation nor trumps will allow them to escape.  There are four main halls leading from the room they were initially transported to.  One leads to the servant quarters, where they saw the human and the giant, and to Chemnu; the next leads to the room of cages.  The third, according to Axon and Axel, leads to the rooms of the other Bile Lords- who may not appreciate intrusion.  The final one leads to an unfinished area.  "You may go there if you like, but be warned- there are bile beasts of fantastic power there," Axel had warned them.  "We cannot guarantee your safety there."

Naturally, the party has gone to the unfinished area- or at least far enough down the hall that they're out of sight of the two construct guardians.  They have a strategy session, and consider trying to raise the dragon in the cage.  Zeebo has a sinking fear that the Bile Lords may have killed the dragon he's looking for, and it might even sort of be _his_ dragon- while guarding the hatching cave of the dragon eggs, Zeebo had... performed experiments on some of the eggs, experiments related to his enormous fertility.

The party decides to try to find out what they can about this place with divination magic, now that they're inside it.  Orbius casts a _legend lore_ about this level of Bile Mountain, and receives this in response:

_Locked shut tight by epic spells
Sealed against intrusion and flight
Feeding forever from bilish hells
Into the river by Peshan night
Beware the Lords of Bile
Who feed their needs with misery's gain
Their crux is the crystal
Destroy it if you can to end the pain._

Zeebo goes to the cage chamber and sets out to _identify_ the cages, but- as he feared- they are too complex for his spell to decipher.  Horbin casts a _commune_ and speaks with deity.

Are the Bile Lords native to the Prime Plane? *Yes.*
Where's the crystal? *Unknown.*
Do you know how I can find the crystal? *No.*
Are there are any allies we can make here? *Maybe.*
How might I recognize them? *My enemy's enemy is my friend.*
Are any of the Lords in conflict with each other? *Unknown*
Are any of the Lords' minions in conflict with each other? *No.*
How powerful are the minions compared to the Lords? *Fairly.*
Do I have a chance at dispelling their magic? *Unknown.*
Are the creatures in the cages dead? *Some.*
Can they be healed? *Unnecessary and useless.*
Are they retrievable at all? *Yes.*
Will anything less than a wish or miracle retrieve them? *Yes.*
Will a regenerate help? *No.*

The group talks over what they've learned.  Alcar tries to bend the bars of the cage holding the shriveled celestial, but to no avail.  All of the creatures in the cages lie still and unmoving; if any of them are alive, none of them show it.  Frustrated, the angel stalks off.

Sheva casts a _sending_ to her church on Tirchond, telling the head priest that she and Angelfire are trapped in Bile Mountain and that the entire congregation should pray constantly until they're freed.  Then she beats her imp and makes him _commune_ with the infernal powers.

Why was the pit fiend in the cage here in Bile Mountain? *It was helping an evil cleric.*
What evil cleric? *Dythax the Bone-Spirited.*
Is there any way to revive the pit fiend? *Yes.*
Who are the Bile Lords? *An ancient, corrupt and mysterious power.*
What are the names of the Bile Lords? *Unknown.*
What became of Dythax? *He died.*

Since he regenerates, the imp's black eye fades quickly.  He stares resentfully at Sheva for a moment after relaying his _commune_ results, then fades back into invisibility.  After discussing what they've learned so far, Orbius casts yet another _commune_.

What spell is needed to free the caged creatures?  *Several may work.*
What can I use? *Greater Dispelling or Dispel Magic.*
What cleric spells that Horbin could cast would work? *Break Enchantment.*
Do we risk angering the Bile Lords by freeing their prisoners? *Possibly.*
Where was Dythax the Bone-Spirited slain? *On the third level.*
What level are we on now? *Six.*
Which Lord of Bile Mountain would be most eager to have us serve? *Unknown.*
Is there a source of food here? *Not a safe one.*
Will a discern location allow me to find the location of the crystal? *Maybe.*
Is there anyone who could take us safely to the crystal? *No.*
Is the crystal located on level six? *Unknown.*
Who within Bile Mountain knows the location of the crystal? *Unknown.*
Is it at all possible to use Lester's power to dig a way out? *Possible but unlikely.*
Can anyone in the party successfully bring back the dead prisoners? *No.*

More discussion ensues, and the party decides first to go into the dangerous unfinished section of the level to see what they can find.  "Maybe the crystal's hidden there," Zeebo suggests.

So they follow the hall down to where it opens into a huge chamber with a hideous monster in it.




_*Next Time:*_ The party fights a monster with a 10d12 breath weapon!


----------



## the Jester

*Bile Beasts*

The party has the drop on it, and they use their initiative to good effect: Sheva moves in and whips out a blade, Horbin and Alcar both cast _flame strike_- though the creature resists Horbin's.  Orbius' _magic missiles_ fizzle against its spell resistance as well.  Polsoon, Lester's conjured earth elemental, charges forward with the L on his shoulder.  And the bile beast is too slow to react until suddenly everyone is on top of it (except for Zeebo, who's moved back and is crouching behind a corner, peeking out to cast buffing spells on his allies (he's already hasted Sheva).

Then the things breathes.  

A huge cone of wretched, vomit-smelling acid spews from the great reptillian monster's mouth.  The cone sprays over everyone except Zeebo, although Polsoon's massive bulk provides some cover for many of the party.  The pain that burns in on them all is extreme, severe; the acid hisses as it eats hair and flesh.  The screams of the party chill the Mayor, but everyone's still alive... and with the multiplicity of clerics up there, he's hopeful it'll stay that way.  He casts another _haste_, this one on Angelfire.

The creature's desperate for a way out; it's huge, but it's surrounded now, suffering under the hammering blows of Alcar, Lester, Polsoon, Sheva and Angelfire; it's no surprise that it falls before it has another chance to act.  

Speed and surprise seem to be the order of the day; the party finds a bile roper and Horbin slays it in a single round with a _destruction_ spell.  Continuing along, the party sees a passage that descends into a bile-filled area.  "No way," Horbin says.

"We can come back later if we need to," Sheva says, thinking, _I could make Habiskis swim down there..._

Further explorations lead to another chamber with a pool in it.   The party looks around warily, and suddenly the imp's voice cries out, "Master- in the pool!!"

A strange, watery, frog-like creature drooling bile from its immense mouth* suddenly rises to the surface of the water, and the party feels a wracking pain as a horrible, dehydrating blast of pain shoots through all of them.  Even wracked with terrible pain, however, they still manage to return fire with a volley of _seeker missiles_ and a _flame strike_.  Then the thing's tongue shoots out, grabbing Angelfire, and with a startled cry, the fiery priest of Coila is dragged into the bile!  And the bloated monster starts sinking into the bile, dragging him under!



*This was a half-water elemental bile froghemoth, by the way.  


_*Next Time: *_The end of the froghemoth fight, and we get closer to the epic battles... yes, battle_s_...


----------



## the Jester

*Bile Battles*

Even as the froghemoth is dragging Angelfire into its foul yellow pool, the rest of the party is moving to stop it.  Polsoon's thunderous granite fist bashes down on it with mighty force, and the two struggle for an instant.  The clerics, meanwhile, are trying to pass around a little healing for the worst of the injured- the _horrid wilting_ inflicted grievous damage on almost everyone.  

The froghemoth's struggles stop as Polsoon pounds it again, and Angelfire emerges from the bile, gasping and retching.

After a few moments of healing and recuperation, the group continues on.  They all fly or air walk across a nasty area full of bile they'd prefer not to wade through- Zeebo is hanging from Sheva's back- and then into a large cave.  And in the cave is another huge hideous creature- this one almost wormlike, with multiple tentacles coming from its face.  Habiskis shrieks as he recognizes it: it's an illithid tadpole- but it has grown and grown until it's gargantuan in size!  And it drips with stinking frothy bile...

The battle is joined with a pillar of fire and a volley of _seeker missiles_ streaking in at the monstrous neothelid.  Zeebo's somehow gotten turned around and is hanging upside down, gripping Sheva with his legs as he tries to _slow_ the horrid monster.  Angelfire rushes in, but it's already spitting bile, catching Sheva, Zeebo and Angelfire all.  They gag and sicken as the monster starts shuffling towards them.  There's another volley of _seeker missiles_ streaking in, a storm of flames, a veritable rain of blows from Alcar and Angelfire, and finally, a trio of _flame arrows_ that kills the thing.  Once again, the party's overwhelming firepower overcomes their enemies... but the question remains: if it becomes necessary, will they so easily overcome the Bile Lords and their servants?

The group debates whether to continue.  Alcar, naturally, is all for it.  A few of the others waver, but Horbin puts his foot down.  "No.  Last time you got me killed this way!"  With that, it's decided, and the party goes to rest- they've been offered rooms by Axon and Axel.  As they pass the two constructs, Axel calls out, "Have you decided to serve the Bile Lords yet?"

"Not yet," Sybele says sweetly.

Their rooms are down the same hall as the human and giant.  As they troop in, the human comes out of his room, looking at them warily.  "I'm Thrush," he says, "and I'm the First Servant of the Bile Lords.  When you give in to them- and you will, we did- you'll be under my command.  Don't cause any trouble while you're here; you won't be able to handle it."

Sybele goes to talk to him up close and gives him the eye.  It's clear that she's coming on to him.

That evening, Orbius leads a discussion group on Law and Chaos with Zeebo and the L.  Sybele comes in in the middle of it, and towards the end, she says, "I'm sad about my daughter.  She's been kidnapped and we're trapped here!"

Zeebo tries to find Jezeble using Orbius' crystal ball, but to no avail.  Then, his loins bursting with need, he excuses himself and goes off to satisfy his needs, using the crystal ball for pornographic purposes.

Bored and dissatisfied, Alcar leaves to further explore.  He does not return that night.  The rest of the party rests and recovers spells.

The next morning they set off to further explore themselves, still with no sign of Alcar....




_*Next Time:*_ The Final Fate of Alcar!!


----------



## the Jester

*Alcar's Fate*

The party moves warily further into the rougher areas of the mountain, Sheva looking for Alcar's tracks- but of course, he was probably flying, so she finds nothing.  They're covered by _Malford's group invisibility_, a spell developed by Lester's friend- and God-King of Western Dorhaus- Malford the Magnificent.  It makes them invisible and silent to everyone except each other as long as they make no noise louder than normal conversation.

Soon the party enters a medium-sized cave with a steeply-sloping floor, the lower end of which is full of a pool of bile.  And on the bank is a foot.

"Oh, gross," says Sybele.

Upon inspection it's Alcar's foot.  

"Well, maybe he's dead.  It would save me some trouble," Angelfire says hopefully.  He whoops.

Then something rises from the pool- a hideous monster about 15' long, like a weird lobster crossed with some sort of monstrous mandibled insect, roaring from a drooling maw surrounded by writhing tentacles.  They can see part of a hand stuck in the corner of its mouth and it looks fairly wounded.

The party is invisible, but it heard them- and now it surges onto the dry part of the room and flails at the empty air, searching for them.  As its great claws snap out unsuccessfully it makes a horrible chittering sound.

This is enough for our heroes.  They unleash their powerful attacks on it- spells sizzle into it, arrows and blades bite it.  It staggers backwards for a moment, and then Sybele fires a succession of four arrows at the beast and slays it.

A cursory search turns up a few more fragments of hair, skin and bone... and feathers.  Sheva smacks Habiskis around and kicks him into the pool of bile, telling the imp to swim down and search it out.  The imp mournfully takes a deep breath and begins his search.  He turns up a number of items: two maces the party recognizes as Alcar's, a ring, his metallic leg, and a breastplate.  He spits and coughs, then vomits, when he  emerges from the pool.  They take the items, and Sybele takes the other foot of Alcar.  Perhaps it will become a relic someday.

Beyond the pool is another passage, unsubmerged; they could walk through it if they can get across the pool of the monster that slew Alcar.*  This is easy enough for our heroes, and they pass through the passageway and, at its end, they find themselves looking at a room full of bile except for a ledge that is cleverly concealed- only Sheva's sharp eyes pick it out.

Indicating it with a gesture, she starts moving towards the ledge....



*Actually, there were three of them, and he wounded one of them and blinded two of them before they took him down.  Then the one that could see slew the other two since it could, being somewhat wounded in the process; so now the rest of the part only had to fight one of them, and it was already wounded.



_edited to put in Habiskis' first swim in the bile._

_*Next Time:*_ Unexpected allies!


----------



## the Jester

*Unexpected Allies*

Flying, air walking, spider climbing and otherwise arriving up at the ledge, the party finds a pair of young dragons holding very still and being very quiet.

"It's okay, we aren't going to hurt you," Zeebo sooths in Draconic.  His pulse is racing.  This is a very, very welcome surprise- he'd become afraid that the dragon he was looking for was dead, and here he's found _two_ dragons.  The party coaxes the frightened young dragons into telling their tale.  

The two introduce themselves as Verzon, a 13' long red dragon, and Gaargagh, a 7' long black dragon.  They've been hiding here for weeks, now... ever since they fled here from the terrible fight.  All they really want is to get out of this terrible place.  They've been feeding on things from the bile, but it's been giving them terrible heartburn, and they can feel that it's not good for them...

"Who brought you here?" Sheva wants to know.

"The time people," Verzon squeaks.

"Two of them?" 

"Yeah," the red dragon replies.  

As Zeebo continues to talk to them, Sheva ponders.  _I bet they've been exposed to the age dragon spell in the Book of Time,_ she muses.  _Great and powerful allies..._

"We'll help you get out," Sybele tells the young dragons.  "Wait here for us."

The party explores further, but there is only one place they've not yet been- a stairway that leads down into a pool of stinking bile.  It doesn't look promising.

"For now, we can rest with the dragons," Horbin suggests.  "That way we aren't right under the eyes of the Bile Lords."  The rest of the group definitely agrees that that's a good idea, so they divide up some loot and get ready to rest.

"So how was it swimming in the bile?" Sheva asks Habiskis.

"Terrible!" the imp cries.

"You've been in worse places in Hell, right?"

"...I don't like where this is going, Master."




_*Next Time:*_ Habiskis takes another swim and finds something important!


----------



## the Jester

*Habiskis Finds Something Important*

"Before we rest," Sheva suggests, "let's send the imp in to see what's in that bile-filled chamber.  That way we know what to prepare for."

"Master, no," pleads Habiskis.

"Come on," she commands, and the reluctant imp follows her to the staircase that descends into the nasty pool.  The rest of the party comes along and watches as she points to the pool and orders the imp in.  Habiskis gives her a look of mindled fear, hate and lust, and then dives in.

A few moments later, the imp reappears, spluttering and retching.  "Master, the crystal!" he cries, swimming out of the pool and staggering around in a small circle.  He shakes himself off, and then Sheva grabs him and hugs him.  

"Perfect!" she cries.  "That's what we're looking for!"

"All right, then, we can plan," Zeebo says.  "As soon as we attack it, we can probably count on them knowing about it.  We need to be prepared.  And we need a way to get rid of the bile."

"Perhaps we can neutralize it with essential oils and stuff?" offers Sybele.

"I can control water or similar substances," Horbin says.  Sheva nods to indicate that she can too.  "We should be able to take care of it that way."

"Just like the elder brain," Lester enthuses.

"I'll go see if I can ply Thrush for information," Sybele offers.  "You rest here and I'll catch up with you in the morning."

"Slut," Sheva mutters.  Horbin laughs.

Sybele departs while the rest of the party plans in the dragons' cave.  They know they must be ready tomorrow.  "And I want to be able to get out as soon as we can," Orbius says.  When they've got a loose plan they sleep.  In the morning, Sybele returns.

"Thrush doesn't know anything about the crystal," she says.  "He's been in here for years with no way out, and he said that if we find the crystal we should let him know.  He wants out.  He's got it sweet here, except that he can never leave.  He hasn't seen a woman in four years."

"Slut," Sheva mutters.

The party discusses it, and decides they'll risk trusting him.  Sybele tells him to meet her at dinnertime.  "Don't tell anyone," she hisses.  He nods curtly.

The party makes ready as evening rolls in.  Sheva begins executing her plan as Sybele goes to meet Thrush.  They hope fervently that he's not going to betray them.  The red-haired priestess of Coila casts _lesser planar ally,_ but to her dismay she finds that she cannot summon anything.  _Crap,_ she thinks.

Sybele finds Thrush as he's heading for dinner.  She's rendered herself psionically invisible, and Horbin is likewise hidden with her.  As Thrush moves down the hall, she sofly alerts him and says, "Follow me."

"If this is a trick, I'll kill you," he states flatly.  

"Likewise," Horbin says in a low voice from nearby.

They return with Thrush.  There isn't a lot of trust between them, but it seems as though everyone's cards are on the table.  Thrush is a little taken aback by the dragons, but Horbin tells them that he's a new friend.  He spars a little with both Sybele and Angelfire, and is clearly significantly better than either of them.  

"Are we ready?" asks Lester.

They head to lower the bile and assault the crux crystal.




_*Next Time:*_ The Crux Crystal!  The party's first Epic-Level foe!!


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

*waits in fevered expectation*


----------



## Talix

Woot!    *waits expectantly*

And about time Alcar got himself killed.  

And way to identify the weaknesses of a man stuck for 4 years in the same place without any companionship!


----------



## the Jester

Well, it's the work week for me, had my parents here overnight last night, and we're throwing a party on Saturday... but I'll try to post the battle for the Crux Crystal before the weekend anyway!

Given just a little time with my notes in front of me it should be a snap.  The fight was actually fairly simple...


----------



## the Jester

*Attack on the Crux Crystal*

As our heroes come to the stair that leads down into the stinking frothy bile within which lays the Crux Crystal, Orbius warns them, "There's some sort of guardian- I saw it in a _vision_ earlier.  Unfortunately, it was shadowy- I couldn't see what it was."

"Well, we'll find out," Sheva says tersely.  Horbin begins praying to Dexter, his hands making lowering motions at the bile, and slowly the holy powers he represents do as he asks, and the yellow liquid starts bubbling as it drains away, leaving little bits of pale foam dancing momentarily in the air.  The bile drops significantly- and as it does, more of the stair becomes visible. Angelfire leads the party down to see more.  Then the Crystal itself comes into view.  It's huge, dropping into the bile pool and rising all the way to the chamber's ceiling.  It must be 10' in diameter, and the whole thing is covered in a layer of bile.  Worse yet, bile seems to be bleeding out of it from a multitude of places.  The stairs our heroes are descending lead to a torus-shaped 20' wide walkway that goes all the way around the wall about 20' down from the ceiling; a platform leads to directly around the crystal.

And they can see the guardian.  It's a golem of some kind, bile dribbling off it everywhere, and it seems to be made out of mithral.  It isn't moving yet.

"Well, you weren't lying," Thrush says quietly to Sybele.  She smiles nervously.  Angelfire doesn't even hesitate; he rushes into the room, down the wall and at the golem, sending a ringing blow at it.  And his blade fails to penetrate its tough plating.  _I hit it *hard,*_ he thinks grimly, and tries again, several times, without success.  There's a sweet chiming sound to the ringing of the mithral plating.

Sheva steps in, too- but she's all about the Crux Crystal.  She certainly doesn't like the look of the golem.  She swings as hard as she can and her blow lands square on the crystalline surface, sending cracks into it.  Bile starts flowing from them.  But the crystal's huge!  It's gonna take quite a bit of punishment to destroy it.  She sets to it with a will, and Thrush, Horbin and Sybele follow her example.  Orbius and Zeebo are trying to buff the party; Lester tries to turn part of the huge crystal to flesh, but fails, and Polsoon, his earth elemental ally, moves to block the walkway right above the mithral golem. 

As the party starts assaulting the crystal, the golem awakens.

Ignoring Angelfire's agressive attacks completely, the mithral golem starts clambering up the wall.  The comined breath weapons of both dragons doesn't even mark it- doesn't even slow it's climb.  "Trouble!!" Angelfire screams.....



_*Next Time:*_ Against the mithral golem!  Angelfire has hit once but failed to penetrate it's DR- how will our heroes fare??


----------



## the Jester

Just for the sake of reference, the party during this fight was:

-Horbin (cleric 14)
-Sheva (ranger 1/rogue 2/cleric 7/contemplative 3/assassin 2/monk 1)
-Sybele (fighter 8/psion 5/warrior of chaos 1)
-Zeebo (sorcerer 6/wizard 6)
-Angelfire (psychic warrior 11/cleric 3)
-Lester (elementalist 12/warrior of chaos 4)

They were fighting a CR 21 mithral golem (from the Epic-Level HB).  In case you aren't familiar with it, its AC 42 and has DR 50/+5.  Oh yeah, and it's constantly hasted.

_edit:_ Oh yeah, and the cohorts:
Orbius (Lester's cohort)- Diviner 7/Divine Oracle 7
Habiskis (Sheva's cohort)- imp rogue 6


----------



## the Jester

*The Crux Crystal (Finale)*

Polsoon aims a tremendous blow at the golem as it pulls its way up the wall, but even the elemental's mighty strike doesn't seem to hurt the thing.  And it's moving _fast._  It reaches the walkway and immediately strikes Polsoon with a devestatingly powerful series of blows.  Polsson retreats, drawing another shockingly powerful blow as he does, and uses his great reach to attack from about 15' away.  Still, his blows can't seem to break through the mithral plating on the golem.  The chiming sounds of the blows connecting echo weirdly through the cavern as the golem advances relentlessly towards the party members hacking at the crystal.  As it goes past him, Angelfire takes an attack of opportunity- and hits again!  But even so, his blow doesn't deal any damage to it.  Habiskis flits in and out of invisibility as he attacks and flies by.  Zeebo "the Mayor" keeps throwing _haste_ spells at his buddies; Orbius, meanwhile, disappears.

As Angelfire stands in its way, the golem's great metal fists rise and fall like hammers on him.  A solid blow to the side of the head leaves Angelfire wondering whether his ears are ringing or its the sound of the golem's chiming metal.  They trade blows for another moment and then Angelfire _dimension doors_ away.

The crystal's starting to show a network of cracks all around it now, seeping bile.  One section is cracked partway through, but it's not destroyed yet.   Desperately, the party strikes hard and fast.  Lester shouts, "I've got an idea!" as he flies to the base of it and casts _soften earth and stone_.  The dragons, meanwhile, fly by the golem and attack it, but they are small and young and ineffective, and when it lands a crushing blow on each of them, almost knocking the black dragon senseless, they retreat to a safe distance.

"We've got to take this thing out!" Lester shouts.  "We're in it for the duration!"  And with that, he seals the stairs off with a _wall of stone._  "Polsoon, attack the crystal!" he shouts.  Zeebo is cursing softly as his spells fail to affect the Crux Crystal.

Orbius, invisible, casts _mass haste_, then _lower resistance_ on the crystal.  _Maybe I can shatter it or something,_ he thinks grimly.  _And hopefully we'll be able to teleport away if we can destroy it._  A quick glance at the golem shows that it still hasn't been damaged.  Turning his attention back to the crystal, Orbius casts _shatter_- and is amazed as it slides right past all the crystal's defenses and creates a mass of spiderwebbed cracks in the surface of the crystal.  _It's got a weakness!_ the Eye exults.  _But I don't have another one prepared!_  Instead his fires an arrow of acid at it, but that fails to penetrate even the lowered spell resistance of the crystal.

Angelfire steps up to the crystal and strikes right where the _shatter_ spell and the section cracked halfway through meet.  It's the right spot to strike, and his blow is tremendously powerful, cracking the rest of the pillar of crystal free of the top- and with the stone at the bottom softened by Lester's spell, the entire great pillar falls, crashing to the ground, catching Angelfire, Thrush, Zeebo and Polsoon on its way and battering them all severely.  The crystal shatters as it hits the stone floor, and when it does, the golem shudders and stops moving, smoke rising from within it.

"How long can that last?  And how long until the Bile Lords get here?" Orbius wonders aloud, then shouts, "Let's get out of here!  Everyone gather around Lester, we can trump out!"

The party swiftly gathers together.  Zeebo tosses a _slow_ spell at the incapacitated golem for good measure, and Sheva takes a shot at it in passing- but even though she gets through its armor, she can't seem to deal it any damage.  "Forget about it, let's go!" Lester yells, squinting hard at the trump card in his hand.

The party clusters around Lester and escapes through the card.  In an instant, Bile Mountain is left behind- and they are in Malford's castle in Var, on Dorhaus.  And though they do not know it, they've done more than just escape; they've overthrown the vile magic sustaining the River of Bile and Mount Bile.  Within one day the river will no longer harmful.  Within a week it will run almost clear, and within a month, the bile will be gone completely.  The party has had a great triumph.

And they have made great enemies.




_*Next Time:*_ The party figures out what their next move should be, as well as who's going to attack them next!


----------



## the Jester

*A Little Downtime*

"We might have been able to take the rest of Bile Mountain if we go back," Sheva says somewhat dubiously.  

"I don't really think we need to go back," replies Horbin.  "We destroyed the crystal- that should end the bile, right?"

"Take it from me," Lester responds, "sometimes it's better to let your enemies come to you."

"Hopefully not in a crowded city!" Zeebo puts in.  "That's bad for your reputation."

"Yeah, I bet those Bile Lord guys are pretty pissed off at us," muses Lester.

"Excuse me," Thrush says, "but where in the Nine Hells are we?"

The party explains to him that he's in Var, on Dorhaus, west of Forinthia.  Having seen the damage he dished out to the crystal, the party's very impressed, and asks if he'd like to travel with them.  Sybele gives him the eye, and that seems to help.  "Besides," he says, I'm from Khelm- and that's far away."

The party takes the dragons to the Temple of Elemental Good via Lester's trump, then splits up to attend to various needs.  Zeebo visits a brother (discretely, of course).  Sybele goes to the Belmax Corporation, started by Belmondo the Enhanced years ago in part to make prosthetics for maimed warriors, to sell Alcar's clockwork leg to them.  She keeps his real foot.  Horbin and Orbius teleport to Pesh and back to pick up a few items on order there.  Angelfire, shopping, comes across a magical falchion for sale called the Hissing Blade that deals acid damage and is a mighty cleaving weapon for sale.  He mulls on it for a while and then buys it.  Zeebo finds a _ring of wizardry_ for 3rd level spells on the market, and the party agrees it would be a Fabulous Thing if they could get it for him- he'd _never_ run out of 3rd level spells.  Unfortunately, they can't manage to come up with the 100,000 gp it would cost.

As the group is discussing what they need to do next that afternoon, Lester stiffens as a _sending_ comes to him.

_You have caused the Bile Lords much trouble.  You will pay for what you have done._

Knowing he can send a response, the L sends, _I didn't do it!  I was just hanging out!  I was framed!_  Then he tells the party about it.

"Tell them to take a number," Sheva states sardonically.

The party decides that the first thing on their list has to be to kill the Air Prince Ahhl'Ahhh to fulfill Lester's bargain with Polsoon- that's what he _has_ to do next, so they might as well help instead of splitting their forces.  Horbin says that he will cast a _commune_ in the evening to determine where Ahhl'Ahhh is.  The he goes to visit Metron, the cleric he spoke with before that was seeing strange things.  "How go the visions?" he asks.

"I swear I see things," Metron murmurs, almost to himself.  "I swear I'm not mad!"  His eyes dart around as he speaks; there's an almost panicky undercurrent in his voice.

"Can you touch them?"

"They are between the spaces we know!  I cannot explain- you cannot comprehend..."  He trails off, frustrated.

Horbin leaves worried.  That evening he casts a _commune_ spell.

*Has the bile stopped?*  Yes.
*Is the mithral golem after us?*  No.
*What's the special weakness of a mithral golem?*  Slow.
*What harmful effects are inherent to plane on which Ahhl'Ahhh dwells?*  The winds are maddening.
*What spell remedies will help with that?*  Silence.
*How can we find Ahhl'Ahhh?*  Seek the Gut of Zerthikach.
*What is the Gut of Zerthikach?*  A vile cavern on Pandemonium.
*Between iron health, nimbleness and steadiness of mind, what is Ahhl'Ahhh's worst quality?*  Steadiness of mind.
*Are there any spells that Ahhl'Ahhh is particularly vulnerable to?*  No.
*Is he immune to any elements?*  Yes.
*What is the pitch for a tuning fork for the level of Pandemonium Ahhl'Ahhh is on?*  B flat.
*And what is the material?*  Granite.
*How long until agents of the Bile Lords attack us?*  At least a day.
*Are the Bile Lords coming personally or sending agents?*  Undecided.

Sybele tries to work up some hand signals to drill the party with; it seems like good strategy, so the group mostly goes along with it.  Then it's time to retire for the night.  Lester offers space to everyone at the Temple of Elemental Good, and most of the party finds this agreeable enough.  In the morning they'll get ready and go to defeat this Ahhl'Ahhh.



_*Next Time:*_ A surprise at the Temple of Elemental Good!  Heading to Pandemonium!  And a pc's death!!


----------



## the Jester

*To Pandemonium*

"After this trip to kill this air guy we need to find my daughter," Sybele says insistently. 

"And there's the Temple of Elemental Evil," says Horbin, and Lester nods.  

"I think something's up with all these kidnapped people.  I don't like it one bit."  Sheva is grim.  "Who's behind it?  And where are they?"

The party is heading through the streets of Var's outskirts towards the Temple of Elemental Good.  There used to be many more people here, in the days before Fuligin came; and there are hundreds of uninhabited buildings in various stages of decay.  It's eerie to Lester, who was here back then, along with Malford, Hobbes, Thimbleton... many great heroes.  Yep, Lester is a well-traveled and, in some circles, highly-regarded adventurer.  He's thinking to himself of all his achievements when they reach his temple and discover that the dragons are missing and several acolytes have been killed by them.  

"Whoops," laughs Sheva.

"Well," says Lester, "we'll go kill them, but we'll let them grow up and get some treasure first."

Lester hires one of his old friends, Chobain, to come sing a B Flat for him so he can _stone shape_ the granite tuning fork they need.  "When I first met Chobain," Lester tells whoever's listening, "he was in a bag with some sheep that a big ol' giant had." 

After a little work, the L has his tuning fork.  "Thanks," he tells Chobain, and the party prepares to leave.  First, Sheva casts a _false visions_ of the party having a fight and splitting up (she kills Zeebo and Horbin in the fight).  They dress in warm gear they all bought for the occasion and stuff their ears to try to minimize the effects of the maddening winds.  Then they _plane shift_ away to a dark and windy place.

Even with their ears stuffed, our heroes can hear the air screaming like a banshee all around them.  Little flecks of rock and dirt are carried at breakneck speed through the air by the brutal winds, slashing at exposed flesh and leaving welts and irritating abrasions.  It's dark except for the lights they bear- the glowing crystal Sheva's had since Firestorm Peak, the _continual flame_ on one of Angelfire's ring.  The flames gutter heatlessly in the howling wind.

Orbius has already cast _Rary's telepathic bond_ so that he can communicate telepathically with Lester, Sheva, Horbin and Zeebo; so they confer quickly and decide that a _discern location_ is the best way to find their foes.  Orbius casts the spell and discerns that it's across the River Styx and beyond the Fields of Madness.  The party discussing logistics; they decide he'll teleport there with Lester's trump in hand and then bring the others to him via trump.  The problem arises when, as Lester hands his cohort the trump, a tremendous gust of wind snatches it away, and in less than a second it's out of view.

_Crap!_ yells Lester telepathically.  _2000 gold for everyone if we get it back!_

They burst into action, looking for it, and they manage to find it through quick use of a _locate object_ spell combined with sheer serendipity.  Lester puts the trump safely, but that makes travel more difficult.  

_Why don't we just mass teleport there?_ thinks Sheva.

_We're over the weight limit with Polsoon,_ Orbius responds.

_Leave him here,_ Sheva retorts.

"Polsoon, do you mind if we go kill him without you?" shouts Lester. 

"Nooo," says Polsoon, "I would not miss his death."

The party starts to trudge along.  The wind is terrible; a constant shrieking everywhere, cold grit always in their eyes.  After about ten minutes, the party decides that they simply have to do without Polsoon.  They exchange glances, and Sybele gives the 'ready' hand signal she'd invented yesterday.  "We'll be right back," Lester shouts, and they _mass teleport_, leaving Polsoon behind.

"Nooo," the elemental laments, alone.



_*Next time:*_  Against Ahhl'Ahhh!


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

Poor old Polsoon.


----------



## Talix

Hopefully Polsoon won't take this as a void of their contract, since he's not there to enjoy the defeat.


----------



## the Jester

*Attack on Ahhl'Ahhh*

The party appears in another howling cavern, a bitter cold wind tearing through it fiercely.  They are just starting to look around for their foe when a terrible burst of dehydration wilts them all.  They're all wounded badly, except for Zeebo, who shrivels up like a raisin and falls over dead. 

"Hold on!" Lester tries to shout over the wind, attempting to use his affinity with the elements to persuade the elemental... but to no avail.  Perhaps its mind it too strong; perhaps it can't hear him over the screaming winds.  Instead of listening to Lester, Ahhl'Ahhh suddenly crackles with an aura of black, evil energy.  

Lester gives up on talking and swings Felix Optima Maxima.  She has a _far strike_ spell on her; even though he's 20' away from Ahhl'Ahhh, his blade strikes the elemental creature!  But as he does so, the aura flares and he staggers as he feels it try to do something to him.  Thrush rushes in at Ahhl'Ahhh, and they trade blows; it seems that the Bile Lords' former servant gets the better of the exchange, but not by much.  Angelfire tumbles in and slashes with the Hissing Blade; Sheva and Horbin move in as well.  Orbius tries to tumble in, but fails in a spectacular manner that gives Ahhl'Ahhh the chance to smack him soundly across the top of his head.  Stumbling away, Orbius manages to shoot off a volley of _seeker missiles_, but Ahhl'Ahhh dodges them all.

Horbin steps in, his hand glowing golden where he's prepared an _inflict critical wounds._  He touches Ahhl'Ahhh's windy form- he's only able to even see it because of the dark aura around it- and there's a scream from the air prince.  On the other side of the weakened Ahhl'Ahhh, Sybele steps in and trades blows with it.  It's completely surrounded now, and her blow is the final one that defeats it.  The aura- and the gaseous body it surrounds- disperses like a fog in strong sunlight.  

"That was for Zeebo!" Sybele cries, though none can hear her above the howl of the winds.  

The party almost panics when they can't find Zeebo's body, but then the trusty _locate object_ spell comes into play again.  This time the body's only a few dozen yards away.  They stick it in one side of Lester's _box of many holdings_ and prepare to teleport back to Polsoon.

And a beautiful figure appears.

She looks like an angel- and her beauty is achingly powerful.  She speaks in the entire party's minds, and her voice is sweet and persuasive.

_I can help you, friends,_ she sends to them.  _I can offer you the true resurrection of your friend._

"What will this cost us?" shouts the L.

_Merely a trifle.  Either of two things: the sword Chronovestis... or the sword Felix Optima Maxima._

"Oh man," says Lester.  




_*Next Time:*_  Will the party deal with the mysterious woman?  Will they surrender one of their weapons, and if so, which one??


----------



## Technik4

Oh man! Theres no way the L could give up Felix Optima Maxima, is there?!! Is Chronovestis another of the L's swords, or is it Sheva's?

Can't wait to see what happens, and lets not forget old Polsoon!

Technik

PS- Thanks for all the rocking fast updates Jester!


----------



## the Jester

Hey, Technik4!

Chronovestis is one of Sheva's many magical greatswords; it's holy to her goddess and has a number of time-related powers.  That's often how she hastes herself (though she also gets _haste_ as a celerity domain spell).

Thanks for the feedback, by the way!   How's your gaming going?


----------



## the Jester

*Decision*

The winds howl around them like mad beasts as the female angel awaits their answer: Zeebo's true resurrection for one of two powerful weapons in the party.  There's no way the party can even hear themselves shout over the winds.  Grit blows in their faces, and with an aching glance they look at Zeebo's corpse.  

There's telepathy involved, of course, so Lester answers that way.  _Oh, man, I like the Mayor,_ he sends, _but I _love_ my magic items.  I'm sorry, Zeebo- I can't do it!_

"Good," mutters Felix Optima Maxima.

Sheva shakes her head as well.  They can get him back at no cost; she'll not give up a weapon sacred to Coila to this creature.

With a shrug, the angelic female backs away.  Her eyes are like sapphires, her hair dark and silky.  _Very well.  You make a mistake._  And with that, she disappears in a shimmer of violet color.

_Well,_ Sheva sends to Lester through the magical telepathic link Orbius had cast, _let's plane shift home._

"Wait a sec!" Lester simultaneously shouts and cries telepathically.  "We have to go back to Polsoon first and let him know what's happened!"

Sheva scowls, and she and Angelfire try to dissuade him.  The argument lasts for almost ten minutes before they finally give in.  "Come on," says Lester, "he didn't even get to come and help kill this Ahhl'Ahhh guy, we have to at least let him know it's done."

The party teleports back to Polsoon, and Lester tells the earth elemental that their task is done.  With that the elemental thanks the party (in Terran- only Lester understands it) and vanishes back to its home plane.  

Then the party _plane shifts_ home, aiming for the Silver City, on the south coast of Tirchond.  As is wont to happen with _plane shift_, however, the party end up some distance from where they want to be- and this time, they're at sea.  There's a raging storm, and various party members start having a variety of stormy-ocean related problems.  For a few moments it seems that some of the more heavily-armored folks might be in trouble, but Angelfire is strong enough (given magical and psionic enhancements) that he can swim for a little while despite his gear, and once Horbin uses one of his thought spells to create a _solipsism_ of a boat out of sheer belief that it's there, the party is in pretty good shape.

Of course, they don't really know where they are.

"Well, we could teleport," Angelfire suggests to Orbius.  He's cold and wet, and despite having a certain magical protection from cold, it's very uncomfortable due to his fiery nature.

"Hey look!" shouts Horbin, standing up and pointing into the distance.

The party peers in the direction he's indicating.  The rain and clouds make visibility poor, but they can see what appears to be a few masts in the distance.  "Let's go see who that is," Sheva says, and the party agrees.  And they start rowing towards the Chaos Fleet.





_*Next Time:*_  The Chaos Fleet!


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

Reading some more Michael Moorcock, by any chance? 

The Chaos Fleet...bwahahahahahahaha!


----------



## the Jester

Tallarn said:
			
		

> *Reading some more Michael Moorcock, by any chance?
> 
> The Chaos Fleet...bwahahahahahahaha! *




Actually, no.. but I have to admit that the idea of clashing Law and Chaos in my current campaign world prolly arose (on some level) from MM stuff.  Though honestly, at least consciously, it was more to provide a break from the ol' good v. evil shtick.


----------



## the Jester

*The Chaos Fleet*

The rain is pouring down and the seas are swelling as our heroes approach the ships, and as the party crests a high wave they realize that there are not just a few ships, or a few dozen.  Not even a few hundred.

In fact, there are thousands of ships spread before them, vanishing off into the clear skies beyond the storm.  Thousands of vessels of all kinds lay across the sea from horizon to horizon.

"Holy crap!" says Lester.  "It must be Forinthia!"

"I don't think so," Sheva says.  "They're too disorganized.  Forinthians would be in formation."

Indeed, the ships are of many different types, from Peshan light balsa warships to armored Strogassian hulks.  Sheva spots a ship of giants; even stranger things lurk within.  As the party continues to approach, a small vessel (just larger than a rowboat) drops from a forward vessel and starts approaching them.

"We can teleport or trump out of here," says the L.

"Let's see what they want," Zeebo says.  "And who they are.  After all, they may be going somewhere important to us."

As the small vessel approaches them, our heroes are hailed by a piratical looking fellow with a cone.  He invites them up to the vessel he sails on for a drink, and they agree.  On the ship, called the _Chaos Diamond_, they meet Captain Nalina.  After some initial verbal fencing to determine the party's intentions, Captain Nalina answers their questions over a horrific and potent fermented fish grog that tastes about like it sounds and, worst of all, is somewhat lumpy.

"This?  This is the Great Chaos Fleet.  We have all sorts of creatures unified here.  Sort of."  She snickers.  "Not really unified, but working together.  There's even a demon prince, Dagon, and his entourage.  Why, just on my ship there's a slaad!"

It turns out that this slaad is none other than Jibber, the singing slaad that the party met when opposing the formians.  "Will we fight together again?" the slaad wonders when he turns up.

"I sincerely hope not, but here, drink some of this fish grog," says Horbin, handing over the cup.

When asked where the fleet's going, the captain seems somewhat evasive.  

That night at midnight, upon recovering her spells, Sheva raises Zeebo.  His eyes fly open and he cries out.  "Aaahhh!!  Water!  Ahh!  I-I d-d-d-died!!"

After a few moments to compose himself, Zeebo's much better.  He's very shaken by the experience, but once he's appraised of the situation, he knows he has work to do.

After Zeebo's return, Lester gathers the party in their room and says, "Well, we can either go on our next quest or we can go big money big prizes and attack Dagon, then get the hell outta here."  The party debates the L's proposal, but in the end they decide against it.  

In the morning, Zeebo is introduced to the captain.  He tells her, "I am a member of the Council of Tirchond, so I may be able to arrange for things such as supplies if you go near there, and I may be able to arrange for some discounted goods.  Certainly I can arrange to reduce the docking fees, tariffs and excises."

"Tell you what," she says, "I'm not really in a position to make deals for other ships, but I can get you in to see Lambollar.  He captains a fleet of about 100 ships."

"Thank you," Zeebo says, and gives her a dazzling smile.


_*Next Time:*_ Negotiations with Lambollar the Purple!


----------



## the Jester

While Zeebo goes to negotiate with this Lambollar the Purple fellow, the rest of the party watches the immense fleet and talks to the _Chaos Diamond's_ crew.  Sheva looks for natives of Tirchond, her homeland, and turns one up: a smooth-shaven human, even his head bearing no stubble.  He introduces himself as Red, and after some conversation she persuades him to join the party- at least for the time being.  

Zeebo, meanwhile, discovers why Lambollar is called the Purple: the color of his skin.  It's the kind of purple you find on an eggplant; other than that, he looks human.  Zeebo introduces himself and launches into his proposal: he'll arrange for fees and excises to be lowered or perhaps even waived, and will try to set up discount prices for the fleet when it visits Tirchond-

"How about this," Lambollar interrupts.  "You set us up with deep discounts on products around the board and we won't raid your cities and just take what we need."  He leans back, his purple face impassive.

Zeebo puts on his best poker face and the negotiations begin in earnest.  He points out that his little island can't possibly provide all the supplies that the fleet will need, but if he warns them to prepare they can do much more.  Shouldn't Tirchond and the Chaos Fleet be allies?  They both oppose the Forinthian Empire, after all... Lambollar agrees, at least for his fist of ships.

But Lambollar will make no assurances about the rest of the fleet- "Hell, I _can't_"- and so Zeebo does his best to work out a deal with the Purple: Lambollar will spread the word and do his best to encourage the members of the Fleet to be "moderate" (in his words), and Zeebo will work out the best possible supply arrangement.  The Mayor leaves knowing that he has a lot of work to do at home, and knowing that, despite his best efforts, the Chaos Fleet is a danger to Tirchond.

Meanwhile, Horbin's tried to break Lester's _geas_- to no avail.  Then, after Zeebo returns to the group, they _teleport without error_ to the Shining City.  




_*Next Time:*_  Zeebo starts politicking for the Chaos Fleet's supplies!  Divinations!  Rewarding the faithful!  And trying to scry a god!


----------



## Talix

Curiouser and Curiouser...

And that battle with the Air Prince was relatively anti-climactic.  

What was up with the Angel?  Did she honestly expect them to give up their most powerful weapons in exchange for something they could do themselves later?  Yes, there's a level loss, but those are unique weapons!


----------



## the Jester

Talix said:
			
		

> *Curiouser and Curiouser...
> 
> And that battle with the Air Prince was relatively anti-climactic.
> *




Sadly, the party has demonstrated time and again that they can kill most anything not 4 CRs higher than their average level in about one and a half rounds....

On the other hand, remember that Ahhl'Ahhh killed Zeebo dead.



> *What was up with the Angel?  Did she honestly expect them to give up their most powerful weapons in exchange for something they could do themselves later?  Yes, there's a level loss, but those are unique weapons!    *




Heh... better to ask who she was, why she wanted the weapons, and why she wouldn't help without getting what she wanted... if she was really an angel.


----------



## Talix

the Jester said:
			
		

> *Heh... better to ask who she was, why she wanted the weapons, and why she wouldn't help without getting what she wanted... if she was really an angel.
> 
> 
> *




Well, yeah, I'm assuming she was with the forces of Law, and was trying to dupe the party out of their powerful chaotic weapons (I guess the time-sword might technically be lawful, but whatever).  My feeling was still "what kind of idiot thought that plan would work?"  

No offense intended to your campaign, of course - it's fun to see how desparate the other side is to slow down these guys.


----------



## the Jester

Talix said:
			
		

> *
> 
> Well, yeah, I'm assuming she was with the forces of Law, and was trying to dupe the party out of their powerful chaotic weapons (I guess the time-sword might technically be lawful, but whatever).  My feeling was still "what kind of idiot thought that plan would work?"
> 
> *




Actually (though the party hasn't a clue about it) she was an old enemy of Lester's in disguise... and she's definitely on the side of Chaos, but against the party.  

One of the beautiful things about the Chaos side of things is that you can't count on your buddies.


----------



## the Jester

Oops, a double post- just a tease!


----------



## the Jester

*Return to the Shining City*

The party appears in the house that Sheva, Angelfire, Sybele and Zeebo partially own.  They had been part of a mighty band of adventurers.  Together that group had invested in a home as their base of operations- an investment that provided a relatively peaceful existence for five years.

"I have work to do," the Mayor says.  He leaves at a fast walk.  

He has to set things up for the Council.  He has made many promises to Lambollar the Purple.  Now he must try to keep them.  _If I can get him deep discounts, we can get out of this relatively unscathed- and maybe even turn a profit, or at least minimize our losses._  Zeebo's going to have to lobby, and lobby _hard_, to get cooperation from the Council.

He gets to the Council chambers but nobody's there; it's late afternoon, too late in the day by now.  He narrowly misses some of his companions at a club, and then, frustrated, he visits a fellow Councillor at home.  This time Zeebo is successful: the elven Councillor is home.  His name is Rillondar; he represents some of the grey elves in the northwest, a band of scholars and silverworkers.  He blinks his violet eyes in surprise at seeing the gnome coming to him late in the evening when he's at home, but the Mayor tells him it's urgent.

Zeebo explains the situation, emphasizing the potential trade benefits.  "There's a lot of people in that fleet, and they probably have money to spend," he says.  Rillondar seems a little uneasy at first but is rapidly won over.

Of course, the Council is large- there are over a hundred seats.

It's late evening by now, but Zeebo keeps going.  He visits the Hammerhead embassy.  Vulker Hammerhead, Thane of the Hammerhead Halls, is on the council, and members of Zeebo's old band even traveled with his son at two points.  

Fortune smiles upon him this time: Vulker himself is there- in town for Council business, as a matter of fact.  He makes an appointment for the next day and returns to the house.  


Horbin, meanwhile, wanders town looking for a temple of Dexter.  They're usually very easy to find, but not this time.  He doesn't see any to Galador at all*.  Frustrated, he finally asks a passing elf lady, "Excuse me, where could I find a temple to Dexter?"

With the sort of sneer only an elf can put on, the silver-haired female says, "We don't allow _them_ here."  She really uses the sneer on the 'them'.

Horbin's stunned.  He's never been anywhere where Galador wasn't allowed before.  In fact, the only place like that he's heard of is Strogass- the Dark Continent, far away to the east, controlled by the Dark Emperor, a powerful (and legendary) priest of Bleak, the Black Sun, the darkness that opposes Galador's light.  Strogass is the sort of evil place you'd expect that sort of stuff.  But here??  Tirchond, home of the grey elves?

Horbin walks away, not sure what to think.  


Red is having fun bullying beggars.  He intimidates a homeless gnome, asking where the action's at, and is directed to a pimp who offers him "something special" for the exorbiant fee of 50 gp for one hour.  Red laughs in his face, proclaiming that he "don't want no ho"- but he changes his tune when told, "You don't understand, she changes shape!"

50 gp and an hour later, Red's a new man... but he's not entirely certain what it was.


Orbius tries to scry Sybele's daughter Jezebel- to no avail.  He casts a _discern location_ and discovers that she's nowhere.  _My next move's obvious,_ he thinks, and casts a _commune._

How can we find Jezebel?  *Wait.*
How long must we wait?  *Unknown.*
What would it take for someone to be nowhere to a _discern location_ spell?  *They must not be anywhere.*
Who is responsible for Jezebel's disappearance?  *Not certain.*
What are the names of the three most likely suspects at present?  *Marius, the Master of Darkhold or Nigel.*
Where can we find Marius?  *Unknown- perhaps nowhere.*
Who is the Nigel that is a suspect?  *Angelfire's father.*
Where can we find the entrance to Darkhold?  *You cannot, without a key.*
Where can we find a key?  *Seek Zelman.*
Where can we find Zelman?  *He wanders- now in Pesh.*
How long until the bile lords wreak their revenge on us?  *Three days.*
Will they send servants or come themselves?  *Servants.*
When these servants come, will Thrush turn against us?  *No.*
What is the most powerful creature they'll send?  *A deathbringer.*
What time of day will they attack?  *9 a.m.*

As his vision descends back to a normal plane, Orbius considers.  He's heard Lester's constant stories of the Darkhold adventure, including Zelman.  He's a god, but the Eye figures that he knows enough about him to try to scry him, since Lester's met him before.  

An instant later, Orbius gives a strangled cry.  "I'm blind!!" he screams.

"My eye!" Lester shouts.

They go to the Temple of Coila to ask Sheva for help.  The temple is fairly large and obviously very well run.  Sheva tells them that surely the acolytes can help; when they meet the head adept, Krisic, he makes them pay 450 gp to remove the blindness.  Grumbling, Lester and Orbius fork over the money and the Eye's sight in restored.

By this point it's late.  The party has dinner and then retires in the safety of the home owned by...

"What did we call ourselves?" Sheva wonders aloud.  "The... Swords... something."

"The Quickened Swords?" Angelfire tries.  "No, that was those other guys."

"The Swords of Assistance," Zeebo says.

"That's right!" Sybele, Sheva and Angelfire all say together.

Sleep comes easily and settles deep upon most of our heroes.  They pretty much all need it.  Horbin, on the other hand, has a terrible time falling asleep.  His god is not welcome on this island.  He can't get over it.  I mean, come on- he's heard of _other_ religions not being allowed, but _Dexter?_

Even he finally sleeps.




*Think of Dexter as Galador's son and it all makes much more sense.  There's a whole little theology lesson in here somewhere concerning the faith of the Light (Galador, Dexter, Prayzose) and Bleak (Galador's nemesis/anti-God)... I'll try to find a link to it or copy and paste it in here when I have a few minutes.




_*Next Time:*_ Getting ready for the Bile Lords to strike!  Will Zeebo manage to pass his program in the Council?  And what will the Bile Lords send after our heroes??


----------



## the Jester

"...so you see, Thane Vulker, it's really in all of our best interests to try to deal with this Chaos Fleet on as positive terms as possible- and I think the best way we can hope to profit from it is to give deep discounts.  The quantity of goods we can move is going to be huge- at least for the right kinds of goods."  

Vulker Hammerhead considers.  He's a stout, aging dwarf.  He was the hero who retook his ancestral halls at the head of a band of adventurers and managed to bring in enough dwarves to now, not much more than a century later, have a thriving community under his leadership.  His hair may be thinning, his manner may be gruff and his ears may stick out, but his mind is as sharp as it ever was (though, frankly, he's a fighter, not a mage).  And he's a dwarf- he's more interested in the money potential than the elves on the Council will be.

"All right," the Thane says at last.  "Sounds like we can make a few gold bars on this deal for sure, even givin' them the sorts of discounts that you're askin' for.  And it sounds a little dangerous."  

If only Zeebo knew how this will affect Vulker and his son before all is said and done!

"There's a Council meeting tomorrow," says Zeebo.  "Can I count on your vote?"

Vulker nods assent.  "Aye," he grunts.  "Where there's coin to be made, there's dwarves willing to venture."

Twenty minutes later, the Mayor departs Vulker's embassy, hurrying on his way to the next Councillor he's got in mind.  He has a busy day ahead.  But what else does he have to do, other than mope around waiting to be killed by the Bile Lords?



Back at the house owned by the Swords of Assistance, Horbin prepares a small sanctuary.  He's been told all about Forinthian invasions of Tirchond in the past, how they've tampered time after time with the self-determination of the Shining City and the entire isle.  He can't help it; it still disturbs him that he isn't free to worship his god.

He wonders if this is how members of other faiths feel in Forinthian areas?

He summons an ally from another plane: Lionel, a planetar.  The angel commisserates with him over the lack of a proper temple, but counsels patience.  "With time, all things pass," Lionel says sagely.  They make a bargain: for a small amount of gold, Lionel will help fight off the impending attack of the Bile Lords.




Angelfire and Red wander around together.  They find their way to the local duelling society.  It's a beautiful building, with a nice large front yard empty of major obstructions.  "Looks like a fine place for a duel," Red remarks.  They enter the building and Red pays for duelling licenses for both of them- "Just in case either of us need them."




Sheva, meanwhile, _communes_ with Coila, her goddess, the lady of time.  

What can I do with my power to aid you presently?  *Stop the forces of the Temple of Elemental Evil.*
Should we be worried about the Chaos Fleet?  *They will serve their purpose.*
Where's the closest temple of Coila to Var?  *The Delphinate.*
What's that?  *The Island of Wizards.*
Is a preemptive strike against the Bile Lords a sound plan?  *EXTREMELY dangerous.*
Is there any way to hide from the Bile Lords' wrath?  *Not likely.*
In Bile Mountain we fought a strange time creature- what was it?  *A chronal repeater.*
What's that?  *A time golem (sort of).*
Is it possible for me to make them?  *No.*
What is a deathbringer's weakness?  *It's undead.*

_Hmm,_ Sheva thinks.  _I guess we shouldn't try to take the battle to the Bile Lords... but we can at least try to optimize the battlefield._ 

That night, while our heroes eat a feast of roast lamb in peanut sauce at dinner, an unexpected visitor arrives, teleporting in to the midst of them.  Although at first Horbin and Red start to reach for their weapons, the others reassure them that this is a friend: Estelias, the grey elven enchantress of inestimable fame and beauty.  In fact, Zeebo can barely restrain himself*, despite his long and exhausting day of lobbying.  Fortunately, Estelias brushes him off with regal elegance, or else he might have suffered a coronary attack.  

Estelias makes idle chitchat for a few moments.  Zeebo tells her about the Chaos Fleet and his legislative agenda and she wishes him well.  "Maybe I can try to help a little," she says, but she makes no guarantees and remains inscrutable, refusing to say how.  Besides, she's an enchantress; whatever it is might not really be legal, and Zeebo doesn't need to know about that stuff.  She offers to go to the Council meeting with Zeebo on the morrow and he gratefully accepts; her word carries a lot of weight and she's the best speaker he's ever heard.

She's never heard of the Bile Lords, but she does know what Bile Mountain is.  Told they've overthrown it, she tells Sybele, Sheva, Zeebo and Angelfire, "I'm impressed.  First Firestorm Peak, now Bile Mountain."  She favors them with a dazzling smile that leaves poor Zeebo full of built-up pressure, and as soon as she leaves to do her important enchantress stuff he hurriedly excuses himself and walks stiffly (and discretely) to the nearest brothel, where they take care of him.

_Boy, I can't wait to see Estelias again tomorrow,_ he thinks wryly as he drifts off to sleep that night.

The party sleeps again; one more day until they are attacked by the Bile Lords' servants.


*I think it's important at this point to mention again Zeebo's Chaos-induced "enormous fertility."




_*Next Time:*_ Preparing the battlefield!  Another _commune!_  The Council of Tirchond meets!  And will Orbius ever learn?

_edited to add in Angelfire and Red's trip to the duelling society._


----------



## the Jester

*Preparing for Battle*

It's a gloomy morning.  It isn't raining but it looks like it wants to.  Zeebo tells the party that they should take the battle with the Bile Lords somewhere outside of the Shining City.  They know when they'll be attacked; they can choose where to be.  "We don't want innocent people getting hurt," he insists.  "It's bad for our reputation."  So the party agrees and decides to search for a good spot within a dozen miles or so of town.  Using a _wind walk_ spell, most of the group searches out a nice empty hill with good terrain.  They can't help but worry about this upcoming battle.  

Meanwhile, Zeebo and Estelias go to the Council session.  The Council Chambers are beautiful, large and airy; the finest construction of dwarves and grey elves working together, stone and silver interspersed.  There are ceremonial guards, but most of the Councillors are more than capable of taking care of themselves.  There's Vulker Hammerhead; he and Zeebo exchange nods across the room.  And Rillondar, the elven representative that Zeebo spoke with the other evening.  And over seventy more Councillors.  Enough for a quorum, and that's all that Zeebo needs.

There are opening ceremonies, including a memorial service, and then Zeebo asks for and receives the floor.  He introduces the Council to the situation: "There's an immense fleet of Chaos coming towards Tirchond.  They want supplies.  We can't possibly provide them with all that they need, but they're going to come looking for everything we've got.  We have an opportunity here- if we give them good deals on our goods, we'll prevent trouble and make money.  This is both a tremendous danger and a colossal opportunity.  We can make Tirchond a lot of money by selling our crafts, our weapons, our gems to the people of this fleet if we act now, taking up the measure I'm proposing; and if we don't take some steps to protect ourselves- such as this measure- we may be putting ourselves and our people in grave danger.  My program will both protect our people and make them prosper."

The Council is not expecting this, and Zeebo receives a slightly worried but guardedly positive response.  When Estelias takes the floor to speak, her words are so sweet and honeyed that Zeebo finds himself enraptured, nodding along with the beautiful enchantress.  After she speaks, a few others step up to speak for Zeebo, either moved by his words or- more likely- by hers.  Then a small opposition, isolationist in nature, arises.  "Why not just ignore them?" their spokesperson, a female half-elf named Ziryon, asks.  "We can hide our isle from them, and even if they find Tirchond we can hide our people."

"Not all of them," Zeebo counters.  "Not in the cities.  And I've _seen_ this Chaos Fleet.  I've spoken with their captains.  They are formidable.  They might be able to pierce any illusions we created."

Eventually, after several hours of debate, the vote on what is now being called the Zeebo Program comes.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party has made camp and are ready to fight at nine in the morning tomorrow.  It's late afternoon; a little fire's burning, and it's been a fairly relaxing day despite the threat of death on the morrow.  I mean, hey, they're adventurers, right?  Lester's smoked a bunch of weed, several of them have nipped at some wine or liquor (especially Sybele), and they've had a generally relaxing day.  It's odd, but true.

Orbius stretches.  He wonders idly where this Zelman fellow could be.  They need to find him, if Darkhold is where Sybele's daughter is.  He casts _discern location_- and then gives a terrible, strangled cry as he is stricken blind and feels his mind lose sharpness!  

"What happened?" cries Angelfire.  

"I- I tried to discern Zelman's location... and was stricken blind!"

"You what?" Sheva chortles.  "Didn't you just try to scry him the other day and get stricken blind?  In fact, it was my temple that fixed you up!  Don't you ever learn?"

"Yeah, well, they're not here right now... can you fix me?"

"You can teleport.  They'll take good care of you.  But you shouldn't be so careless with the gifts of Coila.  You should learn your lesson."

Orbius teleports away and returns about half an hour later.  Then, sheepishly, he _communes._

How many creatures are coming to attack us? * Four.*
Are they all deathbringers?  *No.*
Are they still attacking at nine tomorrow morning?  *Yes.*
What other creatures will accompany the deathbringer?  *A psurlon, a giant and a demon.*
_That giant is probably the one we say in Bile Mountain,_ he guesses.
What type of demon is it?  *A glabrezu.*
What is a psurlon?  _A mental picture of a weird, worm-like humanoid creature appears in his mind._
What are a psurlon's weaknesses?  *Easy to hit.*
What are our chances?  *Fair.*
Do the Bile Lords or their creatures know that we've prepared?  *Yes.*
Did we pierce the hidden secrets as you asked?  *Yes.*
Is Anvar alive?  *Unknown.*
Where in Pesh can we find Zelman?  *The Emerald Lantern.*
What Bile Lords are responsible for sending the creatures tomorrow?  *All.*
Will we do well to immediately counterstrike the Bile Lords after the attack?  *Probably not.*
What is the best way to defeat the Bile Lords?  *Unknown.*

He tells that party what he's learned.  Everyone plans their spells with the battle ahead in mind; everyone will have a chance to renew spells before nine.  

There's a slight popping sound as Zeebo and Estelias appear.  "Hey guys," he says.

"How'd it go?" Sybele asks.

"The Zeebo Program passed!" he says, and the group cheers him.  It's not his first success, but it is one of the best.

That night the party rests fitfully.  They're all up before dawn; it's a beautiful sunrise on a beautiful late summer morning.  It promises to be a good day to die.



_*Next Time:*_  The Bile Lords send the first wave of their revenge!  The pcs have a brilliant plan; it goes horribly awry!


----------



## the Jester

*9 A.M.*

Nine in the morning finds the party ready.  They've already cast all their spells that last for at least ten minutes, and they've decided that their best bet is to try to split the enemy forces.  Though most of them are confident, all of them are concerned.  This could be a very tough fight.  And who knows how the Bile Lords might stack the odds against our heroes?  They are, after all, _extremely_ powerful... and if this is just a probing first strike...

"We need to find my daughter," Sybele murmurs to herself.

Then the enemy arrives, teleporting in with a puff of the stink of bile that had grown so familiar during the party's time in Bile Mountain, and the fight begins with startling speed.  

There are four of them, as foretold by the party's divinations previously.  The giant Thrush knows all too well from his time in Bile Mountain: Lamballo.  Lamballo stands nearly twenty feet tall; his thick barrel chest is embraced by an inch thick breastplate.  He holds the longest blade any of the party has ever seen loosely in his hand, a greatsword with an 18' long blade.  His skin is milky white.  His other hand holds a 5' diameter rock.  Lester's expert knowledge of the elements tells him it's a pretty hard and dense mineral.

The demon is about 15' tall.  It's covered in mottled red and brown skin, with four dangerous-looking, powerful arms- one pair ends in claws, the other in pincers.  The thing is topped off by the head of a nasty dog (think a Doberman pincer here) with swollen red eyes.  It doesn't look very friendly.

The psurlon is a strange worm-like creature, with a tubular body marked by pale rings like an earthworm.  It's about twelve feet high.  It looks boneless, but it has four wormy limbs that seem to simulate arms and legs.  Its head is really just a nubby end of the creature's body, the tip being a mouth surrounded by strange cilia.

And, allegedly the most dangerous of the four, the deathbringer- a fierce looking undead warrior, garbed in full plate armor with military ornamentation upon it.  His grey-skinned, earless bald head is horrifying, for both his eyes and his mouth have been sewn shut.  

As fast as the servants of the Bile Lord appear, Horbin's summoned planar ally, Lionel, is faster.  He casts a _blade barrier_ directly on two of them even as they appear.  However, the giant manages to throw himself back out of the way, and the glabrezu weathers the blades without harm, scorn on his face.

Sheva casts _righteous might,_ desperate to get as many buffing spells in as possible- this may be a tough fight.  As she does so, Orbius casts _mass haste_ on the entire party, then cries, "This'll keep you tied up!" and encloses the deathbringer in a _maze_.  With a snarl the demon howls for aid from his Abyssal allies, but for some reason none respond to him.  (Perhaps they somehow know the caliber of the adventurers the glabrezu fights, or maybe the glabrezu didn't answer them last time- or maybe they're just drunk.  Who knows.)

Red glares at the giant, readying an attack, and calls out.  "That's right, boy, come and get some!"  He glares, trying to intimidate the giant, but Lambollar only grins at him and hurls that big ole rock.  Red flings himself to the side and the stone smashes into the back wall, leaving a pair of crossing cracks.  

Angelfire's moving extremely quickly with the _mass haste_ in effect.  He manifests _displacement_ and then _dimension doors_ right in front of the demon, falchion in hand.  The bestial creature barks at him, disdain in its voice.  The worm-like psurlon gestures with one of its flaccid arms, and a pale green ray shoots out at Angel.  He gives a cry as he shudders, resisting disintegration but still suffering damage.  Still, our heroes seem to be in a good place so far, with the deathbringer out of the fight-

Then it reappears- _must've dispelled the maze,_ thinks Orbius bitterly- and turns its sightless head to stare at the Eye.

Lionel is casting spells quickly, dropping a _flame strike_ on the psurlon and the demon.  Although the glabrezu doesn't seem harmed by the fire, the holy damage burns it in a special way and it yips at the celestial giant.  The planetar grins as he casts a _righteous might_ of his own.  Sheva seems to have sprouted an extra pair of arms.  She tumbles in, one of her many magical greatswords slicing into the worm-like creature.  It hisses as browning fluid sluices out of it.  

The deathbringer looks the most dangerous to Orbius, so he tries to take it out.  His _polymorph_ fails.  _Curse it,_ the Eye thinks, _I need to hit it with something that allows no resistance!_  He smiles to himself and encloses the deathbringer in a solid _forcecage_.  "There we go!" he cries.  "That ought to hold him!"  _Unless the psurlon can use it's disintegrate ability again!*_ he adds mentally.

Red and Thrush both grow thanks to Zeebo's magic.  Thrush moves in on Lambollar, the giant, his greatsword held firmly in his hands.  He moves like a lethal warrior.  Red springs in, slicing at the giant with his greatsword, and leaving a deep slash on it before springing away.  The giant growls and moves after the quick swordsman, crashing his own blade down on Red for terrific damage.

The demon has created a half dozen _mirror images_ of itself, and now Angelfire's practicing the art of culling images with his falchion.  Suddenly the ground below the monsters (and Angelfire, but he's okay with fire) turns to magma, transmuted by Lester's paraelemental mastery!  But the psurlon lurches free; the deathbringer's trapped in the forcecage anyhow; the giant's already moved away from the area in pursuing Red; and the demon isn't concerned.

The giant suddenly rocks as Lester strikes it several times from afar thanks to a _far strike_ that Orbius cast on his blade previously.  The psurlon tries- remarkably unsuccessfully- to confuse the party, then moves away from the red-hot magma.  Horbin fires a _searing light_ at the giant, but misses, and then casts _righteous might_ to be like all the other high-level clerics present.

Lionel trys to send the glabrezu back to its home plane, but it resists his power with a growl of disdain.  Then he strikes at the demon with his shining sword, somewhat smaller than Lambollar's, taking out several images and actually scoring a hit on the real deal.  It yelps.  Sheva finishes the psurlon with an amazing display of swordsmanship and tumbles in to flank the glabrezu.  Orbius unleashes a double volley of _seeker missiles_ that pound in at it, blasting it again and again.  Zeebo follows up with double volleys of _magic missiles_, and this time not only are the last images destroyed, the demon itself drops.  The Mayor whoops- "We've just got the giant left!" he shouts.

And Thrush is toe-to-toe with the giant, slashing it across the belly, stabbing its thigh.  It roars and swipes at him, but he ducks under it's arm and jabs his greatsword in under its armpit, severing the artery.  

"You always were a punk," he shouts at the giant. 

Lambollar collapses.  Blood is pouring from its armpit in copious amounts, and it groans weakly.  He tries to stand once more and then falls prone, weakly moaning only once more before expiring.

"We did it!" cries Lester.

"Now all we have to do is wait for the _forcecage_ to expire and kill the deathbringer," says Orbius.  "It's going to last about a day and a half."

The party ponders and decides to wait it out and kill the deathbringer when the cage vanishes.  "After all," Lester points out, "we know when it's going to end, so we can get ready for it- buff up and stuff right before.  And that way we can see whatever it does, if anything."

Things go wrong at noon.



*As a matter of fact, it couldn't- it's only once per day.


_*Next Time:*_ Axon, Axel and Chemnu disrupt the party's plan rather badly!


----------



## Greybar

since Hank isn't mentioned, does Lionel == Hank?

I guess I lost track of the new party members if not.  Maybe a new party lineup with levels'n'such for the slow among us?

John


----------



## the Jester

Greybar said:
			
		

> *since Hank isn't mentioned, does Lionel == Hank?
> 
> I guess I lost track of the new party members if not.  Maybe a new party lineup with levels'n'such for the slow among us?
> 
> John *




Whoops, actually I mixed up the two of them a little- I'll go in and fix it up.  They're both _planar allies_, Hank is a celestial storm giant and Lionel is a monadic deva (from Tome of Horrors).  I attributed some of Hank's actions to Lionel.

The current lineup (as of the last update) for the party's "main members" (the ones most always there) is:

-Lester (elementalist 12/warrior of chaos 4/paraelementalist 1)
-Sheva (ranger 1/rogue 2/cleric 7/contemplative 3/ assassin 3/monk 1)
-Zeebo (wizard 6/sorcerer 6)
-Horbin (cleric 14)
-Red (fighter 6/weapon master 6)
-Angelfire (psychic warrior 12/cleric 3)
-Sybele (fighter 8/psion 5/warrior of chaos 1)

Cohorts et. al.
-Orbius (Lester's cohort, diviner 7/divine oracle 8)
-Habiskis (Sheva's cohort, imp rogue 7)
-Lionel (Monadic deva planar ally)
-Hank (celestial storm giant planar ally)
-Thrush (15th level fighter npc)

This changes between then and now.


----------



## the Jester

*Uh-Oh*

It's hours before the party is expecting to have to be ready to fight- three hours.  They're relaxing, enjoying the time they have. 

Then the stink of the bile arrives in a puff as Chemnu the Bile Lord and Axon and Axel arrive.*  The three of them teleport in a few dozen yards from the _forcecage_ and our heroes belatedly leap into motion.  This next battle suddenly looks less certain than... well, than any fight they've been in.

Red gulps a flask of red liquid that tastes like liquorice and speeds up.  He hustles away from the cluster of people he's with.  Axon and Axel, humanoid constructs of metal with what appear at a glance to be dual-wielded rapiers, stand ready to act.  

Who wants to throw the first punch?  Sheva casts _spell resistance_ instead, reasoning (quite correctly) that she may need it at any moment.  Habiskis, invisible as usual, moves stealthily into attack position.

Throwing the first punch, anyone?  Well, you can always bet on an angel to do the right thing- Lionel blasts the Bile Lord with a _flame strike_.  Chemnu is serene and unaffected.  The deathbringer seems poised and ready within the confines of the _forcecage_, and with good reason: the Bile Lord points and a green ray shoots out, disintegrating the cage of force.  And the deathbringer springs forth, attacking with a massive flail, crashing heavily into Thrush's chest.  Red steps in to help his fellow swordsman, but to his surprise, he misses.  "This thing's hard to hit!" he shouts.

Axon and Axel tumble in to flank Red, attacking with insane speed, slicing and stabbing no less than six times after their move!  Even though only two of the blows land, it's impressive- as is the damage they inflict.  Red glances down at the new holes in his arm and chest, coughs, and mutters, "Not bad."

"Now, my servants," Chemnu hisses, "we will destroy them."



*For those who missed it, it happened here.



_*Next Time: *_For the first time, we'll get to see one of the Bile Lords in combat!  It ain't pretty!


----------



## alsih2o

*Re: 9 A.M.*



			
				the Jester said:
			
		

> *
> 
> "You always were a punk," he shouts at the giant.
> 
> Lambollar collapses.  Blood is pouring from its armpit in copious amounts, and it groans weakly.  He tries to stand once more and then falls prone, weakly moaning only once more before expiring.
> 
> *




 ah, sweet, sweet violence


----------



## the Jester

*Battle With a Bile Lord*

Red swings his greatsword again, and this time he manages to punch a hole through the armor of the deathbringer along its upper arm.  His skill is phenomenal; he inflicts what should be telling damage, but the deathbringer hardly seems to notice.  Red snarls at it, but its sewn-shut eyes don't seem to notice.  Still, it clearly knows where he is.  It swings its two flails around, but instead of striking at Red it slams Thrush twice in the chest and head, then twice more in the arms, and tries to trip him with the chain of a flail!  The former servant of the Bile Lords manages to keep his feet by bracing all his weight and strength against the chain, then rolling it free of his body, but he's stumbling, the bones of his chest broken, blood pouring from his mouth and nose.  He looks like he's nearly down, and he's stunned from the force of the critical hit to the head.

Angelfire tumbles in towards Chemnu, but as he does so Axon catches him mid-tumble* and stabs him in the leg, stopping him cold and knocking him prone.  Even so, he's close enough to Chemnu that the sickening aura around the Bile Lord is making him feel ill and weak.  Habiskis appears as he tries frantically to stab Chemnu with the unicorn horn dagger; his blow hits the Bile Lord _right in the eye_ and inflicts some damage, but as the imp screams curses the damage heals almost instantly.  Even he, from Hell, is sickened by Chemnu's aura.  Lionel, Horbin's planetar buddy, is moving in at the Bile Lord, casting defensive and buffing spells, trying to banish him and so forth.

Sheva quaffs a bitter-tasting potion of _haste_ and casts the last spells she has time to before joining battle, _divine power, righteous might_ and _death ward_.  She moves in towards Chemnu.  As she gets within his sickening aura her stomach roils and rebels and she feels the threat of vomit churning within her.

Chemnu sprouts a dozen image replicas and then blasts Angelfire with a _finger of death._  The scarlet warrior of Coila shrugs off the blast, but he's on the floor....



*I use the counter tumbling variant in Sword & Fist, which allows you to make an opposed tumble check to take your aoo on somebody tumbling anyway...



_*Next Time: *_ This battle took most of two games to resolve!  It only gets uglier!  Watch a pc get flat-out slain by Axon and Axel- after all, what do you get when you mix a threat range of 7-20 with the ability to inflict maximum damage when he doesn't inflict a crit??


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

Loving it, Jester! Keep on coming with those updates, I'm a-waitin'!


----------



## the Jester

*Battle With A Bile Lord: Things Get Ugly*

Red's pretty well surrounded at this point; Axon and Axel flank him, the deathbringer's next to him, about to finish off the swaying, battered Thrush.  Chemnu isn't far off either, advancing on Angelfire, who sprawl on the ground.  The Bile Lord's sickening aura is making the fiery psychic warrior gag as he scrambles for purchase.  Things are getting ugly, all right.

But Red And Thrush aren't alone.  Horbin the Holy steps up from behind the front lines of the battle and touches Thrush.  A golden radiance spreads from his hand, healing Thrush's grievous wounds.  Then the Mayor _hastes_ Horbin.  Zeebo's keeping a counterspell readied, too.

Red glares around him at the enemies that surround him.  With a wild battle-cry, he springs out in a whirlwind of doom, his blade slashing everywhere so fast the eye can't even follow it.  He slashes Axon with a 'donging' noise, draws a line of sparks across Axel's flank with a 'zing', and even pierces the deathbringer's armor!  He gives a triumphant roar, and then Axon steps in, demonstrating his ruthless technique with his rapier-hands.  He thrusts in with lethal precision, slicing into Red's arm, groin and side, twice critically.  And Red recognizes his techniques-_ Axon's a weapon master!_- then drops into unconsciousness before he can do anything else.

But almost instantly the sped-up Horbin casts a _healing circle_ and brings him around.  Thrush has finally shaken off the blow to the head that stunned him and swings at the deathbringer, but he's still regaining his equilibrium and he misses.  The deathbringer responds with a _circle of doom_ that sends negative energy blasting out at all of them- and heals itself of much of the damage it's taken!

Chemnu the Bile Lord is stalking towards Angelfire, but Sheva moves to intercept him.  He stops and gestures at her, trying to grip her with _telekinesis,_ but she struggles free and keeps advancing towards him, her face almost green from nausea.  The Bile Lord blasts her with another _finger of death_- but fortunately she's cast _death ward_ in preperation for just such events, and it saves her!  Chemnu stops his advance, and 
Angelfire manages to regain his feet.  Wisely deciding that it's better to take out the easier enemies first, he steps back and unleashes a rain of falchion blows at the deathbringer.  With the scream of steel cutting armor, he rains a pair of hearty blows on it, sending it staggering back a few feet.

Despite the damage from the deathbringer's circle of negative energy, Red staggers to his feet.  Chemnu's right next to him; he figures it's his chance to show the rest of the party how it's done.  He swings his greatsword with incredible skill and strength three times, dispelling three of the Bile Lord's _mirror images_ but not harming the real deal.

"Fool, you should have learned," Axon says, stepping in and running Red through the heart and brain, then dropping his dead body to the ground at Chemnu's feet.




_*Next Time:*_ Battle Against the Bile Lord, pt. 3!


----------



## Greybar

Oooh, fun fun.  And not looking so good for the heroes!



> and he's stunned from the force of the critical hit to the head.




Curiousity here. Is this:
1) Dramatic retelling
2) Special effect of the flail (i.e. _stunning_)
3) House rule about critical hits
4) House rule about called shots to body parts



John


----------



## the Jester

Greybar said:
			
		

> *
> Curiousity here. Is this:
> 1) Dramatic retelling
> 2) Special effect of the flail (i.e. stunning)
> 3) House rule about critical hits
> 4) House rule about called shots to body parts
> 
> 
> 
> John *





3.  I use a system whereby crits deal extra 'color' (stunned, knocked down, driven back, arm hewed off, etc) based on the proportion of hps removed from a victim.  So you only get cool things like "heart pierced" or "decapitated" if you're dead from damage anyway.  

But Axon and Axel both have a special attack called Tripping Thrust that knocks you down on a crit if you fail a save anyway!


----------



## the Jester

*One for the Good Guys*

Axel and Axon both turn their heads to look at Sheva, who's approaching them- and Chemnu- grimly, Chronovestis in her hands.  She tumbles forward, trying to evade the two nimblewrights' attacks of opportunity, but Axel slices her despite her best interests.  With a grunt, she ignores him and aims a mighty slash at Chemnu- a blow that hits despite his images, and draws yellowish bile where a human would bleed.  But to her dismay, the wound starts closing immediately and quickly.  Habiskis flies at Chemnu and pokes at him with the unicorn dagger, then just keeps moving past, trying hard not to be the center of anyone's attention.  The nasty yellowish vapors around the Bile Lord have left the stomachs of everyone who has entered them in a state of rebellion. 

Lionel's angelic sword comes free of its sheath as he flies forward, charging the deathbringer.  His blade rings with a high, clear tone when it deflects off the undead creature's thick armor.  Angelfire and Thrush both step in on it too, though, and both land punishing series of blows on it.  It staggers and drops to one knee, black energy crackling around its wounds, and unleashes another burst of negative energy- again repairing itself and wounding our heroes.  "Enough!" cries Horbin the Holy, and he fires off a _searing light_ at the sewn-faced monster.  The light blasts into its grey face, burning away the entire head, and the cleric brings death to the deathbringer.  Then he fires a _flame strike_ at Chemnu, catching Sheva (since she's in melee with it) but figuring correctly that she'll be okay.  And the entire party rejoices when not only does it penetrate Chemnu's spell resistance but the Bile Lord is caught off-guard and fails to dodge the worst of it, taking full damage!  Still, he seems neither badly wounded nor concerned.

Chemnu swipes at Sheva with his long, yellow fingers, clawing her across the cheek and leaving a greenish burning liquid behind.  Sheva cries out in pain as the acid burns her.*  Then Chemnu aims yet another _finger of death_ at Angelfire, who manages to throw off the effect yet again.  Meanwhile the Bile Lord's unbelievable healing factor brings him almost back to full health.

Then Axon and Axel are tumbling in past Sheva's defenses, flanking her and delivering terrific damage (including a blow to the vitals that threatens to finish her).  As they do so, Zeebo casts a _slow_ and counters the _haste_ on Axon.  Terribly wounded, Sheva the chain mail bikini-clad red-haired warrior of Coila does the only thing she really can- she _timeslips,_ vanishing into the timestream for a few seconds.  Axon and Axel turn to face the wounded Angelfire, but even as they do so the planetar heals him.  Then a _lightning bolt_ zots out from Zeebo and catches all the bad guys- wounding only Axon.  The weapon master construct staggers.  The Mayor then _hastes_ Lionel.

"Not too bad," calls Angelfire's cheerily to Axon and Axel.  "The deathbringer's down.  You're next."

The two constructs tumble forward.



*She also had to make a Fort save, but she was successful... in fact, everyone was successful in their Fort saves in this fight!  



_*Next Time:*_ Angelfire vs. Axon and Axel!


----------



## the Jester

*Angelfire vs. Axon and Axel!*

Angelfire tumbles in on Chemnu, but misses him.  Habiskis takes a shot with the unicorn dagger as well, but to no avail.  As the two nimblewrights somersault and dodge in to flank Angelfire, Thrush charges Axel, cursing as his blade deflects off the construct's metallic surface.  The Bile Lord, a rictus smile on his face, casts a new _mirror image_ and then blasts a _cone of cold_ directly at Angelfire, inflicting immense damage to the fiery Coilite even with his magical ring that protects him from cold.

Horbin's using a trick he learned off a scroll he purchased not too long ago: _lower resistance._  It lowers the target's spell resistance, hopefully making it possible to get more spells in.  He manages to get the spell past Chemnu's defenses and then, still sped up by Zeebo's _haste_, he casts _destruction_ on the Bile Lord!  This one fails to kill the Bile Lord but does inflict some damage on him.  Everyone has noted that Chemnu's wounds are closing _fast_ by now... he's barely wounded.  Horbin cries, "Dexter don't fail me now!" and blasts out with a _flame strike_.  The pillar of golden fire from Heaven erupts down on Chemnu, and the Bile Lord takes full damage from it!  "It seems Dexter's got your number!" Horbin crows, then fires a _searing light_ that completely misses.

Zeebo decides it's just about time he got in on this one himself and fires off a volley of _magic missiles_.  They streak in on Chemnu but fizzle when they hit what the Mayor recognizes as a _shield_ spell.  _Stick to the ones your spells can affect,_ he tells himself grimly, and touches Horbin.  The cleric turns invisible, but almost immediately reappears as he keeps casting spells against the Bile Lord.

Then Thrush is charging with a roar, swinging his gleaming greatsword at Chemnu.  He fails to connect, and the Bile Lord snarls, "You will die slowly for your treason, Thrush."  Then the Bile Lord fires off a _hold person_ at Angelfire, which he manages to throw off.

Axon and Axel seem to fight incredibly well from flanking and they seem to be incredibly good at flanking.  They tumble around Angelfire and aim terrible blows at him, but he's psionically displaced and most of them miss.  Every one that Axon lands inflicts horribly damaging wounds, often piercing vital areas.  All the worst blows threaten to knock him from his feet, but Angelfire manages to brace himself against it and absorb the worst of them.  

Lionel and Habiskis are both there, too, stabbing and slashing at the two nimblewrights from flanking, both hitting Axon and inflicting a small amount of damage, but it's clear that the main event is Anglefire.  He's an immensely powerful warrior, and he throws all his puissance into a series of hatchet-like blows with his falchion, landing first one and then another on Axon's head.  The second one drops Axon and Angelfire lets the blow carry him around to Axel, dealing a ringing blow to the other construct.  Then, as Chemnu gestures, a gigantic hand appears in the air and smacks Angelfire, making his ears ring!  

Axel cries out in dismay, moves 5' to flank Angelfire with the Bile Lord, and full attacks.  His deadly-accurate blows are wild, probably due to his upset at his 'brother' falling (can constructs cry?), and only one of them lands.  And then Habiskis lends a unicorn dagger to Axel's back, and the other nimblewright falls as well!

"Well now," says Angelfire, "that helps."

Chemnu glares....



_*Next Time:*_ Everyone against Chemnu!!!


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

You HAVE to put the stats for these guys up! If I'm right, you have another thread for monster stats and stuff, yes? Does it have the seeker missiles spell on it?

Thanks for continuing this great tale!


----------



## Talix

Wow, what a great battle!  

And just because I haven't had time to comment on the other updates yet, I want to say that I really enjoy the commune spells that these guys continually throw out - both what questions they choose to ask and the answers are very enlightening.  

Thanks for all the wonderfully-written updates!


----------



## the Jester

Tallarn said:
			
		

> *You HAVE to put the stats for these guys up! If I'm right, you have another thread for monster stats and stuff, yes? Does it have the seeker missiles spell on it?
> 
> Thanks for continuing this great tale! *




Check it out (my players, please stay outta here- there's stuff you should not know about) here.  Axon, Axel, seeker missiles, it's all there near the end of the thread; a lot of the earlier stuff is from my old story hour.

Thanks for the compliments, glad you guys are enjoying it!


----------



## the Jester

*Everyone Against Chemnu!*

Chemnu, surrounded by his flickering images, raises a hand to cast a spell- and then, suddenly, Sheva appears from the time stream, unleashing a rain of blows with Chronovestis, the Sword of Time.  None hit the Bile Lord himself, but several of his _mirror images_ dissolve under the force of the slashes.  Sheva's moving supernaturally fast, so she takes a moment to ready a strike against him if he starts casting that spell.  Almost immediately, Chemnu triggers it- blasting a greenish ray of disintegration at Angelfire.  Sheva's blow misses and she curses, but Angelfire shrugs off the blast, taking another wound and staggering, almost falling to his knees.  Chemnu sneers as he starts another spell, one that he's certain will finish Angelfire off- but before his _cone of cold_ blasts out at the fiery Coilite (and much of the rest of the party) Lionel manages to _heal_ him back to full health!  The frigid cone still deals immense damage to Angelfire, who screams in agony, but doesn't slay him.  Habiskis, on the other hand, is frozen solid as a block of translucent ice condenses around him- were it not for his diabolic ability to regenerate, he'd be _extremely_ dead.

Lionel and Angelfire both rush in at the Bile Lord, the planetar with a touch spell active that actually hits the real deal despite his images.  Unfortunately for the party, Chemnu ignores the spell as it breaks against his immeasurable will.  Angelfire throws himself at Chemnu bodily, his hand reaching out to grab at the hideous creature, but he gropes through an image instead, dissolving it.  _It's like when we fought the inevitable on the moon*,_ he thinks to himself- _we can't really hit him, we have to adapt, to adopt a different approach!_  Thrush swings again and again, his skill beyond anyone else in the group's- and though he drops two of the last three images around Chemnu, he fails to connect with the Bile Lord.  Then the fists of force attacking the two of them swing, missing both Thrush and Angelfire by inches.

The Mayor knows his magic is too weak to penetrate Chemnu's defenses.  He knows that his best bet is to aid his allies, so he keeps doing it, casting _invisibility_ on Horbin, then _enlarging_ both Thrush and Angelfire.  He's casting some of the same spells on people over and over as they expire or are broken, but he doesn't mind.  His arcane prowess is not as intense as a straight wizard or sorcerer; but he's _never_ run out of spells- and today won't be the day it finally happens either.  He keeps himself moving around, trying not to be a target.  Only his fancy footwork kept him from being in the _cone of cold,_ and he's certain it would've killed him... _Why not?_ he thinks boldly, and aims a targetted _dispel magic_ at Chemnu.  _*That's* why not,_ he thinks wryly as his spell slides off the Bile Lord's vastly powerful magic like water off a duck's back.

Then Horbin ripples into view, losing Zeebo's concealing magic as he strikes at Chemnu from flanking, his holy mace smacking into the last image and destroying it.  The Bile Lord frowns at him briefly, then turns to snarl at Thrush.  "Traitor," he grits, "you will know no end of agony!"

"I don't think so," says Angelfire.

Chemnu's images are down- surely they'll be able to connect a little now- and Angelfire brings his falchion around in a complex weaving pattern that lands _three hits_ on the Bile Lord!**  Chemnu staggers back, shaking his head in a brief moment of surprise, glancing down at the wounds already closing on his abdomen and thighs.  "Impressive," he snarls.

"Shut up," Thrush says, and he swings a massive cloud of greatsword blows at the Bile Lord as well!  His first blow catches the enemy in the leg, drawing another line of stinking yellow fluid from Chemnu.  Then Thrush growls and reverses his blade, hacking down at Chemnu's left foot, and scores a massive hit!  The sound of the bones of the Bile Lord's foot breaking is clearly audible, and Chemnu gives a strangled scream.  The party cheers!

Chemnu staggers back as the two clenched fists continue to assault Thrush and Angelfire.  With a scream of rage he erects a _wall of force_ between the party and himself, and Zeebo and Horbin recognize the spell's gestures and words.  Sheva doesn't, but it becomes quite clear to the entire group in just a moment as she swings Chronovestis and it deflects off of the invisible wall.  "DAMMIT!!" she roars.

There's a momentary pause.  Horbin and Lionel rush to heal at least some of the wounds that both Angelfire and Thrush have taken- and are still taking, as the fists keep swiping at them.  Sheva disappears into invisibility with a snarl and a flick of her red hair. 

As the party watches and prepares, casting spells to buff themselves up even further, Chemnu is healing rapidly.  Unbelievably rapidly.  Faster than any natural healing or regeneration anyone in the group has seen.  And the Bile Lord casts another set of _mirror images._  Thrush groans.  "Now we'll never get him," he gripes.

And Chemnu sneers from behind the wall, casting another spell.  Horbin shouts curses- "He's just put up an antimagic field!" he cries- and backs away, drawing out his crossbow.  The crossbow he hasn't fired in a very long time- years, maybe?  Zeebo makes Thrush invisible, but with a sinking feeling he knows that as soon as the warrior gets too close to the Bile Lord it'll be suppressed.  

Our heroes are weary, low on spells and resources.  But the party has a secret weapon- one that nobody has thought of- one that may just save the day.....




*This story is as yet untold- it all ties in to the Hatching Cave where an earlier party guarded the dragon eggs, which has been referred to many times... Perhaps eventually that story will come out here...  

**_Extremely_ good luck with the dice graced the party in this round (round 8 of the combat, btw).  Add to that, no power attack, flanking, being enlarged... you get the idea.



_*Next Time:*_ The battle concludes!  Who has the secret weapon, what is it, and will it work in the _antimagic field_??


----------



## the Jester

*Chemnu (Finale)*

Let's go back for a minute.

If you'll recall, our heroes had captured the deathbringer in a _forcecage_ and were expecting a little more time before they'd have to fight; that's why certain party members haven't been involved in the fight yet.*

When things went horribly awry and Chemnu and his nimblewright lackeys teleported in, fast and furious, Sybele was not far away.  She was in the middle of answering one of nature's calls, and it takes a while (find privacy, unstrap the armor, squat and poo, wipe and redon the armor).  She's right in the middle of it all when she hears the roar of battle from where the party is, hours early.  

With a curse she struggles to move quickly through the light woods and back up the hill to the party's battlefield.  She hears terrible screams of pain as spells blast our heroes, the clang of metal on metal.  The battle sounds fast and desperate, and she arrives less than fifty seconds after it starts, bursting on the scene just in time to see the masterful series of attacks executed by Angelfire and Thrush.  She manifests psionic _invisibility_ and, watching desperately as the Bile Lord erects his _wall of force_, she pulls out the only trick she can think of that might work: a thick glass sphere full of green slime....

And now we're caught up.  Let's move on, shall we?

As the Bile Lord heals rapidly behind the _wall of force_, our heroes know they have to move fast.  Lionel, Horbin's planetar ally, has been using the momentary reprieve to heal various wounded party members, but he knows they can't afford any more time.  So he points his finger, invokes the power of Galador, and a green ray shoots out and blasts the force wall to oblivion!

Thrush charges in with a shout, striking the Bile Lord a single mighty blow across the right forearm.  Yellow bile splashes out.  Angelfire steps in and attacks, the Mayor aiding his blows by distracting the Bile Lord.  Sheva swings Chronovestis in a deadly blur, cracking into the enemy's ribs, and Chemnu takes a single step back under the fury of their attacks.  With his _antimagic field_ active, he's easier to hit- but our heroes don't have any of their powerful magic and psionic enhancements, so things come out almost even.  But he's still healing nearly as fast as they can inflict damage.

Sybele takes careful aim with the globe of slime.  She takes a deep breath, thanking the gods that she's good at throwing anything [yes, she has the feat], and waits for the perfect moment.  As the party's front line warrior types dance around the master of Bile Mountain, she stands back... and as soon as her opening comes, she throws the globe of slime.

It's the best throw she's ever made with anything.**

The slime globe sails lazily up through the air, landing right in the center of the Bile Lord's chest and bursting open.  With a shriek, Chemnu sees the slime starting to consume him.  And in a zone of antimagic, he can't respond quickly.  "Raah!!" he howls in pain, concentrating to dismiss the antimagic, stepping away from the deadly swarm of attackers that press him.  Blows are raining down at him, arrows now fired by Thrush as Lionel, Sheva and Angelfire keep pressing forward with melee attacks.  Chemnu backpedals, trying to cast a _fireball_ on himself to slay the slime, but Sheva's ready for him and aims an excruciatingly accurate blow at the Bile Lord's hand, interrupting him.

And with a final scream, Chemnu dissolves into a puddle of green slime.

Panting and drained, almost out of spells and resources, our heroes pause to catch their breath.

"Well, it took slime to beat this guy- but at least we know they have no defense against it," Horbin remarks.

After Sheva's cohort finally thaws, he and Angelfire try to open up Axon and Axel's chests; after several minutes of prying and picking, the imp finally succeeds, finding an incredibly intricate selection of clockwork gears, belts and wiring inside.  He happily tears at it, chewing on the wires.  

"There are three more of them," Thrush reminds the party.



*That, and the fact that the players weren't there during much of the two games over which this battle spread.   

**Yep, natural 20 into an antimagic field that she wasn't in.  So she had all her attack bonuses... and it was a touch attack besides!



_*Next Time: *_Our heroes meet a sullen dwarven smith and run an errand for him!  And where is Sybele's daughter anyway?  The answer comes soon!


----------



## Technik4

*Wooh!*

Great Fight! Chemnu was pretty haughty to cast anti-magic field, but I guess being a bile lord makes you pretty arrogant (although I think he was doing better with all his images!). So what was that globe of green slime?

As far as my game (or lack there-of) Im still working on my homebrew, buying the occasional book, and painting a ton of minis!

Can't wait to hear some of these interesting side-stories (dragon eggs), and still patiently awaiting the wrap-up with Clambake the Pirate. And since Im thinking of it, are you ever going to do a retro-story hour where we get the full backstory on Lester, Dexter, and Hobbes?! Because I have to say, Hobbes is the coolest PC name Ive heard in a good long while (and how come these cat people hardly ever come up?).

Whew, keep up the great work!

Technik


----------



## the Jester

*Re: Wooh!*



			
				Technik4 said:
			
		

> *Great Fight! Chemnu was pretty haughty to cast anti-magic field, but I guess being a bile lord makes you pretty arrogant (although I think he was doing better with all his images!). So what was that globe of green slime?*





It was a green slime grenade, courtesy of Belmax, a corporation founded by Belmondo the Enhanced (who made a brief appearance a while back with Alcar) and Lucidemax, a long-dead pc.  She got a couple of them a while back while in Var.

*



			Can't wait to hear some of these interesting side-stories (dragon eggs), and still patiently awaiting the wrap-up with Clambake the Pirate. And since Im thinking of it, are you ever going to do a retro-story hour where we get the full backstory on Lester, Dexter, and Hobbes?! Because I have to say, Hobbes is the coolest PC name Ive heard in a good long while (and how come these cat people hardly ever come up?)
		
Click to expand...


*
Yeah, the wrap-up will come... I still need to put together the pivotal conversation about the clockwork horrors from my players' recollections.  

As for a retro story hour, maybe a little here and there, but a lot of these characters go back to 1997 so the memory for specifics is a little dusty... maybe I'll do a "Cydra: the Early Years" type thing once in a while if people want, which would help fill in some of the backstory on Dexter, Malford, Lester, Hobbes and many other characters that may or may not have been mentioned in the current thread.

Thanks for the feedback, and look in my rogues' gallery thread for more on Chemnu (you stay out if you're in my game!!  )


----------



## the Jester

*Search for a Mage-Smith*

Our heroes are walking.

Normally they'd fly or wind walk, but nobody's prepared for that right now, and it'll be about 5 in the evening before any of the clerics (namely, Horbin the Holy) can pray for spells.  So, at least for a few hours, they're on foot like low-level adventurers on their way back to the Shining City.  Along the way, Thrush and Sybele make a lot of small talk.  It's clear that he thinks of her as his woman now, and it's equally clear that she's more than willing to go along as long as it suits her purpose- finding Jezebel, her missing daughter.

Once Horbin can cast _wind walk_ on the group they return to the city in less than an hour.  They check in with their buddies at the home of the Swords of Assistance, including the Chaos-warped Thorax and Thangor, a huge dark human with apparently limited language skills who serves the ex-Swords of Assistance as a guard.  Everyone's glad to see the group alive.

Over the next two weeks the party does some more shopping, seeking magic items of great power, trying to commission some.  It rapidly becomes apparent that most of the spellcasters capable of creating such powerful weapons have better things to do, but 
Sheva turns up a pair of magical gloves that will poison a weapon as a free action thrice per day through her contacts in the Grey Brotherhood.  Unfortunately, the price is high- 30,000 gp.  She passes on it.

A little investigation turn up a mage-smith's name for the pcs: Fandral, said to be an outcast dwarf who lives not far from the Shining City in a cave in a sea cliff.  Our heroes set out to locate him, and in short order they succeed, once again covering huge distances quickly via _wind walk_ as they search.  When they get to his cave, they find it spartan and tidy, and Fandral himself is a balding dwarf with long thick moustaches and a beard that puffs out importantly.  He grudgingly invites them in for a bite to eat.

"So what are you doing out here by yourself?" Sybele asks him.

"Bah!  My people didn't care for my ways.  There are many among us dwarves who don't much hold with magic, ye know.  Wasn't so long ago that most people didn't even believe we could _do_ it."  He guffaws.  "They were wrong."  Fandral's face turns sour.  "But show someone they're wrong, and do they thank ye?  No, they tell ye to air out and kick ye from your home.  So I came here to get away from all them bastards, and here I'll remain.  And don't go tryin' to get me involved in any crap with them, either!"  He spits.  "I wash me hands of them."

"Wow, sounds like an old buddy of ours," Sybele says.  "Hessian.  He led the Swords of Assistance for a while until an ogre killed him."  She sighs.  "I can understand what you mean about washing your hands of them, though," the psionic archer commisserates.  "I used to be in the Forinthian Army, but I got kicked out for not just doing what I was told, for trying to do things differently."

Fandral nods.  "Aye, and ta the Abyss with all of them."  He pauses, then amends, "Well, not that I wish 'em ill- just have no desire to see any of them again."

"Well," Sheva asks, "is there any chance we could commission some weapons from you?"

The dwarven smith leans back and seems to be considering for a few moments.  Then he answers, "Tell ye what.  I'm looking for some special metal, called coal steel.  Very useful stuff for making good strong weapons from.  Ye get me some, and I'll make ye three weapons like ye've never seen before."

"Coal steel," muses Sheva.  "Any idea where we could find some of it?"

"Oh, indeed," Fandral replies.  "There's a group of fire giants what stole some a while back, I can tell ye exactly where they are."

The party exchanges glances.  Another little quest, another distraction... "We need to find my daughter," Sybele says insistently.

"Yeah, but these weapons will help us, right?" Angelfire points out.

"Yeah..." Sybele admits.

"Well, we won't do Jezebel any good if we get killed trying to find her, will we?"

"True... all right, we'll do it," Sybele says.  She's easily swayed due to her Chaotic nature; but she won't be swayed for long.  _What's happening to my daughter?_ she wonders despairingly.  But for now, she allows herself to be talked into going on Fandral's errand.



_*Next Time:*_ Fandral's Errand!


----------



## the Jester

*Fandral's Errand*

A little scrying shows Orbius right where to go, and the party teleports in to attack the fire giants under the influence of a _mass haste_.  It's not even close to a contest.  Between Orbius' paired _cones of cold_ and the devestating blows of the warrior types, the chief and most of his guards are down in seconds.  

But one of the giants is more than he seems.  

He casts a spell- recognized by Zeebo as a _summon monster VIII_- and then _plane shifts_ away.

And a horrible creature full of writhing tentacles, with a deadly-looking mouth and a horribly unnatural, writhing form appears.  Even so, it's no match for our heroes, as first a _lance of disruption_ from Orbius, then a pair of _lightning bolts_ from the Mayor, then a series of blows from Lester and Sheva destroys it before it has a chance to act.  It swiftly melts into frothy pink goo.

Meanwhile, Thrush knocks the last giant unconscious.  The party searches the corpses, then wakes and interrogates the giant.

"Where's the coal steel?" Angelfire demands.

The giant looks frightened.  He just saw our heroes rip through his chief and four more giants in all of ten seconds.  But still, he sees an opportunity and he takes it, trying to negotiate.

"How about this," Angelfire interrupts.  "Tell us what we want to know and we won't kill you."

The giant can see the wisdom of cooperation, and seconds later our heroes burst into the giant smith's room.  It takes only seconds to drop him and his pet bear; then the coal steel is in their hands, a collection of half-forged weapons and metal scraps.  Only minutes later they teleport back to Fandral's cave.

"That was quick," the dwarf smith says with surprise.  "Did ye have trouble?"

Sheva scoffs.

The party turns the coal steel over to Fandral- it's kind of weird, like steel but with black speckles all over it.  The dwarf crows in satisfaction over it, tasting it, dinging it with a hammer, then setting it down with a satisfied smile.  "Well, friends, ye've earned yer weapons!  Now let me get to work.  Come back in fifty days for the first one."

"FIFTY DAYS??" Sybele says.  "We can't wait fifty days!"

Fandral squints at her.  "These things take time," he says with finality.

It quickly becomes apparent that he's not negotiating about this; fifty days for each weapon, and not only that- he'll decide what enchantments he'll lay on each one.  "But they'll be incomparable weapons," he says to mollify the party.  "Ye'll be satisfied- I guarantee that!"

The party teleports to Pesh City; they have a number of items on their plate there.  A few days are devoted to learning spells and such; during this time the L keeps trying to talk the party into attacking the Temple of Elemental Evil.

"You said you'd help find Sybele's daughter next," Sheva accuses.

Lester grumbles, but eventually gives in.  "So how do we do this?"

"Well, so far our clues point to Darkhold, and this Zelman sounds like our best bet to track it down.  I'm going to have my imp _commune_ tonight to see if we can figure out how to find him without having Orbius get blinded or killed."  Lester nods, agreeing that this is a good plan.

Meanwhile, Zeebo visits Souliass, his attorney/mistress.  He wants both to check in and make sure that the case against Cluma's heirs is going well, and to get some nookie.  Unfortunately, she's all business- and in fact is rather frosty.  "Your friend Lester missed his court date," she tells the Mayor.  "There's been a fine levied on him.  He should visit a magistrate as soon as possible to try to straighten things out.  And they're countersuing over the loss of Lawtablet, Cluma's sword.  Worse yet, they raised him from the dead- watch yourself."

Sensing something wrong from her icy demeanor, Zeebo takes Souliass out to dinner.  Soon the problem becomes apparent.

"What's the deal with your children?" she asks angrily.

"I didn't know I had any," he answers.

"I thought I was special!"

"You _are_ special," he sooths, thinking, _Every woman is special... and I have _ needs.

They spend hours talking, but in the end Zeebo is consigned to a discrete visit to a house of ill repute (_invisibility_ and _nondetection_ in effect until he gets to the brothel).  He purchases the services of a tall redheaded human, and while in the grip of passion he calls her Sheva.

Horbin, meanwhile, meets with representatives of the local church of Dexter and tells them that their faith is persecuted on Tirchond.  "We know," a deacon tells him grimly.  "Unfortunately, right now there's nothing we can do about it.  But once the Empire suppresses their little revolt, it'll all be taken care of.*"  Horbin the Holy leaves dissatisfied; he doesn't want a war to spread the faith, that kills innocents.  But he also doesn't want his faith persecuted.  Upset, he walks the streets of Pesh for hours until dark falls.

About then, Sheva slaps Habiskis around and tells him to _commune_.  The imp obeys, asking the questions that she demanded answers to.

What would be the best way to find Zelman?  *A properly-worded sending.*
Is there a protocol?  *Do not offend; make him interested.*
What would interest Zelman?  *Darkhold.*
What is Darkhold?  *Another plane...?*
What is the tuning fork frequency for Darkhold?  *Unknown.*
Who was the fire giant wizard that summoned the psuedonatural creature?  *Unknown- identity concealed.*

"A _sending,_" Sheva muses.  She prays each night at midnight; that's very soon.



*The Forinthian Empire is the home of the faith of the Light, which encompasses Dexter and Galador, as well as worship of the missing God-Emperor Prayzose.  Many people think of Galadorianism and Forinthia as interchangable, but it's really a bit more complex than that.


_*Next Time:*_ Trying to contact Zelman, God of Illusions!  A surprise and a blessing for Sybele!  And not one, but TWO Gods!


----------



## the Jester

*Tale of the New Gods*

"Yeah, if it wasn't for me there wouldn't even _be_ a Boccob, or a Zelman," Lester says.

He, Angelfire, Orbius, Sybele and Thrush have gone out for a night on the town and are partying it up.  He's bragging about his old adventures (as usual).  Sybele is trying to forget about her missing daughter for the night.  

"Well, my old buddies- Malford, Hobbes, Thimbleton, Dexter- heck, there were a bunch of us- had to go back in time because of Fuligin.  He was this totally crazy, totally evil guy that singlehandedly took over Dorhaus and ravaged it with hordes of demons and devils and stuff.  It was ugly.  We couldn't stop him; we had to go to Darkhold to go back in time to get some stuff to bind his master."  He pauses to take a long gulp from his stein.  "Man, I hope we don't have to fight the Master of Darkhold.  He's the one that helped us go back in time... I guess to another previous universe.  He's got this weird metal, called Darkhold metal, that's all black and totally nasty.  It's totally indestructable, and if you try to smack it, the force is reflected back or something.  Anyway, you shouldn't do it.  That's how the Master of Darkhold held Fuligin imprisoned for billions of years."  He scratches at his beard.  

"So how'd he get loose?" Angelfire asks, more than a little tipsy.  He orders another round for our fast-drinking heroes, though Orbius is still on his first and politely declines another.

"Oh, uh, I pulled a lever.  But it was an accident!  And besides, we killed him later, after we returned.  He was a gibbering idiot by then; the loss of his master pretty much did his mind in."

"Who was his master?" Sybele pipes in.

"Some immense overgod thing called Tharizdun that ate the previous universe.  Anyhow, that's where Boccob and those guys came from.  They're from that universe."

"Wow," says Angelfire, "so how many of these gods did you bring with you?  And why?"

"It wasn't really on purpose, but that's okay."  He leans back, thinking.  "I'm not exactly sure how many came with us, for sure.  There's Boccob, of course, and Zelman.  And there's Garnet- she's the goddess of twins or something like that.  Let's see, and Tade, Carella, Coila, Froth... hm, that's all I know of."

"Froth?"

"Oh, man, he's sick.  He's the god of necrophilia, cowardice, rape and perversion."

"That's disgusting!" Sybele interjects drunkenly.

"No kidding!  But get this- I guess he used to be a mortal elf!  Well, he's never done anything bad to me, but I wouldn't want him around my corpse, that's for sure."  Lester finishes his beer and orders another round for the group.  "Froth's the one who taught me to do this."  He extends his forefinger and a small flame springs from it.  "Just enough to light up a pipe.  Hail Froth!" he yells drunkenly, and the party laughs and whoops along with him.  They get rowdy; Angelfire exposes himself and Lester spanks him, calling him a bad boy.  Sybele and Thrush make out, eventually heading upstairs hand in hand.  Orbius just watches, alert for danger.

Sheva, meanwhile, casts her _sending_ to Zelman.  _Sheva, priestess of Coila, begs an audience with you concerning Darkhold and a missing person.  I only want to confer, let's meet, your choice._  She waits for a response- and a moment later it comes.  

_I will consider it if you tell me where you were born._

Puzzled, Sheva casts a second _sending_.  _I was born on Tirchond, in Aris.  I am the High Priestess of the church in the Shining City._

Again there is a response.  _Perhaps I will contact you._

_Well, it's better than nothing,_ thinks the red-haired Coilite. 





_*Next Time:*_ Zelman contacts Sheva!  Meeting two gods!  Sybele gets a surprise!  And a very important _commune!_


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

Good updates, Jester! We're reading it, even if no one else is


----------



## the Jester

*Meeting (two of) the Gods*

It's the next day.  Sheva's meditating in her temple when a strange chill runs up her spine and an image appears before her.  There stands an emerald-skinned, blue haired man with a black cloak over green and blue robes.  He holds a card in one hand- _A trump,_ Sheva realizes- and a staff with a glowing gem at either end in the other.  Now he studies her carefully for a moment, then says, "I am Zelman."

Sheva drops to one knee.  "Thank you for your attention," she says.

"You have a question about Darkhold?"

"Yes.  One of my adventuring companions has a missing daughter, and our clues are leading us in that direction.  We have no way to reach it.  We would beg your aid."

The Emerald Mage frowns.  "A missing child.  Why would-?  Hm."  He seems to consider for a moment, then says, "I'll bring you to me shortly."

"My friends...?"

Zelman shrugs.  "Them as well, if they're ready when I contact you.  It will be soon."  The chill fades from Sheva's body as the image of Zelman seems to shatter into a rainbow.

Soon, the party assembled, Zelman contacts Sheva again, then draws them through to him.  He doesn't seem worried about them, and in fact he recognizes Lester.  Zelman seems at ease and confident- but somehow not at all godly.  He seems like an ordinary guy... barring the green skin and blue hair, anyway.

"I can't help you find Darkhold," he tells the group, "but perhaps Garnet can.  I've already contacted her, and she should be here as soon as she's checked with the Master of Darkhold."

"Hey, I thought your staff could find Darkhold!" Lester objects.  "That's how we got there before."

Zelman shakes his head.  "It can lead you to me, not to Darkhold.  Remember, I too was a prisoner there for many eons."

"As was I," comes a lilting voice.

As she walks into view, her aura alone is enough to render our heroes speechless.  She's the most beautiful woman ever.  Her features are elven, with pointed ears and large amber eyes.  Her long silver hair falls like a waterfall to her waist.

"Garnet," Zelman acknowledges with a nod.

Zeebo can't help it; his enormous Chaos-induced fertility is too much for him.  Stifling a groan, he wraps his cloak around himself, hoping that the wet spot in his pants is not too obvious.  

And Garnet favors him with a smile.  

It's almost enough to send him into another spasmodic little death.

Then she turns to Sybele.  "You are the mother?" she asks gently.  The psion-archer can only nod dumbly.  "Your daughter is not in Darkhold.  I am sorry.  Your information must be mistaken."

"What led you to believe that?" Zelman inquires.

The party tells the two deities of their divinations, pointing to the Master of Darkhold as a prime suspect.  "But I guess that means it must be Nigel or Marius," Sheva says.

"Well, good luck to you in any event," Garnet says softly.  She smiles warmly to Sybele.  "My blessings on you- and your unborn child."

"What??" Sybele cries.

Garnet lays a hand on her belly.

"Or should I say... _children._  Now, farewell."



_*Next Time: *_Orbius communes, and our heroes get headed in the right direction!  The quest for Jezebel takes off!


----------



## the Jester

*Getting on Track*

The party is back in Pesh City, and their next move is obvious: figure out where Jezebel is.  In the hopes of doing so, Orbius _communes_.

Who am I talking to?  *Boccob.*
I open my mind to you and give you all that I have learned.
Where else could Jezebel be other than Darkhold if she's nowhere?  *Nonexistent at this point.*
Did the forces of Law have anything to do with Jezebel's kidnapping?  *Seems likely.*
Is Nigel under the control of another?  *Under the influence.*
Who is he under the influence of?  *Marius.*
How is Nigel able to scry me if I couldn't scry him?  *Change of location.*
Where was Nigel when he scried us?  *The ethereal plane.*
When will he return to that location?  *Unknown.*
Is Chemnu truly dead?  *Yes.*
When will the Bile Lords attack again?  *Depends on your actions.*
If we go to the Temple of Elemental Evil, how long until they attack?  *Uncertain.*
What is the best time of day tomorrow to launch a sneak attack on Lareth, the Champion of Elemental Evil?  *No good time.*
What is the best thing we could do next to find Jezebel?  *Look where Nigel was.*
Please show me where he was.  _Orbius sees a vision of swirling protomatter in the ether; it's enough for him to try to teleport to later._
What is the most powerful creature with Lareth?  *Imix, Ogremoch and Olhydra.*
If we teleport in to the Temple of Elemental Evil and attack, what are our chances?  *Very bad odds, but situation growing desperate.*

"What situation?" Zeebo wonders after the Eye relates this information over a beer.

"Should've asked who the slut's baby's father is," Sheva mutters.

"So tell me," Horbin asks, "why exactly is it that the forces of Law are after you guys?"

"It's a long story," Sheva answers. 

The Mayor fills in some of the details.  "We guarded a cave full of dragon eggs a few years back as part of a plan to break the power of Forinthia.  The forces of Law got involved and a suit was filed on Nirvana to force us away from it.  It's currently on appeal, but ever since we kind of left in the middle of it, they've been after us."

"Maybe all this 'nowhere' stuff could be some sort of planar temporal effect or something?" Sheva wonders aloud.

"Hmm, if Sybele's daughter is somewhere else in time..." Zeebo trails off.

"Marius might be able to skip forward a day.  I'll be able to, once my clerical powers grow a little more," Sheva says.  "If he's doing that, then she wouldn't exist at all during that time."

"But to be doing it every time we try to scry her?" Orbius sounds doubtful.  "Unless he somehow knows when we'll be trying..."

"Well, they haven't given us any demands or anything- maybe she's not a hostage."  Sybele turns to look at Horbin the Holy as he speaks.  "Maybe... they just want her for a material component or something."

"That's disgusting!" Thrush cries.  Sybele looks shaken.  He puts his arm around her to comfort her.  

The party sips there beers collectively.  Sheva glances at Sybele, and then discretely casts a _time pool_ in her beer, scrying out the moment of conception of Sybele's unborn child- no, children.  Silently, she watches it- it's kind of like porn- until she gets a good look at the man's face.  It's Thrush.  _At least the kid will be strong,_ Sheva thinks, glancing at Sybele.  _Slut._

Sybele gets up to order another round.  When she comes back, she informs the group, "Now that I'm pregnant, I'm going to make sure I don't drink any more swill... just healthy malt beers."

As the night progresses, it comes out that Thrush is the father-to-be, and to the surprise of the rest of the party, he immediately starts talking to Sybele about settling down.  "You shouldn't adventure anymore," he tells her insistently.  "One good blow to the belly and our children could be hurt or killed."  She's very noncommital about the idea of settling down- she's only 21, after all.

The next day Horbin summons a new _planar ally_ to help track down Jezebel (Lionel left after helping fend off Chemnu).  This time he gets Hank, a celestial storm giant.  They bargain briefly, and the giant agrees to aid the party's quest in return for some treasure.  Sheva, meanwhile, _communes_ with Coila.

Is Marius a follower of Coila?  *Yes.*
Is he using time to hide Sybele's child?  *Yes.* 
What is Coila's interest in elemental evil?  *It ties to Tharizdun.*
Who is the most likely candidate in Pesh City to run the temple here?  *Belranth.*
Why is Marius doing all this?  *His loyalty to Law outweighs his loyalty to me.*
How do you feel about Garnet?  *We go way back.*
Will we find Darkhold, or will it find us?  *Unknown.*
On the ethereal plane, what should we look for?  *A curtain.*
Where would be a good starting point in the fight against the Temple of Elemental Evil?  *Stop them from summoning the fourth Prince.*
How?  *Destroy the Champion of Elemental Evil.*

Then she attempts a _sending_ to Jezebel's father to alert him that she's been taken; however, she receives no response.  With a grunt of displeasure, she stalks off to beat her imp.  Zeebo, meanwhile, uses Orbius' crystal ball with telepathy to contact his modron lawyer on Nirvana and check up on the old business about the suit against the guardians of the dragon eggs.  He's told it's still on appeal.  Then he heads into the financial district, where he brings up the trust fund for each of the two children he knows about to 6000 gp.

After a severe beating, Sheva tells Habiskis to get the temple in Pesh in order.  "I'm gonna be gone for a little while- don't mess things up," she barks at him.

The party prepares for the trip to the ethereal plane, and with the ringing of a tuning fork the Material Plane fades out around them.  Then they find themselves floating in a zone of neutral gravity, surrounded by wisps of strange ethereal matter, clouds of color rolling in shapeless masses all around them.  Then Orbius casts _mass teleport_ and they reappear at the spot he saw in his vision.

And before them is a strange curtain of strange silvery color.

"Here we go," Sybele says, and with a deep breath the party prepares to plunge through.




_*Next Time:*_ Into the Plane of Time!  The most Star Trek adventure I've ever run as a dnd game!


----------



## the Jester

Hopefully that clears up the confusion between Lionel and Hank.   

I'll post another set of prolly 3-4 updates soon...


----------



## Talix

Still reading sporadically...  

VERY cool interactions between the party members and the various NPCs - I love how your group isn't all goodie-goodie, but actually each has their own agenda and ways of dealing with people.  It's actually pretty impressive they manage to stay together and function so well!

Speaking of impressive, the way you just keep cranking out these well-written and BIG updates repeatedly with nowhere near the amount of praise you should be getting is astounding in and of itself!  I'm sorry I don't have the time to come back here and say as much as I should after every update, but know that your efforts are VERY appreciated!  

Thanks!


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## the Jester

Note that I changed the last line; in my eagerness when writing the last update, I left something out.


----------



## the Jester

*Into the Plane of Time!*

"Wait!" cries Zeebo.

The party turns to regard him. 

"We should wait.  Marius is bound to come after us again soon- and he's likely to come through this curtain.  We can ambush him here."

The group considers.  They're ready to go get some trouble and kill it; but they all know how important strategy will be in this.  After some discussion, they decide to let a couple of days pass, despite Sybele's urgency.  Unbeknownst to them, they thus push themselves into a trap.

As they float amongst the protomatter of the ethereal plane, they watch the portal intently for signs of intrusion.  They're on edge, expecting attack at any moment.  But no attack comes, at least in the first few hours; and they relax a little.  When a full day has passed, Zeebo's sharp eyes spot something in the distance.  It's far off but closing.  Not sure what to expect, they ready themselves- only to find a tall blue humanoid in a strange, 20' long vessel.  He introduces himself as Gamorn, a mercane merchant.  An unexpected opportunity to buy a variety of magic items has come up, and our heroes avail themselves of it.  Sheva buys a _pearl of power_ for 4th-level spells; Sybele gets a psionic necklace containing _inertial barrier, duodimensional hand,_ and _astral construct III_ gems set in it.  Angelfire purchases a _ring of shocking grasp_ and a _golembane scarab_ (Sybele and Sheva already have such scarabs, bought since the party's frightening encounter with the mithral golem).  And everyone chips in for the Mayor; he walks away with a _headband of intellect +2_ and a _ring of shooting stars_.  

"Do you know where this leads?" Sybele asks, gesturing at the ethereal curtain.  "We're looking for my daughter, and we think she's been kidnapped by someone on the other side."

"I've never seen that color of ethereal curtain before," the mercane replies with equanimity.  "But my best wishes."  He departs shortly, on the search for more customers.

The group settles back in to watch the curtain, and most of another day passes.  

Then a head pokes, briefly, through the curtain.  In the few seconds it's there, the party sees that it's a familiar face (at least to some)- but strangely changed.  It's Nigel, Angelfire's father.  He's got greying unkempt hair and a natty beard and moustache.  But now his head has swollen and his brain pulses visibly beneath the skin, grossly enlarged.

Then he's gone, his head withdrawn, and the party's barrelling through the curtain.  

On the other side it's a storm of wind and silvery particles, reminiscent of the sand left behind when the party fought the strange chronal repeater.*  The screaming winds are so violent that they push our heroes around even as they fly forward.  A _fireball_ detonates around Sheva and Angelfire as Nigel casts back at them as he flees into the distance, and the party is off in hot pursuit.  Sheva tries to use her _lenses of utter dominance_ to sieze his mind, but to no avail- his will is much stronger than it was when they did battle in Firestorm Peak.

Nigel's fleeing towards some kind of opaque bubble, and as our heroes try to catch up he flies into it.  Without thinking twice the party flies in after him.

Right into Marius' trap...



*Back here.


_*Next Time: *_Time Trap!


----------



## the Jester

*The Time Trap*

_edit: Note that each time the party plays through events there are subtle differences..._


The party emerges from a scintillating wall of silvery light.  

There's no sign of Nigel; who there is sign of, oddly enough, is their old enemy, Cluma, the Guardian of Order!  He's dressed in full armor with some sort of rod composed of segments of different diameter thrust through his belt.

Horbin feels a profound sense of deja vu.

There's also a pile of snow, about 6' long, on the ground, but our heroes have no time for such niceties.  Angelf and Sybele manifest defensive powers while Horbin casts _lower resistance_ on the enemy.  Then a volley of _magic missiles_ blaze from Orbius- only to be deflected by what the Eye recognizes as a _shield_ spell.  Horbin's celestial storm giant ally gestures and a blast of violet electricity zaps Cluma, inflicting incredible amounts of damage.  Lester charges with a battle cry and Sheva tumbles in to flank after reading a scroll of _magic circle vs. law_.  

"You!"  The Guardian of Order seems surprised to see them here, and he whips out the rod at his side and smites Lester a ringing blow across the forehead.  "Foul servants of Chaos!"

Zeebo _hastes_ Lester, and Sybele darts in, disarming Cluma with a snap of her whip!  Horbin steps in, swinging his holy mace into the small of Cluma's back.  As he staggers, Hank steps in and swings his massive sword- cutting Cluma in twain in a shower of blood and viscera!

"Hmph," Lester grumbles, rubbing his smarting head.  He throws Cluma's body in his _box of many holdings_ for later dealing with.

"Where are we?" Sheva asks, looking around.  They're indoors somewhere.  The room is round, large and bare, except for the glimmering wall behind them that cuts off one corner.  A single heavy wood door leads out; and when they open it, our heroes find themselves staring out at what appears to be a nice summer day.  

Orbius and Sheva feel a profound sense of deja vu.

Sheva looks for tracks and finds boot tracks that appear to match Cluma's.  Oddly enough, they don't seem to lead up to the tower door.  Puzzled, the party decides to go back into the tower and see if they can find any sign of anything else.


Sheva feels a profound sense of deja vu.

The party emerges from a scintillating wall of silvery light.  

There's no sign of Nigel; who there is sign of, oddly enough, is their old enemy, Cluma, the Guardian of Order!  He's dressed in full armor with some sort of rod composed of segments of different diameter thrust through his belt.

There's also a pile of melting snow on the ground about three feet from the silvery wall of light, but our heroes have no time for such niceties.  Angelf and Sybele manifest defensive powers while Horbin casts _lower resistance_ on the enemy.  Then a volley of _magic missiles_ blaze from Orbius- only to be deflected by what the Eye recognizes as a _shield_ spell.  Horbin's celestial storm giant ally gestures and a blast of violet electricity zaps Cluma, inflicting incredible amounts of damage.  Lester charges with a battle cry and Sheva tumbles in to flank after reading her scroll of _magic circle vs. law_.  

"You!"  The Guardian of Order seems surprised to see them here, and he whips out the rod at his side and smites Lester a ringing blow across the forehead.  "Foul servants of Chaos!"

Zeebo _hastes_ Lester, and Sybele darts in, disarming Cluma with a snap of her whip!  Horbin steps in, swinging his holy mace into the small of Cluma's back.  As he staggers, Hank steps in and swings his massive sword- cutting Cluma in twain in a shower of blood and viscera!

"Hmph," Lester grumbles, rubbing his smarting head.  He throws Cluma's body in his _box of many holdings_ for later dealing with.

"Where is this place?" Sheva asks, looking around.  They're indoors somewhere.  The room is round, large and bare, except for the glimmering wall behind them that cuts off one corner.  A single heavy wood door leads out; and when they open it, our heroes find themselves staring out at what appears to be a nice summer day.  

Zeebo feels a profound sense of deja vu.

Sheva looks for tracks and finds boot tracks that appear to match Cluma's.  Oddly enough, they don't seem to lead up to the tower door.  Puzzled, the party decides to go back into the tower and see if they can find any sign of anything else.



The party emerges from a scintillating wall of silvery light.  

There's no sign of Nigel; who there is sign of, oddly enough, is an old foe, Cluma, the Guardian of Order!  He's dressed in full armor emblazoned with the Arrow of Law, and some sort of rod composed of segments of different diameter is thrust through his belt like a weapon.

There's also a melting pile of snow on the ground about three feet from the silvery wall of light, but our heroes have no time for such niceties.  Angelf and Sybele manifest defensive powers while Horbin casts _lower resistance_ on the enemy.  Then a volley of _magic missiles_ blaze from Orbius- only to be deflected by what the Eye recognizes as a _shield_ spell.  Horbin's celestial storm giant ally gestures and a blast of violet electricity zaps Cluma, inflicting incredible amounts of damage.  Cluma gives a hoarse cry.  Lester charges with a shout and Sheva tumbles in to flank after reading her scroll of _magic circle vs. law_.  

"You!  Here?"  The Guardian of Order seems surprised to see them here, and he whips out the rod at his side and smites Lester a ringing blow across the forehead.  "Foul servant of Chaos!"

Zeebo _hastes_ Lester, and Sybele darts in, disarming Cluma with a snap of her whip!  Horbin steps in, swinging his holy mace into the small of Cluma's back.  As he staggers, Hank steps in and swings his massive sword- cutting Cluma in twain in a shower of blood and viscera!

"Hmph," Lester grumbles, rubbing his smarting head.  He throws Cluma's body in his _box of many holdings_ for later dealing with.

"Where is this place?" Sheva asks, looking around.  They're indoors somewhere.  The room is round, large and bare, except for the glimmering wall behind them that cuts off one corner.  A single heavy wood door leads out; and when they open it, our heroes find themselves staring out at what appears to be a nice summer day.  

Horbin feels a profound sense of deja vu.

"Is it just me, or is something funny going on here?" he asks.

"What do you mean?" Zeebo responds.

"I don't know.... something... I just can't quite put my finger on it."

Sheva looks for tracks and finds boot tracks that appear to match Cluma's.  Oddly enough, they don't seem to lead up to the tower door.  Puzzled, the party decides to go back into the tower and see if they can find any sign of anything else.



_*Next Time:*_ Caught in a time loop!  How can the party escape??


----------



## the Jester

*Caught in a Time Loop*

Orbius and Sheva both feel a nagging sense of deja vu as the party emerges from a scintillating wall of silvery light. 

There's no sign of Nigel; who there is sign of, strangely, is their old enemy Cluma, the Guardian of Order! He's dressed in full armor emblazoned with the Arrow of Law, and some sort of tapering rod composed of segments of different diameter is thrust through his belt like a weapon.

Near the silvery wall is a melting pile of snow on the ground, but our heroes have no time for such niceties. Angelfire and Sybele manifest defensive powers while Horbin casts lower resistance on the enemy. Then a volley of _magic missiles_ blaze from Orbius- only to be rendered useless by what the Eye recognizes as a _shield_ spell. Horbin's celestial storm giant ally gestures and a blast of violet electricity zaps Cluma, inflicting incredible amounts of damage. Cluma cries out in pain as Lester charges with a shout and Sheva tumbles in to flank after reading her scroll of _magic circle vs. law. _

"You! Here?" The Guardian of Order seems surprised to see them here, and he whips out the rod at his side and smites Lester a ringing blow across the forehead. "Foul servant of Chaos!"  Lester stumbles back a step, his head ringing from the blow.

Zeebo _hastes_ Lester, and Sybele darts in, disarming Cluma with a snap of her whip!  The Guardian of Order's sword clatters to the ground.  Then Horbin steps in, swinging his holy mace into the small of Cluma's back. As the formerly-dead man staggers, Hank steps in and swings his massive sword- cutting Cluma in two in a shower of blood and viscera!

"Ouch," Lester winces, rubbing his smarting head. He throws Cluma's body in his _box of many holdings_ for later dealing with.

"Where is this place?" Sheva wonders, looking around. The party is indoors somewhere. The room is round, large and bare, except for the glimmering wall behind them that cuts off one corner. A single heavy wood door leads out; and when they open it, our heroes find themselves staring out at what appears to be a nice summer day. 

Sheva feels a profound sense of deja vu, as does Angelfire

"Is it just me, or is something funny going on here?" asks the chain mail bikini-clad Coilite.

"What do you mean?" Zeebo responds.

"I don't know.... something seems really strange.  I keep feeling like I've done this before..."  Musing, Sheva looks for tracks and finds the mark of boots that appear to match Cluma's. Oddly enough, they don't seem to lead up to the tower door. Puzzled, the party debates going back into the tower and see if they can find any sign of anything else.

"Well, wait a second," Sheva says.  "I think I can backtrack these to wherever Cluma came from.  Maybe we can find some answers there."

The party agrees, and they follow her.    As they go, Horbin feels  a nagging sense of deja vu.  In about ten minutes, they find themselves exiting a screen of trees and brush that seems to surround whatever the tower is that they just arrived in.  They seem to be about a quarter of a mile from a small village- they can count the six buildings from where they are.  "Hm," says Lester, "maybe that's where he came from."  They begin trudging down the path towards it, across cultivated fields of wheat that look ready for harvesting.  When they get a little closer our heroes can plainly tell that this little place has a church, a bar and four farm houses- and that's it.  As they walk into the town, a handful of people are in the streets; all stare at them in a mixture of fear and curiosity.

The party heads to the inn; a sign proclaiming it the Blackbird hangs above the open wooden doors.  The sounds of laughter and conversation rumble out of it, but as our heroes enter it dies quickly.  The locals, clearly nothing but country bumpkins, look like they don't know what to do about such formidable-looking people.  As he pushes through the door, Angelfire feels a profound and disturbing sense of deja vu.

"Hi there," says Zeebo, "I'm Zeebo Swaysac, the Mayor.  Pleased to meet you."  He starts pumping hands, engaging people in conversations instantly, trying to put them at ease and figure out where the party has ended up.  Lester buys a round of drinks for everyone in the Blackbird, but his Chaos-given bat wings seem to frighten the crowd more than his beer mollify them.  

Shortly, after mingling briefly, Zeebo moves over to the table the rest of the group is at and informs them of what he's found out.  "We're in a village called Freedom," he reports.  "It's named after that tower we were in- Freedom Spire."  He pauses for a beat.  "And Cluma's here, in this inn, right now.  Upstairs."

"Impossible!" the L protests.  "His body's in my box!"  He lowers his voice as several heads turn their way.  "There's no way that someone could have raised him so quickly, much less with no body."

"Maybe you should double check," Sybele suggests.

"Well, okay, but- by the elements!" Lester exclaims, looking in one side of the box.  "I, uh, must have put him in this side- no, maybe this one-"  A moment later, he looks up, frowning.

"He's upstairs," Zeebo insists.  

Lester stands up, pushing his chair back with his one arm.  "All right," he says flatly.  "Let's go kick his ass again."

As the party starts up the stairs, Zeebo feels a profound sense of deja vu....



_*Next Time: *_Something fishy's going on here!  Will our heroes be able to escape?  And if they can, at what price??


----------



## the Jester

*Knockin' on Cluma's Door*

Angelfire and Sheva stand in front of Cluma's door and knock.  It opens to reveal a very surprised-looking Guardian of Order.  Before he has a chance to even so much as move, Angelfire slashes him; and then Sheva delivers a stunning fist to the temple that knocks him cold.

The party ties him up and throws him in Lester's _box of many holdings_ and carts him downstairs, where all eyes are upon them.  Sheva and Horbin feel a profound sense of deja vu as they descend into the tavern room.  

"Hi there," says Zeebo, "I'm Zeebo Swaysac, the Mayor. Pleased to meet you." He starts shaking hands, engaging people in conversations instantly, chatting up the place's various patrons, trying to put them at ease and figure out where the party has ended up. Lester buys a round of drinks for everyone in the Blackbird, but his Chaos-given bat wings seem to frighten the crowd more than the beer can mollify them. 

Shortly, after mingling briefly, Zeebo moves over to the table the rest of the group is at and informs them of what he's found out. "We're in a village called Freedom," he reports. "It's named after that tower we were in- Freedom Spire." He pauses for a beat. "And Cluma's here, in this inn, right now. He just went into his room upstairs."

"Impossible!" the L protests. "His body's in my box!" He lowers his voice as several heads turn their way. "There's no way that someone could have raised him so quickly, much less with no body."

"Maybe you should check again," Sybele suggests.

"Well, okay, but- by the elements!" Lester exclaims, looking in one side of the box. "I, uh, must have put him in this side- no, maybe this one-" A moment later, he looks up, grim determination on his face.

"He's upstairs," Zeebo insists. 

Lester stands up, pushing his chair back with his one arm. "All right," he says flatly. "Let's go kick his ass again."

As the party starts up the stairs, Lester feels a profound sense of deja vu.  Angelfire and Sheva stand in front of Cluma's door and knock.  It opens to reveal a very surprised-looking Guardian of Order.  Before he has a chance to even so much as move, Angelfire slashes him; and then Sheva delivers a stunning fist to his head that knocks him unconscious.

The party ties him up and throws him in Lester's _box of many holdings_ and carts him downstairs, where all eyes are upon them.  Zeebo feels a profound sense of deja vu as they descend into the tavern room.  

_Something strange is happening, _thinks Zeebo.  _I can't quite put my finger on it, but something weird is happening here.  How did we get here anyway?_  He frowns, looking around at the crowd.  A nagging suspicion is beginning to form in his head, and he refrains from talking to anyone.  Lester buys a round of drinks for everyone in the Blackbird Inn, but his Chaos-given bat wings seem to frighten the crowd more than the beer can mollify them. 

"I think we should go back to that tower," says the Mayor.  "I think something weird is going on here.  Weren't we going after Jezebel?  How did we get here?"

Our heroes sips at their various drinks (Sybele is continuing to stick to finer ales).  "Hm, you're right," reflects Orbius.

Zeebo continues, "I think there's some kind of temporal magic going on here.  This Marius- he's a follower of Coila, right?"  Sheva nods.  "So he's probably got some sort of time thing going on.  I think we need to go back and check out that pile of snow in the tower.  I have a suspicion that we've fallen into a trap."

Orbius nods.  "A time loop."

Sheva is decisive.  "Let's go."  After a quick chug, the party exits the building and heads back to Freedom's Spire.  And Zeebo and Sheva both have a profound sense of deja vu....




_*Next Time: *_By now our heroes have started to figure things out- but what will the cost of escape be?


----------



## the Jester

*Escape from the Time Loop!*

The party emerges from a scintillating wall of silvery light. 

There's no sign of Nigel; who there is sign of, oddly enough, is their old enemy, Cluma, the Guardian of Order! He's dressed in full plate armor with some sort of rod composed of segments of different diameter thrust through his belt.

Horbin and Sheva feel a profound sense of deja vu.

There's also a pile of snow, about 6' long, on the ground, and Sheva and Horbin eye it.  Angelfire and Sybele manifest defensive powers; Horbin turns from the snow to cast _lower resistance_ on the enemy. Then a volley of _magic missiles_ blaze from Orbius- only to be deflected by what the Eye recognizes as a _shield_ spell. Horbin's celestial storm giant ally gestures and a blast of violet electricity zaps Cluma as he invokes a _chain lightning_, inflicting incredible amounts of damage. Lester charges with a battle cry and Sheva tumbles in to flank after reading a scroll of _magic circle vs. law._ 

"You!" The Guardian of Order seems surprised to see them here, and he whips out the rod at his side and smites Lester with a terrific blow to the head. "Foul servants of Chaos!" he cries.

Zeebo _hastes_ Lester, and Sybele darts in, disarming Cluma with a snap of her whip! Horbin steps in, swinging his holy mace into the small of Cluma's back. As he staggers, Hank steps in and swings his massive sword- cutting Cluma completely in half!

"Hmph," Lester grumbles, rubbing his throbbing head.  Blood is trickling and a large knot is forming, but his fast healing will make the pain go away soon.  He throws Cluma's body in his _box of many holdings_ for later dealing with.

"Where are we?  And haven't we been here before?" Sheva asks, looking around. They're indoors somewhere.  The room is round, large and bare, except for the glimmering wall behind them that cuts off one corner.  A single heavy wood door leads out; and when they open it, our heroes find themselves staring out at what appears to be a nice summer day.  Sheva says, "Hold on a second."  She kneels to examine the snow.  "What do you all make of this?"

Orbius and Zeebo study it for a moment, then say in unison, "A _simulacrum_."

"What's that?" Sybele asks.

"A magical construct that imitates someone.  Like Nigel."  Sheva's frowning.  "This is weird.  Maybe we can go back through that wall."  She casts a few spells to look for magic and such, then touches it.  

The silvery wall blazes and darkens, then a blast of lethal black energy shoots out.  It blows most of the party to bits.  Sheva dodges it and Lester manages to absorb the damage, but to her horror the rest of the group is blown apart in a shower of burnt flesh!  The wall roils again, and another blast fires out even as Lester and Sheva scream and flee- but too late.  They're both killed as well, destroyed by the deep violet blast.

The party emerges from a scintillating wall of silvery light. 

There's no sign of Nigel; who there is sign of, oddly enough, is their old enemy, Cluma, the Guardian of Order! He's dressed in full plate armor with some sort of rod composed of segments of different diameter thrust through his belt.

Orbius, Angelfire and Sheva feel a profound sense of deja vu.

There's also a pile of snow, about 6' long, on the ground, and Sheva and Orbius eye it.  Sybele manifests defensive powers; Horbin casts _lower resistance_ on the enemy.  Horbin's celestial storm giant ally gestures and a blast of violet electricity zaps Cluma as he invokes a _chain lightning_, inflicting incredible amounts of damage. Lester charges with a battle cry, and then Angelfire darts in, suffering a slash from the Guardian of Order, and grapples him!  "We should take him alive!" the red-skinned Coilite yells, and with a thump both he and Cluma fall to the ground.

"You!" The Guardian of Order struggles with Angelfire. "Foul servants of Chaos!" he cries.

The party jumps on him, and it's soon apparent that there is no way he's going to break free.  He glares up at them.

"Now then, what are you doing here?" Sheva asks, looking around. They're indoors somewhere.  The room is round, large and bare, except for the glimmering wall behind them that cuts off one corner.  A single heavy wood door leads out.

Cluma stares at them for a moment is disbelief.  Then he says, "You mean you aren't here to stop me."

"You mean _you_ aren't here to stop _us?_" Lester asks dubiously.  "Yeah, right.  You Law guys are all in it together!"

"I am an agent of Law, Chaos-spawn," Cluma snarls venomously, "but on my oath: my business here has nothing to with you- at least directly."

Orbius, meanwhile, has knelt to examine the snow.  "A _simulacrum_," he says thoughtfully.  He calls Zeebo over and points it out.  "Something funny's going on," he says.  "I keep getting this feeling of deja vu, Marius... there's something to do with time going on, I'm sure of it!"

"What's a _simulacrum?_" Sybele asks.

"It's a construct that looks like the creator," Orbius answers.

"So what _are_ you doing here?" Lester asks Cluma.  The Guardian of Order holds his tongue.  "Look," the L urges, "we clearly have the upper hand.  You can tell us, or we can kill you."

"I'll just be brought back," Cluma sneers.

"So we'll kill you again, and go after all your friends and whatever.  But either way, you might as well just tell us what we want to know and everything can be cool."

"Hah!  Get off of me and perhaps we'll talk!  As it is, I've no wish to talk to you at all."

"Hey, you're a Law guy.  Give your word you won't try to attack or hinder us and we'll let you up."

Cluma still doesn't seem to believe that the party isn't just going to kill him, but he says, "Very well, you have my word."  Angelfire gives him one last squeeze and then gets off of Cluma, as do Lester, Horbin and Sheva.  The Guardian of Order stands up and dusts himself off warily.  His hand falls to the multisegmented rod at his belt and caresses it briefly.

"Well, what are you doing here?" Lester insists.

"We may even help you," Sheva adds.

"Tell you what- you can even just tell me," says Sybele.

Cluma hesitates, looks each of the party members hard in the eyes, and reluctantly accedes.  He and Sybele go aside to the edge of the room furthest from the crackling silver wall and he says softly, "I am seeking a piece of an artifact- and I believe it is here."

Sybele returns to the rest of the party and tells them what he's doing.  "I think we have no choice but to help him," Orbius says.  "We have to break the time loop we're in by finishing something that got interrupted."

"All right," Sybele tells Cluma, "we'll help you."  They help Cluma search, and soon they turn up a secret compartment, which the Guardian of Order eagerly opens.  A short, fat rod of some sort of exotic material is in the secret chamber, and as the party watches Cluma grasps it with trembling hands and screws it onto the end of the multisegmented rod at his belt.

_Hey, wait a second,_ Zeebo thinks, _Is that what I think it is?  One, two, three, four, five, six... ah, crap, *seven.*_ 

As Cluma looks up from the fully-assembled rod, the silvery wall flares and darkens to a strange metallic violet.  A lashing tendril shoots out, and in the blink of an eye the party vanishes.

_Why did they help me?_ the Guardian of Order wonders, then smiles grimly as he hefts the rod.  _No matter.  Now the forces of Law have a great weapon on their side, and I may be elevated to become one of the Great Generals.

Time traps, they said... I wonder if Marius was involved, some roundabout scheme of his?  If so, I hope he achieved his goal._

Only for a time, Cluma, only for a time.  Now they're back in the Plane of Time, and hope to soon rescue Sybele's daughter!





*Next Time:*  Our heroes, free of the time trap, attempt Marius' lair- the Citadel of Eternity!


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

You are very evil, Jester. Did you have them make some sort of Will save? How did you run the sessions, and did the players have to join in or were they helpless to repeat themselves without a save?

Great stuff!


----------



## the Jester

Tallarn said:
			
		

> *You are very evil, Jester. Did you have them make some sort of Will save? How did you run the sessions, and did the players have to join in or were they helpless to repeat themselves without a save?
> 
> Great stuff! *




Each character got a Wisdom check, DC 20, to get a profound sense of deja vu at each 'scene'; if they did, they could change what they had done before.  

The time loop only took one session (pretty much as planned).  They talk about time loops in the Manual of the Planes, and I try to take hooks that get dangled like that in various books when I can.


----------



## Talix

Woah - freaky!  At least you got to use copy/paste liberally in posting it, right?


----------



## the Jester

Talix said:
			
		

> *Woah - freaky!  At least you got to use copy/paste liberally in posting it, right?   *




Yup, though I went through and edited each time to incorporate the 'little changes' (and sometimes big changes, once they'd figured out what was going on).

Working on the next update now, prolly post it before 9 pm Pacific tonight!


----------



## the Jester

*The Problem with Storming the Citadel of Eternity*

The winds of the Plane of Time whip past the party, rasping at them with the silvery sands of worlds worn down by entropy.  The group struggles to stay together, not to be swept away.  The bubble they've just emerged from pops as if it were made of soap and is gone.

Our heroes have more important things to worry about.

There are four creatures facing them.  Sybele blanches as she gazes upon four of herself, grinning evilly and rushing towards them.  Sheva sees four Shevas; Lester, four elementalists; the Orbius, four reflections of himself.  Each of our heroes has only a moment to prepare for this unexpected assault by their own reflections, and then two _fire storms_ blast the group.  A chorus of agonized cries rings out from the most vulnerable, and then Lester grunts out a curse and fires a _chain lightning_ in response.  Sheva is screaming taunts at 'herselves', while Angelfire rushes the enemy selves he sees and slashes madly at them, cutting deep into the chest of one and puncturing a lung.  It drops and seems to dissolve into mist.  The Mayor _hastes_ Horbin, who casts a _mass heal_ to restore the badly wounded party members, then fires a _flame strike_ at two of the creatures.  Unfortunately, they both resist the magic.  Horbin curses, and then cheers the Zark- Boom! of a _chain lightning_ that erupts from Hank's fingertips.  Sybele pulls her greatsword free of its scabbard and charges, and one of the creatures- she still sees it as herself- slams at her, but she's too quick and dodgy for it to hit.

Then a _chain lightning_ shoots from one of the strange creatures, and the party's hurting again.  With a groan, Zeebo falls back, failing to penetrate the spell resistance of the enemy.  But momentum is with the party; Sheva drops one of the bizarre creatures, and a combined _fire storm_ and _cone of cold_ from Lester and Orbius cause the last two creatures considerable distress.  Then Hank rushes in with a war-cry, and his incredibly long greatsword slices out once, twice, thrice- and both of the party's remaining adversaries fall and are swept away by the winds.

"That was weird but irrelevant," Sybele calls over the noise of the rushing winds, "and _where's my daughter??_"

"Now that we're on the Plane of Time, I don't think Marius can use it to hide her," Orbius yells.  "I'll find her!"

With that, the Eye of Boccob starts casting.  He squeezes his eyes shut while he chants and gestures, and the party is pushed along by the currents of the plane.  After a long ten minutes, Orbius finally tilts his head back and sighs.

"Got her," he says simply, and the party struggles together around him as he casts _mass teleport_.

There's a giddy moment; _We're going to rescue her!_ Sybele thinks.  And then the group reappears somewhere a little sheltered.  They appear to be in the lee side of an immense wall, part of an even more immense citadel of some sort.  A closer look shows them that they're actually between a pair of walls.  The howling winds blow gently here, but there are piles of the sands of time everywhere around them.  The huge building itself is made of a mixture of many different long-lasting materials, from stone to metal, and all of it is polished brightly by the scouring sand.  It's huge, fading into the distance.  It's bigger than most castles the party has seen; and who knows what lurks in there?  The walls have symbols, almost entirely destroyed by the continuous blasts of sand, but still recognizable enough for Zeebo.

"Uh... this is bad," the Mayor says.

"What?" asks Lester.

Zeebo peers intently at the place for another moment before answering.  "I think this is the Citadel of Eternity.  If this is where Marius' lair is..."  He pauses, takes a deep breath, and goes on.  "We have to move quickly.  According to the lore, the Citadel of Eternity is in a deep time wrinkle."

"What's that mean?" Sheva asks.

"It means that time passes _fast_ here," Zeebo responds grimly.  "If we spend a day here, years could pass on Cydra.  Maybe centuries."

"Well, then let's hurry," Sybele urges.  "We don't know what's happening to Jezebel."

"Look at the size of the place," muses Horbin.

"Wait a second," says Lester.  "What about Cluma?  He's probably causing trouble right now, we have to stop him too!  And what about the Temple of Elemental Evil?  We need to stop them before they do whatever nasty evil thing they want to do."

"But maybe the Bile Lords will have forgotten about us by the time we return," Horbin says hopefully.

"Screw those guys!  We killed Chemnu, we'll get the rest of them too!" Lester answers.

"Easier said than done."  Thrush shakes his head.

"Maybe we should return when we're more fully readied again," the Eye says.  "Now that we know where we're going-"

"You didn't learn more specifically where Sybele's daughter is?" Sheva asks.

"Of course I did- and I tried to teleport us right there," Orbius replies.  "But I couldn't get us actually into the Citadel- just close to it."

"Anyone got a _locate person?_" Horbin asks.  For a moment nobody answers.  "Well, that answers that," the Dextrite cleric mutters.

"How long will it take to search this place?" Sheva wonders.  

"Don't forget, we can probably expect some serious opposition along the way from Marius and Nigel and weird pseudonatural creatures, and the elements know what else," Lester points out.

"Time's a wastin'," Zeebo interjects.  "We should go in _now_ and _fast_ or leave, but whatever we're going to do, we have to move quickly."

"I'm starting to think we need to come back another time," says Orbius.

"No!  My daughter's here, we have to save her!"

"Let's go in, then," Thrush says, drawing his sword.

"But _where?_  Look at the size of this place!"  Horbin gestures.

"Whatever we do, let's do it _now,_" Zeebo insists.

The party seems ready to debate until a hundred years have passed back home.  Nobody is being decisive.  So Sheva makes the decision.

"Forget it," she states firmly.  "We'll come back, but we can't afford to dither like this."  She has already pulled out a tuning fork.  "Quick, join hands!"  She starts uttering prayers to Coila.  

"Jezebel!  I'm sorry!" Sybele wails.  "I'm coming for you, I promise!"

There's a clear _ting_ as Sheva strikes the tuning fork, and then reality ripples around our heroes as they _plane shift_ home.  As they burst into existence in a sunlit plain, the only sounds are the songs of the birds and Sybele's weeping.



_*Next Time:*_  Poor Sybele!  Alas, no daughter for her- not quite yet.  Our heroes are back on their home plane, but where are they?  Orcs on the move, philosophical discussion and the first real battle of the Great War of Ethics!


----------



## the Jester

Just for the record, I added a couple of Orbius' high level custom divination spells to the thread my players should stay out of.


----------



## the Jester

*The First Battle of the Great War*

"So what do I think of this Great War of Ethics?  In a way, it's kind of funny," says Orbius.  "It's not about territory or conquest, no one's after anything.  In a way, it's a tremendously huge war about nothing.  It's about belief, and you can't control what people believe."

Lester ignores the philosophical discussion going on with the Eye, Sybele and Horbin, choosing instead to smoke some pipeweed.  He rolls one up and sparks it up with his firefinger ability, granted by Froth.

Our heroes pass the early part of the night, _napping_ through an hour that leaves them as restful as a whole night.  Then, as they're deciding their next move, with Sheva proposing they _wind walk_ to the Shining City, they start to hear distant noises, thundrous and loud but far, far off.

"An army," Sybele states.  "Passing some miles away."

_Wind walk_ it is.  In vaporous form, the party follows the noise and soon they can see the army in the distance.  Sybele estimates at it about 12,000 men and orcs combined- probably 10,000 of them orcish.  And they're flying the colors of the Forinthian Empire, definitely a force of Law.

"Orcs!" Horbin exclaims softly.  "Why orcs?"

The party backtracks the army's trail and soon finds a grim scene- a halfling shire, burning and put to the sword.  There are some survivors, but not many.  The story is clear... the orcs and their Forinthian allies are up to no good.

Sheva and Sybele exchange a glance.  They remember Zodiac the orcish pistoleer, one of Sybele's old boyfriends- one of her _dangerous_ old boyfriends.  He was some kind of Valonian agent.   He might be out there... if the other pistoleers are as puissant as he was, and if there was a unit of them in the army, that force would be deadly.

The party _wind walks_ south, towards the Shining City, leaving the dubious force untouched behind them.  They don't really know what's going on, and they have pressing engagements.  The leagues fly by, and soon they're over the sea.  Sheva uses a _sending_ spell to find out the date from Habiskis- 12/27.  Almost four months have passed.  They move over an island- and as they whiz over it, they see a battle in the distance.  

"I think that's Pesh City," Orbius calls. 

The battle looks big.  There's a massive naval engagement-

"Is that the Chaos fleet?" the L shouts.

"And I think that's the Forinthian flag," Sybele says, gesturing at a massive, deadly-looking wedge of ships flying the colors closing fast on a disorganized-looking circle of Chaos warships.

There are ships as far as the eye can see, and besiegers surrounding Pesh City's walls.  There are small breaches in the defenses, tied up in secondary barriers along the streets.  The glow of fire rises from dozens of places.  In the distance, there is a constant rumble of violence.  The air hums with catapult shot, arrows, sling bullets, oil- the instruments of war.  Smoke is _everywhere._

"Holy crap," says Lester.




_*Next Time:*_ What will the party do in the first battle of the Great War of Ethics?


----------



## Talix

Woah - hope they're not too late to deal with the Temple of Elemental Evil - I assume you've got consequences planned if they just never get around to it?


----------



## the Jester

Talix said:
			
		

> *Woah - hope they're not too late to deal with the Temple of Elemental Evil - I assume you've got consequences planned if they just never get around to it?   *




Well, remember that _commune_ that said that there were only _three_ Elemental Princes of Evil there...?


----------



## the Jester

*The Battle of Pesh*

"What do we do?" gasps Orbius.

"We've got to help the people of Pesh," Zeebo argues. 

The party has stopped in their vaporous forms half a mile from the walls of the city.  The roar of battle rages all around below them.  

"We should destroy the ships," Sheva says, her fierce gaze directed at the naval battle.  The wedge of ships fires a volley of great ballista bolts into the Chaos ships, and they look like they're heading in to ram as well.  Sailors are abandoning ship.  One of the Forinthian vessel shatters as huge tentacles abruptly heave out of the water and wrap around it with crushing force.

A loud BANG in the distance announces the Valonian orcish vessels, their sunpowder cannons fully deployed.  They're fighting for Law in this battle- no doubt another of their attempts to become accepted as a civilized race.  The orcish ships are long and broad and deep, heavily plated with armor.  They're slow but strong and the sunpowder cannons have a better range than the more conventional catapults and ballistas firing from most of the ships.

Sea monsters are clashing- Dagon's demonic servants attacking from below but finding themselves engaging an army of dolphins and merellin, a race of dolphinweres.  Both races- they are, after all, cousins- are known as the good guys of the sea.  And they have larger big brothers with them, too: several powerful whale sorcerers.  The sea seems to boil in places, to freeze in others; in some places it even burns with the oils of warfare and slaughter.

Within the walls, Pesh City is undergoing multiple assaults- maybe by both sides.  It's hard to tell- the smoke is cloying.  There is one obvious major battle that Zeebo's got his eye on.  

"I don't have any interest in fighting Forinthians," Horbin says.  "They serve my god... though not always in ways that serve the greater good.  They are sometimes blinded by the Law..."

"I want to attack the ships," Angelfire says.

"We'll split up," Lester says.  "Orbius, take my trump.  Go with Zeebo, and try to take control of that situation.  We can keep in touch through the trump."

Sheva casts a spell to send a mental message to her imp, then tells Zeebo, "Habiskis should be joining you shortly over there."

The entire party heads towards the food battle first- it's on the way to the ships- and then they split up for a brief while.


_*Next Time:*_  Attack on the Flagship of Law!


----------



## the Jester

*The Battle of Pesh (wide view)*

Let's take a look at the big picture here.

There are over a million individuals clashing here, with summoned allies clashing across multiple planes.  The Chaos fleet got here first; Pesh closed its doors and was besieged; and the Forinthian Fleet arrived to put some serious hurting on the Chaos fleet.

For the past several days the battle's raged hard.  It will continue for several more.

Sharp wedges of ramming warships ply down on the collection of freebooters, cannibals, pirates and stranger things.  The Forinthians ram; they fire catapults, ballista, spells, wands at the enemy.  The Chaos ships respond, but not as a unit.  That's Forinthia's strength- organization.  That's _Law's_ strength.

Forinthia has already dealt with many of the slaad ships and most of the demons by the time the party arrives, and the central forces are smashing against one another, firing volley after volley of shot and flaming oil at one another.  The waves are high enough that nothing's reliable, but ships are burning everywhere- there's just too much oil in the air and flaming slickly on the water's surface.

In the city itself, there are several breaches in the wall and both the Forinthians and the Chaos fleet have established beachheads, but it's pretty much street-to-street fighting here.  And the native Peshans are pretty much caught in the middle.  While the battle is going on, a number of very nefarious things happen, including several unsanctioned assassinations.  One will catch the eye of a prominent merchant who is also secretly a member of the Grey Brotherhood, which will start an investigation by the Brotherhood.

The Forinthians are struggling towards a Peshan food storage warehouse when one group of what appears to be elite resistance forces (Horbin, Hank the celestial storm giant, Orbius and Zeebo) swoops in on them and blasts them with spells.  Hank refuses to fight them, and Horbin spends his time trying to talk him into it.  Orbius and Zeebo handle the force promptly, but the Forinthians they defeat were just an advance scouting party; the main force looks much larger.  Zeebo hurls a _fireball_ their way and a chorus of shouts and screams joins rises as it detonates among them.

Then a masked figure comes out of nowhere, appearing from invisibility, stabbing Zeebo in the neck, and Zeebo suddenly can't move.

"Wait 'til you see what I've done to your reputation," the figure says gleefully, and then Orbius _polymorphs_ him into a carp.  The fish flees quickly, flying in hopes of water.  

They elect to flee to join their companions at sea.

Horbin feels great reservations about it, but he doesn't think he can do much good in the city at the moment either; things are too dangerous.  There's just too much fighting going on, and it's really unclear to him who's side he should be on.  As they head to sea, Horbin attempts to call upon Dexter's blessings- and fails.

He stops in mid-air (they're all under a _mass flight_ now), shaken.  "I..." he gasps.  

_I've always justified the things I've done by the fact that Dexter's granted me his spells for everything I've done.  Now... now he _isn't_ granting me his blessing!_

Horbin the Holy speaks a _word of recall_ and vanishes.

Grim, Orbius pulls out Lester's trump.



_*Next Time:*_  Lester breaks Galador's geas!


----------



## Greybar

It was only a matter of time, I figure, that a man like Horbin could keep travelling and consorting with evil.  Great timing on the final blow.

Is Horbin's player interested in the potential storyline of Horbin having a fall from grace, or will he likely keep working to stay along a middle path?

John


----------



## the Jester

Greybar said:
			
		

> *It was only a matter of time, I figure, that a man like Horbin could keep travelling and consorting with evil.  Great timing on the final blow.
> 
> Is Horbin's player interested in the potential storyline of Horbin having a fall from grace, or will he likely keep working to stay along a middle path?
> 
> John *




You'll see soon.


----------



## the Jester

*Lester Breaks His Geas (and suffers)*

Lester's reeling.  His head feels funny, his arm feels weak, and he has a cough.  

He cast an _earthquake_ when they dropped the Mayor off- and suffered for it.*

Unseen, a certain alienist waits until our heroes are heading at full bore towards the fleet of Law, then summons up a horrible creature from far realms of madness.  He hits it with a quickened _fly_ spell and then hangs back to watch the fun.

The creature seemingly appears out of nowhere to attack the party, and none of them have seen its like before.  Overall, it's almost worm-like- but in a horrific fashion.  Two dead white human torsos meet in a single navel; instead of heads and arms, however, 4’ long orange tongues protrude from each torso’s upper section.  Unseen claws seem to rip at the sanity of our heroes, and before anyone can react each tongue pronounces a _power word_, leaving Lester blind and Sheva stunned.

The L falls back.  _Maybe I can at least mess up the fleet,_ he thinks, enthusiastically forgetting all about the _divine geas_ laid upon him by Galador in exchange for finding the scroll he used to _true resurrect_ Orbius.  He casts _control winds_ and then suddenly cries out in horror, gibbering madly for a moment.**

Almost a dozen tentacles flail out from the tongues of the monster of madness, springing forth as if from nowhere, battering Thrush and Sheva intensely.  Then its eye opens- the bellybutton right in the center looks like an old wound on the pupil- and everyone feels themselves jerk in the air.

Then, shaking her head clear, Sheva strikes and lays a deadly series of blows to the monster with Chronovestis.  Thrush rallies and strikes it as well; and a series of attacks from the rest of the party leaves it open for one more blow from Sheva.  She splits it in two.

Just then, Lester starts to shimmer as Orbius contacts him by trump.  "Ahh!" he cries out to Orbius, "I've gone stupid!"  At their request, he pulls Orbius and Zeebo back to the rest of the group.  In the heat of the moment, nobody questions Horbin's absence.  Most of the group pauses to collect itself for a moment, but Sheva and Angelfire race towards the Forinthian flagship.  In the larger sense, it is pretty close by.  It's also heading more or less towards the party; and with a tremendous Crack! it fires a sunpowder cannon at them.  A ball whizzes past.  Several of our heroes duck or flinch.  They can see Angelfire reach the ship (Sheva's gone _invisible_) and move in- the ship's deck is crowded with what looks like hundreds of elite troops, many obviously spell casters.  There's a roar from the ship as the melee begins.

"All right," Orbius cries, "up here we're just targets!  If we're attacking that ship, let's get there right now!  Gather around, I'll _dimension door_ us in!"

The group hurriedly clusters around the Eye, and in a flash the battle with the flagship gets messy.  



*Poor Lester!  Breaking the _divine geas_ drained six points of _each_ ability score.  Ouch!  And yes, Galador interpeted it *very* strictly.

**Boom!  Another six points.  Don't make God tell ya again.


_*Next Time:*_  The battle at the Forinthian flagship!


----------



## the Jester

*Attack on the Flagship*

Oh, man, is this messy. 

Our heroes are attacking a _huge_ warship, packed with the best soldiers and sailors the Forinthian Empire has to offer; the ship's _cooks_ are 8th level.

Angelfire's hewing at them aggressively, but in seconds a wizard gains control of his mind.  Blasts of magic shoot out; those trying to be invisible find it purged; a cry of, "Get the orcs!" leads to a squadron of pistoleers and riflemen!

Sheva drops the cleric with the _invisibility purge_ in effect with a _harm_ spell followed by a blow from Chronovestis, but the forces of Forinthia are mighty, raining blows and spells at our heroes.  She creates an illusionary double and retreats invisibly to try to dispel the domination on Angelfire. 

The rest of the party arrives thanks to Orbius' facility with teleportation, and almost immediately they fly in to lay low the defenders of Law and Empire.  Thrush lands a punishing blow on a marine in the crow's nest, but the man stands his ground, whipping out a longsword.  Immediately, to his dismay, the Mayor discovers that his _fireballs_ do no good against the ship- the planks of the vessel seem to be warded against flame.

The decks are crowded with defenders; from within the crowd a quintet of _magic missiles_ streaks up at Orbius, but the spell is turned, rebounding on its caster, whose own _shield_ spell diffuses the volley harmlessly.  Sheva becomes visible as blood sprays from another cleric, dropping him with a pair of lethal blows, and her time-sword cleaves into the wizard.  With a grunt, he vanishes, teleporting somewhere less dangerous as his _contingency_ kicks in.  Arrows sing as they flash into the sky at the party members near the crows nest.  Sybele returns fire.  Every party member on deck is being beset.  More _dispel magic_ attempts flash at Angelfire, who charges up to the crows nest.  "Stop attacking or I'll kill you!" he shouts at the party.

Orbius has taken a few arrows, but he's also moved into prime position.  He casts a _prismatic spray_ that destroys dozens of the crew, but he feels strongly unsettled at how many resist his powers.

_These guys are *elite,*_ he thinks.

A gnome with goggles on leaps forward, throwing a pinch of dust at Sheva.  She gasps as it starts to _disintegrate_ her, then jerks back out of it in time to avoid its full effects.  With a snarl, she swings her blade viciously at him several times- landing only one blow.

Sybele's firing an unbelievable number of arrows.  And she's doing terrible damage.  But she has to sink three or four arrows into each guy before he drops.  _And there are so many of them,_ she thinks grimly.  _Thwack!_  Right between the eyes!  That's another one for Sybele...

Zeebo keeps getting nailed by some of the dozens of arrows and Forinthian blades around him.  Shots of the sunpowder weapons are ringing in the air, too- it's terrifying to the poor little gnome.  The party's understrength, too; Horbin and Lester are both off somewhere else.  He fires yet another _dispel magic_, this one from one of his wands, at Angelfire- to no avail.  He drops down next to Orbius to stay near his escape route; he's more than a little freaked out.  _War sucks!_ Zeebo thinks wildly.

Thrush drops one shady-looking rapier-holding sneaky-seeming dude in the crow's nest with a series of blows, then turns to face Angelfire. 

"You'd better flee," Angelfire says with a smile, his falchion wet with blood.



_*Next Time:*_ The Return of an Old Friend, and Sightings of Another!


----------



## the Jester

*An Unanticpated View of an Old Friend or Two*

Thrush lays into the remaining Forinthians in the crows nest.  His first blow decapitates one of his foes*, then he slashes another sailor and knocks him screaming out of the crows nest and onto the deck below with a crunch.  Following up with another critical hit, he breaks a third's hip.  

"What's the plan here, folks?" he calls to the rest of the party, eyeing the dominated Angelfire who's warily approaching him.  

Sheva's duelling with the gnome in the goggles while Sybele peppers a fantastic archer with arrows.  And then a few allies fly in on our heroes side.

They don't know the magely-looking one or the barbarian, but the other one is that furry feline Grumpy Fluffbottom!  They lost touch with him after they went to the Plane of Time- and here at an opportune moment, he arrives.

The sorcerer casts a _fireball_ at the Forinthian vessel- to no avail.  It fails to detonate thanks to the ship's wards.  Grumbling, he tosses an area _dispel magic_- which just happens to free Angelfire from _domination_.  Grumpy drops in and lays about him but is quickly overwhelmed, his _fly_ dispelled.  With a yowl, he backflips off the ship and into the sea, taking several severe wounds on the way.  He shakes his head and treads water, then looks up with a sinking feeling as the harpoons start to splash around him.  Suddenly a grinning golden-haired marine hurls a barbed shaft right into his shoulder and he screams, struggling to get free, but the marine jerks the harpoon by its chain and starts pulling Grumpy up to the ship.  There's a roar of excitement from the crew and Grumpy mewls in fear.  Meanwhile, the orcs on the ship fire boomsticks at the barbarian, dealing punishing wounds.  

The battle rages hard for a few moments, with sheer numbers and the incredible eliteness of the entire crew of the flagship clearly going to be what carries the day.  Thrush is felled by a _fireball_, dropping limply to the deck.  The barbarian slows the enemy assault with a _horn of blasting,_ stunning almost a score of the enemy, and roars, "Get the cannons!"  But the tide of battle is running too strongly for the Forinthians; Grumpy falls prisoner and Thrush isn't moving.  So those of the attackers who can, flee for the momentd, with Sybele crying out as she takes a couple of blows as she flies in to grab Thrush's still form.  As she flies in, she sees a familiar face- fighting for the enemy.

It's Borlad.  

Sybele cries out in dismay.  Borlad Hammerhead is an old friend of Sybele's old group, the Swords of Assistance.  The son and heir of Thane Vulker Hammerhead, Borlad was not manly enough for his father's liking, so Vulker sent Borlad out adventuring with the party for a time, and eventually they were sent to escort his bride-to-be in a political marriage to the Hammerhead Halls.  He was an unwilling participant in the marriage, and the group had very mixed feelings about the whole situation.  Borlad had been a friend and a true companion- and a cleric of Galador.  

Groaning from their wounds, most of the party retreats, but Angelfire struggles on for a moment, quaffing a potion and leaping into the midst of the sailors- orcs, of course- near the cannons.  He lays about him with the falchion, his eyes flitting about.  _Bags and barrels; which one...?_ he wonders, then shrugs to himself and exhales strongly.  It tastes like cinnamon liquor... strong and fiery.  He relishes it.  A jet of flame shoots from his mouth as he breathes his fire breath on the sunpowder in the barrel.  

There's a loud rumbling explosion as the powder detonates, and dozens of people are wounded, yelling and screaming as shrapnel and gouts of fire damage them.  Then Angelfire _timeslips_- a perfect escape.

Our other heroes, meanwhile, have retreated to the Chaos ship that the sorcerer and barbarian, who introduce themselves as Telemundo and Bohr, respectively, came from.  The distance between the two ships is closing rapidly; the Chaos vessel is clearly going to ram.  Two great warships, their crews ready to fight...

"This is crazy," Zeebo gasps as spells whiz back and forth, _ice storms_ battering the ship of Law and _fireballs_ torching the Chaos vessel's sails.  "We should get out of here!"

"Not yet," says Sybele.  "I've got a plan."  She flies off and around the enemy vessel.  Ballista bolts spring from the Chaos ship, then the deckmaster screams, "BRACE FOR RAMMING!!"

With a few colorful epitaphs, our heroes grab what they can or simply rise up off the deck.  Bohr fires his bow, trusting to his balance to hold him in good stead, but to his dismay he sees the arrows bounce off an unseen wall!  "There's some kind of magic hoodoo ahead!" he screams, and the ship slips forward far too quickly to stop towards the _wall of force_.  They seem doomed to a deadly collision- but Telemundo fires a sickly green ray that _disintegrates_ the wall just in time!  As they loom closer to the Forinthian flagship, our heroes see Grumpy, unconscous, tied to the mast, two harpoons still in his body.... and he screams in horrible agony as the ships impact!  There's a horrendous crash, and then the marines are battling back and forth from ship to ship in a swirling tide of violence.  The battle is stgart and terrifying, with spells, blades, blasts of sunpowder muskets and more, with the sea tinted red as the sun sinks towards the horizon.  The air stinks of smoke and blood, and there are sharks in the water.  Our heroes stick to the battle for a few moments, but it's too much for them, and they retreat into the skies.

Meanwhile, Sybele tries her best to be sneaky, but several arrows are zipping into the water around her.  She doesn't care.  She takes her slime grenade and smashes it against the ship near the water line, then speeds off.  "Hey!" one of her observers cries, and there's clearly a little moment of panic that starts spreading.

"Let's get out of here!" Sybele shouts to her friends, flying above the battle.  Bolts and magic are still flying into them.  They head up and away.  

"Good lord," exclaims Zeebo.  "I'm glad to be out of there!  I certainly don't need to die again!"

"No kidding," says Sheva.  "Let's get out of here.  We should be able to _wind walk_ to the Shining City."

"I hope Tirchond's okay," Zeebo murmurs to himself.

"My daughter," Sybele whispers to herself.


*Speaking of custom feats, check out this custom feat only for high level fighters in the no-player lookee thread...


_*Next Time:*_  Our heroes make an unexpected discovery, and pay a visit to Mabrack's Castle!


----------



## Technik4

Hoo hoo, now thats a big fight! And some elite crew! They were certainly feeling Horbin's departure without a timely heal spell or two. I couldn't even picture all of the combatants...do you have an estimate how many people were on that ship?

Also, if you have any thoughts on the current armor system I started a thread in house rules about it. Basically Im a little dissatisfied with medium armor, and very unhappy with heavy armor. I'd like to hear your input, especially since you're running a fairly high level group.

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=49897

Technik


----------



## the Jester

Lessee, the ship had somewhere between 350-450 people on it (minus casualities inflicted earlier in the battle- which were pretty negligable).  The pcs took out 42 in the fight- over half from the prismatic spray alone.  

Yeah, being at below-strength didn't help the party much, but I think the pcs did amazingly well even so.  I expected about three to four rounds and cut and run, but the fight when on much longer.  It certainly wasn't one of those battles where they had the overwhelming advantage.   

We aren't too long from when the party has a brief brush against a villain whose CR is *above 40.*

Speaking of consequences from the Temple of Elemental Evil...


----------



## Talix

Woohoo!!!  

Is it bad if after reading every update of your story I feel like bouncing up and down in my chair?  

Impressively run mass-high-level-combat.  I'm honestly surprised that there weren't more save-or-die spells thrown at the party.  And I missed where Angelfire got un-dominated.  But other than that, excellent, and I really liked how Sybele finally figured out how to take down the whole ship!    (I'm assuming it worked?)


----------



## the Jester

Talix said:
			
		

> *Impressively run mass-high-level-combat.  I'm honestly surprised that there weren't more save-or-die spells thrown at the party.  And I missed where Angelfire got un-dominated.  But other than that, excellent, and I really liked how Sybele finally figured out how to take down the whole ship!    (I'm assuming it worked?) *




Well, I kind of glossed over the undomination of Angelfire- it was the new sorcerer (Telemundo) who dropped in from the Chaos ship that dispelled it, I should edit that back in.

As for the ship, she didn't actually take it out.  It's full of clerics and paladins, so just a simple _remove disease_ nixes Sybele's tactic... but not until there's a big ol' hole in the ship's hull!  Of course, a little magical therapy can fix that right up (_fabricate_ and _wood shape_)...


----------



## the Jester

*Mabrack's Castle*

*WARNING:* This update has a little conversational content that might be considered R-rated; please don't read it if you're offended by such things.  It's all in good fun.  




As our heroes flee into the sky, preparing to assume vaporous form and _wind walk_ away, Orbius stops and points up and ahead.  "Look!" he calls, and the party gives a collective gasp as they see a huge sky castle.

There's a chunk of rock that must be almost a thousand feet long and almost as deep.  The top sports a small keep- small in that it looks like it doesn't have too many rooms; but the size of it- clearly, it's for some sort of extra-large sort of individual.  Even from here, the party can see a door that looms almost twenty-five feet high.  At one corner of the castle is a large square tower; at the far side of the sky island is a peak.  And emerging from the peak are a group of humungous birds with riders wrapped in thick robes.  They look human-sized, but their features are indiscernable at this point. 

"Uh-oh," mutters Sybele.

The rocs spread into a loose wedge, wheeling and turning, surrounding the party while below them the battle of Pesh continues to rage.  One of the riders gestures for the adventurers to land on the isle.  "What do you think?" Sybele asks worriedly.

"Why not?" Angelfire answers, and shortly the party lands on the stone in the sky.  The great birds land, as well, and the riders dismount and remove their scarves.  They look just like humans- until their spokesman opens the third eye in his forehead.  

"We are the Harthom," he says.  "We serve the master of the isle.  And who are you?"  He glances to the side as a large flare of light briefly illuminates the clouds from below.  "And which side of the battle are you on?"

"Neither, really," replies Sybele.  "We're just trying to go home and find my daughter!"

"We sort of stumbled into the battle by accident," Sheva adds.

After taking a few moments to ascertain that our heroes bear the isle- and its master- no ill will, the Harthom escort our heroes into the huge stone keep and to the isle's master: a twenty-one foot tall giant with light blue skin and emerald hair.  "Ho, friends!" the giant booms, "I am Mabrack of the Isle, and so long as you mean no harm I bid you welcome!"

The party introduces themselves, and soon they've befriended the giant, who has copious amounts of beer ("I could swim in that keg!" Sybele says excitedly) and huge haunches of meat.  He gently interrogates them, seeming interested in their worship of Coila and Boccob.  Sybele tells him their whole story, and then Mabrack surprises them.

"Marius, eh?" he muses in his loud voice.  "I know him... a formidable foe you have there."

The party puts their heads together, and then finally Sheva asks Mabrack, "Do you think you could arrange a peaceful meeting with him for us?  We might be able to negotiate our way out of this conflict with him- we're not even sure, frankly, why he's after us."

"He's a reasonable and intelligent man," Mabrack responds.  "I may be able to- I am certainly willing to try.  But I warn you," he continues, his face darkening, "I will not have you doing battle on my isle!  Try it, and you will face my wrath!"

"Of course," Sybele reassures him.  "And maybe we can do something for you?  Or... perhaps _I_ could do something for you?  I have a voracious cunny."

Surprised, Mabrack blushes for a second, then answers, "I do you think you can handle my enormous manhood."

"I've done a dragon," she smiles sweetly.

"It's her half-dragon love child we're trying to rescue," Sheva adds.  _Slut,_ she thinks.

"Ahem, er, well, I don't think so, thanks," Mabrack says, an awkward grin on his face.  "But perhaps there is something you can do for me- I have a pest problem.  I raised this island myself, you know- first from the depths of the sea to the surface, then into the sky.  Deep within it, in a cave in the interior, is a worm- a nematodean, it's called- that has infested my isle for decades.  Now, it doesn't cause me problems, but it _could_, and I'd like to be rid of it, eventually.  It's pretty low on my list of priorities, but since you're here..."  He trails off.

"What can you tell us about this 'nematodean?'" Sheva asks.

"Well, if you aren't careful, you can cut it in half and make it into two of them, so you want to be careful.  In fact, I've sent other adventurers in after it a couple of times in the past, to no avail- their treasure may yet remain in the nematodean's lair."

The party feasts and eats, and Mabrack points out that it's almost New Year's Eve.  "I'll be partying hard," he grins, "and you're welcome to join me if you're well-behaved."

As the group finishes dinner, Mabrack adds something else: he's travelling to Kseethee, a flying city.  "You can buy anything there," he says.  "Again, so long as you behave, you're welcome to join me there."  Several of our heroes have been there in the past; enthusiastically, they decide that this sounds like a good idea.

"Maybe I can even find a way to get Lester's arm back," Orbius adds.

"Say, where is Lester?" Sybele asks, glancing around.  "I haven't seen him since the battle started.  For that matter, what happened to Horbin?"

"Lester trumped back to Var," Orbius says.  "He broke the _geas_ that Galador laid on him- and he's unfortunately paying the consequences for it."  His face falls.  "He got that _geas_ for me, to bring me back from death."

"Not sure where Horbin went, but I think he escaped the fight too," Zeebo says.  "I think he used a _word of recall_ to flee.  I don't know if being a Galadorian priest fighting the Forinthian navy is good for your religious standing."

Our heroes retire from the dining room to discuss their options.  They decide to assault the nematodean the next day.  "But first," the Eye says, "I'll _commune_ with Boccob and try to garner a few bits of helpful information."




_*Next Time:*_ Orbius _communes_, Sheva bargains for her imp's return, and a quick trip to Thane Vulker Hammerhead's embassy!


----------



## Ziggy

Wow!

Finally got through it all last night, and I've definitely found a new story hour I'll subscribe to. Lots of action, witty dialogue and a very fast pace. Also love the small touches, especially the names - they make the world come alive. 

I'll try out the previous story hour when I get some more time...

.Ziggy


----------



## the Jester

*Information and Allies*

In Mabrack’s great library, the Eye _communes_ with Boccob.

How long until we reach Kseethee?  *Six days.*
What will it take to erase the damage from Lester’s _geas_?  *He must atone and immediately quest to overthrow the Temple of Elemental Evil.*
Do the forces of Law in the battle below know we’re here in this cloud castle?  *Yes.*
Will they attack soon?  *No.*
Are the Bile Lords planning revenge on us soon?  *Yes.*
How many days until they attack us?  *It depends.*
What’s the earliest possible time based on current plans to travel to Kseethee?  *Six days.*
What must we do to ensure that they’ll attack us in six days?  *Become sorely beset.*
How many Bile Lords remain?  *Four.*
Will they all attack at once?  *No.*
What are the names of the Bile Lords most likely to attack us immediately?  *Unknown.*
What are our chances of success if we teleport in to attack the Bile Lords?  *Extremely poor.*
What must we do to overthrow the Temple of Elemental Evil?  *Slay Felenga.*
What is Felenga’s greatest weakness?  *He’s undead.*
What is the true identity of the angel who visited us on Pandemonium?  *Seclaidra.*
Who is likely to win the battle below?  *Law.*
Could Mabrack fix Lester’s missing arm without removing his gifts of Chaos?  *Yes.*
What must we do to get him to do it?  *Negotiate with him.*

Orbius ponders briefly, but his mind is quick and decisive.  In only a moment he has scried out the head adept at the Temple of Elemental Good in Var, and then he casts a sending to him, telling him to take him to Galador’s temple for atonement.  Then he sends his mind to a far plane, seeking a great power from whom to gather more information.

What kind of attacks harm a nematodean without splitting it?  *Fire, cold and acid.*
Who am I talking to?  *Galador.*

Orbius gulps.

If we agree to step back from the War of Ethics will you agree to let us go?   *It would have to be negotiated.*
Is the nematodean weaker in the strength of its body, strength of its will or the speed of its reflexes?  *Its reflexes are slow.*
What is the best time to attack it between now and the start of the New Year’s Eve party?  *Doesn’t matter.*
Can you please show me a vision of a location we can safely teleport to near the nematodeans?  _A vision of a dark cavern full of rubble flashes before Orbius’ mind._
What should Angelfire do?  *Overthrow the Temple of Elemental Evil.*
Given your great wisdom, what are the chances we’ll be able to reach a diplomatic settlement with Marius?  *Fair.*

_The news is not all bad,_ Orbius thinks.  _It certainly could be worse!  I guess I’ll approach Mabrack about Lester’s arm after we destroy the nematodean._

Sheva, meanwhile, scries Habiskis and finds him on the lam in an alley.  She goes outside and summons a _planar ally_, Gorthox, a malebranche.  He stands about 20’ tall, a huge, hulking, gargoyle-like form with great curled horns.  "So, mortal," he booms in the tongue of devils, "you need a favor, eh?"  He grins a great yellow-toothed grin at Sheva.

"I want you to go get my imp, Habiskis, out of trouble."

"Hahahahah!  Habiskis, that scoundrel!  He owes me a certain 'favor', if you know what I mean!"  He winks his glowing red eye and leers evilly at Sheva.

Sheva shrugs.  "He regenerates, do what you will to him as long as you don’t inflict any real damage."

"Very well!  I shall do this cheaply and for the fun of it!  You need pay me only- hm, let’s say 5000 pieces of gold!"

Sheva frowns.  She doesn’t have a lot of money at the moment.  "Is there something you’d take in trade?"

"Of course!  You could get me a soul.  Say, within two weeks.  Or yours is forfeit."

Sheva smiles.  "I accept."  _I’ll need to make a trip to my temple in the Shining City._

It's the evening of the 28th day of Snowmonth, the 12th month of the year.  There are two more days until New Year's.  If they want to be at their best on New Year's Eve, they need to take care of a few things.  Sheva knows she can get a soul in the Shining City, and come to think of it, Fandral the smith might have a weapon or two ready for them- probably not all three, though.  And, after talking it over with the rest of the party earlier, she strongly feels that they should seek out Vulker's embassy and leave word that his boy is fighting for the Forinthians.

Well, the evening's young.  The red-haired Coilite strides into the keep, looking for Orbius.


_*Next Time: *_A bevy of dwarves!


----------



## the Jester

*Dwarves Aplenty*

Orbius teleports with Sheva, Sybele and Angelfire to the Shining City.  They fly to see Fandral, the dwarven mage-smith they retrieved the coal steel for.  He greets them cheerily, then hands two of the three weapons.  The first is Angelfire’s Falchion, a wicked-looking blade of startling sharpness.  Sheva receives a greatsword that Fandral has christened Bluefang.  The blades are, indeed, impressive, as he’d promised; his workmanship rivals the finest that any of our heroes have seen.

That evening, in the Shining City, Sheva visits her temple and checks up to see how her followers are performing.  They’re doing all right, recruiting more members and generating enough money to pay for day to day expenses.  Sheva conducts a midnight ceremony and enlightens her clergy with a sermon.  Afterwards, she sniffs around for a likely candidate and settles on the daughter of a dwarven merchant.  She can’t quite get her to trade her soul for Sheva’s moon rocks, but she does buy it for 2000 gp- saving more than half on her bargain with the devil.  _So easy,_ she thinks with a smirk.

While Sheva is inspecting the flock, Orbius goes shopping for the material component to a new spell he’s discovered, _perfect identification,_ as well as for diamonds for _protection from spells._  Then he, Sybele and Angelfire go to the embassy of Thane Vulker Hammerhead, a dwarven monarch that Sybele, Angelfire, Sheva and others were allied with years ago.  He’s the leader of a clan of dwarves on Tirchond.  Though it’s closed for the night, they want to leave word that they saw Borlad fighting on the side of Forinthia in the Battle of Pesh.  But the response is not what they’d hoped: "Good lad," says the guard sternly.  "I’ll deliver yer message."

The party withdraws to Mabrack’s castle via teleportation magic.  Tomorrow is the 29th.  They’ll attack the nematodean in the morning, then have New Year's Eve to party.


_*Next Time: *_ Attack on the Nematodean!


----------



## the Jester

*Angelfire's Falchion:*
+4 magic, Keen, Flaming, Hardness of 20, 50 hp.

Angelfire's Falchion grants its wielder DR 1/-.  The weapon can also cast: Lesser Restoration, Neutralize Poison, Freedom of Movement (each 1/day) on wielder as a standard action.


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

Jester, I just thought I'd remind you how much I enjoy this. Your players are really dealing with the big boys now...and they seem to be loving it!


----------



## the Jester

*Bluefang*

Blue Fang

+3 Lawful, ghost touch, Humanbane Greatsword
hardness 20, hp60, confers its weilder w/ darkvision and +5 to 
spot checks


----------



## the Jester

*Attack on the Nematodean*

Our heroes appear in a burst of unseen teleportative energy in the chamber of the nematodean.  It’s full of rubble, a large cave hollowed by who-knows-what in ages past.

A quick glance reveals no obvious signs of habitation, but the worm-thing must be here somewhere.  Carefully, our heroes start investigating- and almost immediately, the Eye spots a huge, wet worm coiled loosely under some of the dirt and rock.  With a silent gesture he indicates it, and the party starts moving into position.  Orbius casts a _mass haste_, and then Sheva blasts the creature with a _flame strike_.  With a sibilant hiss, the great worm violently jerks upright- and it’s huge; just its forebody rises almost 30’ into the air!  The color of pale human skin, it’s covered with little follicles of hair and it drips a disgusting yellow slime where it’s wounded.  It shivers as the Eye fires off a blast of mystic cold at it and Sheva blasts it with another _flame strike_.  Habiskis- returned to Sheva’s grasp late in the night- fires his _wand of fireballs_ at the monster.

Then it lunges, snakelike, at Angelfire, trying to bite him; but the scarlet-skinned Coilite manages to avoid its maw.  Not so its coils, however; they loop around him and _squeeze_.

"Hey," Sybele says suddenly, "it just occurred to me- if these things split in two, isn’t it possible that some of these previous adventurers that Mabrack sent down here-"

Before she has a chance to finish her thought, another nematodean bursts out of the rubble, looming high above the heroes.

"-might have already... never mind," Sybele trails off.



*Next Time:*  Well, this was the nematodean’s first playtest, and let’s just say that afterwards I decided to bump its CR from 15 to 18....


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## Mathew_Freeman

W00t! It back! With new update and everything!

*praises*


----------



## the Jester

*Against the Nematodeans, part one*

Several of our heroes are only taking defensive stances; what else can they do, with no way to really hurt the beasts?  They’re just distractions for the worms, someone other than the spellcasters for the nematodean- no, _nematodeans_- to attack.

Thrush and Sybele are in that boat.  Sybele has an acid flask or two, but....

Angelfire’s sort of in the same, but he's got some potions of fire breath (to go with his fire shtick) that he bought not so long ago.  Still, at the moment he's being crushed by the incredible strength of the nematodean’s coils, and he can’t seem to struggle free.  Well, at least it's distracted.  And since Angelfire's a fire creature*, the party members who can use _fireballs_ do so with no worry of harming him.  

But enough's enough.  Angelfire uses psionics to _dimension door_ free, and Sybele hurls her acid, then backpedals away from the worm.  The other worm rushes towards Angelfire, but he's far enough away that it doesn't yet reach him.  The nematodean that he escaped from thrashes at Sheva, moving in and lunging at her with a bite that deals savage damage.

Orbius still has a trick or two up his sleeves.  He casts a _maze_ on the monster rushing Angelfire, then fires an arrow of acid at the remaining one.  "He’ll be back!" the Eye warns loudly as the _mazed_ worm vanishes.

Habiskis keeps trying to use the wand, but he's not a sorcerer, he's trying through sheer force of personality, and it seems to fail almost as often as it succeeds!  The little imp does a dance of frustration and tries again.  The nematodean grabs hold of Thrush and gives him a mighty squeeze.  The fighter roars as he pushes back, trying to break free- and succeeding!  Teeth grinding, thews bunching, he forces his way from the beast's terrible coils!  Sheva tumbles up and lays a spell upon him, and some of the damage heals.

_Acid arrow_ after _acid arrow_ fires from Orbius’ fingers.  There are now four of them burning into the monster.  Thrush has taken up a torch and is rushing in fiercely, burning the worm.  Another _acid arrow_ springs from the Eye.  Sheva calls out loud taunts at the swaying worm, trying to distract it.  Another _fireball_ blasts it from the imp’s wand; Habiskis has moved near Orbius (which makes the Eye very nervous, but this time Habiskis resists the urge to try to pickpocket him).  The creature strikes, smashing the ground near Sheva, but she’s rolling fast to stay away and it misses.  And Thrush rushes in again and strikes a final blow with his torch- dropping it!

Breathing heavily, the party exchanges glances.  Many of them are wounded, and the nematodean's constriction was deadly.  They've shot their wad of spells.  And there’s another one in the _maze,_ due back... any time, depending on the intelligence of the worms.


*A long time ago, via Chaos effects, Angelfire got the fire subtype.


_*Next Time:*_ The party fights nematodean #2, low on fire, acid and cold!  Nothing like attacks that do _one point of damage at a time! _


----------



## the Jester

*Against the Nematodeans, Pt. 2 (or, the Second Half)*

When the second nematodean reappears, Sheva’s already thought out her best option.  She _tings_ a tuning fork and cries, "Go to Heaven!!"  But it resists her _plane shift,_ so she pulls out a torch, cursing mightily.

Another _fireball_ blossoms from Habiskis' wand, and Sybele hurls two flasks of alchemists' fire at the huge worm.  Thrush rushes in and the torch he wields slaps at the worm some more.  People are scattering as the worm rushes at them, frightfully deadly.  Its bite snaps at Sheva, only her _blur_ saving her.  She _hastes_ herself and activates her _cloak of embrace_, sprouting extra arms.  She pulls a torch, and stands ready for it.  Angelfire breathes a gout of flame at the worm, which reaches down to Thrush, who has severely burned it with the torch, and bites him!  He just grunts as the worm tears loose a chunk of his abdomen, but he’s clearly just taken a serious wound.  Worse, the thing crashes down on him with its long coils and constricts him!  "Aaargh!" he cries.

Orbius summons a fire elemental.  "Grapple that worm!  Don’t actually strike it!" he cries in Ingnan.  Then he tries to polymorph the great monster crushing Thrush into a bunny, but once again he fails to affect it!

Sheva scoops up Thrush's torch, lights hers with it, and lays a devastating series of blows on the worm, on the side Thrush didn’t burn.  Its pale skin bleeds copious yellow fluid as it hisses and sizzles.  The thing hisses and sways above the party like a reed in a windstorm, squeezing Thrush in its terrible coils.  "Thrush!" Sybele cries, firing off a dinky little psionic _finger of fire_- it's all she's got left.  The creature’s forebody whips down, biting Sheva's arm and shaking her for an instant before dropping her to the ground again.  She staggers, then grimly shakes it off and keeps up her assault.  A final _fireball_ completely expends Habiskis' wand and it crumbles to dust, leaving the imp squeaking curses and cowering behind a rocky pillar.

But then Orbius' elemental moves in, trying to grapple the nematodean back.  The monster slaps a bite at it as it reaches for it and easily twists away from the living fire’s grab, but the yellowish fluid leaking prolifically from it catches fire and it burns.  As it writhes and twists, Thrush finally manages to slip free, staggering away, his ribs cracked, almost all the breath driven from him.  With a groan, he pulls back from it and quickly quaffs two healing potions, then glances around.  Orbius is firing _rays of frost_, Sybele more _fingers of fire_.  _Is that all we've got left?_ the fighter wonders wildly, then shakes the sweat from his forehead and chugs another bottle of healing fluid.

But Orbius is just waiting for the right moment.  He’s been edging around, looking for a clear shot, and as he hesitates while Sheva and, especially, Angelfire tumble out of his line of fire, he starts casting the last big damage spell he’s got- a final _cone of cold._  There's a sparkle of blue-white light as frost condenses from the water vapor in the air and forms on the stones; the nematodean takes the worst of it- although the fire burning on it goes out- and with a final hiss, it falls, shattering into hundreds of icy chunks.

For a moment the party is silent, scarcely believing it's over.  Sybele almost points out that there could, indeed, be more of them- but she decides to cross her fingers and hope for the best instead.  And nothing else emerges from the rubble. 

"We did it!" cries the Eye. 

A search through the rubble turns up some _very_ interesting loot...




_*Next Time:*_  Treasure!  Negotiations!  Marius!  Morland!  And New Years' Eve!


----------



## the Jester

"Wow, all this must have come from the adventurers that Mabrack sent down here previously," Sybele comments.

The party's turned up quite a collection of broken armor and weapons, a few gems, a village's worth of coins and more.  Among the more interesting nonmagical items are a golden symbol of Galador and a mithral harp studded with sapphires at the tuning pegs ("too bad we don't have a bard," comments Sheva).  

Quite a few magical items turn up, too; after Orbius has a chance to use his new _perfect identify_ spell on some, and regular _identify_ spells on the rest, it turns out that they've found:


Potions of _flying, protection from fire, remove disease, remove fear_ and _aid_;
An arcane scroll containing the spells _wall of force, cloudkill,_ and _minor globe of invulnerability;_
_Bracers of Escape _(gives a +15 competence bonus to Escape Artist checks and a +4 shield bonus to AC vs. attacks that can initiate a grapple);
A _Wand of Magic Missiles,_ maximized (caster level 9, but only 6 charges);
A _Tome of Understanding +2;_
The _Devouring Rod_ (functions 2/day, can cast _destruction_ by touch, grant its wielder a +3 enhancement bonus to all ability scores for one hour, or emanate a _planar shockwave_ that breaks all _dimension anchors/locks_ or similar effects within 60' and deals 10d6 to all ethereal or incorporeal creatures within the same range; each time it's used there's a 25% chance it will devour a random magic item of its wielder, and if it's used once in a day it can choose to activate itself a second time; Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 10, Ego 6, AL CE; never bestows a negative level).
The _Strogassian Shadow Ring_ (graven with a grey screaming face on the band, once put on it can't be removed without a successful _break enchantment_ against 20th level caster or severing the wearer's finger; the wielder may use a _Shadow Touch_ ability, which lasts for 10 rounds and gives the wearer a touch attack that deals 1d6 str damage, Fort DC 10+1/2 HD+ cha bonus negates; using this ability deals 1d4 str damage to the wearer; also allows the wearer to cast _fear_ as a 10th-level sorcerer, save DC 14+cha bonus; deals 1d4 cha damage to wearer when activated; also allows the wearer to _heal_ herself as the spell, except that it won't heal ability damage inflicted by the ring itself; using this deals 1d6 con damage to the wearer.  Finally, the wearer can cast _slow_ (save DC 13+cha bonus) as a 10th-level sorcerer, although this inflicts 1d4 points of dex damage to the wearer).

"Well, that works out," Sheva says cheerfully.  The party returns to the storm giant wizard's castle above and reports their success.  Then they take a well-deserved rest and divide up the loot.  Sybele takes the ring since she's already got one semi-cursed ring (taken from Firestorm Peak years ago), Sheva takes the tome and then realizes that it's useless to her (she's already read one).  Muttering curses, she decides to sell it.  Angelfire eyes it greedily, hoping she'll offer it to him; this will prove the first real strain in their relationship.  Orbius claims the _devouring rod_ with real reservations; he decides to sell it, though Habiskis licks his lips at the thought of owning such an item.

Mabrack booms, "Good news!  Marius has agreed to negotiate with you.  He should be here on New Year's Day."  He frowns momentarily.  "I tell you what I told him; you are guests in my home.  Do not cause trouble, or I will be forced to destroy you."  Enthusiastically, Sybele agrees, hoping she might see her daughter again soon.

During the day, an unexpected visitor arrives, looking for Lester.  It's Morland, the dwarven stonelord that they met in the battle with the formian hive on Pesh months ago.  He fled the Battle of Pesh when it became apparent that his sacred earth temple was going to be overrun, and found a wizard willing to teleport him to the party Lester was in- of course, the L's not here now, but he asked to be transported to the group, and he seems safe here (although the giant's more than a little disconcerting to the little dwarf).

Then, as it's New Year's Eve, they all get roaring drunk.  The conversation goes in many directions that are probably not the most discrete ("the best way to kill a mage is to get in close," says Sheva to the giant; Sybele keeps coming on to Mabrack, leading Thrush frowning grimly- she's _his,_ after all), but nobody starts a fight and things seem relatively smooth.  The group gets trashed until they're on the verge of passing out; then Angelfire _naps_ himself, Thrush and Mabrack, and after an hour, they awake refreshed and start drinking again, not stopping til almost 10 on New Year's Morning.

At noon, Mabrack receives a _sending_.  "Marius," he announces, "will be here in fifteen minutes."


_*Next Time:*_ Negotiations with Marius!


----------



## Stone D. Mason

To those who have journeyed onward,

Aye, it thee Stone D. Mason, Drawven warrior and old confidant and friend.  I see ye battle on, I see ye fight the good fight, the fight that I wish I could see, and more so be.  Oh, how I long for the battle, for my axe has hung to long, by the mantle that warms my hearth, my sons, my daughters, and all that I love, but still I long for thee.

Home is the warrior, home from the field, and the worker removed from the till.

I grant upon thee all that I am; strength, honor, dedication, and ignorance not see the difference.  Follow thy codes, and above all the law, and good fortune I am sure will befall thee.  Listen not to your will less it be strong, listen to thine own hearts, stubbornness, and esteem.  Be willing to deliver everything, and except nothing in return.  Take joy in thy looting, and be happy with thy defeats.  Oh, the days they pass so slowly now that I have departed from thee.

I write to bring tidings to all, and wish the best of luck to thee.  Especialy, I wish luck to my confidants, old friends who fought along side me.  

To Lester, The L., the elemental steady thy path you shall, and find strength in your greatest assets those that surround thee.  You fight the good fight, as distracted as it may seem.  But you are a rock, like me, moved not often, but drastically.  

To Malferd; be not too brave for it is not with in you, instead be wise and retrieved.  The fields have always favored you, and then you invented the plow?  Be strong of mind and wisdom, for you know it best, yet forget not your cunningness the node of the plan.

And, to whatever god that guided me along my deviant plan.  Thank you for leading me to my journey’s end, so that I can know what it is I really long for.  The trek was good, but the home is too, and all that came in between.  Adventure seems such a distant memory that I wish, one day, to find again.

I speak often to my offspring of the times I spent with thee, and long for the time that I can return with them, fighting along side me.

Good luck sweet Princes and Princesses… may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.

Missing the thrill of the hunt,
Stone D. Mason


----------



## the Jester

Stone D. Mason said:
			
		

> *To those who have journeyed onward,
> 
> Aye, it thee Stone D. Mason, Drawven warrior and old confidant and friend.  I see ye battle on, I see ye fight the good fight, the fight that I wish I could see, and more so be.  Oh, how I long for the battle, for my axe has hung to long, by the mantle that warms my hearth, my sons, my daughters, and all that I love, but still I long for thee....
> 
> >snip<
> 
> I speak often to my offspring of the times I spent with thee, and long for the time that I can return with them, fighting along side me.
> 
> Good luck sweet Princes and Princesses… may flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
> 
> Missing the thrill of the hunt,
> Stone D. Mason *





Wow, that's so cool!

The above message came unexpectedly from an old friend (and an old character in the campaign), Stone.  Now Thane of Platinum Peak on Dorhaus, Stone is a powerful fighter who traveled with Lester, Malford, Hobbes (the tabaxi leader), Drelvin and others that have been mentioned in passing here (some of whom will shortly take on greater prominence in the story).  

He's also, alas, a lycanthrope; but in a world where the moons come years or decades apart, that's a well-kept secret known only to a very few and suspected only by a few more.  

Good to hear from you, Stone!!    And maybe I'll post a little interlude with the present goings-on for you sometime soon!  If you're ever in the area, give me a call or send me an email!


----------



## the Jester

*Negotiations with Marius*

The simulacrum is brilliant, and he knows it.  Of course, he's only a shade of the real Marius, but even so...!  He has his instructions, and his motives, he supposes, are roughly the same as the so-called 'real' Marius'.  And he knows about the knot.

His forehead creases as he thinks about that.  The temporal knot, some distance downstream, going to happen sometime... not soon, but planning ahead is what being a chronomancer is about.  There's a knot in time where the adventurers he's going to talk to- or at least some of them- interfere with him in a big way.  He- well, the 'real' him- can see the temporal knot, and the simulacrum has the memory of it even if he can't perceive it himself.  They have to be stopped, kept from interfering.  And they want to negotiate, just as he'd foreseen!  The simulacrum remembers that, too- but something has been causing distortions lately, ripples in the chronal surface.  Things have been diverging from the most likely path.  He- the 'real' him- couldn't foresee the result of this meeting.  Thus... the simulacrum.

_I'm real too,_ the simulacrum thinks resentfully, then smooths his face and steps into the stream portal.  There's a sense of giddiness as the silvery dust sweeps him along, and then he steps out into the Prime Plane.  He casts a few cursory defensive spells, then _teleports without error_ to Mabrack's Castle.  The giant shows him to a sitting room.

And there they are; the adventurers.  He studies them: Sybele, obviously, her form earthen and craggy, her blonde hair falling low on her back, her bow and sword.  Some man next to her, obviously a warrior.  _I don't know him,_ the simulacrum notes.  Then there's Angelfire, the red-skinned one.  A Coilite, worthy of respect.  Too bad Coila's on the wrong side of the Great Conflict.  That one would be Orbius, the Boccobite.  _His master is missing,_ the simulacrum notes.  _As is the Galadorian.  A pity._  And that last one must be Sheva: red hair curling down almost to the waist, wearing only a chain mail bikini and a large collection of deadly-looking greatswords. 

"First off," the simulacrum says without preamble, "let's get one thing out of the way.  I'm not the real Marius, I'm a simulacrum here to negotiate in his place, so you'll gain nothing by attacking me."

"Very well," the Eye answers cautiously.  "We're here to negotiate Jezebel's release." 

"Of course," the simulacrum says.  "I have a number of people of interest to you."

"Like who?  Other than Jezebel," Orbius asks.

"You know about Jezebel; let's just say there are a number of others."

"I don't really care about my dad," Angelfire says.

"What do you want from us?  We don't know why you're messing with us!  What have we done to you?" Sybele implores.

"Yes, perhaps we can stop doing whatever it is that we're doing, or undo what we've done, or something- but we don't even know what we've done, and until we know how we've angered you we can't put things aright."  Orbius is feeling his way cautiously in this conversation. 

The simulacrum settles back in his chair and studies the group.  "You have interfered with my plans, and you will do so more in the future."

"Why do you oppose Coila in the Great War of Ethics?"  Sheva speaks up, her eyes burning into Marius as she stares at him.  Or rather, at his simulacrum.  

_She's striking,_ the construct thinks.  _If I were the real one, I would take her for my bride._  "I worship Coila for what she represents- the mysteries of Time, and it's inevitable march.  That's been the direction of my arcane studies for centuries now.  She represents that relentless flow, the orderly wearing down of all things.  I understand why she supports Chaos; it's about personal power.  I just can't agree with her.  I am a philosopher, and I've traveled the planes, and I have seen worlds where Chaos holds sway.  Do you know what that's like?  Barbarism holds sway, books and things of learning are forgotten or burned.  Terror reigns in such worlds, and I'll not aid such things in happening here or anywhere.

"I've heard all the arguments about the Forinthian Empire stifling dissent and other religions, about it absorbing local cultures.  I agree that those things are tragic, but the Empire also builds roads and schools, ships food to hungry islands in a hundred places and more, helps modernize savages and helps to heal the sick and injured.  The world is more certain; there's less war, crime, disorder.

"No, a victory for Chaos would be a disaster for everyone.  It must be prevented."

The simulacrum pauses, looking intensely back at Sheva.  She doesn't seem swayed.  _By Coila, she's beautiful,_ the simulacrum thinks again.

"Well, if we agree to stay out of the war will you return my daughter?" Sybele nearly begs.

"You will greatly stay out of the war without my action," the simulacrum states.  "But I will make you an offer.  If you will submit to exile far enough in what you would call 'the future' that you cannot interfere with my plans, I will return the ones I have taken.  Say, a thousand years."

Orbius answers grimly.  "We have things to do.  We don't really know what your plans are, and we're sorry if you were involved with the formians, but if you can contact us and tell us when we're messing with your stuff we'll stop."

Marius shakes his head.  "Insufficient.  You may cause us problems even unintentionally."  That knot comes, unbidden, to the front of the simulacrum's mind again.  It has to be untangled!  _If there were more of me,_ it thinks, _we could work harder to monitor everything.  I wonder if that's occurred to the 'real' me?  I wish I was self-controlled!_

"Well, what can we do then?" Orbius asks.

The simulacrum considers, then says, "Pledge to stay out of my affairs, including when contacted, and to do my bidding three times."

"That's too much," Angelfire says.  

"Who all do you have?" Orbius asks.

The simulacrum smiles.  "Well, you know I have Jezebel, and of course Nigel is my... ally.  And I have your Galadorian friend's boy Till.  And more besides, but that's enough to give you an idea."

"You don't have anyone on me," Sheva says, "and you murdered a fellow priest of Coila.  I'll not do your bidding."  Angelfire nods vigorously.

The simulacrum shrugs delicately.  "Then what more do you offer?  Or this meeting is over, and was useless."

"No!" Sybele cries. "Please!  My daughter, just return my daughter!  I'll take your pledge!"

The ersatz Marius frowns.  "I'll tell you what.  You take my pledge, and I'll release your daughter."  His face turns cold.  "But if _any_ of you interfere with my plans knowingly, I'll kill her.  Without a second warning."

"Okay," Sybele says eagerly.  "Whatever, just bring her to me!"

The simulacrum smiles briefly.  "First you'll take a _geas_," he says, and casts a spell.  In moments it is done.  Then the simulacrum departs.  "I'll be back in moments," he says as he telports away.



_*Next Time:*_ Jezebel, Sybele's half-dragon love child, was five years old when they last saw each other.  A Family Reunion!


----------



## the Jester

*Sybele's Daughter*

"Mom?"

_Oh my god,_ Sybele thinks, _she's grown so much..._ 

Jezebel is fifteen now.  She's looking at Sybele with a mix of distrust, resentment and hope on her face.  But she's holding Marius' hand.

Marius... He lets go of her hand and murmurs, "Go, child."  Jezebel hesitantly steps towards Sybele, who holds her hands out to the half-dragon girl.

Jezebel turns back to Marius and hugs him fiercely.  Then she walks towards her mother, slowly closing the distance.  She does not go into her mother's embrace.  

"Do you want to stay with him?" Sybele asks hoarsely. 

Jezebel looks torn for a moment.  Her eyes start to glimmer with tears.  She shakes her head no, then rushes to Sybele.  They hug.  Behind Jezebel, Marius stares hard at Sybele. 

"Remember our bargain," he calls, and _teleports_ away.




_*Next Time: *_The Return of Horbin the Holy!


----------



## Talix

Hey there Jester, still reading and loving this storyhour.    I apologize for the length inbetween my replies.

This most recent negotiation was pretty cool, I thought - nice that they were able to find a solution without compromising the other members of the party.

I am surprised, though, that they didn't confirm a couple things, like, say, "Your plans won't be bothered by us crushing the Temple of Elemental Evil, will they?"     Otherwise, things could get hairy pretty quickly.

I look forward to seeing the long-term consequences of this bargain.


----------



## the Jester

Interestingly, the most important line in the whole negotiations scene may turn out to be this:


> _If there were more of me,_ it thinks, _we could work harder to monitor everything. I wonder if that's occurred to the 'real' me? I wish I was self-controlled!_




Heheheh....


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

I can't let him be the only one that does any praising around here...

Cool Stuff, Jester!


----------



## the Jester

*The Return of Horbin the Holy*

Let's backtrack a couple of days, shall we?

_Horbin the Holy felt great reservations about joining the attack on the Forinthian fleet, but he didn't think he could do much good in Pesh City at that moment either; things were too dangerous. There was just too much fighting going on, and it was really unclear to him who's side he should be on. As they headed to sea, Horbin attempted to call upon Dexter's blessings- and failed.

He stopped in mid-air (they were all under a mass flight spell), shaken. "I..." he gasped. 

_I've always justified the things I've done by the fact that Dexter's granted me his spells for everything I've done. Now... now he isn't granting me his blessing!

_Horbin the Holy spoke a word of recall and vanishes._



Horbin’s sanctuary is in Var.  He appears there profoundly shaken by his failure to call upon Galador’s blessing.  

_I’ve done something wrong,_ he thinks dreadfully.  Immediately he _communes_ to seek guidance.

What must I do to restore the blessing of Galador?  *You may not fight Forinthia.*
Can I continue aiding the innocent without fighting Forinthian forces?  *Yes.*
What is the power at the center of the Temple of Elemental Evil?  *Felenga, the Dark One.*
What manner of creature is he?  _Horbin sees a horrible vision of an undead creature with tatters of hair and skin stretched and yellow on its skeletal frame.  From its head sprout long, wicked-looking horns.  Two muscular, coppery-colored tentacles sprout from his shoulders.  Its eyes burn with scarlet pinpricks of light._
Is he a lich?  *Yes, but not just a lich.*
Does that mean his soul resides in a container of sorts?  *Yes.*
Where does he keep it?  *Unknown.*
Does anyone besides him know where it is?  *No.*
Is he expecting us?  *No.*
Is he currently planning anything against Dorhaus and its people?  *Yes.*
Is he getting help from those outside the Temple of Elemental Evil?  *Yes.*
Who is his main contact?  *Most have been summoned.*
Who is the highest-level citizen of Dorhaus that he deals with?  *Lardo Princehold.*
What manner of creature is Lardo Princehold?  *Half-orc aristocrat.*
Where is Lardo now?  *The town of Ludron in the Prince’s Hold.*

Horbin thinks long and hard.  It seems to him that the Temple is on everyone’s hit list.  He thinks it’s important, and so do his questionable allies.  But some of them are good people, and even the other ones might change; and they _do_ often work for good ends... take Bile Mountain.  

Plus, Horbin needs allies.  He certainly can’t attack the Temple by _himself._  That would be suicide.  And he has no idea where his other old adventuring buddies are- he hasn’t seen Krunkshank or Droidi or them for years.* So he spends a couple of days in prayer and then casts a _sending_ to Sybele, asking if she’s ready to attack the Temple.  She’s the key one, after all; as long as her daughter hasn’t been found the party’s likely tied up.  

This is on New Year’s Day, and to Horbin’s great surprise and pleasure, Sybele’s response is full of joy; her daughter Jezebel has been recovered from Marius, and Sybele and the others are indeed ready.

In only an hour Orbius has retrieved the cleric, trumping back to Var and then _greater teleporting_ back to Mabrack’s Castle with him.  The party compares notes; “Where’s Lester?” Horbin asks.

“Uh, he’s on the road to the Temple of Elemental Evil right now,” Orbius answers.  This is news to everyone else.  “The Galadorians could only rescind the _geas_ if he immediately goes to overthrow the Temple.”

“Good news for everyone,” Horbin remarks.  “That involves someone named Felenga...”

“Oh no,” says Orbius.  His face drains of color.

“Uh, who’s Felenga?” Horbin asks.  “I know he’s some kind of lich- but more.  What do you know about him?”

“By Dexter, haven’t you heard all these stories from Lester?” Orbius cries, and proceeds to tell them a bit about the universe they live in.


*See my old story hour for Horbin’s previous tales.


_*Next Time:*_ A tale from Lester’s past!


----------



## the Jester

*The Tale of How the Universe Came to Be*

_Almost twenty years ago*- well, over a hundred, but it feels like twenty due to experiences that will be explained shortly- Lester traveled with a different band of adventurers, one that included such luminaries as (now God-King) then-Baron Malford the Magnificent, Thimbleton the illusionist, (now Thane) Stone D. Mason, Rinardo the Druid, Malador the half-voadkyn (at the end, anyway), Hobbes the Tabaxi Champion, and, of course, Dexter himself, the Son of the Light.  A profoundly revealing series of adventures began one day in Malford’s castle in Var with the appearance of an emerald-skinned, blue haired apparition to Thimbleton.  “You’re not real, just a dream!” the green man cried, and disappeared, leaving a strange wooden staff tipped by a gem at either end.  Mystified, the party investigated to no avail, and it was not for months until they discovered that the staff would balance on its centerpoint and could be spun around without falling off of even a fingertip; moreover, it would always point in one direction when it came to rest, as if it were some kind of compass.

Which it was.  

Following it led them inexorably to Darkhold, where they found that it was the property of Zelman, the Emerald Mage, and that Zelman was a god; moreover, he was one of three gods who were used to power a strange simulation of a reality.  It was this simulation they were from; they were not real, they were pieces in a game.  

How, then, had they come to this reality?  A strange question.  Worse, a pertinent one, for during their stay in Darkhold Lester threw a lever that released a dark man from a cage that had held him for billions of years.  And Fuligin came to Cydra- worse, to Dorhaus, the continent in which Malford’s barony, Var, lay.

The party returned to Var to confront him, but Fuligin conjured an army of demons, devils and yugoloths.  Binding them to his iron will, he gave them a simple, ominous command: “I don’t care if it’s man, beast or plant; if it isn’t evil, kill it.”  And the horrible slaughter started.  Lester’s adventuring companions did all they could, but in the end Fuligin proved far too potent for them to deal with, and they were forced to flee for their lives.  Almost, they trapped his soul- but Fuligin was as wise as he was powerful, and wary of tricks; and a marilith had been impersonating him at the start.  When the real Fuligin came forth, he was unstoppable, tearing warriors limb from limb with his bare hands, slaying every opponent, even driving the terrible dragon that had long impersonated Emperor Tovan Kinslayer from the fields of Wotan.  And so the adventurers who had inadvertently freed him ran for their lives with their tails between their legs.

Back to Darkhold, mysterious Darkhold, they went.  They found their way back using Zelman’s staff again (still in Thimbleton’s clutches) and begged the Master of Darkhold to intercede.  It was then that they learned the most horrible truth of all: their world- the simulation they were born into- was a pale copy of a multiverse that had once existed.  But that multiverse had been devoured by Fuligin’s master, a dark force named Tharizdun.  All the myriad stars and planets, all the planes, Nature herself had been cruelly torn asunder, and nothing survived.  Nothing... save Darkhold.  For Darkhold was neither of nor in Nature.  Darkhold was something completely apart, completely separate.  Darkhold was unto itself, and it was the only thing surviving from the old multiverse that had once boasted worlds called Oerth, Toril, Zypher and many other things.  Only a very few individuals had been taken in by the Master of Darkhold; three of them were the gods that powered the new simulation- Zelman, Garnet (who, arguably, counted for three herself) and Froth.  And one of them- not taken in, but captured as he tried to assault Darkhold- one of them was Fuligin.

“But if you opposed him before, if you trapped him before, surely you can do it again!” Lester implored the Master of Darkhold.

“He remains trapped,” the Master retorted.  “Your world _is_ part of Darkhold- just one piece of many.  He thinks himself free, but there is nowhere outside of my realm for him to go.”

“What of the destruction he wreaks?” Hobbes, the tabaxi, cried.

“Destruction of nothing,” the Master answered.  “Remember, you are not real.  You feel that you are; but that is part of the simulation.  You are irrelevant, as are all the things that you seek to defend.  I will throw away the simulation, leaving Fuligin trapped within, and start anew.”

“There must be something we can offer you to persuade you,” Malford tried.  “We have much gold, a great deal of magic-“

“All false,” the Master said.  “All my creations.  You can offer me nothing that I cannot create for myself.  Fuligin cannot be defeated by such as you.  You are the stuff of dreams; he is like the bright light of a merciless sun that shakes the dreamer awake.  You will dissolve before his wrath.”

“If we were real?” Thimbleton asked, and that was the key.

It had been almost seven billion years since the Master of Darkhold had sealed his entrance against intrusion and retreated into seclusion, drawing away from the all-devouring darkness that was Tharizdun.  What foe was there here, in his own domain, where no other creature held influence?  What force could move such an implacable individual as the Master?

Only one, and it was Thimbleton who hit upon it.  

Boredom.

“For you to become real... to have a chance against Fuligin...”  The Master of Darkhold sighed.  “The risks are great.”  He reflected momentarily; then, “The potential exists, however.”  

To defeat Fuligin, the party would likely have to arrange for the binding of his dark master, Tharizdun.  Something that could only be done at the moment of birth of Nature, in the paroxysmal birth pangs of a new reality.  But with the right ingredients it could be done.  However, to obtain the materials necessary the heroes would have to essay time itself, traveling back to the prior multiverse’s last few embers as they were being devoured by black Tharizdun, and from those embers jump further back still.  They would need to acquire many difficult prizes- including a piece of the previous Nature, to use as a seed.

“How big of a piece?” Stone D. Mason asked.

“At least two million cubic miles,” the Master of Darkhold answered with equanimity.

“There’s got to be an easier way!” Lester cried.  “C’mon, guys, we can beat him!”

“Shut up, Lester,” Malford interjected.  “You let him out.  See it through.”

It was not easy.  

With the aid of a strange, fishy-seeming individual named Tleilax, who was one of a group of powerful wizards who had traveled back in time from the previous multiverse’s apocalypse to try to prevent it, the heroes jumped back in time.  They went from moment to moment, trying to interfere with history as little as possible.  “Why worry about paradox now?” Thimbleton asked.

“It’s not paradox we need to avoid,” Tleilax told him.  “It’s the attention of the Angels of the Apocalypse.”

From the small to the large, the group managed to gain everything they needed.  But they did not avoid attention.  Trying to grab a series of artifacts, most notably the Diamond Sword of Raldese, that they thought might help them battle Fuligin, they instead found themselves face to face with Felenga, the Dark One- a horrifyingly powerful agent of Tharizdun as powerful as Fuligin himself, a lich-lord who had undead pit fiends at his command.  And in battle with him, they suffered terrible losses, including Cauldron, one of their companions who was not killed but instead horribly transformed.  In the end they left the Diamond Sword with Felenga, who it had proved capable of damaging; but they escaped with the Obsidian Gloves, without which the sword’s wielder would slice his hands to ribbons.

It was a narrow escape, and when they returned to Darkhold, the Master of that place congratulated them on their victory, took the ingredients they’d procured, and baked them into a new Nature, binding Tharizdun in the process- “it will be a long time before he can be freed,” the Master commented- and returned them to Cydra, slightly more than one hundred and twenty years after they’d left.  As they dusted themselves off on a devastated continent they discovered an eyeball-like thing that flew free from them, and within it were gods, including Coila, Boccob, Tade, Carella and several others.  Several members of the party, including Hobbes and Thimbleton, almost struck the eye down; but Lester persuaded them to let the gods go.  Then the heroes sought out Fuligin, driven completely mad by the loss of his dark lord, and this time found that his power was much reduced.  They slew him easily; almost without opposition.  

And all should have ended there._



*In the 2nd Edition Players Option days... though this particular arc of the campaign devolved the rule set as the pcs traveled further and further back in time.  They had to translate their characters at various points into 1e and early 2e rule sets, which led to much confusion and odd circumstances.


----------



## the Jester

*Kseethee*

"Those tentacles you saw from Felenga's shoulders?" Orbius continues.  "Those are rust monster tentacles.  Those horns sprouting from his head are deadly sharp, absorbed from perytons.  And he has the central antimagic eye of a beholder in his chest."

"How did he..." 

Orbius shakes his head.  "As I understand it, he's the one who invented the spell Essence.  It's a necromantic spell that allows him to reduce an organ to a liquid and then, by drinking it, to grow the organ himself.  The catch is, you have to do it one hundred times."

"You mean he's liquified a hundred beholders?" Horbin asks in disbelief.

"Apparently so," the Eye nods.  "And who knows what else."

The party falls silent for a moment.

"Well, that's no fun," Sybele comments.  

"And who knows what other organs or abilities he's gained like that."  Orbius sighs.  "No, fighting him directly is a bad idea; from what Lester's told me, when they crossed paths before pretty much only the Diamond Sword of Raldese allowed them to harm Felenga."

"And that sword..."

"Was either destroyed by Felenga's master when he awoke, or is in Felenga's possession now.  And even if he has it, we wouldn't be able to take it away from him and use it without the Obsidian Gloves of Raldese.   Those, we might be able to gain from Stone; but..."  The Eye sighs.  "It isn't likely we'll get the Sword in any event."

_Well, at least I have my daughter back,_ Sybele thinks thankfully.

Angelfire, unnoticed, grimaces, clutching at his stomach.  He feels a sudden sharp pain that he can't explain.  It subsides after a few minutes, leaving him slightly queasy.  _What was that?_ he wonders, then thinks back to the last time- not so long ago- that he touched an obelisk devoted to the Chaos-Bringer, Na'Rat.  Nothing seemed to happen... could this be a long-delayed affect?  

Time will tell.

Five days pass, during which Jezebel, Sybele and Thrush start to tentatively get to know one another.  The half-dragon is bitter, angry and confused- "You never came for me!" she yells at Sybele at one point, but her mom tells her that she tried, that she's thought of nothing else for a long time, and explains that the time stream flowed differently where they were at.  There are tears, recriminations, hugs and the start of a healing.  Thrush, who seems to genuinely love Sybele, and Jezebel rather hit it off.  The whole time, Sybele wonders what happened between Jezebel and Marius, but is afraid to ask.  He didn't touch her; Jezebel attests to that much, but is angered when Sybele asks.  

During those five days of travel, Angelfire tries to escape thinking about the occasional stomach pangs by drinking himself into near-oblivion over and over again.  He drinks, then _naps_ for an hour, then drinks some more.  Fortunately, Mabrack's huge casks of ale and wine are too large for mere human-scale creatures to significantly deplete, and he likes to party just as much; the giant takes to following the crimson-skinned Coilite's example, getting roaring drunk and firing blasts of lightning into the sky with loud whoops.  He also, in a more sober moment, recommends Strogass as a place to seek adventure- a huge continent to the east, overrun by creatures that worship Bleak, the antithesis of Galador, the Darkness That Opposes the Light.

And then the sky castle reaches Kseethee.

Kseethee is unlike anything else the party has ever seen.  It's a large flying disc of strange metal, with an entire city built upon it.  "You can find anything here," Mabrack tells them. 

After a _commune_ from Sheva's imp that helps them find a place to stay safe from scrying (called the Closed Eye), they get a series of rooms.  Everything rapidly shows itself to be more expensive here than they would expect elsewhere, but hey, that's what you get.  After purchasing a seller's license for 500 gp, they sell many things, including Lester's _box of many holdings_.  Everywhere they go they see strange creatures, from weird subspecies of large-eared elves they've never seen to bat-folk, dog-folk, intelligent birds, lillends, fiends, undead on the streets, tall blue individuals ("those are _ethros,_" Sheva points out), and more- everything imaginable and more.  There's even a group of illithids in strange goggled garb strolling casually down the street.

Various items are purchased, but prices are high.  Still, some spells have hard-to-find components that can, indeed, be found here; _protection from spells, perfect identification,_ and others require large and expensive jewels.  They are easily located here.

One other things of note is found by Orbius.  He's been searching for months for a way to restore Lester's Chaos-removed arm without removing all the other Chaos traits he's acquired.  Just about the only way he knows that will work is a _wish_ or a _miracle_, and it's hard to come by one.  But here, in Kseethee, he finds such a scroll and purchases it for an outrageous sum.  _If only I had the power to cast it myself,_ he thinks regretfully, _I could scribe it into my book.  But I can't... and so I will simply have to read it from the scroll and hope there isn't a mishap._

Reassembling at the end of the day, the group bids Mabrack farewell.  "We have much to do," Orbius tells him, "and we must start by going to Dorhaus."

"That is far from here, my friends," rumbles Mabrack.  "So be it!  Perhaps we shall meet again some day!  Good luck to you, in whatever endeavors you are about.  And do not make more enemies like Marius- such foes will be the deaths of you!"

Thinking of Felenga, Sheva comments wrily, "You may be right."

They trump to Var to prepare to attack, at long last, the Temple of Elemental Evil.



_*Next Time:*_ Attack on the Temple of Elemental Evil!


----------



## the Jester

*prologue to the Nigh-Epic-Level Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil!*

First they scry Lardo Princehold.  

"Perfect," Sheva gloats, and the Eye _greater teleports_ the party into his office, where he's having sex with his young human secretary on his desk.  He squawks, caught literally with his pants down, and she shrieks.  The lovers scramble apart, papers spilling from the desk onto the floor.

"He made me!" the girl cries, her voice quaking in fear as she stares at the stern-looking people who've just appeared from nowhere.

"Get out of here, honey," says Horbin to the girl after a moment's study under _detect evil._  She scurries.

"Who are you people?" Lardo shouts.  He's a half-orc of relative handsomeness, but sweaty and fat.  He's short for a half-orc, just 5' 6" in height; his skin is a dark brownish-green.

"Shut up," Sheva says, pulling out Chronovestis.  The huge blade gleams in the light of the lantern on the wall.  The half-orc flinches back and shuts up.

***

A little while later, after questioning, warning and thoroughly frightening Lardo, who was nothing more than a petty princeling influenced by the chance to make money by trading with the forces of the Temple, our heroes return to Var.

"Well, I think it's time," states Horbin.

"Let us rest first, and make preparations, and plan," says Orbius.  "I must make certain I have the proper spells; I've already used my _greater teleport._"  

Rest they do, and then they discuss targets.  "The Champion of Elemental Evil," suggests Sheva.  "We can't take Felenga yet, but we were instructed to destroy the Champion some time ago."

"Before they assassinated me*," Orbius says ironically.  "But yes, I think he's a good target.  Lareth."  The Eye chuckles.  "Let's kill him back."

The party agrees.  Then they power up, casting a horde of buffing and defensive spells.  Orbius casts _greater scrying_ and searches out Lareth; he's sitting in a throne in some sort of large evil-looking temple.  

Our heroes attack.




*If you'll recall, Turfi and Lendivo, two aerial creatures sent by the Champion of Elemental Evil, assassinated Orbius a while back.




_*Next Time:*_  Surprise Assault on Elemental Evil!


----------



## the Jester

*Assault on the Champion of Elemental Evil!*

The party appears in a chapel devoted to ultimate evil.  There's an elevated dais on which the Champion sits in his throne; a hideous altar of squirmous stone seems to writhe.  What appear to be human viscera are spread upon it, perhaps for divination.  

Lareth, the Champion of Elemental Evil, is muttering dark prayers under his lips.  He's completely insane, beyond redemption; and he is not alone.  Also in the chamber are the Prince of Elemental Fire himself, Imix, a huge roaring column of white-hot flame, and his bodyguard- Maliska, a half-fire elemental medusa. 

As soon as she sees Maliska, Sheva turns to stone.

The party cries out in dismay, but before they can so much as move, the Prince of Evil Fire Elementals hurls a ball of flame at them.  It explodes, searing them all with its heat.  All, of course, except Angelfire, who rushes forward, his falchion singing as it slices into Imix.  Thrush steps up to join him and engages Imix with deadly ability, slashing with his greatsword again and again, dealing scarlet wounds that seem to drip molten flames.  Sybele fires a rapid volley of deadly arrows at Lareth, peppering him with shafts.  He screams as he sees the assault come; perhaps he has foreseen it?  The fourth arrow to strike him sinks deep in his face.

"I've got the medusa!" the Eye shouts, casting a _maze_ upon her.  Imix's huge greatsword whips at him as he does, missing only because Orbius had the foresight to _displace_ himself.  Maliska vanishes.  The Eye fires a volley of _seeker missiles_ at Lareth, blasting him into unconsciousness, but an instant later the medusa reappears, having dispelled the extradimensional cage. 

Sheva's imp flits over to Lareth's slumped form and whips out his unicorn-horn dagger.  Laughing with glee, he slits Lareth's throat.  Then  he squeals in pain as Imix's roars and stabs him.  "Boss, I got 'im!" Habiskis yells as he tumbles and jumps back away.

An efreet appears in a burst of flame, and he summons a _wall of fire_ directly upon Thrush, who roars in pain and steps out of the wall, suffering another blow as he moves to Imix's side and away from the wall, and Angelfire, who laughs wildly and continues his assault on the Prince of Elemental Fire.  Imix emits a high-pitched scream, the blows against him beginning to tell.  Thrush is laying into him again as well.  Sybele fires an arrow through the wall, but it's incinerated on the way.  She cries an obscenity and rushes into and through the wall, yelping as she burns.  

Orbius maneuvers into position, then fires a _cone of cold_ that passes through Maliska, Imix, and the efreet.  The genie screams in agony, barely withstanding the damage; the medusa crumples to the floor.  Then the Eye fires a _lance of disruption_ at Imix, and the Elemental Fire Prince, falls!  The efreet starts to reach out, but vanishes as the summoning keeping it present gives way.

"That's it!" yells Orbius.  "We're out of here before they can respond!"  The party gathers to him and they trump away.




_*Next Time: *_ The Temple's Reply, part one!


----------



## Talix

Heh - what a great way to encounter the aristocrat!  

Lots of good stuff here, thanks!    I hope the Epic levels go well for you.


----------



## the Jester

*The Temple's Reply*

"Well, that wasn't so bad," Horbin remarks.

"Yeah, but- uh oh..." Orbius trails off.  "We're being scried!"

"Dexter's nadlies!  The last thing we want is an attack here, in Var!" Horbin exclaims.

The party acts quickly- Orbius uses Lester's trump to contact him, and the party trumps to him.  He looks disheveled, not quite himself yet; he's afoot, on the road from Var to, eventually, the Temple of Elemental Evil.  He's hoping to run into other adventurers- those he's had a hand in hiring to assault the temple. 

"What's going on, guys?" he asks.  

"Boccob's eye, whoever it is is still scrying us!  Lester, run, you weren't there, take cover for now!" Orbius cries out.  Confused, Lester obeys his cohort, backing away and rushing into the scree on the side of the mountain road they're on.  He's still trying to figure out what's going on, and he isn't at all mentally prepared for combat.  Orbius, meanwhile, quickly casts a pair of _far strikes_ on the Sheva and Horbin's weapons.

There's a tremendous grinding, cracking sound.  Something is emerging from within the mountainside- some sort of huge mud-creature, roughly spherical.  It seems to have tentacles coming from it in all directions- _why do they always have tentacles?_ Horbin thinks wildly- as it rushes towards them.  The party's main fighters, Angelfire and Thrush, have already formed up to battle it, however, and their blades flash out wickedly, slicing chunks of wet mud away from it.  The Eye fires a _lance of disruption_ at it, blasting bits of wet earth from it.  "It's some sort of ooze octopus!" Sheva cries as it flails at them.  She strikes at it from afar, her blade dealing a wound that would drop a normal man.  

Then the ooze octopus lashes out, grabbing Sybele and jerking her into the air, constricting her, burning her with acid, dealing tremendous damage.  "AARGH!" she cries, trying to break free- and failing.  It's too big, too strong...  Then its tentacles seem to be everywhere at once, grappling Angelfire, Hrobin, Orbius, and the imp!  Angelfire concentrates fiercely, _dimension dooring_ free of its grasp, and Orbius manages to _teleport_ free.  He whips out the Airsword, hoping to use it to get a little distance.  Horbin, miraculously, bursts free of the tentacle holding him.

Sheva tumbles away from it, hitting it with clerical magicks, trying to distract it.  "Hey!" she shouts at it.  As it quivers from her spells, Sybele slips out, trying to run away, getting slapped again- though not grappled.  The monster tries again, squeezing them hard while it reaches out and grabs up Horbin and Sybele again and rakes its muddy tentacle across Thrush.  He staggers, then strikes again, unleashing all the smackdown he's got, slicing and dicing, striking true again and again- until the thing finally gives everyone one last great convulsive wring and then collapses into a huge pile of mud.

Struggling free, our heroes are rather shaken.  "Everyone alive?" Horbin calls, starting to heal. 

Lester comes forward.  "Are you all right?" he cries.  

"It's probably not over yet," Orbius says grimly.  "We need to get out of here, to some cover or something."  He gratefully accepts Horbin's curative touch, sighing in pleasure.  "Let's trump back to Var."  

Even as he shuffles out the trump of Var, the next wave arrives in a flash of light.  Felenga's rebuttal has truly arrived.


_*Next Time:*_ Felenga's Rebuttal!  More trouble every round!!


----------



## Mathew_Freeman

*does Matrix-esque "bring it on" gesture*


----------



## the Jester

*Felenga's Rebuttal*

Orbius stares intently at the trump of Var.  It takes a fair degree of concentration to make contact*, and he's a little flustered...

Before he can finish, Felenga begins making his rebuttal.  The ooze octopus was a distraction, to give him time to prepare his minions.

There's a flash of light and three visible creatures appear. 

One of them is a deathbringer.  It wears intricately worked full plate armor over its death-pallor skin.  The breastplate sports an obex symbol, as do the greaves.  The undead monster whirls two black flails, moving extremely quickly.  The party fought a deathbringer before, when Chemnu attacked them, and it was no picnic.  There's another one there, too, but he's cloaked by _improved invisibility._  Our heroes don't yet realize he's there, but that will change almost immediately.

Just behind the deathbringers are two whirlwinds of flame.  Lester recognizes them as living holocausts- elementals composed of equal parts air, fire and evil.  The winds around them immediately start moving with startling speed, checking the party and heating up with burning intensity.  Small dry grasses on the side of the road burst into flame.  Angelfire smiles, enjoying the wind.  Habiskis shrieks, blowing away, barely catching himself on a tree.

Before the enemy can move, Orbius throws a barred _forcecage_ around them.  They're too far apart to cage them all in a solid box, unfortunately, for the deathbringers immediately cast area dispels at the party, dropping one defensive or buffing spell or another from everyone, almost all of them cast by Orbius.  The Eye curses, but he finally gets trump contact with Var.  "Come on!" he shouts.  "Let's get out of here!  You, too, Lester!"

Horbin tries to move forward to Orbius, but the winds are too strong.  He is blown off-course and must grab Sybele to avoid being blown away.  He's being scorched by the superheating air, too.  He grits his teeth; this _already_ looks ugly.  Then things get worse, as the living holocausts shoot out of the bars of the _forcecage_ and whip tails of flame out at Lester.  Then there's another flash of light, and four weird-looking creatures appear.  They're strangely troll-like, but to those knowledgable about the planes, they look like tarry demodands.  With loud screams of rage, the four monsters rush at Horbin and Thrush, clawing wildly at them.  

"Come on!" Orbius yells over the screaming winds, but the deathbringers cast more dispels, and one of them is targeted at Orbius.  He loses many of his magical wards and buffs, and worse- the trump contact.  Another dispel hits Lester, taking away much of his magical enhancement as well.

Angelfire leans against the wind but can't progress against it.  Zeebo is blown almost into him, and he manages to grab the Mayor with one strong arm just as a dispel hits him.  Zeebo is terrified.  Horbin is meleeing with one of the half-troll demodands, missing his strike, as is Thrush, who hits but almost loses his sword to its sticky slime; but nobody can move against the winds towards Orbius- and the contact's been lost, regardless, Angelfire notes.  

But the fight against Elemental Evil is Lester's specialty.  He is an elementalist, after all.  Gesturing strongly at the holocaust winds, he uses his powers to control one!  "Counter your brother's winds!" he commands, and the air grows still- but it remains deadly hot.  The ground itself seems to smoulder, and the half-demodands are clearly protected against it.

Zeebo _hastes_ himself and Horbin, and Sheva _hastes_ herself as well.  The half-trolls keep attacking, duelling deadly with Thrush and Horbin, and they're now starting to heal the gashes that our heroes have inflicted!  Arrows spring into one of their sides and it roars with pain and anger.

The uncontrolled living holocaust is attacking Orbius, _hasted_ itself.  It strikes him, searing across his chest with burning razor winds.  Thrush and Horbin are both suffering wounds, and the deathbringers- _hasted_ as well, curse it- keep throwing more targeted dispels from within the bard of their _forcecage._ _I should have only caught one or two of them and made it solid!_ Orbius thinks wildly.

Live and learn... maybe.

Angelfire tumbles in next to Horbin the Holy, moving with uncanny speed, and swings his falchion in a deadly arc.  He knocks one of the half-troll demodands to the ground, then turns to face the next and strikes it in the head with cunning force!  Horbin, meanwhile, brings his holy mace down on the one on the ground, finishing it.

Lester turns to the issue of the deathbringers.  "You can cast out," he yells, "so I can cast in!"  And he brings an _incendiary cloud_ out, a rolling reddish vapor full of sparks and fire.  Then he jerks a potion from his belt and tosses it to Thrush.  "Drink this!" he cries, and the warrior does so, some of his wounds closing.

_We're not doing so badly,_ the Eye thinks as Sybele drops the uncontrolled Holocaust, accidentally hitting Horbin in the process.

He might think differently if he knew that Turfi and Lendivo had arrived unseen and were about to slay a party member... much like before.



*Activating a trump is a full-round action that requires a successful Intelligence check, DC 15; it also draws an attack of opportunity.  Fortunately, Orbius has _ultimate concentration_ in effect, which allows him to concentrate on multiple things at once.


_*Next Time:*_ Turfi and Lendivo kill again!  The battle continues!  The next wave is coming!!


----------



## Technik4

*Awesome*

Man, high-level play sounds so cool. A few questions since it seems characters have gained a few levels (rightfully so!):

1. Is Zeebo still a straight Wiz/Sor, or has he picked up a prc?

2. Angelfire enjoys the wind. Because he was strong enough to make the save to not be blown away or does he have some kind of wind resistance? We know he has the fire thing down (was it fire immunity or just high resistance?).

3. Horbin never seems to try and turn undead. Is this because at high levels it is a low-chance maneuver or just Horbin's style?

4. Is Thrush a PC? It seemed like he started out as an NPC, then seemed like a cohort, but lately has seemed like a full-fledged PC.

5. How do trumps work exactly? I know its a teleport thing, but reading that its a full-round action sort of gave me an itch to know more. Would you mind throwing a trump up in your homebrew revelation post? 

6. Lester uses his powers to control the wind! Isn't he a fire elementalist (Or a para-elementalist, I think he took a prc for that)? Also what happened to him exactly? Is he fully recovered? Did he get that arm back yet?

7. Concerning Orbius. Do you mostly play Orbius or do you let Lester's player do it? How is the division? It reflects really nicely in the SH, youd never know he was a cohort... 

8. When did Sheva get de-stoned? I know they trumped away, but you didn't explicitly state it.

9. How do you manage to update everyday? 

Anyway as usual, keep up the awesome work. This is still my fav storyhour!

Technik

PS Aw hell, lets make it ten even questions:

10. When do you plan on updating the old story hour?


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## the Jester

*Re: Awesome*



			
				Technik4 said:
			
		

> *Man, high-level play sounds so cool. A few questions since it seems characters have gained a few levels (rightfully so!):
> 
> 1. Is Zeebo still a straight Wiz/Sor, or has he picked up a prc?*




Still straight wiz/sor... at this point, he was wiz 7/sor 6.*



			2. Angelfire enjoys the wind. Because he was strong enough to make the save to not be blown away or does he have some kind of wind resistance? We know he has the fire thing down (was it fire immunity or just high resistance?).
		
Click to expand...


*
Neither, because it was superhot.  It was more the heat that he enjoyed than the wind per se.  As far as that goes, as a Fire subtype creature he's totally immune to heat damage. 
*



			3. Horbin never seems to try and turn undead. Is this because at high levels it is a low-chance maneuver or just Horbin's style?
		
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*
Hm, good question.  I guess it's more just a matter of style- there have been a couple of times when I sort of half-expected him to turn, and it would've been pretty useful.  I think turning undead is one of those moves that gets less useful as the pcs advance, though, because high CR undead tend to have lots more HD than CR.

*



			4. Is Thrush a PC? It seemed like he started out as an NPC, then seemed like a cohort, but lately has seemed like a full-fledged PC.
		
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Nope, he's an npc.  He probably wouldn't still be with the pcs if it wasn't for Sybele- he's been trying to get her to retire from adventuring for the sake of their baby!    Fat chance.*



			5. How do trumps work exactly? I know its a teleport thing, but reading that its a full-round action sort of gave me an itch to know more. Would you mind throwing a trump up in your homebrew revelation post? 

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Oooh, complicated one!  I'll put some info up over there, but a good start would be to read the Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny- they're unabashedly stolen from the series.  It starts with Nine Princes in Amber, then the Guns of Avalon, Sign of the Unicorn, the Hand of Oberon and the Courts of Chaos.  Fantastic reading.  There's a second series as well, but the first one is far better.  Nonetheless, I'll put some info up on the other thread.  (Players, stay out!!)

*



			6. Lester uses his powers to control the wind! Isn't he a fire elementalist (Or a para-elementalist, I think he took a prc for that)? Also what happened to him exactly? Is he fully recovered? Did he get that arm back yet?
		
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Heh.. isn't this actually three questions?   

He actually uses his powers to command one of the living holocausts (which are both air and fire elementals- they're in the Fiend Folio).  This is a high-level elementalist ability; for more on them you can check out the Cydra Yahoo group I started, in the files section there's a Word doc that details the elementalist.  He's actually only a first-level paraelementalist (as you get higher level as a paraelementalist you have to have more favored elements as an elementalist; to be a magma p.e. you have to have both fire and earth, to be a smoke p.e. you need both air and fire, etc)/13th level elementalist.  

As for his arm, not yet, but as soon as there's time Orbius plans on it!

What happened to him- well, after depositing him at the Temple of Elemental Good, Orbius told the high adept to take him to Galador's temple, where he received instructions- basically to go attack the Temple of Elemental Evil *as soon as possible*.  As long as he's on the quest the effects of Galador's _geas_ are mitigated; if he stops, they'll come back, only even moreso.  (If you'll recall, he took a 12-point hit to each ability score!  Moreso probably will kill him.)  As you'll see, Galador's definition of attacking the Temple includes some fairly indirect questing for a weapon against Felenga- at this point, Felenga is Galador's biggest concern.
*



			7. Concerning Orbius. Do you mostly play Orbius or do you let Lester's player do it? How is the division? It reflects really nicely in the SH, youd never know he was a cohort... 

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It's 99% James' work (well, the other James- Lester's player).  I have enough to worry about.  He _is_ an npc, though, and I do reserve the right to take a hand in his control.  I actually am much more prone to do so with Habiskis (Sheva's imp), however; there have been several occasions when he's pickpocketed members of the party, for instance.

*



			8. When did Sheva get de-stoned? I know they trumped away, but you didn't explicitly state it.
		
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Ooops, you're right- I left it out!  IIRC, Horbin hit her with a _break enchantment_ almost immediately after the fight.

*



			9. How do you manage to update everyday?
		
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*
Well, it isn't quite _every_ day...   But I hurt my back camping last weekend, and so I've had the last couple of days off while I convalesce, so I've had some free time.  Also, when the boards are down I usually work up the next couple of updates as a Word doc then cut & paste.

Back to work tomorrow, though!

*



			PS Aw hell, lets make it ten even questions:

10. When do you plan on updating the old story hour?
		
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Er... I need to confer with my players about their conversation with the shade of the Last King of Dorla, and, er, it's on my list, I swear.

Thanks for mentioning it- I keep looking at the link in my sig and putting it off, when people remind me about it- well, let's just say a little prodding helps.    

Thanks for the kind words!


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## Technik4

For anyone else who has never heard of Roger Zelzany, here is the link.

Sounds like good stuff, despite never hearing of him I ordered his Short Story Collection, Amber Collection, and Lords of Light. Can't wait to tear into some new fantasy/sf.

Technik


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## the Jester

*Turfi and Lendive Slay One of Our Heroes*

Turfi the Mortal Hunter arrived, hiding and naturally invisible, moments ago- and has been moving into position.  The entire force will be _hasted_, Felenga saw to that.  He saw to many other things, too.  Turfi's got eight active effects of one sort or another as he moves in.  Zeebo casts _bonebreak_ on one of the half-trolls, and it roars in pain; and then Turfi strikes, slamming the Mayor thrice and constricting him with lethal effect.  Zeebo's neck, arms and legs break as he dies instantly.

"ZEEBO!" cries Lester.  

He orders the living holocaust he controls to attack the caged deathbringers, but as it does so the other one springs up from the ground where it had lain in wispy form!  It whirls at Sheva, trying to incinerate her, but she's too fast, casting _dispel temporal manipulations_ and stripping everyone present of their _haste_ effects.  "That ought to even the odds a little!" she shouts angrily, whipping Blue Fang off her back and settling into a fighting stance.  Her imp strikes the demondand-troll with its unicorn dagger, flitting away again with its little wings.  

_The Bile Lords,_ Orbius thinks.  _Sorely beset._  He says, "We need to get out of here!"  He's manages to seem surprisingly calm.  He _teleports_ to Var and immediately pulls out Lester's trump.

The half-trolls, meanwhile, are rending Thrush terribly, and they rip him nearly in two.  He falls, dead, as well.  "Nooo!" cries Sybele.  She shoots the living holocaust that is attacking Sheva down, then shoots off one of the half-troll's right arm!  It falls, dead.  Horbin rushes to Thrush's body, grabs it, and drags it to Sybele.

Lester cries, "Begone, Turfi!"  He successfully _dismisses_ the mortal slayer.  Even as he does so, four vrocks appear alongside some strange tentacled aberration studded with crystals and rocks!  The creature springs at Sheva, slapping at her with a tentacle.  "I can get us out of here," she calls, but then smiles and strikes another of the half-trolls down with Blue Fang.  Habiskis cowardly clings to her leg, but no one notices or cares.

Two of the vrocks teleport in on Horbin, flanking him and attacking!  One tries to _charm_ Angelfire, but when it fails the final vrock moves in and attacks him.  He falls back to Sheva, as do the rest of the party, and the enemy presses forward!  But Angelfire drops one of the half-trolls, cleaving to stun the next with a mighty blow,  and then Sheva pulls out a tuning fork and _plane shifts_ them away to the Abyss.


_*Next Time:*_  An encounter with an old pc, sort of!!


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## the Jester

*An Old PC in An Unfortunate Place*

The ringing of the tuning fork fades into the distance as our beleagured heroes appear in the depths of the Abyss.

The air is hot and smokey, stinking of brimstone and burning flesh.  The moans of the damned rise in the distance.  Half-melted figures, once mortals that have now been condemned for their sins, lie impales on either side of a road of cracked and charred bones.  

"I don't like this place," Lester says nervously, but Habiskis smiles and takes a deep breath, happy to be home. 

"We'll trump back to Var," Orbius reassures him, shuffling through the deck of trumps.  Lester eyes them; the Eye smiles and says, "I'll give you these back once we're home."

"Llllllesster...." croaks a voice.  "Hhhheeeellp... mmmmeeee!"

In horror, the party turns to see a shambling form, one of the souls of the damned, stumbling forth, approaching them with imploring hands.  Its molten face seems to flow between that of a fiend of the pit and a vaguely elven face.

"By the elements!" the L cries.  "It _can't_ be!"

"You know... this thing?" Sybele eyes the cringing petitioner askance.

"Hhhheeeellp mmee," the creature slurps obscenely, approaching and pawing at the elementalist.

"Who... who are you?" Lester gasps, backing away from it, but he knows the answer.

"You knnnow," the creature gargles.  "Plllleeease... rrescue me!  It's so horrrribllle heeere..."

"Say your name!" Lester cries, aghast, but he _knows_ who it is.  Still the creature shakes its head.

"Nnnnooo," it pleads.  It seems barely sentient- but all too cognizant of its crimes, its former friend.  Shaken, Lester asks another question, one that chills the party in its answer.

"Then, if you won't tell us who you are- _were-_ then tell us this: _who did you betray?_"

The piteous creature falls to its molten knees, smoke rising as they burn on the infernal ground.  "Dexxxterrr," it groans.

"CYRAX!" Lester groans, and remembers....

Long ago, when Lester first fell in with Baron Malford and Dexter and their brave companions, they were accompanied by an axe-wielding elf of surpassing strength and puissance- but little wisdom.  Cyrax, his name was, and he was mighty.  His downfall came through a cloak found in the Temple of Elemental Evil- a cloak that made him into a gargoyle, at first only in body, but later in mind as well.  But somehow he was returned to the group- some unknown agent with whom he made a dreadful bargain of which he would not speak returned his mind to him.  It was not until the party's final, climactic battle with Dexter's archfoe, Farenth (thrice-cursed be his name), that the terms of his deal were clarified- and he turned on the party, striking Dexter down.  Only Malford and Lester escaped the battle, the rest falling prisoner to Farenth.  If they had not stumbled on an old friend, surely doom would have befallen them all- but, aided by Zazou the Yellow Bard, they managed to mount a rescue.

In the end, Cyrax hanged for his crimes, and it was Baron Malford's hand that pulled the plank from beneath his feet, dispensing justice as was his feudal right.  And Cyrax did not even defend his actions!  Later still, the party journeyed with his brother- Alcar, who was afterward to become an angel... and to also demonstrate that same lack of wisdom.  Must have run in the family.

But now... a chance to redeem Cyrax...

"No way," says Horbin, unexpectedly.  "He betrayed Dexter?  He's where he deserves."

"I don't know," Lester starts.  "Maybe-"

"I THINK NOT!" comes an evil voice.  "HE IS WHERE HE BELONGS, NOW!  IF YOU WISH HIM... YOU MUST BATTLE ALL THE ARMIES OF THE ABYSS FOR HIM!"

The creature that approaches is a hideous parody of a devil, a burning, skeletal frame blackened by the very fires of perdition.  Its fleshless wings drip sizzling blood.

"Well," Lester tries, "perhaps we could bargain for him..."

"CERTAINLY, O ELEMENTALIST!  I WILL TAKE IN TRADE EITHER YOURSELF OR YOUR COHORT!"

"No, I don't think so," Lester says, shaken.

Orbius breaks off the negotiations as he gets trump contact with Var.  "Enough of this!  This... creature... has earned his final reward, and it is not our place to interfere!  Let us away!"

"Nnnnnooooo, pplleeasssse," the hideous creature pleads, but the party vanishes into a rainbow as they leave the Lower Plane behind.



_*Next Time:*_  A major shake-up in the party!  Old pcs leave, and other, older pcs join!



_edited to fix the backstory- the L got away too!_


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## the Jester

ooops... double post!

More soon!


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## the Jester

*The Breaking of the Party*

"Hmph!  Trade me away, indeed!"

"Hey, I'd never do that," the L protests.  "I'd be blind without my Eye!"

"Indeed you would," retorts Orbius tartly.

The party strategizes as they leave the palace in Var.  "We need a place to hide out," Lester opines.

"I can't _teleport_ us any more today," the Eye points out.  "That's a crucial factor.  That means we can't travel instantly."

"My temple in the Shining City is warded against teleportation," Sheva states.  "And I thought you had a _detect scrying_ up, Orbius?  How could they send forces after us without tripping it?"

"I don't know," Orbius admits.  "And I don't like it."

"Hey, when I was in the past universe, Tleilax talked about some kind of weird sympathetic tracking magic his people had- maybe that's it?" Lester wonders.

"Either way," Sheva says grimly, "we have a lot to deal with right now."  She gestures at the corpses of Zeebo and Thrush.  "You got your cohort _true resurrected;_ can you do it for Zeebo?"  

"Uh, I don't know," Lester mumbles.  "The price was pretty high, and I think it was basically a one time deal.  Besides, can't you or Horbin just raise him and be done with it?  I have to get on the Temple of Elemental Evil..."

"No," Sheva answers.  "If you can't do it, I probably can arrange for it at my temple.  It'll just take a day or so."

"Look, I can't wait.  I'm _geased,_ I gotta go..." 

"Then," Sheva states with finality, "we quit."

"Uh, well, you can _word of recall_ to your temple, do your thing, and then Orbius can 'port you back to-"

"No."

Silence for a moment; then, the Elementalist tries again cautiously.  "I mean, why shouldn't we just raise them?  That way we don't have to wait, and there's no problem-"

"Except that it drains some of their life energy," Horbin points out.

"No," Sheva says again firmly.  "You help us or we won't help you.  I don't really care about your _geas_ or your needs.  I care about Zeebo- he's been my friend for years.  I had an opportunity to get him a _true resurrection_ before and I passed it up, but _I won't do it again._  So you help us or we quit."

"One thing at a time," sooths Orbius.  "Where are we going to hide out?"

"No, the first thing is this," Horbin states.  "I can _resurrect_ one of them- Sheva, if you're insistent about Zeebo, I'll do Thrush.  Let's get him to the temple of Dexter."

A scant half-hour later, Thrush's eyes open and he lets out a weak cry.  Shaking, he sits up, clutching at himself, and retches.  "Oooh," he groans, then look around in a momentary panic.  "Where- Sybele!  You're okay?  And Jezebel?"  The two nod, the half-dragon touched by his concern.

"We should go somewhere other than my god's temple, in case there's another attack.  I don't want my people to suffer."  Horbin's very nervous; he seems to have something of a feeling for bad situations, and he thinks this one isn't over yet.

"Well, we could go to the Temple of Elemental Good..."  Lester trails off, frowning.  "Of course, that might not be such a good idea, either."  He glances to the west; it's nearly sundown, and the sky is turning the color or blood.

"Does your temple have wards?" Sheva asks.

"Uh- what do you mean?"

"Protections against scrying, teleportation, that sort of thing?" she snaps impatiently.

"Uh, we believe in the power of the elements..."

"Your temple is weak," Sheva sneers disdainfully.

"Let's see what we can find out," Orbius cries dramatically, and _communes._

Who am I talking to?  *Boccob.*
Where is a safe place for us in Var tonight?  *Rajah's Room.*
Are the forces of the Temple of Elemental Evil going to launch another attack on us before we're healed?  *After a fashion.*
Will they attempt to smite us from afar or send forces after us?  *No.*
When will they ressurect Lareth?  *Unknown.*
How many Elemental Princes of Evil remain in the temple?  *Three.*
_Crap,_ Orbius thinks, _that means they had all four..._
What are their names?  *Olhydra, Yan-C-Bin and Ogremoch.*
What is Ogremoch's greatest weakness?  *Lust for power.*
Can any of the Elemental Princes of Evil be turned against Felenga?  *No.*
Out of the remaining Elemental Princes of Evil, which do we have the best chance against?  *All the same.*
Where is Felenga's phylactery?  *Unknown.*
What would be the best way to word a _wish_ to get the L's arm back?  *Who cares.*
Who will grant the _wish_ if I use the scroll I got?  *The nearest Power.*
What is the best time of day to strike at Ogremoch?  *All the same.*
Is the Temple of Elemental Evil likely to strike at the Temple of Elemental Good in the near future?  *Yes.*
When?  *Any time.*
Is there a way to weaken Felenga before we attack him?  *Not significantly.*
What would be the most fruitful action we could take against the Temple of Elemental Evil tomorrow?  *Be ready to flee.*

"Oh, crap," Lester says when Orbius relates what he's learned.  He gulps.  _My temple,_ he thinks...

"All right, what's this 'Rajah's room?'" asks Sheva.  

Lester answers, "We need to talk to King Malford."

_And tomorrow, I leave,_ thinks Sheva, _forever._



_*Next Time:*_ An audience with God-King Malford the Magnificent!


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## the Jester

*An Audience with God-King Malford*

As the party heads towards King Malford's castle, Lester stops for a moment.

"Oh no!" he gasps.  He's staring into what appears to everyone else to be empty space.  But to him-

"Noooo!" he shouts, the fingers of his one hand clawing momentarily at his eyes.  "The spaces between the spaces!  Aargh!" 

Lester _sees things._  He's seen them before, long ago, when he touched a great, formless mind beyond mortal comprehension, accidentally, and a weird black fungus grew on his brain.  He began to perceive strange things swimming between the spaces we all know; things that nobody else could seem to see.  Then, slowly, over the course of months, his head began to swell... and he had developed a third eye that he couldn't control.  It wasn't until his companions _entered his head and killed the fungus_ that he returned to... well... relative normality.  The third eye died, and his head shrank back down.  

They're back.  Just for an instant, but it's enough to chill the L to his bones, enough to freak him out more than the Bile Lords or even Felenga ever could.  

Horbin eyes Lester warily and thinks of a priest he knows who's said similar things.

***

God-King Malford the Magnificent is pouring over maps of his domain- and, hopefully, of the areas he'll soon add to his domain- in one of the studies in his palace.  He's intent on annexing Goldstone, a process that seems to be going well in the absence of the Tiger Princess.  He hums softly to himself, making little marks on the parchment he's got unrolled across the marble table, when a page enters and clears his throat.

"Yes, yes, what is it?" the gnome-king mumbles.

"Your pardon, Your Majesty... one of your old friends has come to beg an audience."  The page, a half-elf, hesitates a beat, then adds, "He's come with some... ahem... rough folk."

"Ah!"  Malford's eyes light up with good humor.  "Good, good!  Belmondo, eh?  I haven't seen him in quite a while!"

"Ah, no, Your Majesty.  It's Lester."

"Oh.  I see."  His enthusiasm dampened, Malford harrumphs, then says, "Well, go ahead and admit him to the throne room in, say, fifteen minutes.  I'll be there presently."  He squints back over his maps, muttering briefly, then activates his _rod of splendor_ to properly attire himself to impress and stumps off to his throne.

When the party is ushered in to the chamber, they find themselves face-to-face with a living legend: Malford, First Companion of Dexter (the Son of Galador) himself, author of the King Malford Edition of the Galadron, former pirate and adventurer.  The little gnome has gems and gold adorning his arms and neck, a golden fur from an aurumvorax upon his back.  He sits in a large throne of wine-colored fey wood, its arms carved to resemble displacer beasts (his heraldric animal).  He sports wild white hair and a small beard and moustache; in fact, he looks a lot like a large-nosed Einstein (though the analogy would be lost on him or any of our other heroes).  Behind him is an elven archer, leaning insouciently against the wall.  As one, the party bows.

"Uh, hey, there, Malford!" calls Lester.  "Er, King Malford, I mean!  Let me introduce everyone- this here's Horbin, he's a cleric of Dexter- you remember him, right, of course you do- let's see, this is Sybele, the red one's Angelfire, um, in the chain mail bikini is Sheva..."  When he's finished giving the names of the group to the impassive gnome-king, he continues, "So, uh, how's it going?"  He gives Malford a large grin.

"Okay," the King answers.  There is caution evident in his tone.

"How much money do you need?" the elf calls sarcastically from behind his king.

"No, it's not like that!" Lester protests, eyeing Drelvin the Archer, bodyguard of Malford's Queen, Moira, with distress.  "We just need a place to stay for the night, and we heard that, uh, Rajah's room was open."

"Oh, I don't know," Malford mumbles, his sharp eyes narrowing.  "What do you think, Charleston?"

After a moment (and a quick _augury_), a voice comes from Malford's invisible lamassu cohort.  "I recommend against it, Sire."

"Who've you pissed off this time?" the King demands.

"Felenga, all right!" Lester confesses.  "It's Felenga!  But he's bad for everyone!  C'mon, Malford, it's for the ultimate good of all Dorhaus!*"

"Rajah's room, eh?"  King Malford purses his lips and seems to consider for a moment.  "How would you get in there anyway?"

"Oh, uh, I can just _pass through earth and stone_ and walk right in.  You just tell me where it is."

_What is this 'Rajah's room' anyway?_ wonders the rest of the party.  _And where is it?_

"And your companions?"

"Well, they can trump in-"

"No they can't.  It's protected against such things."

"Well, they can teleport in-"

"Not today we can't," Orbius reminds him.

"Uh, well, humm... we can work something out..."

"_Passwall?_" Orbius suggests.

The King sighs.  "I'll tell you what.  Give me the trump you have of me, and you can stay."

"What!" Lester protests.  "I could get a lot of money for that!"  Malford's eyes harden, and the Elementalist hurriedly continues, "Not that I'd do something like that, of course... aw, c'mon, Malford, I might need that sometime!"

"I don't think you're responsible enough to have it," the gnome says.  

"Well... all right, I'll tell you what," Lester tries.  "How about I'll give you the trump if you join us on our adventures?"

Drelvin, still behind the throne, snickers.

Malford coughs into his hand.  "Oh, no, all that adventuring stuff- that's behind me.  I've got kids now, and a wife- why, the Queen would kill me!"  He smiles.  "But give over the trump and you can stay in Rajah's room."

The L sighs.  "Well, I guess, hm, you do have a lot of enemies, and I can definitely see why you wouldn't want them to get ahold of it... all right, all right!"  Reluctantly, he shuffles out Malford's trump and hands it over.  

And the party, with Malford's aid, has a room for the night.


*Dorhaus is the continent on which Malford's kingdom is; Var is the city that is its capitol.



_*Next Time: *_Lester continues to try to talk Malford into going adventuring!  The destruction of the Temple of Elemental Good!  And exeunt Sheva and Zeebo!


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## Talix

Yikes!  

Man your campaign is action-packed!  I don't think your players will ever grow bored.  

That revenge attack was pretty impressive - it had to have the party seriously worried.  And rightly so, obviously, with a couple members dying!

And hopefully this time you won't post another update while I'm writing this and make my commentary slightly more obsolete.  

Good, good stuff!


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## the Jester

That night, the party rests in Rajah's room.  They sit around and stretch their tired muscles, try to relax.  Jezebel is on edge; she hadn't counted on such danger following her mother around.  She's afraid for Sybele, and quaveringly voices her concerns. 

"Don't worry," Sybele says blithely, not sure how to reassure her.  "I'm tough!"

As the night deepens, King Malford drops in for a visit.  "Malford!" calls the Elementalist.  "Good to see you!  Here, spark this up."  He hands the King a bowl of fine green pipeweed, bristling with  reddish hairs and smelling somewhat like a skunk.  The group plays cards, smokes the intoxicating buds, drinks fine fey wine from Ketzia.  Malford and Lester catch up on old times.  The L tells him, "So, Malford, it's been a long time since we hung out- it brings back lots of pleasant memories of saving the world and stuff."  He pauses for another hit off the pipe and hands it off to Sybele.  "I know you're busy and the Queen would be angry for a time, but I'll _stone shape_ you a little romantic getaway cave to make it up to her if you'll come join us..."

"Heh!" the gnome cackles.  "I'd need a little stone room all right, that's where I'd be sleeping if I went adventuring again!  No, Lester, it's as I told you- that's my past.  I have children and responsabilities now..."

"I have children too," Sybele pipes up.  "Well, child," she amends, and caresses her belly.  

"And my cohort here, Orbius, could help you shape a _simulacrum_," Lester suggests.

"Hmph," Malford snorts, but there's a faraway look in his eyes.  _I do miss my adventuring days,_ he admits to himself, thinking fondly of the days in which he guided and guarded Dexter.  He thinks of all the fine times he's had- why, he's even killed a dragon, and Fuligin... how much glory has he earned?  He's God-King Malford the Magnificent, after all, destroyer of the clockwork horrors, First Companion of Dexter, writer (well, okay, re-writer) of the Galadron!  From pirate to Baron to King to God-King- and none of it would be possible if he hadn't been an adventurer.  _A simulacrum,_ he thinks, turning the possibility over in his mind.

In the morning, Drelvin the Archer is taking his breakfast and tea when a messenger rushes in.  "Trouble!" he gasps breathlessly.  "The Temple of Elemental Good is in flames!"  Cursing under his breath, Drelvin hastily assembles a small squad of the King's Men and speeds down the hill to the temple.  When he reaches it he gives a small cry of despair, and sends word to the King who forthwith summons the party, and all descend to the scene of devastation.  

There are few survivors.

The temple is a tumble of fallen pillars of stone, with the sacred pools buried under the rubble and the sacred fires doused.  Burning here and there, sometimes in the air, is a ghoulish green flame that no water will douse, and even attempts to dispel it fail.  This, Lester and Malford know from past experience with Felenga, is _doomfire._  Horbin the Holy springs into action, healing all the survivors he can, providing succor to many.

One of Lester's few remaining followers groans out the tale.  "It was... some sort of lich," he tells them, wincing in pain.  "He came... alone.  He... he said this was his rebuttal."  The main moans, and Lester urges him to rest, then assembles what people in his service remain, distributing coins amongst them.

"Spread our seed," he commands grimly.  "This place has fallen, but our faith with endure."  He turns to the wreckage of his holy place and raises his hands, channeling the destructive fury of Elemental Earth.  There is a loud rumble as the earth quakes, fissures opening to devour much of the rubble and most of the rest settling into a massive pile.  Falling to one knee, the Elementalist vows, "By the elements, we will survive!"

Sheva kicks a rock, scoffing at Lester under her breath.  She returns to the castle, where Zeebo's corpse lies in state.  Clutching his small body to her, she speaks a _word of recall_ and vanishes to her temple in far-flung Tirchond.  Laying his form on an altar holy to Coila, she prays fervently for a time, then summons forth a _planar ally_- a strange, muscular creature that looks almost human save for its bronze skin and complete hairlessness.

"Once, I was made an offer of _true resurrection_ for my friend Zeebo in exchange for the sword Chronovestis, and I refused," she says grimly.  "Now the situation arises again, and I would gladly make the trade."

The creature raises an eyebrow sardonically.  "I know of whom you speak," it says softly.  "I can arrange the trade."  The creature extends its hand, gesturing at Chronovestis.

"That isn't exactly what I had in mind," Sheva admits, wishing that the agent of Coila had the ability to perform this miracle itself.  "But if that is how it must be..."

***

Zeebo is in a state of utter bliss.  Everything here is as it should be.  He has passed on to his final reward, and there are maidens everywhere.  The smile never leaves his face, and he is accorded the respect of the great.

And then he hears the voice, calling him back....

Has he things left undone?

Zeebo sighs sadly, mussing the hair of one of the gnome virgins clinging softly to his side, and starts to answer the call.  He whirls through a timeless silver void, pulled as if by a rope through his belly, and after an interminable period he sees a glimmer shaped like a door.  Just beyond it he sees his body.  The door is held by a beautiful woman of unfamiliar aspect- he would only recognize her if he had been alive when she offered to resurrect him in return for a blade in the not-so distant past.  But even so, he feels her essence, her name and her deity.  He _knows_ her in a way that chills him.

_Seclaidra,_ he thinks to himself, vowing to remember the name.  _Chaotic and evil.  And she worships Bleak!_ 

He agonizes for a moment; it could be a cruel trick, a trap to lure him into an untenable position.  Dare he cross the threshold?

_I've worked against Law for so long,_ he reasons.  _Chaos has an interest in aiding me.  And I've worked with Sheva, Angelfire and others equally evil for so long... I have to chance it._

Stepping through the brilliant portal of light, Zeebo returns to the living, and at least for now he exits our tale.



_*Next Time:*_  Well, folks, this will be the last installment of this story hour.  The story will continue, however, under a different title and in a new thread as the group's focus changes more fully to the fight against Felenga!  Watch for To War Against Felenga!!


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## ciaran00

Tallarn said:
			
		

> *
> 
> You are a funny man, Jester. The great cat people hero, Hobbes  *




Tallarn, if you ever encountered Hobbes in person with the remark you just had, he would tear you apart, skin to organ, bone to skull. If he did not do so with his Tabaxi claws, he would employ one of two weapons: the blood sword at his side--still warm from the hell from which it was cleanly pulled, or his mind--a weapon more deadly than ten angry Tabaxis.

Hobbes was a character that saw no use for Tabaxis to stay hidden, and enslaved by their own history, as they were. Hobbes tolerated the presence of others, as long as they led him, ultimately to either a salvation for his race or an improvement of his own mind. In the feral cat dreams of the few hours that he could curl into a sleep, he would most probably remember one friend: a small gnome, much smaller than the seven-feet height of sinew and fur that Hobbes was, who could wield the sword of illusion with the sharp strokes of a pen. For him, Hobbes would forsake all, even his fleeting cat dreams, the memory of an empire, and mental magicks like no other.

Hobbes is absent now but, no doubt, he can be found on a vessel somewhere out on the sea trailing a gash of blood that drips quietly from a blood sword strapped to the Tabaxi's back. In his pouch are two of the most valueable tools that he knows: a set of thieves' picks housed in a bag sewn in the shape of a blond subarbinite boy, and a card with the image of a gnome upon whom he could call in the greatest hour of his need.

ciaran


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## ciaran00

Consequently, Hobbes would remember another friend, perhaps not quite as close as the illusionist, but an equal who shared his twisted sense of honour: the dwarf Stone; the last he remembers of the axe-wielder is a marriage. The rest is blood and wind.

TheJester. Come take a peek
http://yotz.zeromass.org/board/
if you dare 

ciaran


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## Welverin

Cool, more comments by a (former?) player! Anybody else want to comment?


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## the Jester

Wow, Hobbes' player chimes in!!    Good to hear from you- I'll check your site out...

Yes, Hobbes was a great pc and had many adventures; he was one of the adventurers who fought Fuligin and traveled back in time.  Good stuff.


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## Knightfall

el bumpo, so I can find it easier to read it.


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## the Jester

We may eventually see a Return to Bile Mountain adventure happen...


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